“Yeah, thanks,” I said. I wanted to believe her. But I was also done. “Hey, Phoebe, I’m gonna go back inside now. It’s cold.”

“Are you sure? I mean, I don’t want you to get cold. But it’s good to talk to you.”

“Yeah, but I need to go. I’ll be home on Sunday.”

“Oh, no! We have to talk before then. I mean, if you want to.”

“We’ll see.”

“Okay. Sam?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.” She sounded a little teary now. But I couldn’t say it back. Not right now at least.

“Sorry, Pheebs. You’re cutting out,” I said. And then I hung up.

I drew my blanket in tighter around my shoulders and tucked my hands inside. It was cold out here, but I wasn’t ready to leave this night quite yet. The moon peeking through the clouds, its beams flooding the snow with shafts of shimmering light. It was the first time my head had felt completely calm in a while.

And then, just ahead, out beyond the first small hill, I saw something dark zip across the white expanse. I pulled myself up on my toes to get a better look. It flickered across the snow again. It looked like maybe it was an animal of some kind. Were there wolves out here? Mountain lions? I should’ve read one of those magazines they had lying around more carefully. What kind of animals roamed the hills of Vermont? Maybe I needed to go back in after all. It would be just like me to get mauled by a mountain lion. And everybody would be too busy watching the movie to hear my screams. But I stood on my tiptoes again. I was fascinated. Yes, it was definitely an animal and it was racing back and forth across the lawn now, coming toward the inn. And then behind it, coming out of the darkness, I saw a human figure jogging through the snow.

“Hey!” said Eric, coming up to the porch, panting.

“Hey.”

There was a stick in his hand and his dog was jumping up and down, trying to grab it from him.

“How you doing?”

“Good. Better. Thanks — for everything,” I said.

“Ah, please. No worries. Whatcha doing out here?”

“I don’t know. Just enjoying this night, I guess.”

“Yeah, it is great, isn’t it?” he said. “You can feel the storm coming. Can smell it in the trees.” He gestured above his head.

The dog jumped up even higher.

“Hey, I don’t think you two have formally met, have you?” asked Eric.

I shook my head no.

“Samantha, Fozzie. Fozzie, Samantha.”

It was funny hearing him say my full name.

“Pleased to meet you, Fozzie,” I said. Fozzie was still concentrating on the stick, leaping and standing on his hind legs.

“He says the pleasure is all his,” said Eric. “Here, come here, boy!” He led Fozzie up onto the porch next to where I was standing. “Now, be a gentleman,” Eric said, and he bent down to tap the wooden boards twice with the stick. Fozzie sat down and raised his right paw.

“He wants to shake your hand,” Eric said. I bent down and took Fozzie’s paw. He looked up at me with big, black, shiny eyes. His whiskers were drizzled with snow. I petted him behind the ears a little bit, and he licked my arm. Then Eric sent the stick sailing through the air.

“Go get it, boy!” he said, and Fozzie raced back into the snow, grabbed the stick, and galloped back toward us, his tail wagging furiously. He circled us up on the porch and then dropped the stick at my feet.

“I think he likes you,” said Eric.

“He’s not gonna like me once he sees how I throw,” I said, picking up the stick. My head felt wonky when I bent down, and it took me a moment to readjust my balance once I stood up. But then I pulled my arm back and hurled the stick as far as I could. Which was only about twelve feet out in front of the porch. Fozzie looked at the stick lying in the snow, then looked back up at me.

“Sorry to disappoint you, Fozzie,” I said.

“Nonsense. Go get it, Fozzie!” said Eric, and Fozzie ran out into the snow, grabbed the stick, and ran back, laying it at Eric’s feet this time.

“Oooh, harsh,” I said.

“Don’t listen to him,” said Eric. “He’s just a dog.” Then he picked up the stick and threw it out so far I couldn’t see where it landed. Fozzie bounded out again.

“Hey, really. Thank you for taking care of me today,” I said.

“Sure thing. How’s the head?”

“Okay, a little wackadoo. But okay.”

“Good, good.”

“Listen, I feel like —”

“I just wanted to say —”

We were both talking at the same time.

“You go,” he said.

“No, you go,” I said.

“Really, you —”

“I just wanted to say sorry for yelling at you when we first met!” I burst out, and we both laughed. The corners of his eyes curled up when he laughed and now I saw he had really long eyelashes, too.

“Sam, you had every right to yell at me. I was butting my nose in where it wasn’t needed,” he said. “I just can’t help it sometimes, you know? I mean, this thing is so huge.” He tugged on his nose and laughed sheepishly.

“Well, you were right. Not just about Drew, but also, that first time you saw me, I was being pretty rough on Kathy — and she didn’t deserve it.”

“Right, Kathy,” he said.

“She’s my …” Say it, Levy. “Yeah, she’s sorta my new stepmom.”

Eric nodded. “They just got married, huh?”

“Yeah, last Saturday. This is like their honeymoon, only my brother Jeremy and I are here with them, which I think is kinda strange, but whatever. I think I was just giving her crap because she’s not my mom and I’m kinda comparing her, or not really comparing, but I don’t really — ugh, there I go again. See? Sometimes, if you haven’t noticed, I don’t know what to do, so I start talking and I just get carried away. You can tell me to shut up, you know that, don’t you?”

Eric threw the stick back out for Fozzie.

“What if I don’t want to?” he said.

“Well, I’ll probably keep yapping away like I always do and sooner or later you’re gonna wish you had,” I said.

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” Eric smiled.

Huh. That was the first time anyone had said that to me.

“And just for the record,” he continued, “I have mom issues, too. That’s probably why I reacted so strongly. But it still wasn’t cool of me.” His voice got very quiet now, and even though I really wanted to ask him what he meant, I knew I shouldn’t.

“Hey, um, so do you think you’re going to go back to the slopes tomorrow?” he said eventually.

“I don’t know, why?”

“Well, I’m no doctor, and again, I’m kinda butting my nose in your business, but I thought maybe you should take it easy.”

“Yeah, I probably will.” My head still felt pretty heavy. I hadn’t noticed it while I was talking to him, but now that he mentioned it …

“Fozzie and I will be around if you need anything. Although I promised him a good hike through the field.”

“Sounds nice.”

“Hey — you’re welcome to join us, if you feel up for it,” he said.

“Sure!” I volunteered before he was even done talking. And then I felt a little embarrassed. “I mean, sure,” I said, a little softer.

“Great!” Eric said.

“Wait, do you need to ask Fozzie if that’s okay? I don’t want to intrude, you know.”

“No, it was actually his idea to ask you,” Eric replied.

“Well thanks, Fozzie,” I said, looking up at the sky.

“Now, are you sure you’re going to be okay back here by yourself?” Dad was saying. He had both hands on my shoulders and he was studying my face carefully.

“Yes, Dad. I’ll be fine.” It was the third time that we were having this conversation this morning. Besides a slight headache and feeling super-thirsty, I really did feel a lot better. I even ate a huge breakfast of whole-wheat pancakes and fresh strawberries. Dad had watched me the whole time, probably waiting for me to explode or something.