Chapter Seven

The way kids can bounce back right away will never cease to amaze me. One day they almost drown in an icy lake and a few days later they're off sledding and laughing as if nothing happened.

I had decided to take the dog (who was still nameless) out for a walk today now that the sky was clear. Maybe stretching my legs even just for a little while would keep my legs from becoming any weaker than they already were. I had to push myself, but the fresh, cold air seemed to do some amount of good for my mind.

Which brings me back to what I was originally saying.

On our way through Flute Fields we were peacefully walking and enjoying the nature when we were almost killed in a sledding accident. At first, I could've sworn I heard someone shouting my name, but I shook it off. Too late.

Whoom!

There went Taylor and Chloe, screaming for dear life and barely holding onto a rickety wooden sled by their fingertips, flying right across the path not more than two inches from my face. The dog went off barking wildly and I stood there and just watched as they crashed into a snow pile and went tumbling. Both of their heads popped up with huge grins plastered to their faces.

"Awesome!" Taylor said. "We totally got more lift now that Owen fixed this up for us."

"Is it my turn now?" I heard a voice say from the left side. Paolo appeared from behind the ledge that the two had just flown off from.

As I looked closer, they must have come down from the steep slope then disappeared behind the snowy incline before they came back up and nearly took off my head. No wonder I hadn't seen anybody there.

I looked back to Taylor, who had just noticed me. "Shouldn't you be recovering from your accident a few days ago instead of doing dangerous sled tricks?"

"Aw man," the preteen whined. "You sound just like my mom, Angela. Sledding is way more fun than that,"

I smiled. "I know, I know. I promise I won't tell her what you guys are doing out here, I don't want to spoil the all the fun."

"Really? You're the best!"

I couldn't help but smile wider. He was looking unnaturally healthy for someone who had almost frozen to death a few days ago. Except for a cough or sniffle here or there, I'd say Taylor was just fine. And anyway, I really didn't want to be compared to Ruth. However, as I watched them prepare for another takeoff, I was starting to doubt how safe it was. That really was a steep hill...

"Hey, you guys," I called before Paolo could get on the sled. "Don't you think you could get hurt from this?"

"Nah," Chloe called back. "We just did it and didn't die, so of course it's safe!"

As much as I wanted the kids to think I was the "fun" adult and all that, I couldn't just let them go flying off into countless broken bones and medical expenses. I knew firsthand how horrible that was.

"You know what? I have an even better idea." I looked down at my dog, hoping he would be cooperative. "It'll be a blast,"

The kids seemed to whisper to themselves, debating my offer, then turned back to me.

"What's your proposal?" Chloe called, trying to sound official. How cute.

"Well, we go up to Garmon Mines, find the super cool high-speed twisty-turny tricked out sledding path I've been working on, then maybe have a race."

Their eyes widened. I smacked myself mentally for making that all up, but I kept the smile on my face. That last few times I had walked though the snowy forest on the way to the goddess pond I had noticed a smooth, almost purposefully made downhill path that looked perfect for this sort of thing. I really hoped it was still there, despite yesterday's snow. Then again, I knew that a path was provided for those who the Harvest Goddess favored... what if the kids wouldn't be able to access it? Ugh, this was starting to look worse and worse on my part; I would probably only end up having three very disappointed extreme-sledders on my hands. Of course, they bounced up and down with excitement and quickly made their way to my side, eagerly waiting for my directions. All I could do now was sigh and hope for the best. Hmm, seemed like I'd been doing a lot of that lately...

But this was good for me, even if it ended up failing. Anything to keep my mind off of trying to make myself happy and focusing on what I could do for others helped more than I could've imagined. I guess I got more out of that talk with Perry yesterday than he may have intended; not that that was a bad thing though. I suppose it was easier to do this whole going-out-of-my-way-to-make-people-happy thing with children though... I did have a soft spot for them. If it was anybody else, I probably would've had a hard time staying patient with them. The thing I liked about these kids was that they didn't look at me with pity: they were so carefree and just happy to have an adult take interest in them that if they were actually adults themselves, they would be overly concerned with how I was doing or if I "couldn't handle so much" that it would just end up frustrating me.

I smiled to myself. What a nice change of pace.

"What's his name?" Paolo's voice shook me out of my thoughts. "Did you just get 'im?"

He was running around the big dog, flipping his ears and ruffling his tail. Wow, I thought to myself. I remember when this kid was scared of dogs. Sure has grown up... all of them, actually. I really have been gone for a while.

I put aside the sadness that that thought created and looked up at the snowy pines. "Well, I haven't really thought of one yet."

"Oh, oh, can I help you?" Chloe waved her hands around.

"Me too!" Taylor agreed. "His name should be, um... Titan! Yeah, that makes him sound tough and cool!"

"No, no, no!" Chloe argued. "It should be Cloud,"

"What, do you want him to carry around a huge sword or something?"

She stomped her foot. "Not that Cloud. It's because he's all white and big and fluffy!"

Paolo watched quietly as they argued over what his name should be. "I think it should be Philly," he put in after a while, though they didn't seem to hear him.

"That's a nice name," I told him.

He looked up at me, smiling. "Really, you think so? That's what I'm naming my puppy that Dad promised he would get me."

"Well, I don't think you'd want me to steal your puppy's name then,"

It took him a moment to think about it. "Yeah, I guess you're right,"

By the time we arrived at our destination, Chloe and Taylor had come to the decision that they would just let me name the dog, which I was happy about because some of the alternatives that had come up were things like Optimus Prime and Mister Foofy-Tail. I couldn't help but wonder what went through their head's sometimes.

I eagerly looked to see if the path was still there, but Kathy and Owen caught us before we could venture into the forest.

"Now, what are you guys dragging Angela into this time?" Owen called from the wooden porch in front of the blacksmith's.

"She's taking us to a super awesome sledding course she made!" Chloe said happily. "You should come with us!"

"Maybe we will later," Kathy said as she looped her arm through Owen's. "But right now we're going for a walk," she winked at me, as if to say, he's totally going to propose, just you watch.

"Ugh," Taylor said. "I hate mushy girlfriend stuff. At least you don't have to do that stuff when you get married,"

"That's not how it works," Chloe protested and made kissy faces. "They're like that aaall daaay,"

"Gross!"

"And when are you two going to get hitched?" Owen laughed. "Tell me the date and I'll be sure to mark it down!"

"Ew! Stop it!" Taylor complained and ran off.

Hitched. I didn't really hear the rest of the conversation as I looked down at my dog.

"How about Hitch? Is that a good name for you?"

He wagged his tail and barked. Hitch it was.

"Oh, Angela," Kathy called back to me before they were out of earshot. "Come to the bar tomorrow night; we're serving our special curry again!"

I nodded and went to chase after the kids. As odd as it may sound, my absolute favorite curry came from Harmonica Bar. Unfortunately, they only served it a few times a year and I wouldn't have even known about it unless Kathy hadn't mentioned it. I really wasn't much for alcohol, so I didn't really have a reason to go there anyway.

"Woah," the kids were gawking at the forest once I had caught up with them.

"Did you really do this all, Angela?" Paolo's eyes were huge.

I didn't blame him; an amazing twisting, winding path led through the forest at a safe level of incline. It definitely looked like the path I walked, but way better than I had ever noticed before. It was almost too perfect.

In no time, they were laughing and shouting as they made more runs down the slope than I could count. Before I had let them go down, we had marked a starting line and the path they would follow by jabbing sticks into the ground. I tried my best to keep my eye on them, but by this time Dale had come out to check on all the commotion, Boss following closely behind. As I looked at the two dogs next to each other, I could definitely tell that they were the same breed. Yeah, I think it'll fit well, I'll just ask Dale about it later...

" I see you got a dog," the old carpenter said in greeting. "I knew there was another one like ol' Boss out there but he would never come to me, just disappearing back into the woods anytime I got close."

"I guess animals just like me is all,"

He looked at me as though I were challenging his animal skills, but he waved it away. "It don't surprise me,"

I was about to respond but my sentence was interrupted by frantic shouting.

"Look out!" I heard Paolo yell and we both looked up to see him speeding towards us. He must have missed that last turn because he was now rushing over rocks and loose tree branches. The sled managed to skid to a grinding halt before it sprayed snow all over our pant legs.

Dale reached down and pulled the hood off the boy's face. "Now what're you think you're doing?"

"Oh, hi Mister Dale. Angela made us this sledding path!" He quickly said before getting up and passing the sled onto Taylor.

He scratched his chin. "Now I swear I'd never seen that path there before... You made it?"

"I have a lot of free time," I managed.

That seemed to be a good enough answer and a reminiscing look filled his face. "Seein' all those kids running around and having fun reminds me of Luke when he was they're age... sure do miss those days. Then again, he's still sorta that way, so I guess it isn't so bad."

So this was what happened when you got older; you sat there, remembering how good the past used to be. I was by no means old, but I could relate. Albeit painfully, but still.

After awhile, I looked up to see the sun starting to dip down behind the tree line; how could we have been at this almost all day? We would need to get going soon. I turned back to Dale.

"Say, do you still have that old sled harness you used for Boss?"

"Hmm, I haven't used that thing in years, but I think I still have it."

I nodded gratefully as left to go fetch it for me. I figured that it would be fun to let the kids have a ride before they got too heavy to. In no time he was back and helped me attach the worn leather harness to Hitch. He didn't seem to mind, which almost took me by surprise—this dog was way calmer than I had thought.

When I finally called the kids back, there were a lot of complaints.

"Your parents are going to be worried about you if I don't get you home before supper," I reprimanded them.

"I don't have parents," Chloe said without any kind of negative hint in her voice. She just didn't seem to... care.

I stared at her for a moment. "Well, your grandpa, then. Now run along before I make you," I pointed at the blacksmith shop, whose chimney was steadily puffing out smoke into the chilly winter air.

"But I wanna ride on the sled," she complained.

"Some other day, I promise."

She glumly nodded her head and ran back to her home.

"When do you need this back?" I turned to Dale as I held onto the reign.

He shook his head and smiled. "Don't worry about it, you can have it. Boss is getting too old for that stuff." He stretched painfully before heading back to his door. "I feel for the old boy, I know what he's going through."

I chuckled and started on my way back to taking the boys to their homes. Paolo rode all the way to the fishery and Taylor took the seat on the way to Flute Fields. By the time we got to our home we were both exhausted.

"Good job, Hitch," I ran my hands through his fur as he panted. It was starting to look like a good thing that I had kept him. Not that he had given me much of a choice, though.

Well, there I was again in my empty house, tired and sickly. This time I wasn't completely alone, though, which really gave me the sense of contentment that I had unknowingly been searching for since Finn left. I looked at the unpacked boxes of Christmas decorations that I had brought down yesterday, but after sitting down for a while I didn't think it would do me any good to get up and moving again—I had had enough of that today.

"Tomorrow," I promised myself as my eyelids slipped shut. "You'll see, Finn. I can be cheery..."

A/N: Time for a little change of pace. I admit I really enjoyed writing this chapter, it was nice to take a break from all the sadness (woah wait, me? Taking a break from the angst? Whaaat-). Pertaining to the last chapter, I didn't give Angela a horrible past just to increase the sadness, there'll be a reason later on, just incase you were worried about that. So yeah! Happy chapter~