The Shuddering

nearly skidded on the slick planks of wood beneath her paws, and launched herself off the steps like a furry missile.
    “I wouldn’t be if you hadn’t purposefully freaked me out earlier,” she complained.
    “Me?” Ryan looked flabbergasted at the accusation as Oona’s bark echoed off the trees. She did wild doughnuts in front of the house, her feet punching holes in the hard crust of snow, before looking up at her owner, wagging her flag-like tail, ready to play. Ryan didn’t hesitate. He excused himself with a smile, fishing his gloves out of the pockets of his coat as he descended the stairs. Oona bolted away from the cabin before Ryan’s boots hit the ground, barking up a storm as she sprinted through the trees. She leaped like a gazelle, then threw herself down to roll in the powder before storming back toward her owner. Scooping up a gloveful of snow, Ryan packed it into a loose snowball and launched it at Oona’s feet. She barked, burying her nose in the ground where it exploded, searching for the ball that must havebeen hiding there. Lauren laughed from atop the deck as Ryan packed another, letting it zip by the dog’s nose. Oona snapped at it with her teeth, baffled yet again when it vanished into thin air as soon as it hit the ground.
    Just as he leaned down to make a third, a low rumble cut through Jane’s muffled music. Oona perked, standing at attention, her big ears pointing straight up, her tail stark still. Ryan narrowed his eyes as he listened, realizing that it was the sound of an engine the closer it approached. But rather than facing the driveway, Oona was still facing the woods, a repressed growl roiling in her throat. Ryan clucked his tongue at her.
    “It’s just a car, genius,” he told her, but Oona refused to let up. “Oona, come,” he commanded, and eventually the husky turned and padded toward him, distracted by the black Jeep that rambled up the steep drive. Ryan crouched down, hooking a pair of fingers beneath her collar. Despite her unfailing obedience, he never risked it when it came to cars.
    The dog slipped away from Ryan’s hold as soon as the metallic zip of a parking brake accompanied Siouxsie Sioux’s melancholy vocals from inside Sawyer’s Jeep. Oona dashed across the snow, stopping a foot from the driver’s-side door. Plopping her butt down on the frozen ground, she waited to greet the occupants of the vehicle while they gathered their belongings. A second later she was excitedly jumping against a pair of black jeans, miring them with white powder.
    Sawyer bent down, gathering Oona in his arms as she decorated him with kisses, her tail whipping back and forth, little squeals of canine joy rumbling deep from her throat. Ryan’s gaze drifted to the girl still inside the car as she buttoned her coat and gathered her things. She was a beautiful waif, her short black hair bobbed in a style that reminded him of 1920s starlets—a striking contrast against her fair skin and eyes as blue as thewinter sky. She was just the kind of girl Ryan pictured Sawyer ending up with. Dark. Mysterious. Also a fan of funeral attire. She looked glamorous in her military-inspired coat, a black scarf that matched Sawyer’s hat wrapped around her neck. But she was also the girl who was about to completely derail Sawyer’s life.
    Sawyer eventually straightened when Ryan closed the distance between them as he extended his right hand. Ryan caught it in a firm grip, pulling Sawyer forward into an embrace, both men patting each other on the back with their free hands.
    “You’re late,” Ryan complained with a grin, squeezing Sawyer by the shoulder before taking a backward step, Oona excitedly sniffing at Sawyer’s shoes. “Still forever attending funerals, I see.” Ryan raised an eyebrow at Sawyer’s all-black ensemble—a style Sawyer hadn’t been able to shake since high school.
    “They don’t start with ‘fun’ for nothing,” Sawyer said. “And we took a wrong turn.” He rolled his eyes at his own admission. “Ended up fifteen miles in the wrong direction before I realized I’m an idiot.”
    “At the lake?” Ryan asked as Sawyer ruffled the fur on top of Oona’s head.
    “That entire thing is frozen through. Have you seen it?”
    Ryan peered at Oona as she snorted. She was picking up a scent, exhaling a loud blast of air against Sawyer’s shoe.
    “Elvis,” Sawyer concluded. “April’s ferret.”
    Ryan wrinkled his nose at the news. “Please tell me you