Inventing Herself by Sommer Marsden Read Free Book Online Page A

unwind her the way it normally would. Hours still before work. If she wanted to go, that was. The idea of crawling back into bed and hiding from this whole assignment and the tornado of thoughts it had stirred up was tempting.
    Coffee and the early morning news didn’t work.
    ‘Come on, Simon. We’re going to the trail. I’m crazy to even think about it since it’s – what? Four degrees outside? But you’re a Husky, right? You don’t care.’
    Big, blue eyes regarded her and as usual he looked like he was smiling.
    ‘I’ll take that as consent.’
    She dressed in layers and even remembered to put the thermal headband around her neck. She didn’t need it to protect her ears, her hat did that, but sometimes if she got it in her mind to run during the cold weather she pulled it over her mouth and chin to keep the cold out.
    ‘I look like a burglar, right?’ She snorted, clipped him to his lead, and grabbed her key. It was barely five a.m. Still black as night out there.
    Hawley Trail ran through a large amount of woods and she would rarely get it in her mind to hike it. Never in below freezing weather. Never in the dark. And yet the fear that had boiled up in her when she awoke felt almost suffocating. She needed to get out. To move. And Simon, though sweet and gorgeous and friendly, was still a big dog. No one would mess with her when he was around.
    She breached the mouth of the trail, enjoying the sound of her boots crunching through brittle, frozen snow. Simon seemed to have an extra pep in his step.
    ‘You live for this, don’t you, boy?’ she said. ‘This is your element.’
    He simply huffed, trotting along, leading the way. Getting to the trail itself had been a good 15-minute walk and now she found herself clumping through the woods with nothing but a flashlight and a Husky to help her out.
    ‘You’ve lost your mind,’ she muttered. ‘There could be serial killers and rapists and – bears – out here. Well, probably not bears. But still.’
    She’d tucked her pocket knife in her coat pocket. A habit she’d gotten into because of her father. The year she’d turned ten he’d given her her very own pocket knife and he’d drilled it into her over and over again that she should always have one. ‘They’re not just for boys,’ he’d said. ‘Everyone should be prepared.’
    And so she had been. She’d plotted everything. Her career, her future home, her dog. But she’d never thought to plot out her love life. Could you even do that? Sophie had always figured it would take care of itself. That she’d find a man, get swept up in him and him in her. She’d fall in love and have good sex and say “I do” and eventually maybe bring small people into the world.
    But no man had ever swept her away. Not even the ones who had told her they loved her. In fact, she was pretty sure she’d never reciprocated that sentiment. She knew for a fact one man who’d told her that had received an awkward and sad “Thank you” in response.
    ‘But that’s in the past,’ she told herself. Though a new fear filled her. Would she find love, or something along those lines, if she was looking for it?
    Did she really want to look or was it that she thought she should ?
    ‘Now I’m just scaring the shit out of myself,’ she said to the dog. He wasn’t listening. He was leading her along, his paws padding over the untouched snow. The deeper they got, the more pristine it was. People were finding it too cold to hike.
    Sophie had no idea how long she walked with Simon. Long enough to lose the feeling in her face despite the fleece band across the lower half. Her whole body felt chilled and slow and yet the sky was lightening to a lovely shade of periwinkle. She didn’t want to miss it.
    Would she freeze to death if she tried to wait for sunrise? Doubtful. It just might feel like it.
    ‘I’m not going to work,’ she told the dog. ‘And I have to stop talking to you so much. It’s something a crazy person