“Are you OK, Emi?” Dad came and sat on the sofa next to her. “You look a bit down. Too much homework?”
“I’ve done it all. Sorry, Dad. I’m just missing Rina.”
Dad hugged her. “You don’t have to be sorry. It’s hard to leave her behind when you’ve only had her a week. You can call your mum later to find out how she is.”
But all the same, Emi felt guilty for saying it. She didn’t want her dad to think she didn’t want to see him – she missed him loads, too. It was just so difficult. She felt like she couldn’t ever be in quite the right place…
“Ben, look, there’s Mum, I can see her. And Rina, too!” Emi bounced up out of her seat, hurrying to the train doors.
“Leaving your bag on the train, are you?” Ben sighed, picking it up and following her, but Emi was hardly listening. The train was pulling in slowly now and she could see that Mum had picked Rina up to stop her being scared. She was making Rina wave her paw to them.
Emi giggled and pressed the ‘Doors Open’ button impatiently.
“You have to wait for it to light up, Emi, honestly!” Ben rolled his eyes. The doors beeped and opened.
“Mum! You brought her!” Emi gasped, as she jumped out. “Hello, gorgeous Rina! And you, Mum,” she added quickly, kissing her mum on the cheek.
“Did you miss me at all?” Mum asked, but Emi knew she was only teasing.
“How was Rina after we spoke? Did she mind us being away? Did she notice?”
“She definitely did.” Mum put Rina down carefully, now that the train was pulling out, and passed Emi the lead. “She’s been really quiet the whole weekend. I’m sure she was waiting for you to come home.”
“Oh, poor Rina,” Emi murmured.
Ben crouched down to rub the little puppy’s ears gently. “We missed you, too,” he told her.
“I was glad she was there, though,” Mum said, putting an arm round Emi as they walked out of the station. “The house didn’t feel so empty. And I might have let her snuggle up with me on the sofa and watch TV last night…” she added, looking a bit guilty.
“You said we weren’t allowed!” Emi told her indignantly.
“I know – but we were both missing you two, and she was so cuddly and warm. It’s definitely got colder this weekend. I wouldn’t be surprised if it snows soon.”
Emi looked down at Rina. “You’ll love it if it does, Rina. You’ve got the perfect fur for snow, all thick and soft!”
Rina stood on the back doorstep, watching Emi worriedly. She was dancing about in the white stuff, her boots leaving great deep prints.
It had been cold for ages, but the snow just hadn’t come, even though everyone at school had been staring out of the classroom windows and hoping for it for weeks. Another fortnight had gone by, and Ben and Emi had been on another visit to Dad’s, and still there hadn’t been any snow. But now, at last, it had fallen overnight, just in time for the half-term holiday. Emi had woken Rina up with an excited yell from upstairs and then she’d come racing down in her pyjamas and jumped around the kitchen, practically falling over as she tried to get her wellies on.
Rina sniffed at the snow. It smelled odd – clean and cold and somehow sharp. She wasn’t sure she liked it, even though Emi obviously did. Rina let out a huffy little breath. Emi was hers and she had to look after her. She always went outside when Emi did. Cautiously, she put one paw in the snow and then drew it back again at once. Too cold. Too wet.
Emi floundered back across the garden, giggling and shivering. “Don’t you like it, Rina? Oh, you have to like it!”
Rina yapped at her crossly, telling her to come in right now. Emi’s cheeks were bright red against her black hair and she looked frozen.
“Look!” Emi scooped up a handful of the white stuff and showed it to Rina. It looked like a ball, a white ball. Rina’s ears pricked up at once. She loved to play fetch – she and Emi could chase a ball around for ages. Ben had tried to teach her to play football as well, but she wasn’t very good at that. The ball was too big and she usually got so excited chasing it that she’d try to fling herself on top of the ball and then she’d fall over.
“Fetch? Fetch the ball!” Emi hurled it across the garden and Rina forgot about the strange white stuff and leaped off the step. She’d bounded halfway across the snow-covered grass before she realized she couldn’t actually see the snowball any more.
Emi was doubled over laughing. “Oh, Rina, it’s up to your tummy,” she giggled.
Rina snorted crossly. But then she decided she didn’t mind that much. The white stuff was cold and wet, but the smell was good after all. And she could dig! She scuffled at the snow experimentally with her front paws and it flew everywhere. She sneezed and then she dug and then she chased her tail in the snow and then she dug some more. Yes, she liked this stuff very much…
Chapter Five
It was perfect timing – snow for the holidays. And there was a whole week off school! Emi knew she ought to be happy – and she was, most of the time. Building a snowman and trying to build an igloo (it didn’t really work, it just kept collapsing on her head) and going out on Jess’s sledge with Rina. It was all brilliant.
But she was spending part of half-term at Dad’s and, much as she wanted to see him, she would miss Rina. He’d called her and Ben and told them all about the exciting trips he had planned – there was a science show at the museum, and the shopping centre close to him had set up a mini ice rink. Emi loved the sound of that, she’d never been ice-skating. And he said the woods looked amazing in the snow. There were all sorts of fun things to do. Emi was really looking forward to seeing Dad for a bit longer than a weekend, too. But it did mean four whole days away from Rina.
Emi had missed her so much, the two weekends they had been at Dad’s. And she knew that Rina had missed her, too. And Ben, probably, Emi admitted to herself. Rina loved to play rough and tumble roly-poly wrestling games with him, and she quite liked sitting on his lap and watching him play on his computer. Especially when he was talking to his friends. Ben got them to say hello to her, too, and it made her really confused, hearing the voices saying her name coming out of the laptop.
Emi sighed as she stuffed some more clothes into her bag. Rina would be fine. Mum would look after her – and it would be nice for Mum to have Rina, otherwise she’d be lonely while they were away. But still…
“I wish you could come, too,” she told Rina, who was sitting next to the rucksack, staring at it suspiciously.
Rina knew what the bag meant by now. Emi was going away. Again!
As soon as Emi turned round to get the rest of her stuff out of the chest of drawers, Rina nudged the bag hard with her nose, so that it tipped over and the clothes spilled out all over the floor.
“Rina!” Emi looked round at her. “Silly! What are you doing?” She crouched down next to the bag and started putting the clothes back inside. But Rina grabbed a pair of jeans in her teeth and pulled them across the room. Then she sat there in the corner with them, looking determined.