“Tash—-wh—what is he doing?”

“He’s waiting to shake your hand.”

Looking at Tasha and then Winterfell Alice nervously extends her arm and grabs Winterfells paw shaking it. The friendly exchange causes Winterfell to bark in excitement.

“This is the culprit who jumped on your back.”

After Alice released his paw Winterfell walks up to Alice and begins licking her face playfully.

Taking a back from the affection she was receiving she smiled. Tasha worried that Winterfell maybe hurting the bruises on her face jumps in.

“Alright—-alright buddy I see you like her huh, ”Tasha says while playfully rubbing his ears. “You have to be gentle with her okay.”

When Tasha rubs his ears Winterfell stands on his hind legs and gives her a hug. Alice seeing this thinks it’s one the cutest things she has ever seen.

“Tash, I didn’t know you had a dog?”

“Well technically he doesn’t belong to me but when I first moved here I would catch him roaming around the property and well from there we just kind of bounded. I consider him to be family.”

“Judging from the hug he just gave you it couldn’t be more obvious that he loves you.”

“Yeah, I love him to—-now that he has found me he won’t leave my side until sun down uh, I hope you don’t mind the extra company.”

“No, Tash not at all, “Alice says smiling.

Before they continued down the path Tasha wanted to make sure that Alice wasn’t hurt.

“Al, are you sure you’re okay Winterfell didn’t hurt you did he? He just got excited because he saw me but he would never hurt you if you——-.’

“Tash I’m okay, really I’m okay, “Alice says trying her best to reassure her.

Taking her word for it Tasha picks up the picnic basket and the duffle bag and all three of them continue down the path towards their destination. While walking Alice notices that Tasha is walking on her left side and Winterfell is on her right. If Alice didn’t know any better they both were keeping her in the middle of the path on purpose protecting her. After walking for about another twenty minutes or so they finally reached their destination.

There at the end of the path was a breathtaking lake. The water was so clam it looked like a massive layer of glass resting on top of the water. At the end of the path was a boat ramp and on the left side tied to the ramp was a dark green canoe with two paddle oars inside. Aligned all around the lake were weeping willow trees and as the wind blew so did they in response. Next to the ramp near one of the trees was a gazebo. Winterfell extremely familiar with his surroundings runs to the gazebo grabs his red ball and brings it to Tasha. She throws it and when she does Winterfell runs at top speed to retrieve it. When they finally got inside the gazebo Tasha lays down the blanket and then removes the contents from the picnic basket. Inside the gazebo Alice notices a small wooden container in it was filled with various dog toys and treats. It was obvious Tasha came to the lake frequently with Winterfell by her side.