Lost and Found: A Christmas Story

It was Christmas Eve and Samantha's faithful labrador, Zara, was missing. Zara had been an integral part of Samantha's life. She could not imagine life without her.

Samantha spent the entire evening scouring through the neighborhood, frantically knocking on doors, posting flyers and praying for Zara's safe return. She couldn't stomach the thought of her fur baby out in the freezing cold and felt like the worst of mothers.

It was past 7pm when Samantha's phone rang. She answered cautiously, hoping for the call to be about Zara. The voice calling from an unknown number told her that they had seen one of the flyers on the street and believed that they might have found Zara. After quickly writing down the details, she hurried over to the address they provided. The wind was biting and the sky was dark, with freezing rain threatening. Samantha was glad she would soon be out of the cold, snuggling up with her beloved dog.

When Samantha arrived at the address, she was surprised to find a friendly looking brown-eyed man who invited her in. His fireplace was crackling and warmth enveloped her instantly. Laying in front of the fireplace was a worn out and shivering Zara, who looked up at Samantha and chirrupped in a way that Samantha knew meant she was happy to see her, although she didn't have the energy right now to come greet her the way she normally would.

The man tells her his name is Paul and that he found Zara wandering and lost, terrified and shivering beside his porch when he got home. He brought her in so she could start warming up and stepped back outside to almost immediately find one of the lost dog fliers she had put up nearby.

While Zara continued to warm up near the fireplace, Samantha and Paul sat across from each other and chatted about Zara and how he spotted her. They made conversation effortlessly, sensing that their shared love of dogs brought them together today.

Samantha had planned to return home soon, but Paul didn't seem to be in any rush to have them leave, offering food and warm cocoa, which she couldn't refuse after being out in the cold so long herself. She found herself relaxing and succumbing to the warmth of the evening.

As the evening wore on, they continued chatting about their respective lives and found common ground not only in their mutual love for dogs, but in other topics as well while Zara slept by the fireplace. When Samantha realized the time, it was late enough that she needed to be heading home to be able to get up early for the drive to her sister's house for the Christmas Day celebrations the next day. She had a fleeting thought that Paul's house actually happened to be quite a bit closer than her place to her destination, but that was silly. She couldn't intrude on him any more than she already had.

Samantha thanked him for his hospitality and warmth, and for taking care of Zara when he found her. He checked his watch and seemed to realize how late it was as well, before saying "Well I didn't realize it was so late. How far do you live? If you need to spend the night here, you're welcome to. I have a spare bedroom."

Her heart paused in her chest. Her car be freezing right now, and while it would eventually warm up in the drive, she also wasn't sure that she wanted to be driving in the dark when she knew the roads were probably all iced up from the freezing drizzle they'd been watching through the window since she arrived. And there Paul was, offering so generously a nice warm room, and he didn't even know it but also providing the convenience of skipping half of the early morning drive tomorrow too. With all of that running through her mind, she couldn't manage to turn down his offer.

She smiled as warmly as she could, despite how weird this whole situation seemed to her, and tells him, "Thank you so much. That's incredibly generous of you. I really appreciate it."

Zara takes the time to get up and greet her with a tail wag as she stands, and follows as they leave the warm haven of the fiery room and head for the small double-bedded room Paul shows them to. During their good-byes as they part for the night, Zara looks from Samantha's eyes to Paul's and it centers her, and she smiles back at the dog.

After quickly getting ready for bed as best as she could without having any extra clothes or anything, Samantha crawled into the bed, snuggling with Zara for warmth. When she woke up to her alarm, it was still pretty dark outside, but she tried to quickly and quietly get ready without waking Paul. To her surprise, he walked out of his room a few minutes later, dressed and obviously ready for the day.

"Good morning, Samantha," he said as he took in Zara and her in the dim room. "Everything okay? I'm offering breakfast if you'd like to stay for that."

Samantha's stomach growled loudly, betraying her, and she reluctantly admitted that breakfast would be nice and it was much nicer to stay at Paul's house for that than trying to find somewhere that was open this early on a holiday. While Paul was making breakfast, she went to take a look out the window and realized just how much snow came down last night. She tried to open the front door, but it didn't budge the slightest bit from the snow pushing in.

"Well, I hope you don't mind my company a while longer, and that you weren't planning to go anywhere this morning. It looks like we're snowed in until the sun comes out to start melting it, at least."

Paul laughed, taking the news in stride. "I thought that was a possibility from what I heard on the radio as I got ready. Rain turned into snow overnight. At least we're safe and warm in here."

When it was ready, they settled in for his simple, but comforting, breakfast. Eggs, bacon, toast, and coffee. While they ate, Paul asked curiously about their favorite spots in town, places to eat, and Zara herself. After they finished breakfast, Samantha went ahead and called her family to tell them she was snowed in and wouldn't be there until later. She didn't mention the fact that she was snowed in at someone else's house, though.

Paul petted Zara and suggested for Samantha to pick a movie or something. Samantha looked over his collection and chose a movie. The two then watched the movie in companionable silence on the couch, Samantha snuggled under a blanket to keep warm. Her feet were still freezing though, and after she shuffled the blanket around for the umpteenth time trying to get them covered well enough, Paul laughed and pulled her feet and placed them against his thigh, sandwiching her toes between his leg and arm.

As odd as this whole situation was, it was nice. The welcome she received when she knocked on his door, the warmth of the fireplace inside, the open-heartedness and acceptance she was met with, and now the feeling of her feet slowly getting warm on his soft, warm thigh... it all felt so comforting that it was hard to believe it was real.

After the movie, Samantha checked the door again and while it opened just a crack, there was still no going anywhere yet. She called her family again, and as it had only been a small part of the family that could make it this morning as planned, things were winding down early, so she didn't have anything she needed to get to today after all.

There was nothing to do but relax. She turned on the TV low, and joined Paul on the couch again, being a bit daring and sitting right next to him. He surprised her by placing his arm behind her and wordlessly inviting her to snuggle in closer.

"I'm sorry for imposing on you like this," she said then. "I feel like this is way too much."

Paul wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a hug, telling her not to overthink it. She agreed that this was a once in a lifetime series of strange events, little of which she had control over. He told her he was grateful for the company and wasn't bothered in the slightest.

As the day went on and the snow slowly melted enough for the door to open, they went outside to assess the situation. The roads seemed clear enough, so she started the car to let it warm up while she said her goodbyes to Paul.

"I can't thank you enough for all of this," she told him honestly as she stood in the entryway. "I'll never forget it."

"It was nothing," he shrugged. "Besides, you made my lonely Christmas so much brighter." He gave her a hug. "I'd like to stay in touch. Text me when you get home?" he asked.

"Of course!" she promised.