Chapter 6
Bruno and Milo met through a baby gate three days later.
Milo wagged so hard his whole body moved. Bruno sniffed him, sneezed, and walked away. Caleb laughed with relief.
“Bruno thinks he’s annoying.”
“He isn’t wrong,” I said.
We kept their visits short. Dad followed the advice Leah’s friend gave us, and I watched Bruno for any sign that he was tired. I wanted both dogs to have a home. Ava had fallen in love with Milo, and Caleb carried his chew toy everywhere in case the puppy got bored.
Vanessa called the younger two each evening. Sometimes they laughed with her. Sometimes Ava came away quiet. I tried not to listen, but Leah’s house was small.
One night, I heard Vanessa ask Ava whether I was letting Milo near Bruno.
Ava said yes, through the gate.
“And what does Nia say about that?”
Ava looked at Dad, who was sitting beside her.
“Nia helps,” she replied.
Vanessa said something I couldn’t hear. Ava’s face fell. Dad gently ended the call when the agreed time was up.
Afterward, Ava found me in the yard.
“Mom thinks you want Milo gone because she got him,” she said.
“I don’t.”
“I told her that.”
“Thank you.”
Ava sat on the step beside me. “Can I love her and still be glad Bruno’s back?”
“Yes.”
She leaned against my shoulder. I put my arm around her.
Dad and Vanessa met with a family counselor that week. He didn’t tell us everything they discussed. He did tell us he and Vanessa would be living separately while they worked out what was safe for everyone.
Caleb wanted to know if that meant she wouldn’t be his mother anymore.
“No,” Dad said. “You and Ava can keep loving Mom. The adults will handle the decisions about where we live.”
I was relieved to hear him say it. I never wanted Caleb or Ava to think they had to choose me to keep Bruno safe.
A few days later, Mr. Patel called Dad. The shelter had finished reviewing Bruno’s file. They had corrected the false bite information. The staff member who took the surrender had also written down what Vanessa said when she came in. Mr. Patel could provide a copy for our records.
Dad asked whether I wanted to read it.
“I think I do.”
The account was short. Vanessa had said I was frightened of Bruno and too upset to come with her. She told the worker that Dad supported the decision but was traveling. When asked for a photograph of an injury from the supposed bite, she said there wasn’t one.
Reading it made my face burn. I had spent years showing people pictures of Bruno sleeping on my feet. A stranger had believed I was afraid of him because Vanessa said so.
Dad put the account away when I asked him to.
At school, my friend Tessa noticed Bruno’s picture was back on my phone’s home screen. I told her what happened while we waited for the bus.
“You could’ve called me,” she said.
“I didn’t know what to say.”
“You could’ve said, ‘Come sit with me.’”
The next afternoon, Tessa came to Leah’s house. Bruno let her scratch his ears. Milo fell asleep against her sneaker.
I hadn’t realized how little I had told my friends about home. I had kept quiet when Vanessa complained about Bruno because I didn’t want people to think I was making trouble.
Tessa didn’t ask why I had stayed quiet. She just sat with me on the floor.
That weekend, Dad took me back to our house to collect more clothes. Vanessa had gone out, and Leah stayed with Caleb and Ava. Bruno waited at Leah’s because I wasn’t ready to bring him back inside.
My room looked the way I had left it, except Bruno’s old bed was gone. Dad had taken it to Leah’s. The empty space beside my door caught my eye.
“I used to hear him get up whenever Vanessa came upstairs,” I said.
Dad stopped folding a sweater.
“Was she coming into your room?”
“Sometimes. To tell me his hair was on the hall carpet. Or that he barked while she was on the phone.”
“Did she ever hurt him?”
“I never saw her do it. She pulled his collar that one time. Mostly she wanted him somewhere she couldn’t see him.”
Dad sat beside me. “I wish I’d known how often you felt that.”
I looked around my room.
“It got easier to stay up here with him.”
“We’ll figure out where home feels right again,” Dad said. “You don’t have to come back before you’re ready.”
When we returned to Leah’s, Bruno met me at the door. I knelt to hug him. Dad carried my bag inside.
Chapter 7
The meeting about where we would live was on a Thursday.
Dad told me I could stay at school while he and Vanessa met with their lawyers. I asked to come home early instead. I didn’t want to sit through the meeting, but I wanted to be with Leah when Dad called.
By lunchtime, I had checked my phone six times.
Tessa took it gently from my hand and placed it screen down on the table.
“Eat,” she said.
“I’m trying.”
“Your dad said he’d call.”
“He did.”
She waited while I took a bite of my sandwich. Then she pushed the phone back toward me.
At three, Dad called. He and Vanessa had agreed that the three of us would remain with him. Caleb and Ava would spend scheduled time with their mother. Vanessa would stay with her sister for now while Dad made the house ready for us to return.
“What about Bruno?” I asked.
“He’s coming home with us.”
“And Milo?”
“Him, too. We’ll keep following the plan that’s working for the dogs.”
I sat down on Leah’s stairs.
“Are you sure Vanessa won’t come back and take Bruno?”
“I’ve taken care of his registration and the vet account,” Dad said. “No one else can authorize decisions for him.”
I heard voices in the background and realized he was still outside the meeting room.
“Come home,” I said.
“I’m on my way.”
When he arrived, Ava ran to him. Caleb asked when they would see their mother. Dad answered every question before he came to sit beside me.
“You okay?” he asked.
“I will be.”
We returned home the following week. Before we left Leah’s, I walked Bruno around her yard one last time. He sniffed the fence and turned back toward me as if he was ready when I was.
At our house, Dad had put his bed in my room. He and Caleb had set up a separate space for Milo downstairs. The gates were in place, and everyone knew how to use them.
The first evening was harder than I expected.
I heard a car slow outside and rushed to the window, certain Vanessa was coming. It was a neighbor. I felt foolish until Dad found me there.
“You don’t need to explain,” he said.
“I wanted to come back.”
“I know.”
“I still got scared.”
“You can tell me that whenever it happens.”
I went to my room. Bruno followed and lay beside my bed.
The next morning, Dad made breakfast before school. He burned the toast, then made more. Caleb was late because Milo had stolen one of his socks. Ava laughed until she dropped her spoon.
I waited for Vanessa to come in and say the dogs were making a mess.
She didn’t.
Weeks passed. Dad kept his promise to be home more. When he had to travel for one night, Leah stayed with us, and he called before bedtime. I still missed him. I also knew exactly when he was coming back.
Bruno grew comfortable with Milo. The puppy learned not to jump on him when he was resting. Sometimes Bruno followed Milo into the yard and watched him chase leaves. Caleb said Bruno was teaching him manners. I thought Milo was teaching Bruno to play again.
Ava asked if she could take a photograph of them together. I said yes. She showed me before she showed anyone else.
One afternoon, Vanessa sent me a letter through Dad. He asked if I wanted it. I carried it to my room but didn’t open it until after dinner.
She wrote that she was sorry she had taken Bruno and lied to the shelter. She said she had been angry about feeling unheard, and she had convinced herself that getting a puppy for Caleb and Ava would make the house happier.
I read that sentence twice.
Then I read the last line.
I know I made you feel like you had no say in your own home.
I folded the letter. I didn’t know whether I wanted to answer.
Dad knocked.
“You don’t have to write back,” he said when I told him.
“Did she ask you if I would?”
“She asked me to give it to you. That’s all.”
I placed it in my desk drawer.
“I’m glad she admitted she lied.”
“You deserved to hear that.”
“I’m still angry.”
“You can be.”
Bruno lifted his head from the bed and rested his chin on my foot. I reached down to stroke his ear.
Dad looked at us and smiled, but his eyes were wet.
“Do you think he remembers the shelter?” I asked.
“I don’t know.”
“He gets up when I leave the room.”
