Chapter 1
I heard the puppy before I saw him.
His nails tapped across the living-room floor as I came home from school. He skidded around the corner of the sofa, a blue collar jingling at his neck, and stopped at my shoes.
For one confused second, I thought he belonged to a neighbor.
Then Ava called, “Milo! Come here!”
The puppy raced back to her. Caleb sat beside her on the rug, smiling as Milo tried to climb into his lap. Vanessa was on the sofa, filming them with her phone.
Nobody had heard me come in except the dog.
I looked past them to the corner beside the fireplace.
Bruno’s bed was there.
His blanket was gone.
I checked the hook by the front door. His red leash was gone, too.
Bruno always came to meet me, even when he was half asleep. He would get to his feet slowly now that he was older, then hurry the last few steps as if I might leave before he reached me.
I dropped my backpack.
“Where’s Bruno?”
Vanessa lowered her phone. Caleb stopped playing with the puppy.
“I found him another home,” Vanessa said.
I waited for her to explain. She didn’t.
“You gave him away?”
“He needs more attention than we can give him.”
“I walk him every morning and after school.”
“Caleb and Ava have wanted a puppy for ages.”
Milo tugged at Caleb’s sleeve. I looked at his blue collar, then at the bare corner by the fireplace.
“Bruno was my dog.”
“And Milo is theirs,” Vanessa said.
Caleb’s smile vanished.
“Mom, I told you not to get rid of Bruno.”
“Stay out of this, Caleb.”
He looked down. Ava held the puppy against her chest so tightly that he wriggled to get comfortable.
I had known Bruno since I was six. My dad brought him home the summer after my mother died. He was a clumsy brown puppy with paws too big for his body, and I named him before Dad could finish saying we should think about it.
For years, I told Bruno things I couldn’t tell anyone else.
After my first week at a new school, he slept outside my door. When Dad traveled, Bruno waited with me by the window at night. Even lately, when it felt easier to stay in my room than sit with the rest of the family, he followed me upstairs.
I had been at school all day. Bruno had been home.
“You should have told me,” I said.
Vanessa sighed. “I knew you’d react like this.”
“Where is he? I want to call whoever has him.”
“I said he has another home.”
“What’s their number?”
Vanessa picked up her phone again. “Nia, take your shoes off the rug.”
I hadn’t moved from the doorway.
I bent to untie them because my hands needed something to do. One lace slipped through my fingers. I could feel Ava watching me.
“You promised he could stay,” I said.
“I promised we’d discuss what was best for him.”
Dad and I had discussed Bruno’s age at the vet’s office the month before. He had stiff joints, but the vet said his heart sounded good. I gave him medicine with breakfast and helped him up the back steps when he needed it.
Vanessa had complained about the medicine costing money. Dad told her he would pay for it. I thought that settled the matter.
Milo trotted over and sniffed my hand. He was warm and curious. I couldn’t bring myself to pet him.
A car door shut outside.
Ava looked toward the window. “Daddy’s home!”
The front door opened, and Dad stepped in with his travel bag. He wasn’t due back until tomorrow. He smiled as Caleb ran to hug him, then caught Ava in his other arm.
“Surprise,” he said.
Milo barked. Dad glanced down.
“Who’s this?”
“His name is Milo,” Ava said, though she sounded less excited now.
Dad set down his bag. He saw my backpack on the floor and looked up at me.
His smile faded.
Then he turned toward the fireplace.
“Where’s Bruno?”
Vanessa rose from the sofa. “I found a place for him. He was getting to be too much for this house.”
Dad looked at her, then at me.
“She took him while I was at school,” I said.
“You didn’t talk to Nia?” Dad asked.
“She would never have agreed.”
“And you didn’t talk to me?”
“You’ve been away all week.”
Dad’s voice stayed level, but I saw him tighten his grip on the handle of his bag.
“Tell us where he is.”
Ava shifted Milo in her arms.
“Dad,” she whispered.
Vanessa turned to her. “You can take him into the kitchen, Ava.”
Ava stayed where she was.
“Mom didn’t give Bruno to another family.”
“Ava,” Vanessa said.
Dad crouched so he could see Ava’s face. “Where did she take him?”
Ava pointed at the coffee table. A magazine lay over a folded piece of paper.
Dad lifted it. I moved close enough to read the heading.
ANIMAL SURRENDER FORM.
For a moment, the words refused to make sense.
“He’s at a shelter?” I asked.
Vanessa said, “They’ll find him a good home.”
Dad read down the page. His eyes stopped at a line halfway through. He read it again, slower.
“Why does it say Nia requested this?”
“I had to fill out the form,” Vanessa said.
“I never asked you to take him anywhere.”
Dad turned the page toward me. Under reason for surrender, someone had written my name. Beside it were words about my safety.
My throat closed.
Ava’s eyes filled with tears.
“Dad, there’s something else Mom told them about Nia.”
Vanessa took a step toward her.
“That’s enough.”
Dad stood between them, the paper still in his hand.
“What did she tell them?”
May you like
Ava opened her mouth.
And for the first time since I’d come home, Vanessa looked frightened.
