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.
May you like
Behind Bruno, Milo bounced at the baby gate while Caleb tried to keep him from climbing it. Ava called for me to see a picture she had drawn of both dogs.
For once, coming through a front door felt good.
