My stepmother gave away my childhood dog to buy her kids a new puppy. She told my father I asked for it, but my little sister was about to expose her dark secret.

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.”