“I wish you were still here,” I whisper, the words cloudy and shaky. I try to set the picture back down in exactly the same spot I found it in.

I walk back through the living room and into the kitchen—there are only so many places he could be. It’s so dark out I can barely see the outline of the She Shed/Puppy Palace, but then I spot Gramps sitting outside on the back porch, looking out at the trees.

He doesn’t notice me there as I open the door. “Gramps?” I ask quietly.

“Hmm?” he answers, still looking into the distance.

“Gramps, what are you doing outside in the dark?”

“Just looking at the stars,” he says, sounding sleepy. There’s a sadness coming from him—just like there’s a sadness coming from Mom upstairs. But that sadness wasn’t there earlier when he was showing me all the things he bought for Dewey. He was excited then. He was doing something that made him feel good. Something from his heart—and that is the most important thing, like he said. Why would I want to take that from him?

“Gramps, if we were going to go through with this plan, how would it work?”

He looks up at me and smiles.

Part Three

CODE NAME: HOME, SWEET HOME

Chapter 18

THE SLEEPOVER

Six o’clock, Friday night, the doorbell rings.

Macy and I spent all day in school going over the plan: how she’d spend the night, so we could all get to the shelter early in the day; how Gramps was in charge of coming up with a way to get Moms out of the house tomorrow.

Mama goes to answer the door, and Gramps and I share a look across the dinner table. The plan is now officially in action.

Mama invites Macy and her dad inside, and they shake hands, exchanging first names the way grown-ups always do. If I could see bits of Macy’s grandma in Macy before, now I can see that she has some of her dad too. His hair is curly just like Macy’s, except his is bright red instead of brown, but he has the same dusting of freckles across his nose and cheeks.

“I’ve heard so much about you,” Mama says. “I’m so glad you could come over.”

“Thanks for having her,” Macy’s dad says.

“You’re welcome to come in and stay for dinner too—my wife’s bringing home a pizza.”

He looks at his watch. “Thank you, but I should be getting back to Macy’s grandmother.”

Mama nods, and says quietly, “We have a grandparent here too.”