I finally found her in the sunny area, lying in a patch of sunlight perfectly round, like a spotlight. I put my hand gently on her head and said, “Girl, it’s time to go.”

She raised her head and thumped her tail once. She whined low in her throat, and I caught her emotions on the air. Sadess. Desire to stay. And love. Overwhelming love. We think we know how much our dogs love us, but it’s nothing, nothing like reality. I sat down next to her and rubbed her belly, and the love and contentment came off her in waves. She was happy here. She belonged.

“I’m going to have to go, Jet. I might be able to be happy here, but I have to get Daniel out. He can’t stay.”

Jet rolled over and licked my hand once. I scratched her on the head behind her ears the way she liked. “Can I come visit?”

She wagged her tail again, and stretched out in the sun.

“Good dog,” I whispered.

When I saw Daniel waiting on me, I wiped my eyes hastily, but he just smiled his half smile. “Where’s Jet?”

“Staying. I’m wondering if we were just supposed to bring her here and that was our mission.”

“Could be, who knows why we’re doing this,” he agreed, giving me a quick hug. “Thanks for getting me out of there.”

I pulled back. I’d been too distracted when carting him away from his lady friends to notice, but this close it was clear. Loud and clear. The smell coming from him was sour and underhanded.

“You’re… lying,” I said.

“What?”

“Lying. About this traveling. Why we’re doing it. We’re not doing it to help people or deliver Jet to her Heaven or whatever. There’s another reason.”

Daniel’s jaw dropped open and his face flushed. We were far enough out of dog Heaven for me to catch the color in his cheeks, but still close enough for me to smell the strong scent of panic rising from him.

“Why did you lie, Daniel? Why are we really here?”

He just stared at me.

My fists clenched. “Fine. Don’t fucking tell me. But I’m not following you around anymore. I thought I could trust you.

“When I got to Heaven, you want to know what happened? God sent me a fake you to hang around with, a perfect you who – “ I still couldn’t say it. Couldn’t say, “loved me.”

“When I found out he was fake, I decided to live alone. I can do it again, Daniel. If you’re lying to me, you’re not the friend I had in life. You’ve been sarcastic and aloof, but I always knew I could trust you. Now I don’t know.”