“Yeah, but they were idiots. They did you a favor by leaving.”

She smiled. She doubted her dad would ever think any guy was good enough for her. “Well, even if we don’t count them, there are still more.”

“Who else?”

She licked her dry lips. “Do you remember Jenny? She was my best friend back when I was nine. She lived next door in that—”

“White house with the ugly green shutters? Of course. She was a nice girl, and you two played together all the time. Well, until her family moved away.” Realizing what he’d said, a frown emerged. “But honey, she didn’t leave you. Not really. Her dad had received that job offer in California. It wasn’t like she could stay here with us. She had no choice but to go.”

“Try telling that to a nine-year-old girl who just lost her best friend. At the time, it felt like she’d abandoned me. Especially since she never wrote me a letter or tried to stay in contact.”

“Well, that happens. People sometimes move on with their lives and never fully realize what an impact they had on a person. Or how much they could be missed by someone. Have you tried looking her up? She was so young. Maybe she feels the same way you do.”

As odd as it was, that was something she’d never considered. “No, but now that you’ve mentioned it, I may do that. I would love to reconnect with her. It would be interesting to see how much she’s changed since we were little.”

Her dad nodded. “And who knows? Maybe you’ll become best friends again.”

She smiled. “True.”

He scratched his chin. “Well, that had to cover everyone. I can’t think of anyone else who would have left you or disappeared from your life.”

“Actually,” Preslee said, holding up one finger, “there was one more.”

“Who?”

She sighed heavily. “This is stupid, but do you remember that little brown dog that I found behind the grocery store? He was hanging out by the dumpster trying to eat whatever scraps he could find.”

“How could I forget? I hated that dog. He chewed up my sneakers more than once. I wanted to strangle him. But what about him?”

“He ran away from home, remember? Even though I took good care of him, he still left me.”

Her dad stared at her blankly before whispering, “Oh.” He cringed visibly, his lips tightening into a thin line. “I forgot.” Then he let out a nervous chuckle. “Uh, I probably should’ve told you this a long time ago, but…” He ran an uneasy hand through his gray hair.

Her eyes narrowed onto him with laser precision. “But what?”

After a short pause, he finally spoke. “That dog,” he said, cringing. “It didn’t exactly run away from home.”