“Hi, Stormy, yes, I see you, hello,” she said as she walked to the basement door. Once she’d tossed the dirty laundry down the stairs, she knelt and gave the dog some love, scratching her ears and chin. “Did Mrs. Ward take good care of you while we were gone? Huh, good girl? Huh?” The sweet, excitable dog ducked Amy’s hand, then immediately shoved her head under it. Amy loved that about her—she tried to play like she could escape Amy’s grasp, when really all she wanted was scratches. Amy wondered where Coop and Hutch, the family cats, were hiding; odds were good they were either sitting directly on Amy’s pillow or up in the attic hunting mice.

“Your father might be right,” Mom said as she came up behind Amy and tossed her own tote bag of vacation laundry down the stairs. “We’ve already got a bit of a zoo in this house. Not sure we have room for another dog.”

“Tell that to Katie,” Amy groaned, giving Stormy the full treatment—hindquarter scratches, belly rubs, pets on the face that the dog pretended to snap at but made deep groaning noises over. “She’s the one getting really attached to him.”

“He is a handsome dog,” said Mom.

“And we wouldn’t even need to train him,” added Amy quickly.

“Aha, so it’s Katie we have to worry about,” said Mom with a smirk. “Nice try, pal.”

“I’m just saying,” Amy said with a fake-innocent shrug. “It might be nice to give this dog a home. After however long he was trapped on the side of the road, maybe he could use a night in a warm house with loving people.”

Mom tried to look stern, but Amy could see she was winning.

Finally, Amy’s mother shook her head and sighed. “I can’t understand what kind of evil person would do that to a dog,” she said. “And especially one so well trained and sweet.”

Amy nodded. Whoever had chained Rover at the side of the road must have wanted him out of their life pretty bad to give up a dog who was so responsive to commands. Why waste your time teaching a dog to roll over if you’re only going to leave him stranded with his mouth taped shut?

“In here, boy!” Katie led Rover into the house, gripping him by a hunk of hair on the back of his neck. If the dog minded, he made no show of it.

“Rover, come meet everyone,” said Katie, pointing over to where Amy crouched. “This is Stormy, our other dog. She’s a sweetheart.”

From her spot on her back, Stormy sniffed the air. Suddenly, the dog tensed under Amy’s palm so fast, Amy yanked her hand back with a gasp.