Shelby comes over on Monday afternoon to help me pack up Lila’s things. She brings Pilot with her, which maybe wasn’t the best idea, since he’s real excited to be in a new house and spends most of the time just bouncing around and sniffing every nook and cranny he can find. Lila follows him, as if she’s the babysitter making sure he ain’t getting into too much trouble.

“Is that everything?” Shelby asks as she drops Lila’s tug rope into the plastic box that sits in the middle of the living room floor.

I nod. I ain’t said a whole lot since Saturday, when Beth and Lila and I got back from the rescue.

“Okay.” Shelby picks up the lid and fits it onto the box. “She doesn’t have much. I guess that makes sense though, since y’all only had her here for the summer.” She walks over to the couch and plops down. “How are you feeling about her leaving?”

I walk over and sit down next to her, wrapping my arms around myself. “I—I ain’t sure, really. I know she’s gonna be happy with Michelle. It’s real obvious they love each other, and I think Michelle will take care of her. But …”

“But you’re gonna miss her,” Shelby says.

“Yeah.”

Shelby scoots closer and slings an arm around my shoulders, giving them a squeeze. “She’s gonna miss you, too,” she tells me. “And didn’t you say Michelle said y’all could come by and visit Lila sometimes?”

“Yeah, but …”

“But it ain’t the same.” Shelby nods. “I know.” She gives my shoulders another squeeze. “I know it don’t mean much, but if you’re ever just missing having a dog around, you’re welcome to borrow Pilot.”

It ain’t even half a second after she says that that we hear a small crash followed by Beth hollering, “Pilot! Lila! What did y’all do?”

Shelby grimaces at me. “He might not be the best replacement, but …”

I can’t help but laugh. It’s the first time I’ve laughed in a couple days. “Thanks, Shelby.”

“You’re welcome.” She pulls her arm from my shoulders and folds her hands in her lap. “I know Lila’s been your best friend since you got here pretty much. But school’s gonna start soon, and between me and the people I’ll introduce you to there, you’ll have lots of friends. We just might not be as cute and furry.”

A second later, Beth walks into the living room with Lila and Pilot following close behind her. Might just be my imagination—since I ain’t the best at reading expressions—but both dogs look a little guilty, if you ask me.

“Did you get all her stuff packed?” Beth asks.

I nod and wave my hand toward the plastic tub in the middle of the room.

“All right. Well, Michelle should be off work by now. I told her we’d be there by six and we still gotta pick up Vanessa, so we ought to get going.”

“That’s my cue.” Shelby gets to her feet and grabs Pilot’s leash from the hook by the door. “Say goodbye to Lila, boy.”

Pilot’s way of saying bye to Lila is, apparently, giving her butt one final sniff.

Shelby sighs and hooks his leash on before kneeling down and giving Lila a scratch behind the ears. Lila wags her tail and licks her face. It’s a big difference from the first time she met Shelby and Pilot, when she stayed behind a bench with her back to them.

“It was nice to meet you, Lila,” Shelby says in her cooing, talking-to-a-dog voice. “You’re a good girl. Have fun in your new home, okay?”

Lila pants and wags her tail.

Shelby straightens up and turns to me. “I’ll see you soon, right? We can hang out before school starts.”

“Yeah. Of course.”

“You know,” Beth says. “The dog rescue is always looking for volunteers. Hadley’s gonna have a little less on her plate with Lila gone. If y’all want, I can sign you up.”

Shelby’s voice sounds like it’s raised about three octaves when she says, “Really?” with a completely unnecessary level of excitement.

“Really. It’d give y’all a chance to hang out together if you want.”

“We should do it, Hadley,” Shelby says. I think she’s pretty much bouncing in place now.

“We’d mostly just be refilling water dishes and cleaning out pens,” I point out.

“That’s fine by me,” Shelby says. “We’ll still get to play with dogs at least a little bit. Right, Beth?”

“Most likely, yeah.”

“Hadley, please, please, please!” Shelby begs. And now she ain’t just bouncing—she’s holding on to my arm with one hand and Pilot’s leash with the other. And giving both an overjoyed shake. “Let’s do it. It’ll be fun!”

“I ain’t really a dog person.”

“Nobody’ll believe that anymore,” Beth tells me.

I sigh. But Shelby’s so excited by the prospect that I can’t say no. And once Lila’s gone, it probably would be a good idea to keep busy so I don’t miss her constantly.

“Sure. I guess we can volunteer together.”

“Yay!” Shelby exclaims. “Okay. Just call me whenever you find out when we can volunteer. Thank you, Beth!”

“I ought to be thanking you,” Beth says. “The rescue is always in need of help. Can’t say I’ve ever seen someone so excited about unpaid work, though.”

“Doggy cuddles are my payment,” Shelby assures her.

Before she goes, Shelby gives me a hug. I’m still sitting on the couch, so she’s gotta lean down to do it. She gives good hugs. Like she really means them. It dawns on me suddenly that if it wasn’t for Lila, I wouldn’t have made this new friend.

A lot of things would be different if it wasn’t for Lila.

Once Shelby and Pilot are gone, Beth picks up the tub of Lila’s things and carries it out to her car. I get Lila leashed up. She licks my face once while I’m knelt down. I wonder if she knows we’re about to say goodbye.

Beth and I don’t talk during the car ride. I sit in the back seat, and Lila’s in her crate next to me. We pick up Vanessa from the rescue, and during the rest of the ride, she talks to Beth about paperwork and other dogs that are being adopted soon, and I just zone out for a bit.

Michelle don’t live real close—it takes about an hour to get to her place. Her little house is at the end of a long gravel driveway with a wooden fence that wraps around the yard. Beth parks the car, then turns to look back at me from the front seat.

“You ready?”

I open my mouth to answer, but no words come out.

Vanessa puts a hand on my sister’s shoulder. “Why don’t we give them a minute?” she suggests. “We can go let Michelle know we’re here. I still need to do the home check—make sure there are no weak spots in the fence.”

Beth hesitates, then nods in agreement. “Yeah, all right.” She looks back at me. “Y’all take your time.”

I don’t do anything for a minute after Beth and Vanessa get out of the car. Not until I hear Lila shift in the crate and let out a little huff of annoyance. I turn to look at her. She’s staring at me through the front slats of the crate, head tilted as she studies me.

“Do you have any idea what’s about to happen?” I ask her.

Lila tilts her head to the other side.

I lean forward and open the crate. Lila wiggles her way out—it ain’t easy since we’re still in the back seat—but she manages to squeeze out of the carrier and up into my lap. She’s way too big for this, but I don’t stop her. I just wrap my arms around her thick neck.

“A lot has changed because of you, you know,” I tell her. “I wouldn’t have started taking mobility classes and gotten my cane if not for you. I wouldn’t have met Shelby. I don’t even know if I’d have left Beth’s house if you didn’t make me. I’d still be miserable. You helped a lot, Lila.”

Lila nuzzles her face against my cheek.

“I’d like to think I made things better for you, too,” I say. “If it wasn’t for me, Vanessa wouldn’t have put your picture up on the website. Michelle wouldn’t have found you. You’d still be pouting at the rescue, ignoring everybody.”

Lila begins to sniff my hair and lets out a snort.

“We both did a lot of good for each other, I guess.”

Her tail thumps and she wiggles slightly, trying to get more comfortable in the small space.

I press my lips together, trying to hold back tears. “I’m glad you’re gonna be happy,” I whisper. “I-I’m gonna try to be happy, too. That’s what you’d want, right?”

Lila gives a quiet woof that I take as an affirmative.

“All right.” I tighten my hug again, then let my arms fall away from Lila’s neck. “Well, let’s go, then. Michelle’s waiting on you.”

I open the car door, and Lila scrambles across me to hop out. I’ve grabbed hold of her leash so she can’t run off too quick while I climb out behind her.

Lila and I start walking toward the gate. On the other side of the fence, I can hear voices—Michelle and Vanessa and Beth, all talking and laughing. They sound excited. And beside me, Lila’s tail starts wagging. She’s excited, too.

I look down at her one last time, and even though I feel like I wanna cry, I give her a smile.

Then I push open the gate and introduce Lila to her new home.