Chapter 1

My husband took the leash out of our seven-year-old daughter's hand in front of everyone and gave her dog to another little girl.

Sophie stood at the edge of the training ring in her blue club shirt, bouncing on her heels. She was waiting for Ryan to take his place in the front row with his camera. Instead, he walked up to her and pulled the nylon loop from her fingers.

He crouched beside Scout and unhooked the silver tag bearing Sophie's name. It dropped into the dirt. Sophie immediately knelt and picked it up, closing it inside her fist.

Ryan took a bright pink collar from his jacket pocket. A new tag hung from the buckle, already engraved with LUCY. He fastened it around Scout's neck and handed the matching leash to Megan's daughter.

I caught his arm. "Ryan, what the hell are you doing?"

He pulled away. "Lucy needs him more. Megan and I talked about it last night."

"You had a tag made before you said a word to Sophie?"

"Don't turn this into a fight, Nora."

"Ryan said Scout can sleep next to me every night," Lucy said. She dropped to her knees and hugged him around the neck.

Megan rested a hand on Lucy's shoulder. "His bed is already set up beside hers. We bought his bowls and everything."

Scout whined and dug his paws into the grass. When Lucy tried to lead him away, he twisted against the new collar and pulled toward Sophie.

Sophie ran to him. She wrapped both arms around his neck and pressed her face into his fur. "Daddy, no. He's mine. You gave him to me."

Ryan bent down, opened her hands one finger at a time, and lifted them from Scout's harness.

"Stop making a scene," he said. "Lucy lost her father four months ago. She wakes up crying, and the only night she slept through was the night Scout stayed with her. You still have both your parents. You need to share."

"I'm not sharing him." Sophie's voice cracked. "You're taking him."

Ryan's mother stepped out from the crowd and frowned at her. "Your father is trying to help a child who has been through something terrible. Don't make him feel guilty for doing a good thing."

One of Ryan's friends nodded. "Jack would be proud of you, man. You kept your promise."

Lucy began to cry and tightened both hands around the pink leash.

Megan knelt and pulled her close. "Ryan, we'll give Scout back. We can take the bed down when we get home." She stroked Lucy's hair as the girl sobbed into her shoulder. "I know, sweetheart. You've already lost so much."

"But Ryan promised," Lucy cried.

Ryan put his hand on her back. "And I meant it. No one is taking Scout away from you."

The loudspeaker crackled across the field. "Next up for the obedience demonstration, Sophie and Scout."

Sophie looked toward the ring. The trainer was waiting beside the first obstacle with their blue graduation ribbon in her hand. Scout stood several feet away, straining at Lucy's leash. The old tag cut into Sophie's palm.

When Ryan brought Scout home, he'd placed the leash in Sophie's hands and promised the dog would always be hers. She had trained him every afternoon for four months. The night before the exhibition, Ryan had promised to sit in the front row and photograph their graduation.

The trainer called their names again.

I stepped in front of Sophie. "She's withdrawing from the exhibition."

I took my daughter's hand and led her away from the ring.

"I'm taking Megan and Lucy home," Ryan called after us. "I'll be at Megan's tonight. Scout needs someone he knows while he settles in."

I kept walking.

Sophie looked back at her father crossing the parking lot with another mother and another daughter. Lucy led Scout beside them in his pink collar.

Sophie held the silver tag against her chest.

"Daddy promised Scout would always be mine. Did I do something bad?"

I crouched and pulled her into my arms. "No, baby. You didn't do anything wrong."

She buried her face against my shoulder. "Mommy, I want to go home."

That night, Sophie cried herself to sleep with Scout's fleece blanket clutched under her chin. I sat beside her until her breathing evened out, then carried my phone into the hallway and called Ryan.

He answered on the second ring. Scout whined somewhere behind him.

"Tomorrow, come back and get your things," I said. "I want a divorce."