“You taught me that home isn’t a building.”

“It’s the place where someone notices when you’re missing.”

Diane sat down.

She cried for a long time.

Then she smiled.

Because she finally understood.

---

Why Buddy Came Back

The next day, Diane took Buddy to the memorial bench where the whole story had begun.

She sat beside him.

For a while, neither moved.

The wind passed through the trees.

Children were playing nearby.

Someone was walking a bicycle along the path.

It was an ordinary afternoon.

Diane looked at Buddy.

“Did you really know where you were taking me?”

Buddy looked at her.

His tail moved slowly.

Diane smiled.

“I think you did.”

She placed a hand on his head.

“Thank you.”

Buddy leaned against her leg.

And for the first time in three years, Diane didn’t feel like she was sitting at a place where Caleb had been lost.

She felt like she was sitting at a place where his story had begun again.