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neared Liam, the dog shrieked and tried to pull out of its collar.
    His heart sinking, he quickly retreated until the family could calm the dog enough to walk it out the front door. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his mom give him a sad look before Pia turned to thefront receptionist and asked, “Do you have a section with puppies?”
    “We sure do,” the receptionist told her. “All the puppies that are up for adoption are through that glass door. You’ll be able to see it in a moment. I’m sure Eileen will want to give you a tour.”
    “Certainly,” Pia said. She looked at Liam and told him telepathically, Go visit with the puppies if you want.
    He hesitated. Youdon’t mind?
    Of course not. She smiled at him. We’ll just be talking about annual budgets and policy changes anyway. Go—enjoy yourself. I’ve got this.
    Thanks. As a brisk gray-haired woman strode up to Pia and Eva, Liam stuck his hands in the pockets of his jeans and strolled over to the glass door that led to the area where the adoptable puppies were kept.
    On the other side of the door, a longroom held a series of pens with waist-high gates. High squeaks and yaps sounded as he approached.
    He peered over the first gate, but that kennel was empty. The next held three sleeping Chihuahua puppies, curled in a pile on a folded blanket. He smiled as he looked at their small, round bellies.
    The third kennel held two Rottweiler mix puppies that rolled along the floor and play-fought witheach other. He clicked his tongue at them and snapped his fingers, but they ignored him.
    Indifference was a lot better than outright panic. Shrugging, he moved on.
    The fourth kennel was the largest and it held the most. Seven puppies gamboled about. It was hard to tell what kind of breed mix they were. There seemed to be some German shepherd, along with maybe a splash of golden retriever, orsomething else he couldn’t identify. The result was that the puppies looked somewhat wolfish, with narrow noses, yellow-gold eyes, and brown and tan markings on their soft, shaggy pelts.
    As he watched, one puppy chewed its hind leg while one of its litter mates stalked up to it and pounced. Liam laughed as the pair fell over, growling at each other.
    Bending over the gate, he reached down topet one of the largest of the puppies. It promptly turned to gnaw on his fingers with needle-sharp teeth. Another, smaller puppy fixed on him and bounded to the gate. It scrabbled at the barrier.
    The thing was, his parents hadn’t been wrong. He really would have loved to have a puppy. But now he was going away to school, or at least he hoped he was.
    If everything went well, he would be leavingbehind everyone he knew. His mother and father. His new baby brother. He would be gambling everything to take a shot at a big unknown.
    If everything didn’t go well, and he didn’t get into Glenhaven in time for the next term, he truly had no idea what he was going to do with himself.
    He wished he had friends, because he could sure use a friend to talk to right now. But there was nobody. His lastbunch of friends were years behind him in age and development. He had left them far behind with this latest growth spurt, and they wouldn’t be looking at going to college for years.
    He’d had a good talk with Hugh, but Hugh was like an uncle. Hugh could offer good advice, but he couldn’t empathize with where Liam was at. Because nobody was where Liam was at. He was surrounded by people who lovedhim, yet he had never felt lonelier.
    Everything felt at once too big and yet too restrictive. His chest constricted, and he couldn’t breathe as the wide, wild world crushed down on him.
    A woman bent over the gate beside him and held a long-fingered, tawny hand out to one of the puppies. She asked, “Which one are you going to pick?”
    Liam paused, puzzled. He hadn’t heard anyone come in throughthe glass door. He must have been more preoccupied with the puppies than he had realized.
    “I’m just