But his body was relaxed.
During the following days, Grosso began exploring more.
He followed Elena into the backyard.
He discovered a patch of afternoon sun in the living room.
He learned that opening the cheese drawer in the refrigerator was an event worth investigating.
He also revealed that despite his serious hospital expression, he had a ridiculous habit of carrying one of Elena’s slippers from room to room without chewing it.
The first real test came when Elena returned to work.
She hated leaving him.
Grosso watched her put on scrubs.
He watched her pack food.
When she picked up her keys, he stood.
Elena’s stomach tightened.
She clipped no leash onto him.
Instead, she crouched several feet away.
“I have to go to work.”
Grosso stared at her.
“I’m coming back.”
The words meant nothing to him.
Elena knew that.
So she left.
For the first hour of her shift, she checked the home camera far more often than she would admit to coworkers.
Grosso sat near the front door.
Twenty minutes.
Thirty.
Then he stood, walked through the living room, smelled the couch, and returned.
At some point after midnight, he lay down.
Not at the door itself.
Beside one of Elena’s old scrub tops she had intentionally left on the dog bed.
By two in the morning, he was asleep.
At seven-ten, Elena pulled into her driveway.
The camera showed Grosso standing before she opened the car door.
When the key entered the lock, he backed away several feet.
Elena stepped inside.
For one second, Grosso simply looked at her.
Then his tail began moving.
He walked forward.
No frantic jumping.
No dramatic cry.
He pressed the side of his body against her legs and remained there.
Elena placed both hands around his face.
“Told you.”
That became their new routine.
Work nights were difficult at first.
Grosso waited longer on some evenings than others. If Elena’s shift ran late, he became restless near the time she usually returned. But with repetition, something shifted.
He stopped sleeping directly beside the front door.
First his bed moved into the living room.
Then into the hallway.
Several months later, Elena woke one afternoon and found Grosso asleep beside her bedroom door.
The change was only twenty feet.