Originally Posted by atalose

And are you building a new expectation that some how he will swoop in and save the day? Help you? Offer you money to help you etc. etc.

How about the possibility of this scenario, he gets drunk calls you and demands the dogs back!

It's usually never that positive fairy tale we desperately try and tell ourselves, it's often the horror sh*t show and the ending always has hurt, pain and disappointment with lots of regret that we allowed ourselves to get sucked in yet one more time.