Mom leans over and looks at Dewey in this thoughtful way, and I wonder if they’re telepathically communicating and I just can’t hear it. She smooths her hands over Dewey’s head and ears, giving her a big pat on her flank. Dewey rests her chin on Mom’s knee and looks up at her with those warm puppy eyes full of love and comfort.

Mom glances at Mama, and they share one of their looks.

“Oh, fine,” Mom mumbles to Dewey. She rolls her eyes, and with a lopsided smile forming on her face, she says, “You can stay.”

“Really?” I squeak. Dewey’s ears perk up, and her tail swishes back and forth. “Did you hear that?” I tell her. “You’re really home now—your forever home.”

Dewey runs over to where Catniss is curled up on the couch and wakes her up like she’s telling her the good news.

“Moms, thank you! I can’t even—I just—thank you.”

“All right, all right,” Mama says as I throw my arms around each of them, kissing their cheeks. “It’s still the middle of the night, and you need to get to bed.”

“Punishment forthcoming,” Mom calls after me as I make my way upstairs.

Dewey follows me into my bedroom, and as I close the door behind us, I let out a huge sigh of relief. I sit down at my desk and take my slippers off, and that’s when I see the blinking message icon on my laptop.

JUDE: thx for telling me the truth. I’m still kind of mad but maybe we can talk more this weekend?

JUDE: By the way, I still really miss you too.

I look down at Dewey, curled up at my feet, and even though so much has gone wrong these past few days, somehow things feel like they happened just the way they were supposed to. I try to remember that word Gramps had said when we were in Patrick’s car, the thing that happens when a little luck and a little magic come together.

I close out my messages window and I open Definasaurus.com. I start typing. Autocorrect tries to change it to “saran wrap” and “serenity” and “serenade” but I finally get it right: serendipity.

ser·en·dip·i·ty /ser-ən-'di-pə-tē/

noun: serendipity; plural: serendipities

1. the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.
2. good fortune; luck.
3. an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.

I close my laptop and get myself all tucked in. I pat the side of the bed for Dewey to jump up. “Come on, girl,” I tell her. She jumps on the bed and sits across from me, looking around the room, panting with her doggy smile. “You ready for bed?”

She flops over on her back for belly rubs.

“You’re so silly.”