I shiver with the memories, and pull Dewey closer to me in the pile of leaves.

Don’t be sad. She licks my face. Because then I found you and you could hear me. And now we’re together and I’m not cold and scared anymore.

“Dewey,” I say out loud, petting her spotted fur. “I love you so much.”

I hug Dewey tight, trying to gather up her whole body in my arms, and focus on sending her all the love in my heart, so she knows what it feels like to be loved—that it’s more than a word.

The back door screeches open. Both Dewey and I look over at Gramps. “Sadie, it’s time!”

Even Dewey knows what that means.

We jump up from the pile of leaves, and the air feels so cold now that we’re not close. I don’t want to do it, but I bring Dewey back to the shed and she goes inside and sits down on her bed and looks at me with the most patient and understanding eyes.

“I’ll be back,” I tell her. “I promise.”

I try to do some homework, but I don’t get very far before I hear the bloopbloop sound coming from my laptop.

Jude.

I haven’t found a chance to write her back. Or maybe there have been chances; I just haven’t wanted to take any of them. There’s another bloopbloop, followed by a ding, which means she left me a message.

I don’t check it.

I flip through S. Hawkins, making a few notes here and there, but I’m still too distracted by everything to work on much. I think about Dewey, and the people who treated her so badly. I think of Gramps and last night and how mad he was. I think about how I’m going to have to find more ways to spend time with Dewey, and how that means more lies to Moms. Inside, all the goodness of playing with Dewey in the leaves is filled with something empty and sad.

Instead, I go to bed early, just wanting this weirdly sad day to be over. The house is quiet; everyone is in bed. I close my eyes and try to sleep, but all I can see are Dewey’s memories of the mean people who never even bothered to give her a proper name.

Chapter 26

THE DOG FORMERLY KNOWN AS DEWEY

Tuesday is a brand-new day. It’s still cold, but the sun is shining through my bedroom window and the smell of smoke has finally made its way out of the house. I even decide to bring S. Hawkins with me to school again—no more being embarrassed of it!