Page 22 of With a Little Luck

“It’s fine, you take them,” I say. “I’ll have cereal.” I turn away and grab a bowl from the cupboard.

“You’ve beenreallylucky lately,” says Ellie.

I pause and look at her. I haven’t let the dice out of my sight since last night, even sleeping with it under my pillow, and putting it back into my pocket as soon as I got dressed this morning.

“You think?” I say, trying not to sound suspicious. Even though I’m now 99 percent convinced that I hold a magical luck-giving dice in my pocket … I’m not about to tell my sisters that.

“You’ve won, like, every coin flip,” Ellie explains.

“I guess I have.” I tuck the bowl into the crook of my elbow as I yank open the refrigerator and grab the milk.61

When I turn back, Ellie’s eyes are narrowed at me in suspicion. “Are youcheating?”

This, I know, would be an unparalleled betrayal of the sanctity of the coin flip.

“If I was cheating,” I say, “I probably wouldn’t give up my earnings so easily, would I?” I gesture at the toaster, where Lucy has dropped in the Pop-Tarts. But my hands are full, and in the next second, the bowl is slipping out of its tenuous position. I gasp and instinctively lift my foot.

To everyone’s surprise—mine most of all—I catch the bowl on the toe of my shoe, an inch before it smashes onto the floor.

“Whoa,” says Lucy, amazed. “Youarelucky these days. You should go buy some scratch tickets. Or a lotto ticket or something.”

I let out a nervous chuckle, my heart thumping as I set the milk down and grab the bowl. “You have to be eighteen to buy lottery tickets.”

“Too bad,” she muses, and I can tell she thinks I should go buy some anyway.

Pru strolls into the kitchen, grabbing a banana from the counter. “We got the best news at the center yesterday.”

“That awful woman who stole all that money is going to jail?” Lucy asks.

This comment turns Pru’s expression sour. She huffs, rolling her eyes upward. “No.Rosa decided not to press criminal charges. But their lawyers have been in negotiations, and it sounds like Shauna is going to have to pay restitution. So that’s something. But—” Her eyes brighten again. “This is even better! The zoo that’s taking Lennon and Lunafinallyfinished construction on their new enclosure. They can be relocated in a few weeks!”

“Awesome,” I say, raising my spoon in a mock toast. Ellie claps—happy to see Pru so happy—but Lucy looks confused.

“I thought you didn’t want your sea lions to go to a new zoo,” she says.

“Won’t you miss them?” Penny asks. We’ve all been to the rescue center a handful of times since Pru started working there, and Pru is always62ecstatic to introduce anyone to her two favorite sea lions, especially Lennon, the sea lion that we all had a part in saving when he washed up on the beach during the Freedom Festival. It’s a sad story with a happy ending—Luna has a cognitive disorder, and Lennon lost his eyesight to an infection. Neither would be able to survive in the wild, so the center can’t release them back to the ocean. But on the plus side, the two sea lions have become best friends (maybe more than friends? I’m not really up on the marine mammal romances happening at the center), and a zoo located just a few hours north of us agreed to take them both, so they won’t have to be separated.

“Of course I’m going to miss them,” says Pru, “but the enclosure at the zoo is going to be bigger and nicer than what they have at the center. It’s time for them to move on.And, since it’s not that far away, once Quint gets his own car, we’ll be able to go visit them on weekends.”

“Oh!” says Ellie, bouncing in her seat. “Can we go see them together?”

“Of course,” says Pru. “Once they’re all settled in, we’ll plan a family trip.”

“It sounds like things have been going good at the center?” I say between bites.

“Good, but busy,” says Pru. “This is the time of year when a lot of pinnipeds are being weaned from their mothers, and not all of them are able to hunt well enough to feed themselves yet. We took in five new patients just last week. But at least the center is doing much better financially this year than in the past. Our fundraising initiatives have been taking off, we’ve gotten tons of new donors, and perhaps most importantly, we no longer have a skeezy bookkeeper skimming money off the top. So … yeah.” She nods, satisfied. “Things are going pretty great, actually.” She checks her watch and tosses her banana peel in the garbage. “Everyone ready?”

As we’re heading to the car, we flip Ellie’s coin three more times. First to see who has to drive, because even though driving is supposed to be this big rite of passage, Pru and I both hate driving the minivan monstrosity. I win the coin flip (obviously), and Prudence takes the wheel,63complaining that she drove yesterday, butwhat the coin sayeth… We flip again to determine shotgun. I win again but let Penny have it because she claims that she didn’t get shotgunat alllast week. And the last flip is to see who has to sit in the middle of the back seat. I win a third time and keep my window seat, ruffling Ellie’s hair when she glares daggers at me and mutters, “Cheater.”

The radio is still on from when my mom last drove the van. The morning DJ is gushing about an upcoming sold-out concert, promising to give away a pair of highly coveted tickets before the morning is over. She’s just gone to commercial when a figure outside Java Jive catches my eye. Electricity zips down my spine. “Pru, stop. Pull over!”

“What? Why?” she says, startled as she flips on her blinker. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just … That was Maya back there.”

Pru pulls over to the curb. The car has barely stopped rolling when I throw open my door and jump out, absently tucking my phone into my pocket.

“What are you doing?” cries Penny. “We’re going to be late!”

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