Like Magic by Elaine Vickers

Author:Elaine Vickers
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2016-07-28T04:00:00+00:00

Patrick and Jada stopped at the home improvement store after lunch, which wasn’t exactly a new thing since their house was falling apart in a dozen different ways. But this time, he led her to the paint section.

For the first time, Jada felt a spark of creativity when she thought of the sugar house. She imagined covering the dirty, chipped-out walls with wide, smooth swaths of color, bright enough to match Brownstones or Grandma J’s house. Colorful enough to remind Jada where she came from every time she walked through the door. But then Patrick took her by the shoulders and guided to her a hundred shades of almost-white.

“Um, no.” Jada veered over to some nice, soothing blues. “What about this for your bedroom?”

Patrick guided Jada by the shoulders back to the boring section. “I’m thinking we stick with the classics. Which one of these would look best?” He cleared his throat. “For the whole house.”

“Seriously?” Jada asked. They had never lived in a place where everything was the same color.

“Seriously. We just need one.”

Being an artist, Jada could see that the samples were all slightly different. But none of them were anywhere near what she had in mind.

“Please, Patrick. I haven’t asked for anything since we got here, but please don’t make me pick from this section. I can’t live in a house where all the walls are any of these colors.” Jada covered her eyes. “What am I saying? Those aren’t even colors!”

“Perfect for our Sugar House theme, right?” Patrick smiled and nudged her with his elbow, but Jada stepped away. She’d left behind and lost too many pieces of herself in the last few weeks. Suddenly, she couldn’t stand to lose one more.

“It’s not funny. None of this is funny! Moving me somewhere I’ll never fit in, I’ll never have friends, and I can’t even pick what color the walls are?”

Patrick threw up his hands. “The landlord suggested cream. What am I supposed to do?”

“You’re supposed to fight,” Jada said, trying to keep her voice steady. “You’re supposed to think about what I want. Who cares if the landlord suggested cream? What are you trying to do, drown me in cream? Every single thing is cream around here!”

The other people in the paint section had begun to look away. Patrick reached around Jada and pulled her closer, but she kept her arms stiff at her sides.

“I care, Jada. I do,” he said. “There’s good news and bad news for you, and they’re both the same thing: We’re not going anywhere for a long time.”

Jada pretended to study the paint samples while her dad continued. “That’s bad news if you really do hate it here. But it’s good news too, because I think you’re right. If you’re going to live here a long time, I really do want it to feel like home. We can always paint it again later. Go ahead and pick the colors you want.”

Jada nodded. She may have won the battle, but she’d lost the war.

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