Page 69 of What You Wish For

But this lady Helen was not picking up my bitter tone. “That’s sounds fun.” She took off jogging toward Chuck Norris, who’d found a tennis ball. She took it and pelted it farther ahead, toward a group of people down the beach.

“That’s your sister,” I said, as we watched her run off.

“Yeah.”

“I thought she was your girlfriend.”

Duncan burst out with a laugh. “No. No girlfriend. Not since—a long time.”

I shrugged. “That seems like a shame.”

That landed wrong. Duncan was quiet for a second. Then he said, “Hey, I’m glad we ran into you.”

“Yeah?”

“I want to tell you something. About the mural.”

“Nope,” I said. “Not talking about that.”

“Yes,” Duncan said. “It’s important.”

“I’m trying to be pleasant right now, but I swear if you get that started, I might seriously drown you in the ocean.”

“Just give me a second to explain—”

But I was shaking my head, turning away.

“Listen!” he shouted.

That got my attention. I turned back.

He pushed out a hard sigh. “The mural’s not gone.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“It means… they painted over it, yes. But the paint they used—it washes off. It’s water-based. It comes off with a sponge.”

My mouth fell open—and then I just stood there, blinking.

“It’s still there. It’s not gone. I just wanted you to know that.”

I shook my head for a bit before I could pull it together. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Uh. Because you are terrifying when you’re that mad. Not even kidding.”

And then I just… started laughing. The relief of that news was physical. It was like my whole heart just unclenched.

“I do think neutral colors are better for safety. But that mural was all the things you said. It was sunshine. It was magic. So I researched paints until I could find something temporary. They were supposed to paint it over the break—and I was going to warn you, and explain it all before you saw it. But they got things out of order. I’m sorry.”

I just stared at him.

“When the world is a safer place, we’ll bring it back.”

And then, I couldn’t help it. I hugged him.

“Thank you,” I said. Then I took what felt like the deepest breath of my life. “I was so angry at you, it was physically painful.”

Duncan nodded. “Are you less mad now?”

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