Amber Brown Is Green with Envy (10 page)
Read Amber Brown Is Green with Envy Online
Authors: Paula Danziger
I get into the car and put my seat belt on.
The present is between us.
Max starts up the car and says, “Amber, the present is for you.”
Christmas is over.
It’s not my birthday.
“Is this a bribe?” I ask. “So that I’m not mad about having to move?”
Max smiles and thinks about it.
Then he nods. “Sort of…. but it’s also an I-love-you present…an ‘I’m glad that you are going to be my daughter’ present…and ‘I’m glad that we are all going to be living together’ present.”
I think about it. “But I already have a dad…. you are going to be my stepdad.”
Max nods again. “I know. But I want you to know that I feel like you are my daughter….. and that no matter how many children your mom and I have…. you will always be my first daughter…. and that doesn’t mean that I need to have you love me more than Philip, your real dad.”
I don’t say anything.
He continues. “I know that you are very angry at your father right now….. but he is your dad and he does love you.…I just want you to know that you don’t have
to choose between us….. that we can both be important to you.”
I can feel tears in my eyes. “You are very important to me.”
Max smiles. “Good. Now open your present.
I rip the package open.
I, Amber Brown, am not good at opening packages slowly.
I open the box lid.
There’s a ceramic plaque that reads A
MBER
B
ROWN’S
R
OOM.
I smile at Max.
“Your mom and I went to one of those ceramic-painting places and we made this for you. I did the printing. Your mom did the painting.”
I look at the plaque. There are pictures of things that are important to me. The pig alarm clock that Aunt Pam gave me…cartoon pictures of me, Mom and Max…also a rainbow and crayons.
“I love this.” I smile again.
We are stopped at a traffic light, and Max looks at me. “We’ve decided to paint a set of plates for the new house.”
“You and Mom?” I ask.
He nods. “And you too. Once we get settled, we’ll do it. I’m not very good at this, but it’s something your mom really wants to do….. and”—he grins—“you know when your mom really wants to do something…”
I finish his sentence. “She gets it done.”
We both grin.
The light changes, and we continue on to the school.
When I get there, Max parks, gets out of the car and opens my door for me.
He makes a big deal of my getting out of the car, sort of like I’m a queen or a princess.
I leave the present in the car.
I don’t want it to break at school.
We hug each other good-bye.
“See you after school,” he says. “With any luck, we’ll find a wonderful house that we all like.”
I cross my fingers.
We hug again.
“Bye,” we say, and then I skip up over to the playground.
One of the playground aides says, “That was very nice of your dad to open the door for you and to treat you like such a lady.”
I open my mouth to explain that Max is not my dad…. that he’s not even my stepdad yet…. and then I close my mouth and just nod.
I wonder what it’s going to be like at Parents’ Night.
Thirteen
Dear Justin
,
I know that my mom and your mom have been talking on the phone a lot lately.
How do you like having a new baby sister? I think it’s funny that Danny asked if they could take it back to the store and exchange it for a baby brother…or even better, a GI Joe action figure. (Someday, I will probably want to talk with you about baby brothers and sisters, but not yet….. Now I want to talk to you about moving.)
I know that our moms talk on the phone a lot…. and that your mom knows what’s happening here.
Because you had to move away, I have to ask your advice. (I can’t ask Kelly and Brandi…. because they don’t want me to move away….. and they will pick the house in town.)
Please let me know what you think. (I know that you don’t like to talk a lot about feelings, but please do this for me!!!! Please, oh, please.)
I know that it was hard for you to move away, that you didn’t want to talk about it….. but was it hard for you when you got to Alabama? Did you miss being here? Do you still sometimes miss being here even though you’ve been gone for over half a year? If you could still live here, would you?
I wrote myself a note about the houses and I want you to look at it. Writing it
all down is helping me figure things out. After you read my notes, please call….
Please, oh, please.
Oh….. and I am trying to convince my mom to send me to summer camp, the same place you are going. (I’m pretty sure that it will work…. because I think that she feels a little guilty about my being so upset about the move.)
Anyway, here’s my notes about the houses.
Amber Brown’s Thoughts about
the Search for the Perfect House!
Okay, let me begin by saying that there is no perfect house….. not perfect for all three of us (me, Max and Mom)….. not perfect for any one of us….. There were some things that we all loved…. some that two of us
loved and some that only one of us loved…. and some that we all hated….. All of the houses had the basics…kitchens, living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms.
We have narrowed it down to two houses….. that’s the good news…. The bad news is that one of the houses is NOT in town….. and the even worse news is that it is wonderful….. a swimming pool in the backyard…. a real in-the-ground swimming pool. There are three stories to the house and my bedroom would be on the third floor in a round room that looks like the tower of a castle…. It is so magical….. I looked out the windows and I could see the swimming pool, the wishing well and woods behind the
garden area….. There’s a fireplace in the living room and one in the kitchen.…
Max and Mom say that the bad news is that the house is a “fixer-upper” and would take a lot of time and money to get it all fixed up. I think that the bad news is that it is two towns away, and I would have to switch schools.
The second house is in town.
There is no swimming pool and not a lot of land.
The house is brand-new and is in “wonderful shape” (the real estate lady kept saying that)….. It’s an okay house, but it is very boring. The one really good thing is that it is in the same new development as my friend Kelly Green (and another classmate, Hal).
Max and Mom like the first house
because it is so unique…. they like the second house because it is so new, it does not need repairs….. The fireplace in the second house does not have a family of birds living in it. (The first house does!) Mom thinks that the first house is “totally charming.” She likes the second house because it has all new air conditioners, a finished basement, a lot of closets, all brand-new appliances. There is even a continuous-cleaning oven. (I personally think that it’s a little strange to have an oven that cleans itself…. although I do wish that it had a bedroom for me that cleaned itself!!)
Max and Mom say that since she is selling our house, and he is selling his apartment, we can afford either house…. That’s more of the good news…. The bad news is that if we buy the wonderful first house, there will be more money to
spend on fixing it up, and we will have to be much more careful about spending money on things like vacations.
If we buy the second house, I can stay at the same school with all of my friends. I will still be able to easily get to the place where my dad lives and I will be able to see the Marshalls as often as I do now.
If I am at the first house, I can invite everyone around here (except for my dad) to go swimming in our pool. Max did say that he would have to teach me how to help clean the pool and it would be my job to take out any frogs or skunks that fell into the pool. (I think that he is kidding….. but I’m not absolutely sure about that.)
Max and Mom are not sure which house is best…. They are going to think about it, and they want me to
think about it, and then we will talk about it. (They are afraid that someone else will bid on whichever house we decide on….. so we have to decide quickly.)
That’s the end of my report for now. My father is picking me up in a few minutes because he wants to talk to me about what happened last weekend. (I am so mad at him!!!!!!!!!! Is it okay for me to say that sometimes my dad acts like a real jerk???????????)
Your old friend
,
