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"You know we can't have wallpaper in our apartment, right?"
Henry looks up from the book he is flipping through.
"Why not?"
Emma pushes down the impulse to tell him that it isn't their home, will never be their home.
"The super won't allow it. That's why we didn't have any up in Boston either. Most apartments won't let you."
"We could've gotten away with it. They have to rebuild our apartment now anyway."
"But we didn't know it was going to burn down," Emma points out.
The fire took everything they owned. It was so traumatic that Emma barely remembered it happening. She knows it pushed them to move to New York and that it filled her bank account with an almost absurd amount of insurance money.
"Are you sure? Look at this one. It makes me want hot chocolate."
Henry holds open the book to a page of white and grey paper. It takes Emma a moment to realize that the smoky blobs are trees. The wallpaper is striking, but not exactly something that would normally appeal to someone Henry's age.
"It's nice, but we can't."
"Could we frame it? Like art? You keep saying we're here to get stuff to decorate."
Emma considers for barely a heartbeat before caving. There's no real flaw with Henry's logic and the wallpaper does feel homey. Henry runs off and returns shortly with a sleek, black frame. They start looking for paint for the walls in Emma's bedroom. Most of their apartment has exposed brick walls, but Emma's bedroom has two walls that aren't.
It takes them a while to find the perfect shade of blue. Some are too light. Some have too much grey. Finally, Emma finds the one she wants.
It reminds her of the sky in the morning.
It reminds her of the sea they drove past in Maine.
And it's the exact shade of blue of her pirate's eyes.
Sorry this was so short. The wallpaper is the one from Granny's diner. So I forgot that Emma said that they left Boston because their apartment burned down. I'm going to fix the first chapter tonight to correct that error.