Watermelon

Mingos Everywhere

Camila watched from the car window as Shawn made his way down the front porch of his parents' house and back around to the driver's side door. Karen and Manny had agreed to watch Maggie for the day while Shawn and Camila gave her bedroom the pink flamingo makeover it deserved. Shawn originally thought it'd be fun for Maggie to help them put the room together, but ultimately Camila convinced him that the surprise on her face would be worth it.

"Where to first?" Shawn asked as he got into the car, buckling himself into the driver's seat.

"We need to stop at the hardware store and get paint...and everything we'll need to paint the walls like tape and brushes. I also wanna stop by HomeGoods—"

"HomeSense."

"Hm?"

"HomeSense," he repeated. "You're Canadian now, remember?"

Camila sighed, unable to hide a small eyeroll. "Yes, right...HomeSense. I wanna stop by HomeSense and see what they have. Just some stuff to make it more cozy and homey, like blankets or pillows or trinkets." Most of the actual furniture for her room had been ordered by Camila online and was currently sitting in boxes in their garage, including many other random decorations.

"Are you sure we'll be able to do this all in one day?"

"Sure. The painting will take the longest, and that's just because it has to dry. But even that shouldn't take too long. And building the furniture. Those are the two big tasks. Once those are done, it'll be smooth sailing."

They arrived at the hardware store and went directly to the paint section, Camila heading for the color samples and Shawn getting all of the tools and accessories they'd need. He grabbed tape, brushes, rollers, stirring sticks, a paint can opener, and a plastic tarp to protect the floor. When he met back up with Camila by the color samples, he was shocked to see her looking at shade of gray.

"You're lucky Maggie didn't come with us because if she saw that you were looking at grays, I think she'd throw a tantrum."

Camila chuckled and looked over her shoulder at her husband. "Don't worry. Everything else will be pink. I even got a pink flamingo wallpaper for one of the walls. I just think maybe a more neutral paint color will help balance out all the pink." She glanced back at him again. "What do you think?"

"You know better than I do when it comes to this stuff," he shrugged. "But I think I like this one." He pointed at a paint swatch color called 'reflection' — a pale, cool-toned gray. Camila smiled at him.

"That's the exact one I was leaning towards." They went to the counter and purchased a couple gallons of the gray paint and soon they were off to HomeSense. There, Camila found a few finishing touches — a pink, star-shaped throw pillow, pink striped bedsheets, a white ceramic castle decoration, and a framed painting of pink flamingos standing in water. Shawn and Camila couldn't believe they were lucky enough to find that picture. They purchased those items too, and then headed back to their new house to start the process of turning Maggie's bedroom into her pink flamingo fantasy.

Shawn immediately started painting the walls while Camila tried her hand at hanging up the peel-and-stick wallpaper that she had ordered online. She decided to put it on the same wall that her bed would be pushed against, giving the room a singular focal point.

"This is hard." The stickiness of the wallpaper was causing Camila some minor frustrations.

"Wanna trade?"

"No," Camila answered immediately. She'd still take the annoying wallpaper over painting. Shawn chuckled and got back to rolling the gray paint onto the walls.