“That’s a trash reason.” I sneered. I couldn’t help it. “That’s some grown-up excuse for something you don’t want to do. It doesn’t even mean anything, and you know it. She’d way rather be here. She was just saying how great she thought Mom was.”

“Really?” said Mom with a small smile.

I looked from Dad to Mom. “Come on, please? Mom? Dad? Can’t you please wake up and realize I’m right this time? I really am right!”

It was true, and I knew it. Maybe magic wasn’t real, but this was the next best thing. So obvious. So easy. It was so close, right there. I could see a sunnier version of all our futures peeking out. I could taste something sweet.

Mom sighed. “Look, Leah, I’m going to be honest. As much as I get what you’re saying, your dad is right. We’ve been running on fumes. Even if Jasper’s sister said yes, and the social services people said it was okay and everything . . . I just . . . I can’t do more than I’m doing right now. Heck, I can’t even seem to buy laundry detergent. Some days, I lose track of what time it is. I manage to make a real dinner once a week, at best. I can’t take in an extra kid. I’m barely hanging on. Can’t you see that? We’ve been . . . struggling. You know it’s true.”

“I know,” I said. “But haven’t you noticed things have been . . . better? With Jasper? I haven’t been so . . . lonely. Or empty. She’s not extra work. She’s like . . . sunshine. Or vitamins, or a circus, or something . . .”

Unbelievably, Mom seemed to be listening seriously now. She nodded slowly at me. “Actually, yes, I did notice,” she said. “When she was here the other day, I felt . . . different. It was like we’d opened up a bunch of windows in the house.”

“See?” I said.

“But that was for a day, Leah. Not a lifetime. Not when she gets into fights at school or starts dating some horrible boy or something. I won’t be able to cope.”

“Well, if you say she can live with us, I promise not to date horrible boys. How’s that? Jasper can be the difficult one, and I’ll be the best kid ever.”

“Now you’re just being silly,” said Mom. “Of course Jasper is welcome to visit anytime. Like any friend of yours. No matter where she’s living. But people don’t just decide to adopt a fourteen-year-old.”

“Some people do! Mother Teresa took in a whole orphanage. We studied her in school.”

“I’m hardly Mother Teresa,” said Mom. “Most people aren’t. It’s just not something normal people do.”

“Something normal people do . . . ,” I repeated under my breath. “That’s a laugh.”