“Yeah, they know everything,” I said.

“Well, good. Now you’re off to California to tell the last of your Neph pals. Happy graduation. And happy birthday next week.”

California. The word blinked and shouted in my mind.

My heart rapid fired as he presented an itinerary sheet from his back pocket, smacking it into the palm of my hand. Do not smile. Do not react. I curled my fingers around the paper, dancing, leaping on the inside.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

Patti turned off the water and stared at me, joy thinly veiled across her face. “You’re going to California?”

When I nodded she raced into the living room, hands still wet, and threw her arms around me. “Finally!”

“All right, all right,” Dad said. He tapped his temple and eyed me. “Head in the game, girl.”

I nodded, holding back nervous, happy laughter as Patti let me go and practically danced her way into the kitchen to finish up. My head was light with a buzzing sensation.

“Nice call on learning sign language, by the way,” Dad said, looking at the twins and me. “Don’t let any of the Dukes or spirits see you using it, though. Any signs between Neph have been put to a stop in the past. I’ve got the daughter of Sonellion and the son of Mammon learning, too,” he said to me.

“Awesome, thanks, Dad.”

“Yep. We’ve got our annual summit coming up next week in Vegas, Dukes only, so that’s when you’ll go to California. I’ve got to head out now, but I wanted to give you this in person.”

He tweaked my chin and I grabbed his hand. I never felt like I got enough time with him. And I wanted to ask him about a Neph being plagued with multiple temptations.

“Can I call you later today?” I asked.

“Yep.” Dad kissed my temple and hulked to the door, boots clanking. He turned back to the three of us one last time before leaving.

“Head in the game, girls,” he repeated. He sent Patti a wink and she shook her head. Then he was gone.

Marna and Ginger made no noise, but they slumped with relief at his absence. I plopped down on the couch with them. My heart hummed and throbbed at the thought of California.

Ginger glanced toward Patti in the kitchen, then whispered to me, “Your mum actually likes Kai?”

“Yeah. She loves him.”

This seemed to surprise Ginger. She stared at Patti with wonder in her eyes.

When I looked at Marna, she wore a pinched expression as she stared at the carpet. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

Without looking up she cleared her throat and paused. “Nothing.” She gave me an award-winning smile.

“Well, I don’t know about you girls,” Patti called out, “but I’m starving. You wanna help me throw everything together before I go check on the chicken?”

The twins shared uncertain expressions.

“Sure, we’ll help,” I answered for them. “What do you need us to do?”

“All right, how about you and Marna make the salad, and Ginger can help me bake this cake.”

Their eyes filled with horror.

“You mean like chopping things?” Marna whispered.

“Yeah. It’s not hard. We’ll do it together.” At my prompting they stood but made no move toward the kitchen with me.

“I’m not sure you ought to trust me with a knife,” Marna said.

“Or me with baked goods,” Ginger added. I’d never seen her so unsure of herself. If it were just me making the request, she’d tell me to go screw myself, but neither girl seemed to know how to act around Patti. They fidgeted and glanced at the kitchen.

Patti came over and took Ginger by the arm.

“You’ll both be fine,” Patti insisted. “It’ll be fun!”

The seriousness of the twins in the kitchen was comical. They took each step of their jobs with slow, attentive detail, checking and double-checking the measurements while Patti ran out to flip the chicken. Somewhere halfway through, the girls loosened up and we started chatting. Patti put Ginger at ease in a way I’d never seen her. At one point we were all laughing and I realized I’d never seen Ginger laugh in a carefree way, only the mean kind of amusement brought on at someone else’s expense. Usually mine. Ginger caught me looking and straightened, smile disappearing. Patti watched with her keen, wise eyes. She wasn’t missing the significance of any gesture here.

When she returned from getting the chicken off the grill, Ginger said, “Oh, that smells divine, Miss Patti.”

Who was this complimenting girl? Patti smiled and thanked her.

Ginger was so proud of the cake when it was finished that she took several pictures of it with her phone. She even wanted a picture of her and Patti holding the cake together, which nearly made Patti burst with motherly affection. I couldn’t even manage to feel jealous as Patti heaped nurture on Ginger. It was so sweet it made my eyes sting. Marna kept sending fond glances at her sister.

“I did that part right there all by myself,” Ginger said to Marna, pointing to the frosting trim. “Brilliant, isn’t it?”

“Bang-up job, Gin.” Marna squeezed her sister around the shoulder.

The four of us had a surprisingly wonderful time together. And through it all, my skin buzzed every time I thought about the upcoming trip to California.

I was sad when it was time for the twins to leave. I walked them out to their rental car after they received big hugs from Patti.