Page 19 of Keepsakes and Kismet

“Who’s Gym Barbie?”

I flinch at the sound of Clementine’s voice.

“Yeah. Who is she?”

Fuck. Not Clover noticing, too. I turn around and face The Terrors Squared, who’re both sipping on Nutty Nanas. When did that happen?

“No one I know, really,” I say, sounding the opposite of casual. “She was here when I did my inspection the other day. Not a big deal.”

Clover places her hand on my shoulder. “Not a big deal? I haven’t seen you look at anyone with that much interest since the girl in that cartoon you used to watch during the summers. When you were in college.”

“Ooo, what cartoon?”

My gut twists at the sound of that voice. I can hear the levity in Peyton’s tone as I slowly swivel around to face her. She stands behind me with a giant smile on her face.

Peyton holds her hand up. “Wait. Don’t tell me. Was it Wanda from The Fairly Oddparents?”

Clementine and Clover start giggling and step around me to bring Peyton into the conversation.

Quickly scanning the walls for a fire alarm to pull, I brace myself for the twins’ response. How am I going to get out of this one?

Peyton shrugs, a glint of mischief in her eye. “I’m just saying. She’s intelligent. Responsible. Grants wishes. Imagine how many raw chickens you’d be able to cook to exactly 165 degrees Fahrenheit, 74 Celsius, with access to that kind of power.”

I roll my eyes. “First of all, Wanda’s already married to Cosmo, and⁠—”

“For the love of God, Cal, stop talking right now.” Clover doesn’t even look up from her phone. She mumbles something I can’t quite catch, but it sounds suspiciously similar to “save you from yourself.”

“It was Sailor Moon,” Clementine chimes happily, taking a dramatic slurp from her smoothie.

“Was it?” Peyton’s face oozes delight. “It’s lovely to meet both of you. I’m Peyton.”

Clementine holds out her hand, and Peyton pauses, seemingly flustered by the gesture. She wipes her hand on the side of her leggings, maybe drying any condensation off from her smoothie, before slowly bringing her hand to Clementine’s and loosely shaking it.

“I’m Clementine. Cal’s little sister.” Clementine nods to her left. “This is Clover.”

Peyton waves at Clover, whose hands are full, and takes a sip of her smoothie. “You have a real ‘C’ theme going on, huh?”

“Oh, yeah. One thing about our family is that we commit to a bit. Ma and Dad wanted a strong brand,” Clementine replies.

Peyton belly laughs, completely unrestrained, making it nearly impossible for me to contain my own smile.

She tilts her head. “Wow. A smile? Instead of the confused emoji face when you see me?” She rests her hand on her heart like she’s about to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. “I’ll never forget this moment.”

“Hm? He’s smiling? Hold on, Mom’s gonna eat this up.” Clover puts her phone directly in front of my face and snaps a picture. “Cal, you need to clarify your pores.”

Peyton takes another sip of her smoothie. “Sounds like you have a pretty fun family.”

“Yeah, we’re alright,” Clementine quips. “So, how do you know our big brother?”

“Oh, he always seems to show up at my places of work.”

Clover shoots me a look. “Cal, what the fuck? That’s creepy.”

I rub the back of my neck. “Actually, she shows up at my places of work. I don’t even know what she does for work.”

Peyton gives a sly grin. “I’m an enigma.”

I raise an eyebrow. “An enigma, sure, but are you an employee? Here, or… anywhere?”