Elodie’s hand shot up into the air and waved. I turned to see who they were looking at as the back door opened. Kael stood, half in, half out, dressed in his uniform, his cap hanging out of his front pocket. I quickly ran through my appearance in my head. I was still in work clothes, with frizzy, air-dried hair. Even though I’d planned to be a bit more polished when I saw him, when we made eye contact, my self-consciousness instantly disappeared. It was wild, the effect he had on me. All of the spiraling thoughts slid from my mind as he took a step forward and a small child walked in behind him. The boy had dark hair, wet from the rain. He was as cute as Elodie and Austin had gushed, and Mendoza’s wife, Gloria, followed behind him. She was beautiful—of course she was—and radiant, despite the dampening rain. She had big, dark eyes and thick, long hair. She was dressed in a white turtleneck tucked into dark jeans. Her jeans were baggy on her frame and her smile oozed confidence and sweetness, almost as if she was an old friend, though I had never spoken to her.

“Hi.” Elodie addressed the child first. “I’m Elodie.” She was using a baby-talk voice and the boy smiled brightly. Okay, he was actually the cutest child I had ever seen. He looked so much like Mendoza, but also like his mother. Big, bright brown eyes and thick lashes.

Austin stood up to hug Gloria and I waved awkwardly. It was clear that Austin knew her well by the way he smiled at her and the fact that he wasn’t hitting on her. My kitchen felt smaller than ever as Gloria glared at Austin and playfully hit his arm.

“I heard you got Martin smoked today for what you did last night. Get your shit together.” She spoke to my brother like a sibling.

What Gloria said took a few seconds to hit me. Kael had been reprimanded and humiliated, publicly, at work, but wasn’t going for my brother’s throat? I guess no one was immune to Austin’s charm. I was used to seeing women, even myself, hover over him and contort themselves to accommodate his varied behaviors and volatile personalities—outwardly strong, yet sometimes extremely fragile.

“I knowwwww,” Austin whined, and ran his hands through his messy hair. “I’m sorry, truly. I’m not going near that girl again,” he promised all of us. When his eyes landed on me, I mentally cussed him out in hopes that the whole twin-telepathy thing would work.

“You better. Are you coming over to grill with us?” Gloria asked Austin.

“Hell, yeah,” he responded without hesitation.

“You can come, too.” Gloria was looking at me. “We’re going to chill at our house, if you want to join us.”