"Miranda," Cassie called. "Could you come here for a minute."
"What is it?' Miranda stalked into the dining room. "I'm busy with my hair."
"It looks lovely dear," Cassie smiled. "Doesn't it look great, Gwen?"
"I've always liked it," Gwen replied.
"It's different!" Miranda burst out. "It's a completely new style and it's blue!"
"Wasn't it blue before?" Gwen looked puzzled.
"How!?" Miranda demanded of her mother. "How does she know everything but she never notices my hair?"
"Anyway," Cassie shook her head, declining to even attempt to answer something she, herself, didn't understand. "I need to talk to you about this summer."
"What now? Zombie apocalypse? Alien invasion? A new boy band trying for world domination?" Miranda groaned.
"Not that I know of," Cassie replied, trying not to throw Gwen a questioning look. "No, it's just that the studio wants me to host the Tartosa Charity Gala again this year, so we were thinking we'd rent the villa and spend the summer."
"Oh," Miranda said, with sudden and complete cool. "That's nice."
"Now, you wouldn't have to come," Cassie continued, "if you didn't want to. I know how these studio things bore you."
"No, no, that's fine," Miranda said. "I... um... I don't mind. Um... excuse me... I need to go wash this dye out of my hair."
"Do you think she'll wait until she's in her room," Gwen whispered, "or call from the stairs."
"Room," Cassie replied, "but only because she doesn't have her phone... because she's wearing a towel! Seriously, how do you know everything and not notice things like that?"
"Yes!" Miranda cheered.
Despite her plans, Miranda hadn't been able to see as much of Mariah as she'd hoped over the past months. The demands of school, her theater group and her family obligations meant that she hadn't actually been able to just magically "pop" over to Tartosa regularly. It also turned out that repeated long distance magical travel was a greater strain than Miranda had expected. Mariah had said she understood but Miranda knew she'd been disappointed.
"We're coming," Miranda gasped as soon as Mariah answered the phone.
"Maybe you are," Mariah teased. "Did you start without me?"
"What? No," Miranda blushed. "To Tartosa. We're coming to Tartosa... for the summer. Mom's hosting that gala thing again and we're renting the villa and everything. So, no teleportation migraines. No weekend plans I can't get out of. We can spend some real time together."
"Roba forte," Mariah cheered. "We can..."
"What? Sorry," Miranda said. "I missed that. I will pulling my shirt on."
"You didn't have one on before?" Mariah asked softly.
"No, I... um... I didn't... I... shower... um," Miranda said. "I was dyeing my hair. Stop doing that!"
"You're cute when you get flustered," Mariah laughed. "I'll see you soon."
"Yeah," Miranda smiled. "I love you."
"Ti amo," Mariah breathed.
