Arianna Morelli had made mistakes before, but that wasn't what this was. She was given the job of making the cake. She'd deliberately replaced the sugar with salt.

Mom had married a man in black. Ari hated Ranger. Black combat boots, black t-shirts, black cargo pants, probably his underwear was black too, not that she wanted to know.

After Dad had been shot, Mom started working at Rangeman. That's when she started wearing black everything too. "It's just the uniform," she said.

Then Mom married him and they'd moved to Miami. She felt like Rainbow Bright dropped into the middle of the Adams family. Everyone, except for Ari, had a weird nickname too; Ranger, Babe, Tank even her step sister, Julie, had become Sis. Julie's boyfriend was just Jordan though, nobody liked him.

Who knows what they'll call her new brother when he pops out, she thought. Rock might be short for Eduardo or something.

Tonight Mom held a family birthday party on the screened in patio for Ranger. They had grilled chicken, brown rice pilaf, and garden salad. It was time for the cake.

It looked perfect. Chocolate frosting swirled and whirled underneath "Happy Birthday Ranger." Forty-three candles glowed. The song was sung and the candles were blown out. Mom handed the first piece to Ranger. He waited till everyone had a plate with cake in front of them.

"Birthday boy takes the first bite," Mom said.

Ari leaned forward. She'd been waiting for this. His faced puckered.

"Ooo, that's a bit salty." He looked her in the eye and knew it wasn't a mistake. He almost smiled.

Then he winked.

"Arianna, did you know…" Mom never finished her sentence because Ranger flicked a forkful of the cake at Ari's nose. Then the cake and laughter began to fly. Everyone was covered in smushed cake. She licked her hand. The frosting was perfect.

Ranger wrapped his sticky arm around Arianna. Kissing her forehead he said, "Come on Sunshine, let's clean this up and we'll all go find some ice cream."

"Okay Pop," Arianna said.

Ranger gave her the full on smile.