A Good Day for Chardonnay (Sunshine Vicram #2) by Darynda Jones

“I have to make a quick trip to a prison near Phoenix, bug. I’ll be back tomorrow night.”

“Can I come?”

“No,” she said with a soft laugh. “You need to get some rest. We’ll talk about your impromptu trip to an active crime scene when I get back.”

“I can’t fall asleep.” She propped herself up onto an elbow to give Sun the full effect of the pout she’d perfected by the time she was two. “Pot’s just not doing it for me anymore. I’m going to have to try heroin.”

Masterful deflection. Then again, she did learn from the best. “Now, Auri, we’ve talked about this. Heroin is a gateway drug. Try cutting back on the coke, first, okay?”

“Mom,” she whined and threw herself back onto the bed.

“I mean it. Two lines a day. Three at the most.”

“Fine. I’ll cut back.” She rolled back up and batted her dark lashes. “Then we can discuss heroin?”

Sun tucked a strand of glistening hair behind her ear. “I promise.”

“Thanks, Mom. You’re the best.” She threw her arms around her, then said, “Safe journey.”

“Thank you, sweet pea. Now get some sleep.”

Auri snuggled beneath the covers. Sun kissed the top of the hellion’s head, then stood to find her mother hovering in the doorway, frowning, with her arms crossed over her chest.

“What’s wrong, Mom?”

“Heroin?” she asked, her tone admonishing.

She brushed past the older woman, and said, “Better heroin than angel dust, if you ask me.”

“Everything I touch turns delinquent.”

“Don’t touch my bills, then.” Sun headed to the living room to find her dad raiding the fridge in his pajamas.

He looked past the bright light he’d been bathed in. “Hey, sweet pea.”

“Hey, Dad. I’ll be back by tomorrow night.”

He gave the room a furtive glance, leaned close, and said softly, “Okay, but try to get back early.”

Guilt twisted her gut into a knot. She had been relying on her parents a lot lately. Too much. “Of course. I’m sorry, Dad. This whole sheriff gig … the hours are longer than I expected. So much paperwork.”

“Please.” He snorted and waved away her misgivings. “You know we love having the dumpling here. It’s just that tomorrow night is date night—”

She pressed a palm to her heart. “That’s so sweet.”

“—and your mother has discovered gay manga.”

“Oh, my God.”

“I don’t know what that is, but our love life has never been better. I’d hate for the little redhead to catch onto the fact that her grandparents still have sex, but I can only hold the woman off for so long.”

“I can’t believe I grew up for this.”

He took her hand into his. “How is he?”

The hand he held shook involuntarily, so she pulled it back. “He’ll be okay. I think. I don’t know. He escaped before we could find out for sure.”

He pulled her into a hug. “He’s something else, that one.”

Understatement of the century. “Yes, he is. Don’t let Mom touch my bills while I’m gone. Auri would die if our internet got shut off for a late payment.”

“You got it, kid.”

“Also,” she said as her mother walked in, “could you guys check in on Auri for the next hour or so. I know it’s late, but—”

“Of course, we can,” her mom said. “She was so upset, Sunny.”

“I know. And that’s partly why I want you to keep an eye on her.”

“Partly?” her dad asked.

“Yes. I mostly want you to check in on her because she has a boy in her room.”

The gasp that overtook her mother was a long, drawn-out thing that almost had Sun doubling over. When her mother turned to rush into Auri’s room, Sun grabbed her hand. “It’s okay, Mom. Tonight, she needs a shoulder to cry on. I get that. And I trust Cruz. I do, but if you could just make sure he, you know, leaves in the next little bit? That would be great.”

Her dad sank onto a stool at the snack bar. “Were we this oblivious when you were growing up?”

Sun snorted. “Dad, you were in military intelligence. I was lucky to make eye contact with a boy without you noticing.”

“So, I’m just losing it in my old age.”

“No,” she said adamantly. She sat beside him and rubbed his back, planting her chin on his shoulder. “I like to call what you are suffering from Aurora Dawn Blindness.”

Her mother shook her head haplessly.

“It’s a nontransferable medical condition,” Sun continued. “I think it has something to do with her coloring. It’s so bright, it’s hard to see past it. Also, she has you both wrapped around her finger so tight, you’re lucky you can breathe.”

“Apparently,” Elaine said.

Sun hopped up and grabbed her bag.

Cyrus followed her. “What if he doesn’t leave of his own accord?”

She didn’t think of that. “In that case, a little encouragement might not hurt.”

He chuckled to himself and Sun could only imagine what he had planned.

Auri breathed a sigh of relief as her mother left her grandparents’ house. Nothing got past that woman, and on any other day, Auri was certain the fact that she had a boy in her room would not have escaped her mother’s notice. But today, with Levi injured, her mom was frazzled.