A Good Day for Chardonnay by Darynda Jones

4

Makeup fades. Tacos are forever.

—SIGN AT TIA JUANA’S FINE MEXICAN CUISINE

Sun eased open the door to Auri’s darkened room and crept inside. Even though the center of her universe had just turned fifteen, and their house was mere inches away from Sun’s parents’ back door, Auri had a permanent room at her grandparents’ house. If Sun wasn’t home by nine, Auri had to come to Freyr House and stay until Sun got her. Usually when Sun worked that late, however, she just left Auri there until morning—a necessary evil that was becoming a habit of late.

She’d written her a love note and had planned to leave it on her nightstand, but Auri turned onto her back and raised a hand to shield her hazel eyes from the light streaming in from the hall.

“Hey, bug bite,” Sun said. She set the note on the nightstand and climbed onto the bed, duty weapon, work boots, and all.

“Hey, Mom,” Auri said, as Sun reclined against the headboard beside her.

She’d showered and put on her uniform for the trip, packing only the basic essentials. Toothbrush. Deodorant. A can of tuna because of that one trip that ended so badly.

She brushed a lock of her daughter’s hair back. “You okay?”

Auri nestled against her and put her fiery head on Sun’s shoulder. “No.”

Sun had noticed. Auri’s swollen, red-rimmed eyes said it all. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I hate that you saw Levi like that.”

“I hate that he was like that at all.” Her breath hitched, crushing Sun. “Why does he have to be so brave? He could’ve been killed.”

“I don’t know. He’s Levi, for one thing, and the man who was attacked was a good friend of his.”

“He didn’t even take us into account.”

“Us?” Sun asked.

“Yes. What would happen to us if he’d been killed? Did he think of that? No. Of course not. And do you know why?”

It was apparently a rhetorical question; Auri continued before Sun could guess.

“Because he’s a guy. With a penis. Penises are stupid.”

Sun tried not to giggle. “Yes, they are. Penises are very stupid. I don’t want you to ever forget that.”

“I won’t. Don’t you worry.”

Sun had to wonder what Auri’s crush, Cruz, had done to cause such penis-aversion. She’d have to thank him. He probably bought her at least another year before her daughter experimented with the opposite sex.

“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.

She rolled over to the other side of her bed and looked down at the boy lying faceup on the floor, ankles crossed, arms tucked under his head like he hadn’t a care in the world. Then again, he didn’t know her mother as well as she did.

“Penises are stupid?” he asked.

After stifling a giggle with her hand, she said, “They are. Boys do stupid things.”

“Oh, yeah? Like what?”

“Have you ever asked someone to hit you in the stomach as hard as they can?”

“Guilty.”

“There ya go.”

His full mouth widened across his face. A face that had taken her breath away the first time she saw it. “I can’t argue with that.”

Auri officially met Cruz the first day of school, but of course she’d noticed him sooner. Though she’d grown up in Albuquerque while her mom was in college, and Santa Fe when her mom was an officer then a detective for the Santa Fe Police Department, Auri had spent every summer since she was two with her grandparents. That meant getting to know many of the locals.

She thought she’d first noticed him at the lake when they were about ten, but thinking back, she realized she’d had an encounter with him when she was younger. She doubted he remembered it, but she would never forget even though it took her a while to realize he was the boy who very likely saved her life. A man in a white van offered her a ride. He tried to coax her closer. Then a boy on a bike skidded to a stop between them and the guy took off.

That would mark the second time she’d had her life saved. She’d wanted to ask him if he remembered the incident since she’d put two-and-two together last week, but she kind of didn’t want him to. She’d been stupid when the man said her grandmother was looking for her and he offered to take Auri to her. Cruz didn’t need to know the depths of her gullibility.

But she would never forget that boy on the lime-green bike. Dark hair. Rich, brown eyes. Fearless. Absolutely, utterly fearless. If not, Auri might not be here today.

“You good?” he asked, gazing up at her.

“I’m better. Thank you for coming over. You didn’t have to.”

He shrugged a shoulder. “’Course, I did.” He took a hand from behind his head, reached up, and captured one of hers.

She let him. Let him entwine her fingers with his. Let him rub a thumb across her palm. Let him pull that very same hand down so he could place a soft kiss on the back of it.

There was something so gracious about him. So gentlemanly. He completely respected her for who she was. Her ideas and opinions and dreams mattered to him. And when he kissed her, his affection carried that same hint of respect, but there was something else there, too. Like he wanted to do more but held himself back to let her take it further if she wished to.

Every time they were together, everywhere they went, it was like he had to touch her. He put his hand on the small of her back when they went through a door. He tugged on a strand of hair when he sat behind her in class. He rubbed his shoulder to hers when they were talking to kids at school. Never suffocating. Never possessive. Just …there.

If she didn’t know better, she’d swear he had ESP. His touches were warm and reassuring and perfect. Exactly what she needed at any given time, as though he could sense her every desire. Which was a distressing thought.

“I’m sorry about Mr. Ravinder,” he said softly, brushing a thumb over her knuckles. “And I get why you’re so upset seeing him like that, but who is he to you? I mean …” He groaned and covered his eyes, then started over. “That came out wrong. I just meant—”

“It’s okay,” she said, letting him off the hook, though watching him squirm was fun. “He’s just really special. He … he helped me when I was a kid. And he’s always been there for me.”

His brows slid together. “How did he help you?”

She pulled back her hand and tucked it under her chin. She remembered it so clearly. The time she’d decided to take her own life. When she stood on the cliff over Del Sol Lake with that very intention.

Just one step. One tiny step and the product of all her mother’s woes, the product of her mother’s rape, would be gone and her mom could get on with her life. She could live and be happy and fall in love without the burden of an unwanted child dragging her down. But Levi and his nephew Jimmy showed up and started talking to her about the most everyday things. They didn’t try to stop her so much as just listen.

She’d only recently admitted the truth of that day to her mother. The conversation that followed healed years of misery and self-doubt, and she now knew that her mother wanted her no matter what. That her mother loved her. Had always loved her.

Cruz had overheard a conversation about that day she’d had with Jimmy, so he knew that much. He did not know what Levi did for her though.

She lifted a shoulder instead and whispered, “The time I considered jumping off the cliff at the lake.”

He looked away. Based on past experience, the subject upset him. A lot. If she remembered correctly, the words fuck and you popped up during that conversation.

“He stopped you?” he asked, snapping her out of her musings.

She tilted her head, appreciating his profile. “Let’s just say he was the first person to ever save my life.”

He refocused, training his powerful gaze on her. “The first person?”

She nodded but didn’t elaborate.

A lock of her hair fell over the side of the bed. He took it and let it slide through his fingers as though fascinated. Auri just liked watching his biceps bunch up with the movement. She wondered how much he worked out because, even as a freshman, he was more sculpted than most seniors. Including the athletes.

“How many times has your life been saved?”

She squinted in thought. “A few, most likely. But two to be certain.”

“Ah. So I have Mr. Ravinder to thank for keeping the enigmatic Auri Vicram alive and kicking.”

“Enigmatic?” She snorted softly. “Have you looked in the mirror?”

“Me? Hardly. What you see is what you get.”

And what a sight it was. “So, for real? You?”

He frowned in confusion.

“What I see is what I get? I see you.”

He stilled, his eyes shimmering in the low light. “I’m all yours.”

A soft knock sounded at the door. “Auri, sweetheart?”

Auri rolled over sleepily and raised a hand to shield her eyes again like she had with her mom. Making sure to add a grogginess to her voice, she said, “Hey, Grandma. Hey, Grandpa.”

They eased into the room. “Your mom said you were having trouble sleeping. We brought some hot chocolate.”

“Laced with barbiturates?”

Her grandma stopped and cast a hapless expression on her husband. “Everything I touch.”

Auri scooted to the other side of her bed, leaned against the headboard, and took the piping hot cup. “Thanks, Grandpa.”

“Are you feeling better, pigeon?”

“A little. How is Levi’s friend?”

“He’s still in surgery.”

“I hope he makes it. Levi was really upset.”

“Yes, he was. But he was glad to see you.”

She lifted a shoulder. “I hope so.”

Her grandma sat beside her on the bed while her grandfather sat on the end.

“We were going to clean out the attic tomorrow if you’re up for it,” her grandma said. “It’s supposed to be cool. A perfect time to climb up there before summer sets in.”

She took a sip and nodded from behind the cup. “I’m totally up for it.”

“Good.”

“Thanks for the hot chocolate.”

“You’re welcome,” Grandma said. “I hope it’s helping.”

“It is. I’m already getting sleepy.”

She smiled, leaned in, and kissed her cheek. “Okay, well, sleep tight, peanut. We’ll come check on you again in, oh, say, thirty—”

“Twenty,” Grandpa said.

“—twenty minutes. Just to make sure the hot chocolate did the trick.”

Auri felt herself deflate. She groaned aloud, and said, “Mom knew, didn’t she?”

Grandpa practically cackled. “How do you think we found out?” He leaned over the other side of the bed. “Hey, Cruz.”

She heard a sheepish, “Hey, Mr. Freyr.”

“Twenty minutes.”

“I’ll be gone in ten, sir.”

“I knew you were a good kid.”

Auri had put a hand over her eyes as humiliation burned through her. She looked through her fingers and watched as a hand rose from the horizon of her mattress and gave her grandpa a thumbs-up.

The couple chuckled and headed for the door, but not before her grandpa turned back with a final warning. “I’m going to hold you to that ten minutes.”

Cruz climbed to his feet and waved sheepishly before they padded down the hall. “Well, that was a disaster.”

Auri looked up the length of him, straight and tall and startlingly handsome, and said, “Not really. My mom could’ve arrested you. She’s apparently really into that sort of thing.”

He rested an endearing expression on her. “It’s good she’s the sheriff, then. If she just went around randomly arresting people without the badge to back it up, she’d have to be committed. I had an uncle who used to do that.”

He started for the window, and Auri practically jumped out of bed. “You still have nine minutes.”

“Yeah, I don’t want to push my luck.”

“You can go out the front door.”

“And ruin the vibe? No way.”

He lifted the window and vaulted out easily. She loved watching him do that, his lithe body like an athlete’s. Or a panther’s.

She went to the window as he got on his bike. “You could come back tomorrow. My grandparents could probably use the help.”

He played with a pedal, bouncing a foot on it. “I have to help my dad tomorrow.”

“Oh. Okay, well I’ll see you at school Monday, then.” When he didn’t answer, she said, “Cruz?”

He turned away from her, looking into the darkness when he spoke again. “I’m kind of in love with you, Auri.”

Her lips parted in surprise. He started to take off when she blurted, “I’m kind of in love with you, too, Cruz.”

He nodded and took off into the darkness, but all Auri saw was a sparkling luminous soul. He kind of loved her. She was good with that.