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.”