“Firstly, no. And secondly, you can get it yourself.”

  “See?” she said to Levi, getting up to pour herself a glass of juice. “We totally need a butler. The staff around here is dismal.”

  He laughed at her, the sound making her smile from the inside out.

  “When is your last day of school?” he asked.

  Both of her grandparents chuckled at that.

  “Not that she’s mentioned it every day for the last month,” her grandpa said, “but it’s tomorrow.”

  “Oh, wow. One more day.”

  “Yeah. And it’s an all-day field trip.”

  “To the strip clubs in Albuquerque?”

  “Levi,” her grandma admonished.

  “Nothing nearly that fun. Or illegal. It’s to the petroglyphs.”

  “Nice. They’re a bit of a hike, but worth every step.”

  “I’m sure. I’m just excited it’s the last day.”

  “I’m excited for you, Red.”

  She squelched a sigh, reveling in the nickname he gave her when she was seven.

  The front door opened again and her mom walked in.

  “Hey, Mom.”

  “Hey, bug. Mom. Dad. Levi.”

  “Sunshine,” he said from behind his cup.

  Was it just Auri or did her mom seem nervous? “Is everything okay?”

  She put two boxes of pizza down. “Super.”

  “Really? I thought we were cutting back on pizza.”

  “I know. It just seemed easier for tonight.”

  Auri grabbed a slice as her grandma handed her a plate. She did the same for Levi and her mom.

  “Levi and I would like to talk to you about something, bug.”

  Her stomach flip-flopped, hope, dreams, and a little bit of anxiety making her suddenly too full to eat. She nodded and waited for whatever they had to say.

  “Before we do, though,” her mother said, and something in her tone made Auri do a double take, “did you try to stab Doug with a knitting needle?”

  Her stomach flip-flopped again, only this time it landed on a pile of sharp rocks, the jagged edges cutting into the lining. “What?” she asked, adding a soft giggle for effect. “No. I would never…” When her mother’s expression flatlined, she clenched her jaw and rolled her eyes so far back into her head she strained a muscle. “He ratted me out?” She jumped off the stool and started pacing. “Is there no honor left in this one-horse town?”

  “Aurora,” Sun said, appalled, “you told me he’d never flashed you.”

  “He hasn’t. Not, you know, directly.”

  “You lied to me.”

  Auri stopped pacing long enough to cast her mom a questioning frown.

  “You told me he’s always been nice to you.”

  “He is.” She started pacing again. “Or he was until he ratted me out.”

  “Auri,” she said from between gritted teeth.

  “Mom, he wasn’t flashing me. He was flashing Mrs. Fairborn. I was just an innocent bystander. I walked up to tell her something and then suddenly it was just … out.” She made a face at the thought. “Dangling there all … exposed and dangly.”

  “Oh, my god, I am going to kill that man.”

  “Exactly. I couldn’t tell you. Mrs. Fairborn brought out her knitting needle to scare him away but when I came up behind her, I scared her and she dropped it, so I picked it up and waved it at Doug like a sword so Mrs. Fairborn could get away. She was just trying to protect herself.”

  “I’m not so sure about that, bug. Then what happened?”

  “Mom, I didn’t stab him. I swear. I waved it at him and told him to back off, but he grabbed my wrist.”

  Her mother froze. Worse, Levi froze. He went completely still, his face becoming completely impassive, reminding Auri of the calm before the storm, and she stumbled on her next words. “It wasn’t like that.”

  “Did he hurt you?” her mother asked.

  “No. He just grabbed the knitting needle out of my hand and took off. But I knew if you knew that I knew what his man part looked like, you’d arrest him.”

  “Yes. That is precisely my job.”

  “In a way, I guess.”

  “In every way, Auri. You should have told me the moment you learned what happened to Doug.”

  “I’m sorry. Did you figure out who stabbed him?”

  “He did. He lost his balance and fell on it.”

  “For real? Well, he’s not off balance because of his you-know-what. Seriously, Mom. He doesn’t have a lot going on down there.”

  “Auri!” her grandma shouted.

  She cringed. “I’m just trying to be honest.”

  “Levi?” Her grandpa spoke softly to him, as though trying to calm an angry animal. “Sunny will handle this.”

  Levi cast her mom a glare from underneath his lashes, and Auri realized her mistake. “Levi, it’s really okay. I wasn’t hurt at all. He’s perfectly harmless most of the time.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong, Red,” he said, turning a softer expression on her. “This should have been dealt with years ago.”

  “And I’ll do the dealing, Levi.” Her mom’s tone was the one Auri never dared argue with.

  Apparently, Levi didn’t get that memo. “You have a week.”

  She stepped closer. “Don’t give me ultimatums.”

  He stood, the snack bar between them suddenly not distance enough. “Don’t make me.”

  “Oh, my god.” Auri tossed her hands into the air in helpless frustration. “Are you guys hooking up or what?”

  Four gazes shot to her like they’d been fired from a cannon.

  “Why else are we having this chat? Not that we’ll ever get to it, talking about knitting needles and flashers and Doug’s penis.” She grabbed her pizza and started toward the living room. “I’m going to eat in here. You can join me when you guys are ready to talk about something that is actually important to the parties present.”

  “Mom, Dad,” her mom said, “can you give us a little time?”

  Wow, her mom was dismissing her grandparents. This must be really important. This must be— She gasped when it hit her. They were getting married! They were getting married and Auri was going to be a bridesmaid. She wondered what her mother’s colors would be.

  Please pick pink.

  Please pick pink.

  Please pick pink.

  “Oh, look at the time,” her grandmother said. “We were supposed to go to Wanda’s for coffee.” She grabbed her husband’s hand.

  “What?” he said, disappointment setting in. “This is just getting good.”

  Her grandma grabbed her purse and dragged the man she loved most in the world to the door. “We’ll be back in, say, an hour?”

  Her mom nodded furtively.

  “No,” her grandpa protested. “I’m going to miss my show.”

  “Honey, everything is streaming now. There’s no such thing.”

  “Right, I forgot we aren’t in the Stone Age anymore.”

  When the door closed, the butterflies in Auri’s stomach exploded to astronomical proportions. This was it. This was actually it. She tried to slow her racing heart.

  “Are you ready?” her mom said softly to Levi.

  He nodded. “I am. But, seriously, you have a week.”

  A soft grin lifted one corner of her mom’s mouth. She was so pretty and Auri believed she honestly didn’t know. “Levi Ravinder, don’t tell me how to do my job.”

  “Do it and I won’t have to.”

  “You’re pushing it.”

  “Yeah?” They both leaned over the bar until their mouths were a hairsbreadth apart.

  “This is getting gross,” Auri said from the living room.

  They broke apart and walked into the living room hand in hand. It took Auri’s breath away. Her mom had been so in love with this man for so many years. To see it finally come to fruition …

  They took the sofa across from the chair she was sitting in. She’d been pretending to scroll through her phone, taking bites when she got to something she wanted to stop and read.

  “Auri,” her mom said, her voice shaky, “there’s something Levi and I would like to share with you.”

  Suddenly exuberant, she put her phone and her pizza on the coffee table, leaned onto her elbows, and gave them her full attention.

  “First, we want you to know how very much we love you.”

  “Okay,” she said, growing wary. Her mom seemed way more nervous about this than she should be. “I love you, too?”

  “Good. Right.” She looked at Levi, then back to Auri. “So, knowing how very much we love you—”

  “Oh, my god, are you guys sending me off to boarding school so you can start a new family without lugging all this baggage around?”

  “No, Auri, it’s just—”

  “I need to say this,” Levi said, interrupting her. He took her hand and squeezed it. “It should be me. I’m the one who’s known all this time.”

  “Guys,” she said, blinking in rapid succession. “You’re kind of scaring me.”

  “I’m sorry, Red.” He dropped his gaze for a moment before looking at her again. “Auri, I’m your father. Your biological father.”

  She snorted. “Is this a Star Wars thing?” she asked before his words sank in. She scooted back on the sofa, warily putting a few more inches between them. “Did you … did you abduct my mom?”

  “What?” He sprang forward and sat next to her. “No, Auri. That’s not what this is.” He looked at her mom helplessly. “I’m screwing this up.”

  “You’re doing fine.” Her mom sat on Auri’s other side, boxing her in. She squeezed into a ball, wondering where they were going with this. “Auri, you know how you found out when you were seven that … well, that I got pregnant with you during my abduction?”

  “Yes.” She pulled her knees to her chest, growing more uncomfortable by the second.

  “And do you remember how I lost my memory? How I couldn’t recall anything that happened for about a month beforehand?”

  She nodded.

  “It turns out that, about a week before the abduction, Levi and I had…” She stopped to search for the right words and Auri’s jaw fell open.

  “You did it?”

  A startled cough burst from her mother and she choked on air for a solid minute before responding. After recovering, she drew in a deep breath and said, “For lack of a better phrase, yes, we did.” When Auri only stared, she added, “In his truck. It was raining.”

  “And we’re getting married,” Levi tossed in, clearly hoping that would help.

  Auri gaped at her mother. “What was all that talk about the devil’s doorbell and the sin cave?”

  “The sin cave?” Levi asked, eyeing her mom.

  “Auri, I was seventeen. You’re twelve.”

  “I’m fifteen, Mom.”

  “Really? When did that happen?”

  “Wait.” She thought back then refocused on Levi. “You said you’ve known the longest. How … how long have you known?”

  Regret washed over him. She could see it in every line on his face. The set of his shoulders. The intensity of his gaze. “I figured it out pretty soon after we first met. I didn’t know at the time that your mom had lost a month’s worth of memories, Red. I just figured she didn’t want to have anything to do with me after what Kubrick did, and I didn’t want to force my way into your lives. You have to realize, Auri, I thought for a long time she really met and married a man named Samson Vicram. I had no clue it was a cover-up to keep her kidnapper from realizing you may have been his. Your grandparents had the best intentions when coming up with all of that, not knowing that the abductor was already dead. They were just trying to keep you safe, but they had the whole town fooled. Well, most of it. Including me. I had no idea until…”

  “Until?” she asked, hanging on his every word.

  “Until I met you on the cliffs at Del Sol Lake.”

  Her lids rounded at the memory. “Oh. What gave it away? That I was yours?”

  He leaned forward and took her chin in his fingers. “For one, the red hair.”

  She nodded. “And two?”

  “Look into my eyes. Namely this one. It has more.” He pointed to his left eye, the one that was still bruised and bloodshot, but she saw it.

  She lay a palm on his cheek. “Your irises have tiny green freckles like mine do.”

  He smiled down at her.

  “That’s how you figured it out?” she asked.

  “That put me on the path. But we need to talk about what’s going to happen later.”

  “We do?”

  He nodded. “Later you’re going to start thinking much more analytically about all of this.”

  “I am?”

  “And you’re going to wonder, despite everything I’ve just said, why I didn’t tell you. Why I didn’t become a part of your life sooner.”

  She dropped her gaze to study her cuticles, but he lifted her chin again, ever so gently.

  “I just want you to know, I’m going to do everything in my power to make up for all the time we missed. All three of us.” He offered her an apprehensive smile. “And I would be honored, Aurora, if you would consider taking my name.”

  She sucked in a sharp breath at the exact moment her mom did.

  “Don’t answer now.” He looked at her mom. “Either of you. Take some time to think about it. I don’t want to force my way into your lives if you’re not ready. When the time comes—”

  Auri threw her arms around his neck and hugged the man she’d loved for so long. A thought hit her, and she leaned back to ask, “Do Grandma and Grandpa know?”

  “Not yet, bug.”

  “How do you think they’ll take it?”

  She didn’t miss the exchange of worried glances between her parents.

  Parents!

  She had parents. Two. Two humans who loved her unconditionally. And one of them clearly felt guilty about his lack of presence in her life. Oh, yeah. She could work this to her advantage on a daily basis.

  “I’m sorry, can we back up?”

  “Of course, bug.”

  “Did you say you’re getting married?”

  Sun beamed at her. “I proposed.”

  “I proposed first.”

  “And he said we can’t become engaged because we’re already engaged and have been for almost sixteen years.”

  Auri clasped her hands together. “This is so romantic. What are your colors going to be?”

  Her mom laughed. “I haven’t thought quite that far ahead.”

  “Please pick pink. Please pick pink.”

  “I don’t know.” She narrowed her eyes on Auri. Tugged on a strand of hair. “What about apricot? You look amazing in apricot.”

  “But, Mom, you look amazing in pink.”

  She frowned. “I do?” When Auri nodded, she said, “You’ve never told me that.”

  Auri gasped as another thought came to mind. “What was playing on the radio?”

  “What?”

  “When you guys were doing it. What was on the radio?” She clasped her hands together and begged. “Please tell me it was Barry White.”

  Her mom rubbed her brow, and whispered admonishingly, “Auri.”

  “Whatever it was, that should be your song. You have to play it at the wedding.”

  “I don’t remember,” Levi admitted.

  “I do.” Her mom seemed embarrassed by that fact. “Or at least the group. It was Lifehouse.”

  Auri sucked in an audible gasp. “You used to play Lifehouse all the time, Mom! Maybe a part of you remembered.”

  Her mom shook her head and tucked the strand of hair behind her ear. “Your mind is amazing, bug.”

  Her heart swelled to three times its normal size as she looked between the two most important people in her life. “Thanks,” she said, fighting a telltale sting in the backs of her eyes. “I get it from my parents.”

  21

  I’m the type of person whose sense of humor could be

  described as inappropriate with a chance of ruining family dinner.

  —JOURNAL ENTRY: AURORA VICRAM

  Sun and Levi answered Auri’s questions for well over an hour as they waited for her grandparents to get home. She asked everything from the first time they met to what went through Sun’s mind when the memories started coming back.

  They were sitting on the sofa, Auri in the middle with her head on Sun’s shoulder as she asked yet another question. Levi got up to use the bathroom, so Sun took the opportunity to do a wellness check.

  “Are you okay with all of this, bug? Really?”

  Auri nodded like a bobblehead on a dashboard, but added, “Do you think that’s weird? I mean, should I be mad at him for not telling us sooner?”

  “Hon, no one can tell you what you should and should not feel. Feelings are intrinsically our own.”

  “Are you mad at him?”

  “Quite often,” she said with a grin. “But today? No, I’m not.”

  “Okay, good. Me neither. But I do have one favor to ask.”’

  “Anything,” Levi said, sitting beside them again.

  “Can we keep this to ourselves for a while?”

  A look of surprise flashed across Levi’s face, but he hid it quickly. “Of course. You take all the time you need.”

  “No.” She sat up to face him. “It’s not that. It’s just, Cruz lost his dad and I just got one and somehow none of this seems fair.”

  “It’s not, bug. What happened to Cruz will never be fair.”

  “Do you think it’s okay to tell him?”

  “If Cruz is the man I think he is,” Levi said, “he’ll be thrilled for you.”

  She sank back into her mother’s arms. “I hope so.”

  When the front door opened, Sun drew in a deep breath and whispered to Levi, “You know we’re going to have to repeat everything all over again.”

  “I’m good with that. As long as your dad doesn’t shoot me.”

  “We should hide his guns. Just in case.”

  “Agreed.”

  She looked at Auri, then back at him. “Are we ready?”

  “No,” he said, making Auri giggle.

  Sun winced. “Me neither. Here goes nothing.”

  They stood together as her parents walked in, her mother chittering about a candy dish Wanda had. She hung up her purse and walked to the kitchen. “Okay to come in?”