A Bad Day for Sunshine (Sunshine Vicram #1) - Darynda Jones Page 0,95
his murdered mother. He’d been through so much.
“Thank you for telling me that, bug bite.” She hugged Auri again amid protests of a squished sandwich.
“Mom,” Auri said into Sun’s shoulder, “can you check on Cruz? I think he may have done something silly. Like defend my honor.”
Sun sat back. “I gotta tell ya, kid, I like him.”
Auri blushed again and went back to her sandwich, and Sun had never felt so blessed in all her life.
“You know, you don’t have to go to school tomorrow. You don’t have to go back to that school ever again.”
The look Auri gave her was one of absolute resolve. “Mom, what would you do? Because you wouldn’t run away. So, what would you do?”
Sun tilted her head. “I’d show them that while they may be able to put a hairline crack in my heart, they could never, ever break me.”
Auri smiled. “I guess I’m more like you than you’d thought.”
“Oh no, I had a strong inkling.”
Auri giggled, the sound like champagne bubbles bursting in the air.
19
Deputy Salazar responded to a report of a woman stopping
at mailboxes and going through residents’ mail.
Upon further investigation, it was the mail carrier.
—DEL SOL POLICE BLOTTER
Sun dropped Quincy off at work with the promise of meeting him at the St. Aubin home later, but not before she gave him a little hell.
“Really?” she asked as they were leaving the house. “You let them interview you?”
He flushed. “You know how reporters are. They tricked me.”
“They’re high school students.”
“They’re sharks in a town full of minnows.” After a minute, he said, “I am so sorry, Sunny.”
She wrapped an arm around his waist and squeezed. “I know. What line did these sharks feed you?”
“That it was for a ‘Getting to Know Our Community Leaders’ post for their news program.”
“And you fell for that?”
“Apparently.”
She let him hug her, then left him on the street and made him walk half a block in the snow. Served him right. Sun had almost fainted when she’d seen him in the video.
With him taken care of, she had a mission, and after making some calls, she found herself at the Ravinder home in the early afternoon. She didn’t know what to expect. If there would be family with them or if word had yet to get out about their uncle Brick’s death.
In a surprise twist, Sun found out Hailey had come home to gather some things for her son. Jimmy had received a clean bill of health. They’d feared frostbite, but somehow the kid managed to keep all his fingers and toes, a fact Sun found astonishing. But they were keeping him overnight for observation.
She knocked on the door to the main house.
Hailey opened it and almost growled at her. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I came to see your brother. Is he here?”
She looked around and then smiled at Sun. They kept their distance while talking softly, but Hailey broke the rules and said, “Thank you so much for everything you did, Sunshine.”
“Sweetheart, Levi found him. He’s amazing.”
“I know. He’s asleep, but you can go up.”
Sun took a step back. “Oh no, I couldn’t.”
Hailey pressed their luck further by grabbing her arm. “Don’t chicken out on me now.”
“Hailey, if someone sees you being nice to me, it could get back to your uncle Clay.”
“I know.”
“Is Jimmy okay?”
“Yes, thank God. Now go talk to my brother . . . bitch. But he’ll never tell you a thing.”
Sun realized someone must have walked up. She turned to see another of the Ravinder uncles, the one they were investigating, slink onto the porch. Clay stood behind her, looking her up and down.
Like most of the Ravinder clan, Clay looked like a six-foot man in a five-foot-six-inch body. They had a scrunched-up look to them with dishwater blond hair, thin mouths, and patchy stubble.
Sun knew Levi had a different father from his sister, but she was beginning to wonder if Hailey was a true Ravinder as well. Either the scrunched Ravinder look skipped the women in the family, or she was just as illegitimate as Levi. Neither of them had that je ne sais white supremacy that the rest of the clan enjoyed.
“You’d better git if you’re going before my uncle kicks your skinny ass off this land,” Hailey said.
“Thank you.” Sun walked past her and up the stairs.
“First door on your right.”
“Unless you want a real man,” Clay said, smacking his lips as he checked her out. “Then it’s downstairs. Second door on the left.”