Page 36 of Wildfire
“I’m not going to try and make you.”
“You’ve gotten me into bed before, it shouldn’t be that hard for you.”
I should have stayed reading my book. “If you don’t go to sleep, you’re going to feel like death tomorrow and you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.”
“My dad is to blame for all of my problems, so that’s not true, is it?” As drunk as she is, there’s something clear and certain about the way she says it. It’s a feeling I can relate to, but I think trading daddy issues is the exact opposite of what I need this summer. It’s definitely the exact opposite of what I need right now, dealing with a drunk person. “You don’t get to tell me what to do, mister. You’re not the boss of me.”
“But youjusttold me to make you. I know I’m not the bo—” I stop talking because I’m arguing with someone who probably isn’t going to remember any of this tomorrow. “Is that why you’re so drunk? Your dad’s done something?”
“It’s his birthday.” She looks at her watch, squinting. “Is that atwelve or two? Was his birthday. I arranged for a gift to be delivered. Silly, silly Rory, always expecting too much and trusting the wrong people.”
“And he didn’t like it?”
“He didn’t open it. I spoke to his assistant, Sandra, no, Brandy? Brenda. I spoke to Brenda because he didn’t answer my calls and it was still in his office.” She shrugs and her whole demeanor changes again. It’s like every time she talks about something that makes her unhappy, she forces herself to look happy. “His girlfriend and her daughter took him to Disneyland as a surprise. He fucking hates Disneyland. He never went with us when my mom took me and my sister. But anything Norah and Isobel want they get, and I just have to exist in their shadow.”
“I’m sorry.” I don’t know what else to say, but we reach cabin 22 and she begins to climb the steps. Thinking back to Xander and Clay’s wrong cabin accident, I keep hold of her hand. “Is this definitely yours?”
“Yup.” She points to the fairy lights decorating the porch. “Cabin two-two. Angel number.”
I stop on the bottom step, letting go of her hand. “Angel what?”
She spins around so quickly she almost loses balance, but the walk here, the water, and the short period without a tequila bottle in her hand has helped sober her up a tiny amount. “Why have you stopped?”
“We aren’t allowed to go into other people’s cabins.”
She huffs, her hands landing on her hips like somehow I’m the one in the wrong here. “Nobody cares about those rules. Nobody cares enough to punish me.”
“I care about them, Rory. And you’d understand that if you weren’t so drunk.”
She drags me up the steps, and I reluctantly follow. “Come in, please.”
“I’ll stand in the doorway,” I say firmly, which is a waste of breath, because she pulls me over the threshold anyway. “Aurora, I can’t be in here. I need this job.”
“I liked it when you called me Rory.”
“Rory, get into bed, please. Lie on your side in case you’re sick.” To my surprise, she kicks off her shoes and throws herself down onto her bed. “Good girl. Okay, good night.”
“Wait!” she shouts as I turn to leave. “I’m hungry.”
It really is like being with Stassie and Lola. “I can’t do anything about that right now. I’ll get you breakfast in the morning.”
“No, you won’t.” She wiggles under a blanket, and while her sleeping fully clothed isn’t ideal, it is not something I’m prepared to tackle. “Tomorrow you’ll go back to hating me.”
My mouth opens and closes, but no words come out at first. “I do not hate you.”
She yawns and begins to lose the fight to keep her eyes open. “Will you wait until I fall asleep, please? It won’t take long.”
I’m still stunned she thinks I hate her, even though it’s probably drunk babble. “Sure, why?”
“Because it’s easier to wake up and you’re not here than it is to watch you leave me.”
I sit on the edge of her bed, mulling over her words, scrambling for a plan to untangle the mess I’ve created for myself starting tomorrow. It doesn’t take long for her to fall asleep and I’m instantly jealous, because I know I’m going to be up all night wondering if it would have been easier to watch her leave after we hooked up. Or was it easier to find her gone?
BREAKFAST IS QUIETER THAN NORMALwith Aurora missing, and I hate it.
She’s practically a Honey Acres expert, after coming here as acamper for so many years, and she spends so much time during meals when we’re all sitting together answering questions about what it will be like when the kids are here.
Emilia sits down with her food and gives a vague answer about Aurora feeling sick and not wanting breakfast, not revealing that she’s definitely hungover.
