Chapter Eight
Audrey was exhausted by the end of the day.
Breakfast followed by a parade of stores to buy Christmas gifts and decorations.
Didn’t most people use the same ones for more than one year?
She wasn’t sure why, every single year, her family felt the need to shop for new decorations.
And she’d had no time to recover from her moment over the cutlery, or from Hallie having brought travel cutlery with her.
It had been for Audrey. There was no getting around that.
It was sweet, thoughtful, more insightful than she’d been expecting from someone she’d just met. And it didn’t make sense.
Neither did the standing… arrangement they now had.
Hallie hadn’t taken to quizzing her over breakfast, not after the cutlery thing and Audrey’s agreement that she could spend her evening asking questions.
Though, Audrey suspected that was mostly to do with giving her the space to shut down—as much as one could at breakfast with their whole family.
She shut the door to her room a little too firmly and flopped onto the bed. Her head ached, spinning unpleasantly. She wanted to go home so badly. The longer she stayed here, the more it felt like she’d never get home again.
She pulled her phone out and dialed Zora.
“Hey, babe,” Zora said upon answering, her voice giving away that she knew Audrey was going to be in a bad state. “How’re you doing?”
“Oh, you know.” Audrey pressed two fingers to her forehead, trying to smooth out her aching brow. “How are you? How was the wedding?”
“Audrey…”
“Please, Zora. I just need to talk about something else, something good. Just for a minute.”
Zora cleared her throat, and Audrey could imagine her nodding reluctantly. “It was good. Service was awesome, then pictures. We got ATM cupcakes and then hit up the Museum of Death.”
Audrey hesitated between confused and amused. “Well, nothing says ‘till death do us part quite like that.”
“Babe, you work in forensics. Are you really gonna judge? Kind of hypocritical, don’t you think?”
She laughed. “Firstly, that’s my job, not where I get married.
Secondly, not judging, just surprised. Have you ever considered that it says something about you that your best friend is a forensic entomologist and you dated two people whose idea of a good time on their wedding day is the Museum of Death? ”
“Yes, I think it says my mission to save you from yourselves has a fifty percent success rate so far.”
“How’s that?”
“Federica and Akua are a lost cause, but, if you eventually decide to find someone and don’t—actually, where are we at on that one? Pro-wedding?”
Audrey sighed. She appreciated Zora checking, rather than simply assuming she was pro-wedding like her family thought she should be, or going in the opposite direction and assuming she was anti-marriage simply because she refused to do what her family wanted.
“Generally speaking, yes, I’m pro-marriage.
But I don’t think you need to worry that’s coming my way anytime soon. ”
“Not what you’re asking Santa for this year?”
Audrey scoffed. “Yeah, no.”
“Okay, well, if you ever do find someone and manage to get married without death being involved, I’ll count that as a win.”
“Getting married at a crime scene isn’t high on my list, don’t worry.”
“Yeah, well, relationships haven’t been high on your list, but, since I care about you, I’m keeping my fingers crossed. For both love and no dead bodies at the wedding.”
“No current plans to invite the dead.”
“Fantastic. If you could fall in love with someone who’s all… sunshine and rainbows, that’d be great.”
“I’ll give it my best shot.”
“Fantastic! And, while we’re on the topic, how’s the newest Sinclair couple doing?”
Ah. Audrey cleared her throat. “Good, I think.”
“Have they come out as big fakers yet?” Zora asked with a laugh, clearly already fully decided on the two of them.
“Nope.” There was a clenching in Audrey’s stomach, some need to say more, to point out that Hallie was a good person.
“Do you think they’re legit?” Zora’s tone was speculative. She really didn’t buy that River had just naturally found another partner. Audrey wasn’t sure why. People did that all the time. It wasn’t a big deal.
But… did she think they were legit? “Yeah, probably.”
“Probably?” There was a loaded pause. “Explain.”
Audrey blew out a slow breath and got up from the bed, heading towards the balcony. “I don’t know. The energy was a bit weird when I first met Hallie.”
“With River or with you?”
“With River.” She hesitated briefly in the balcony doorway. Hallie’s energy with her had never been remotely weird. Not awkward, not stilted, not anything other than… Whatever.
“That’s not a good sign.”
Audrey shrugged and leaned against the railing again. It was already colder than last night. Dark and biting. She breathed it in. “It’s not necessarily a bad sign, either.”
“How is it not? People aren’t supposed to be weird with their partners.”
“Okay, well, weird might be an overstatement. I think it’s more a new couple trying to navigate meeting the family and not knowing how to be with each other in front of all our relatives.”
Zora snorted. “Don’t know why they’re bothered about that. Your family fucking sucks. Do whatever the hell you want and try not to get dragged down by them.”
“Most people aren’t you, Zora.”
“And the world can be glad of that. Not nearly enough space for more than one of me.”
Audrey smiled softly, looking out across the trees. “I miss you.”
“You won’t be saying that when you’re sick of the sight of me when you get back.” She paused. “So, things aren’t great?”
Audrey sighed, watching her breath rise in clouds around her. She was only that openly sentimental when things were bad. Zora knew that. “They’re not as bad as they could be.”
“That’s such a low bar.”
“It’s really fine. I can handle it. And, uh… River’s girlfriend is… helping, actually.”
There was another loaded pause before an amused Zora said, “How, exactly?”
“I don’t know. She’s nice. She’s not… interested in all the bullshit.”
“Wow. First person anyone in your family has brought around that isn’t ridiculously fixated on marriage ever after?”
“I guess. River’s partners aren’t usually that bad.”
“Not usually this good either.”
“I suppose.”
“And we’re sure she’s actually with River?”
“I mean, I haven’t asked directly, but yeah, pretty sure.”
She hummed skeptically. “Well, what’s she been like with you?”
“Uh…” How did Audrey even begin to explain that? “Considerate. She’s pretty vocal about the fact that she doesn’t like my family’s comments.”
“Good. You and they both deserve that.”
“Yeah, maybe… And she, uh, brought travel cutlery to breakfast today.”
“She did what?” Zora asked with a laugh.
Audrey’s insides squirmed and she wasn’t sure why. It was just a kind gesture. It didn’t mean anything untoward. “Apparently, I wasn’t as careful with my cutlery thing as I thought. Either that or my family’s been talking. It could easily be that one, let’s be honest.”
“Babe, do you need to come home?”
Audrey laughed sadly. “Yes, but we both know that’s not happening before Sunday.”
“I guess… Suppose it’s a good thing River’s new girlfriend is looking out for you.” She laughed lightly. “And, just for the record, bringing cutlery for your girlfriend’s cousin isn’t exactly screaming that you’re in love with the girlfriend…”
“Yes, it is. She’s considerate and caring about the people around River. It says exactly that.”
“No. If anything, it suggests more than a passing interest in you.”
“What? No.”
“Babe, come on. Run it through that big brain of yours. That’s totally the kind of thing you do for someone you’re dating—or want to date—not the cousin of someone you’re newly dating.”
Audrey shuddered and hoped it was just the cold. “You already planted the idea in my head that those two might be faking and ruined my first impression of them as a couple. Let’s not start… whatever it is you’re trying to do.”
Zora laughed, loud and free. “Just saying, you could end up with someone worse than the person who tells your family off and considers your needs.”
“Ending up with my cousin’s girlfriend actually sounds as bad as it could get.”
“Fake girlfriend.”
“We don’t know that.”
“We will if she keeps paying more attention to you than River.”
“I didn’t say she wasn’t paying attention to River.”
“Is she?”
Audrey gulped painfully. Hadn’t that been the whole thing that started her down the path of believing their relationship might be fake? They didn’t orbit around each other like couples did. They didn’t seem absorbed in each other like couples were. “Probably.”
“You’re such a fucking liar.”
Audrey groaned. “Well, it’s not a fair question. River doesn’t have the… challenges I do here.”
“You’re doing that thing where you try to talk yourself out of feeling like you can be in a relationship because you think you’re a burden to any potential partners. Clearly, she’s not seeing you as a burden. She’s seeing you as someone she cares about and can help.”
“I don’t need a caretaker.”
“I know that. But love involves caring for the people you’re with.”
“Have you been drinking?”
She laughed again, just as loud as before. “No. Have you?”
“No. I’ve been shopping. But you’re the one suddenly implying my cousin’s girlfriend is in love with me.”
“Be so for real right now, babe. It’s a possibility.”
“It is not. Aside from anything else, you don’t fall in love in two days.”
“Maybe you don’t.”
“And other people’s girlfriends don’t either.”
“We’ll see, won’t we? Still got several days ahead to test the theory.”
“I thought you wanted me to leave.”
“I do, but I know you’re not going to. Just as I know that, despite all the bluster, you actually do want to fall in love.”
“Not with my cousin’s girlfriend.”
“Is she hot?”
“I have no idea,” Audrey said flatly. What was this conversation and how had they gotten here?
“Liar.”
“I’m not lying.”