Chapter 66
The car stopped.
Aurora looked up from her phone.
She hadn't been paying attention to the route. She'd been too busy not paying attention to Leonard, which required more effort than she wanted to admit.
But now she looked.
Outside the window was a wide open space. A riverside walkway, lit softly by warm overhead lights strung between poles.
The water caught the last of the evening light and held it. People moved slowly along the path below, unhurried, existing quietly.
Aurora stared at it.
"Get out," Leonard said.
"Is this another scheme," she said flatly.
"Get out Noelle."
She got out.
The air hit her first. Cool and clean, carrying the smell of water and something faintly sweet from a food cart nearby. She stood beside the car for a moment, just breathing.
Leonard came around and stood beside her, hands in his pockets.
"Are you doing this for a motive," Aurora said.
"Probably."
She looked at him sideways.
He looked completely unbothered.
"Everything you do has a motive," she continued. "You don't do anything without a reason. So what is it this time."
"Does it matter?"
"To me? Yes."
Leonard was quiet for a moment. Then,
"Oma said you needed soft."
Aurora blinked. Then laughed once. Short and disbelieving. "She said what."
"You heard me."
"So this..." she gestured at the scenery, the lights, the water, "...is you being soft."
"Don't push it."
Aurora shook her head slowly.
"Unbelievable."
But she didn't get back in the car.
She started walking toward the path instead, slowly, like the view was pulling her forward without her permission.
Leonard fell into step beside her, quiet, not touching her, just there.
"Everything is stressing me out," she said after a moment. Not to him specifically. Just out loud. "This is actually good for my health right now. Don't take credit for that."
"I won't," he said.
"I mean it. My head has been pounding for days. The college, the drama, everything..." She exhaled slowly. "This is just. Good air. That's all."
"Okay."
She glanced at him. "You're being very agreeable."
"Oma said soft."
"Stop saying that."
The corner of his mouth moved.
They walked in comfortable silence for a while, the water beside them, the soft string lights overhead. Aurora's shoulders dropped slowly, almost without her noticing. The tight line of her jaw eased slightly.
Leonard's phone buzzed.
He pulled it out. Glanced at the screen.
His contact. Mexico. Two lines.
Still nothing on location. Trail goes cold every time. Working on it.
He read it once. Pocketed the phone.
His eyes moved back to Aurora.
She was looking at the water, completely unaware.
He kept walking.
Then somewhere ahead, without warning, the sky cracked open with color.
Aurora stopped.
Fireworks. Not the grand organized kind. Something smaller, more spontaneous, someone's celebration spilling into the sky from across the water. Golds and whites and deep reds blooming and dissolving above the river.
Aurora stood completely still for one second.
Then she walked toward it.
Not running. Just drawn. Like something in her forgot to be guarded for a moment.
Leonard slowed his pace and watched her go.
She moved toward the small gathering that had formed near the water's edge. People with their phones out, faces tilted up, someone laughing nearby. A cart with paper cups of ice cream sitting in a small cooler.
Aurora reached the cart. Looked at it.
Looked at the sky.
Then she ordered one without looking at the menu, the way people do when they already know exactly what they want.
Leonard reached her just as she turned back around, cup in hand, eyes still half on the fireworks above.
She took a bite.
Got some on her lip without noticing.
Leonard reached out without asking and wiped it away with his thumb. One simple motion.
Aurora went still.
She looked at him.
He looked back.
Neither of them said anything.
Above them the fireworks kept going, gold dissolving into red dissolving into white, spilling color across the water below.
Aurora looked back up at the sky.
Her shoulder was almost touching his.
She didn't move away.
He just stood there beside her.
"You didn't even pay for the ice cream," Leonard said.
Aurora didn't look away from the fireworks.
"Because you're here. Duh."
"And if I didn't bring money?"
She finally turned and looked at him like he'd just said something genuinely stupid.
"You're Leonard Grande," she said flatly.
Like it was a fact every functioning human should already know. Then she went back to her ice cream.
Leonard looked at her for a moment.
Then he reached out and pinched her nose.
"Ow-" She slapped his hand away immediately, nearly losing her grip on the cup. "What is wrong with you."
He said nothing. Just watched her go back to licking her ice cream like nothing had happened.
The fireworks kept going above the water. Gold. White. Deep red.
Aurora watched them, cup raised, completely drawn in.
Then her face changed.
It was subtle at first. A small crease between her brows. Her eyes blinking once too many times. Her free hand rising slightly toward her temple.
Then the pain hit properly.
She winced. Sharp. Sudden.
Her hand flew to her head, pressing hard against her temple like she could physically stop whatever was building inside it.
The ice cream cup slipped from her fingers.
It hit the ground.
She barely noticed.
Both hands on her head now, eyes squeezed shut, the fireworks still cracking and blooming above her like they had no idea what they were doing to her.
The lights. The sound. The colors exploding in the dark.
Something about it was wrong. Deeply, specifically wrong in a way she couldn't name.
She needed to get away from it.
Leonard was already there.
He didn't ask questions. He didn't hesitate. He scooped her up in one motion, one arm under her knees, one around her back, and carried her away from the crowd, away from the noise, back toward where they'd come from.
She didn't protest.
Her hands stayed pressed against her head, fingers digging in like she was trying to hold something together.
He set her down on the hood of his car, gently, and stood in front of her.
She kept her eyes shut.
"Noelle. Look at me."
Nothing.
"Noelle." His voice dropped lower. Calm. Completely calm. He reached up and covered both her hands with his, not pulling them away, just holding them still.
"Open your eyes. Look at me and breathe."
She forced her eyes open.
His face was right there. Close. Steady.
"Breathe," he said again.
She breathed.
In. Out. In again.
The pounding didn't disappear but it softened. Pulled back from the sharp edge it had been sitting on.
She focused on his face. On the steadiness of it. On the hands covering hers.
Slowly, slowly, her shoulders dropped.
She exhaled long and uneven.
Leonard didn't move. He just stayed exactly where he was until her breathing evened out completely.
Aurora lowered her hands.
She looked back at the scenery in front of them. The water. The soft lights. Quiet now, away from the crowd.
Silence settled between them.
Then she said, without him asking, voice quieter than usual.
"Fireworks were Ginny's favorite."
Leonard went still.
"Her birthday. We hired someone once, just to set them off for her because she loved them so much." Aurora's eyes stayed on the water. "I guess it triggered something."
She said it simply. Like she was reporting a fact. But her jaw was tight.
Leonard said nothing.
A beat passed.
Then Aurora looked down at the ground.
"My ice cream fell," she said. Flat.
Genuinely devastated.
"I wasn't even done."
Leonard looked at her for one second.
Then he turned and walked back toward the gathering without a word.
"Wait-" Aurora frowned. "Where are you going?"
He didn't answer.
She watched him disappear into the small crowd.
Three minutes later he came back.
Bigger cup. Same flavor. Extra topping.
He held it out.
Aurora looked at it. Then at him.
"Good boy," she said.
The look he gave her could have melted steel.
"Say that again," he said quietly, "and I'm putting it on your head."
Aurora took the cup smoothly. "Good boy."
She turned back to the scenery and took a long slow lick.
Leonard stared at the side of her face.
Then he looked away, jaw tight, something between irritation and something else entirely sitting in his expression.
The water moved quietly below.
The lights held.
And neither of them went anywhere.
"Good boy," Aurora said again, taking the cup smoothly.
Leonard's jaw tightened. "Say that one more time."
"What?" She turned to him, genuinely unbothered. "You can call me good girl but
I can't call you good boy?" She gestured between them. "Make it make sense. Chill."
He stared at her.
She was already facing the water again, ice cream raised, completely uninterested in his reaction.
The first scoop got on her lips.
She noticed immediately. "Ugh." She wiped it with her fingers, frowning at them after. "This is exactly why I don't eat ice cream outside."
Leonard watched her.
She went back to eating, eyes on the scenery, completely in her own world.
"You didn't get any," she said after a moment, not looking at him. "Don't tell me you don't like ice cream."
Leonard said nothing.
"Everyone likes ice cream." She tilted her head slightly. "You're the devil, yes. Certified. But even the devil has a little sister. Don't tell me she never forced ice cream on you before."
"She did," Leonard said simply.
"Then go get some." She waved vaguely toward the cart. "Go. I'll be here."
She raised the cup again, reaching for another scoop.
Leonard's hand closed around her wrist.
She stopped.
He took the cup from her hand and set it beside her on the hood of the car without a word.
Aurora stared at where it now sat. Then at him.
"Leonard." Her voice was flat. "Ren. Grande. Let me have my ice cream in peace. I am literally begging you. I just want to enjoy the scenery and the ice cream. That is all I am asking for. Is that too much?" She reached for the cup.
He stopped her again.
This time his other hand found her waist.
And pulled.
Her breath seized.
Suddenly she was closer. Too close. The scenery forgotten. The ice cream forgotten. Everything narrowed down to the small space between them and the way his eyes had dropped to her lips.
"The ice cream," he said quietly, "is right here."
Aurora blinked.
And then he captured her lips.
For one second she didn't move.
Then she melted.
Completely, embarrassingly, wonderfully melted.
Her arms found his neck without asking permission.
His hands pulled her closer, turning her until her legs straddled his waist, both of them on the hood of his car with the water glittering ahead and the string lights overhead and absolutely none of it mattering.
He kissed her like he had time. Like nothing else existed.
She kissed him back like she'd forgotten she wasn't supposed to want this.
He tasted the ice cream on her lips and she felt him smile against her mouth, just slightly, just once.
Her fingers curled into the back of his neck.
His hands pressed flat against her back, bringing her closer than close, and their heads moved together slowly, finding the rhythm of something that felt dangerously familiar.
She was losing.
She knew she was losing.
She couldn't find it in herself to care.
When he finally pulled back it was slow.
Reluctant almost. His forehead dropped to hers, both of them catching their breath in the small space between them.
Aurora's eyes stayed closed for a moment.
Then she opened them.
He was already watching her. That dark, unreadable expression that she was starting to understand meant more than he'd ever say out loud.
She swallowed.
Looked away first.
Her eyes found the water. The lights. The quiet evening moving around them like nothing had happened.
She reached beside her and picked up her ice cream cup.
Took a slow, deliberate scoop.
"You still didn't get any," she said.
Her voice came out slightly unsteady.
She hoped he didn't notice.
He did.
He said nothing.
Just watched her eat her ice cream with that quiet, satisfied expression of a man who had gotten exactly what he wanted.
Those damn lips.
TBC...