I get a view of the early dawn sky, still cloaked in darkness, when she puts down her phone.
“Everyone still asleep?”
“Like the dead,” she says off-screen. “We hiked the Devils Garden loop yesterday. My calves are sore as hell.”
My view changes when she sits down in a folding chair. “What were you thinking about doing?”
“I’m picking her up for lunch.”
Aurora salutes me with her tin coffee cup. “That’s a start. Then put a ring on her finger and lock her down before she comes to her senses.”
“You’re hilarious.” Although, I’ve already had a similar thought.
“What are you wearing for the lunch date?”
“Lunch is hardly a date.”
Aurora rolls her aqua eyes. “It’s most definitely a date. Go to your closet and show me options.”
“I don’t need you to dress me,” I tell her, even though I’m already walking back into my bedroom.
“Prop your phone so I can see.”
“You’re fucking bossy at five in the morning.”
Aurora waggles her eyebrows. “Just ask JD. In fact, I just left him very satisfied?—”
I press mute. I don’t need to hear about my sister’s sex life.
When she realizes I can’t hear her, she gesticulates wildly, mostly with her middle finger.
Going into the walk-in closet, I set the phone on top of one of the dressers and unmute her.
“What about this?” I ask, pulling a fitted blue, short-sleeved button-up from its hanger.
“You’re an ass.”
“So, that’s a no.” I rehang it.
“Nothing that screams ‘I work twenty-four seven.’ Dress like a normal person. Do you have a T-shirt in the same color?”
“Yeah.” I slide out a modular drawer and select a neatly folded blue shirt from the organizer, draping it over the valet rod. “Dress slacks or trousers?”
Aurora bursts out laughing. “It’s summer and hotter than Hades there. Wear shorts, stupid.”
“I want to look nice.”
Aurora’s expression softens with understanding. “Elizabeth doesn’t need fancy. She just needs you. Maybe wear jeans since you’re picking her up on the Ducati.”
Blatant hint received loud and clear.
“What about your bike?”
Her face scrunches in horror. “Donottouch my bike.”
Aurora is very protective of her motorcycle. It used to belong to her best friend, Cameron. He was killed by a drunk driver when they were in high school.
“I like my legs and hands where they are. I know better.”
