Rude Awakenings: A Novel of the Terribly Acronymed Detective Club (Book 2)

Chapter Fifty-Two: Lauren, Summer, 2011

Al and Rachel marked their first anniversary by attending an information session on fostering provided by the Ministry of Children and Family Development. Lauren was surprised and impressed that they did what they said they would, but maybe she shouldn't have been. Al seemed like the type who kept his promises, and this particular path seemed like a personal mission for him ever since he'd suggested it when he'd proposed to Rachel. They both wanted to make it up to Danny Trybek for how they'd failed him, even though unintentionally, when they were children.

They told them all about it at the party Lauren and Joe threw for them at their place. She wanted them here because it was summer, it was beautiful out and the kids could play outside, and because Al and Rachel had hosted them at their place a lot in the past year. She bought the cake, and the rest of them brought potluck side dishes while Joe grilled steaks, burgers, hot dogs and chicken on the barbecue.

The hot dogs were mainly for the kids, but Lauren couldn't help noticing Al sneaking one for himself. The comfort foods kids enjoyed were imprinted on the brain, apparently. When no one was looking, she grabbed one too, slathered it in ketchup, yellow mustard and green relish, and it was the best thing she'd eaten all evening.

The dishes Sunny and Tej brought were particularly tasty, lentils and chickpeas in aromatic sauces, and desserts so sweet they made Lauren's teeth hurt. "You know," Rachel said when she wasn't shovelling it in her face, "when we were growing up, Sunny, I remember smelling this from your house, and wondering how I could invite myself over for dinner."

Sunny's face grew pained, "Oh, Rachel, I wish you would have told me. We would have invited you over. My mom liked you a lot."

"She did?" Rachel asked in surprise. "I don't remember exchanging a single word with her."

"She was shy. She didn't open up to a lot of white people, except for Mrs. Anderson. She experienced darker relations with them when she was younger, and was always conscious of how she dealt with them, but she always encouraged my sister and me to make friends, and she liked how you all took me in. She might have thought you wouldn't like her cooking; back then, the flavours weren't very conventional to mainstream Canadian cuisine."

"I'm sorry to hear that. She wouldn't have been able to get rid of me if I sat at her table and had this."

They all chuckled.

"Speaking of your family," Al said. "You never told us what happened to your sister. She was younger than you, wasn't she?"

"I remember her," Lauren said. "Her name's Bishan, right?"

"Uh... yeah," Sunny said weakly, suddenly looking gut-punched.

"She was kind of cheeky, if I remember correctly," Lauren went on. "She wanted me to teach her aikido after she heard about the time I threw Francis O'Rourke. I met her a few times in secret because your mom didn't approve. We had fun throwing each other around. So, what's she doing, now?"

Sunny put his hand over his eyes, and for a horrifying moment Lauren thought he might cry. Tej looked at him with a sympathetic expression. 

"She died," he muttered, so softly it was almost inaudible.

They all stared at him in shock.

"What?" Rachel breathed.

Sunny took his hand away from his face and glared at them as if angry at them for making him repeat himself. "She died." 

"I'm very sorry," Al said. "We didn't know."

"Of course you didn't," Sunny said. "I never told you. It's not something you bring up in every day conversation."