Chapter One

Dori Orihuela thought once again that she never should've left Denver when she turned onto the dirt driveway leading to Grammy Cena's house.

Bordered on both sides by solid walls of nopal cactus, Dori thought once again that her sister, Sela, should've been put in charge of Grammy Cena. Sela had always been her favorite. But no one could count on them showing up at the wedding sober, much less showing up at all, and so the duty fell on her.

Grammy Cena's dogs, Pepe and Churro, charged and snarled at Dori's RAV4. She stopped a few feet from the porch, cut the engine and rolled down her passenger window.

"Grammy, it's me! Don't shoot!—

At the sound of her voice, the dogs' snarls turned to joyous cries for attention.

Grammy opened the door and came out onto the porch. "Something bad is going to happen at this wedding,— Grammy's witchy voice declared from the sagging little house with the giant pepper tree in the back. Dori bet the tree still had the rope swing that her brother and sister would argue over. As the oldest, she had been the one who refereed their turns.

Grammy locked the door and then shaded her eyes with a bony hand. "Your Tío Fermin has been visiting again.—

Tío Fermin had been dead since 1986, but he "visited— Grammy in the form of a skunk when he had messages from the other side. Grammy's house backed onto a small canyon below La Vista Memorial Park, but Dori had long since given up her argument that the canyon teemed with skunks.

With a sigh, Dori yanked her keys out of the ignition and realized nothing had changed in the five ye