by Amy Vastine
Bonnie refused to dignify that question with an answer. She opened her father’s front door. “Have a good day, Aaron. Good luck in your newest endeavor.”
Chagrined, he nodded and headed out the door.
“I’d turn my phone off tonight if I was you,” her dad said before Aaron left. “Your family isn’t going to accept your resignation easily.”
“You’re probably right about that, Mr. Wi—I mean, David.”
Bonnie shut the door behind him and pressed her back against it.
“You stand up to him pretty well. Maybe you need to pretend you’re talking to him when you talk to Lauren,” her dad said.
“It’s your fault that I’m a pushover,” she whispered as he walked away. She’d definitely inherited it from him. She loved her father more than anyone, but he was too nice for his own good.
* * *
SEVENTEEN TEXT MESSAGES and thirteen voice mails. Aaron’s family was relentless. His plan, however, was to avoid their calls and texts until the morning. He decided he’d heed Mr. Windsor’s advice—David’s advice—and shut his phone off.
He sprawled out on his couch. Feet up, cold drink in one hand. Remote control in the other. He had some binge-watching to do. Usually when he got home from work, he had about three more hours of work to do on his computer. He’d end up too tired to do anything other than go to bed when he was finished. Then he’d wake up the next morning and do it all over again.
Just another reason that wasn’t the life he wanted to live. There was no real living going on. He crunched numbers that meant nothing to him. Aaron wanted to have a purpose.
Before he could even choose which show he wanted to watch, his sister unlocked his front door with the key he should never have given her years ago. She threw her purse down on the coffee table.
“What are you doing? Trying to give Mom and Dad a heart attack?”
“What would you recommend I start watching? Game of Thrones or The Office?” he asked, ignoring her question altogether.
Lauren sat next to him. “I’m serious, Aaron. Is this your way of getting Mom and Dad’s attention? Have you been feeling neglected or something?”
“You got me. I couldn’t stand all the attention you were getting, so I decided to stop working where I got to see Dad every day.”
His sister frowned. “You know what I mean. Is this some kind of stunt to get them all riled up? You’re not usually this rebellious.”
No, he wasn’t. Aaron usually did as his dad said and what made his mother happy. He was easygoing about everything and never made much of a fuss about anything. That had always been Lauren’s job. Maybe he was a bit more like Bonnie than he thought.
“I decided that it was time to do something I want to do instead of what I’m expected to do. There’s no other hidden agenda.”
“What exactly could be better than working for Daddy and making tons of money? You think I run the winery because I love wine? Wait, I do love wine, so that’s a bad example. What I’m saying is that people do things they don’t love all the time. At least you don’t have to break your back to make ends meet. Imagine how miserable those people are.”
Aaron actually couldn’t wait to be sore after a hard day’s work. He wasn’t going to argue with her about this, though. She couldn’t understand because she always got what she wanted, not what their parents wanted for her. She didn’t have to live up to expectations. She demanded others live up to hers. Maybe it was a good time to remind her that she should try a little harder to be the person she thought she was.
“How about we change the subject. Like, when are you going to stop this ridiculous campaign against Bonnie?”
“Who? I don’t know anyone named Bonnie.”
Aaron rolled his eyes. “Come on. Don’t be like that. Mitch was wrong to break things off on your wedding day. He’s the one you deserve to be mad at.”
“Mitch will rue the day he embarrassed me like that. He will pay, along with everyone who loves him.”
“Bonnie does not love him. Bonnie loves you like a sister. Or at least she did before you asked Dad to do all those terrible things to her and her dad. I can’t believe you went after her family. David has never been anything but kind to you.”
“David? Really? Since when do you call Mr. Windsor by his first name?”
“We’re all adults now.”
“Too bad his daughter is a spoiled brat who thinks she can ruin people’s lives and get away with it.”
“Lauren,” Aaron said with a sigh. “Mitchell told me that he hadn’t even told Bonnie how he felt until he professed his love at the wedding. She wasn’t in on it. Is there a reason you aren’t willing to accept that?”
Lauren stared straight ahead at the television. He could see her clench her jaw. She tucked some of her mahogany-colored hair behind her ear.
“Your best friend in the entire world would not go after your fiancé, especially when that best friend is Bonnie.”
“But my fiancé would choose to embarrass me in front of the entire town by announcing his secret love for my supposed best friend, who was completely oblivious to his feelings? I’m supposed to believe that?”
This was what Lauren was struggling with the most. Embarrassment was an emotion that didn’t sit well with anyone, but Lauren even more so. She couldn’t imagine Mitch would dare to humiliate her without knowing for sure he was going to get what he wanted.
“Come on, Lauren. Mitch’s ego is big enough that it’s completely plausible that he didn’t think for a second that she wouldn’t want to be with him.” He decided to try a little sarcasm. “Someone as humble as you might not get it, but there are people who assume everyone is secretly in love with them.”
She side-eyed him, jaw still tense. “She probably has been secretly in love with him this whole time. She’s always been jealous of me,” she said, refusing to go down without a fight.
“I love you, little sister, but you’re going to regret letting your anger blind you. When you realize you were wrong and Bonnie doesn’t forgive you for what you’ve done, you’ll be the one ruing the day.”
Her head snapped in his direction. “You are the one who is going to regret walking away from Cole Industries and defending the indefensible. I came here to try to talk some sense into you, but I guess you just want to self-destruct.” She stood up and started for the door. “Don’t come crying to me when Dad doesn’t let you have your job back and whatever you’re planning on doing fails.”
“Thanks so much for your support!” he called after her. The front door slammed shut. He was never going to go crawling back to his dad. Before he quit his job, he’d been thinking of a way out. And he’d come up with a plan to flip houses. He was determined to succeed. He had a huge to-do list to start working on in the morning.
He also hoped that he’d at least planted a few seeds of reality in Lauren’s brain. She had to see that Bonnie had had nothing to do with her wedding nightmare. That would ease some of this guilt he was feeling. It wasn’t like any of this was his fault, but he still felt terrible that he hadn’t been paying better attention to what Mitch was thinking and feeling. The guy was his friend. His best friend. He should have picked up on the signals when Mitch decided he wanted Bonnie instead of Lauren. He could have saved both his sister and Bonnie from all this hurt and pain.
He pinched the bridge of his nose. Sleep was calling his name. Aaron had a big day ahead of him tomorrow. It was the first day of being his own boss, and it was going to be amazing. He fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.
The next morning was full of promise. He’d never had such a good night’s sleep. It was as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. No more waking up and dreading the day. No more putting on a suit and tie. No more sitting in morning meetings.
This morning, he made himself some coffee and pulled out his to-do l
ist. First things first, he needed to find some people to help him make his dream a reality. He wasn’t going to be able to flip houses on his own. As soon as he found the perfect house to buy, he needed some contractors to help him make it beautiful.
He spent the first hour of his day searching the internet for a house to buy. He hadn’t realized how hard it would be to find his dream flip. He had so many questions—was he picking a good neighborhood? Did other houses in the neighborhood sell for more money? Everything on the Realtor websites looked too nice. Where were all the run-down shacks that needed a face-lift? Didn’t they list them on these sites?
He decided he might need some help. Finding an easier way to locate the right kind of houses was added to his list. Maybe he should start with something easy, like calling a few of the contractors from around town to see if they were interested in teaming up. He knew who was the best of the best, and he couldn’t wait to get them on board. Networking was something he was good at, something beneficial he’d learned working for his dad. A couple calls and he’d have the best flipping team ever assembled.
Except that wasn’t what happened. Instead of hearing how excited these guys were about the opportunity to work together, they all said no. Every single person he called. No one was interested in working with him.
Aaron had a sinking feeling that there was a reason why, and it wasn’t because these guys were too busy, like they claimed. Someone had gotten to them before he did. Someone who was already at the office at the crack of dawn and was smart enough to know exactly where Aaron would look for help first.
His father had effectively shut him down before he even got started. This must be how Bonnie had felt when she figured out she’d been blacklisted. Bonnie, Bonnie, Bonnie.
Inspiration struck. He grabbed his keys and got in his car. This was going to take a face-to-face meeting to pull off.
CHAPTER FOUR
“IF I GO TALK to Lauren today, I think you need to go talk to Mr. Cole. We can both practice being assertive.”
“I’m not talking to Mr. Cole,” her dad said, setting down his coffee cup. “I already talked to him when he let me go. Trust me, there’s nothing I can say that’s going to change that man’s mind. You, on the other hand, haven’t even tried to talk to Lauren.”
This morning’s pep talk was not going the way Bonnie had planned. She had come over to her dad’s to motivate him to fight for his job. Instead, he was pushing her to do what Aaron had basically talked her out of doing yesterday.
“Aaron said he was going to talk to her. Let’s see if that changes anything.” She didn’t have high hopes. Once Lauren got stuck on an idea, there was little that could veer her off course. Right now, she wanted to run Bonnie out of town and was working overtime to make it happen.
The doorbell rang, and her dad got up to answer it. Aaron’s voice caught her attention right away. She hurried over to the front door.
“I stopped by Bonnie’s and she wasn’t there. I hoped I’d find her here, which is perfect, because I want to speak to both of you.”
Had he performed a miracle? He was smiling. That was a good sign. “You talked to Lauren?” Bonnie asked, knowing he must have and that was why he was here.
The corners of his mouth fell, and Bonnie’s heart sank. “I did.” His gaze dropped to the floor. “Her wounds are still so raw, but I think I started to create some doubt in her conspiracy theory.”
No miracles. Lauren still believed Bonnie was the bad guy. Maybe he was here to share good news about her dad’s job. “Did you get my dad’s job back?”
Aaron’s eyes lifted. “Not exactly, but I am here to offer him a different job. Both of you, actually.”
Bonnie tilted her head. “You want to offer me a job? I already have a job, Aaron. I know your sister is trying to get me fired, but that’s not going to happen. I don’t need a job from you or anyone with the last name Cole.”
Aaron shook his head. “That’s not exactly what I meant. I need to hire both of you. You, Bonnie, to help me buy some houses and you, Mr. Windsor, to help me flip them.”
Bonnie’s dad turned and looked at her, but if he was hoping for her to understand why Aaron Cole was involving them in this scheme, he was sorely mistaken. It made no sense to her why Aaron would come to them.
“You quit your high-paying job to flip houses? That was your plan? Are you sure you’ve thought this all the way through?”
“Like I told you yesterday, I’ve done nothing but think about it. This is what I want to do, and you two are exactly what I need to get started.”
“Your family hates me. Why would you hire me to find you houses?”
“Because I trust you. You’re smart and know this market.” He sounded so sincere, but there was something else going on. He continued, “And I don’t know anyone better at general contracting than you, David. You could teach me how to do things and eventually we could have multiple projects going at once. I think it could be a profitable business.”
“Flipping houses can be high risk as well as high gain. More people lose money than make it, despite what they show you on all those television shows,” Bonnie warned.
A grin spread across Aaron’s face. He had the most perfect teeth. “I’ve got the money to risk. What I need is you. You can help me choose the best houses, and your dad can help me make them amazing.”
It sounded too good to be true. A member of the Cole family helping the Windsor family after Walter Cole had stated very clearly that the Coles were no longer going to associate with the Windsors?
“And what are your parents going to say? What about Lauren?”
Aaron slid his hands into his pockets and shrugged. “We won’t tell them. I think we can keep them in the dark for a little while, at least. The longer they don’t know, the less likely they are to sabotage what I’m trying to do.”
Would his family really do that? Sabotage his new career because he chose to work with her and her father? That might be too much pressure. Bonnie also hated the idea of sneaking around. Lauren was bound to find out, and it would give her more reason to hate Bonnie when she did. Although, after everything that had happened, she wasn’t sure she wanted to be friends with Lauren anymore.
She had no reason to believe Aaron wasn’t being earnest, but every reason to believe the rest of the Coles would do everything in their power to bring Bonnie down. Staying away from everyone with the last name Cole seemed like the best idea. Their answer most likely had to be a solid no.
“We’ll do it,” her dad said.
“What? No, we need to talk about this.” Bonnie wasn’t ready to give him an answer on the spot.
“What’s there to think about? I lost my job, and he’s offering me a new one.”
“Dad, it’s not that simple.”
“I told you, we have to roll with the punches. And it looks like we rolled right into this.” Her dad waved a hand toward Aaron.
“How about you two talk it over and get back to me. No pressure to decide right now. I do need an answer, though. I’d like to start flipping houses sooner than later.”
“We will talk it over,” her dad replied.
The two men shook hands, and Bonnie opened the door. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Aaron flashed her that smile. “Me, too.”
“Well, that was interesting,” her dad said once Aaron was gone.
“Interesting? That was an invitation to go poke a bear. Two bears. Two huge, powerful bears with lots of other bear friends who would love nothing more than to tear us to shreds.”
Her dad chuckled as he made his way back to the kitchen. “Oh, Bon Bon, I have never heard you be so dramatic. I think Aaron is right—this is a match made in heaven. He wants to start this business, I need a job, you need some commissions. We all win.”
“Until we lose.”
“What can
the Coles really do to stop us?” he asked. She could tell he legitimately couldn’t think of anything. That was because her father was a good man who didn’t think of ways to destroy people. Ever.
Bonnie knew better. She had no doubts the Coles would find lots of ways to make this impossible once they found out the Windsors were teaming up with their son and brother. “‘What wouldn’t they do’ is a better question.”
* * *
AARON WENT HOME and decided to enjoy an extra day off before his real work began. Hopefully, the Windsors would agree to work with him. If David didn’t help him, he wasn’t sure how he was going to make this dream a reality. He cleaned his house. He rearranged the books on his bookshelf, putting them in alphabetical order by title and then switching it to grouping books by the color of the cover. He watched a few cooking shows and decided to make himself lunch and dinner. He surfed the internet for a few hours, took a nap and organized his shoe collection. After watching three episodes of The Office, his doorbell rang. Couldn’t be Lauren. She would have barged right in like she did last time. There was no way his dad would have come. He’d be waiting for Aaron to come to him. His mother would probably try to reach him by phone for at least another day before coming over to check on him. This had to be someone outside the family.
He opened the door to find Bonnie on the other side. It was late, and she had obviously been unable to sleep. Her long hair was pulled up in a ponytail. She had on flannel pajama shorts and a Blue Springs High School T-shirt. She was all kinds of adorable, something he’d been thinking with way more frequency lately.
“If this is some sort of game, we don’t want to play,” she said.
Aaron had to ease her mind. “I’m not playing any games. I can write up a business plan if that will prove to you how serious I am. I want to do this because it’s something I am truly passionate about.”
Her eyes narrowed in doubt. “If this makes my family a bigger target for Lauren, we’re out.”