by Amy Vastine
“Did you run this one by Dad? Because I am fairly certain that I am not on his list of favorite people right now. I doubt he wants me traipsing around his gala showing my traitorous face.”
“Well, if I get you out of hot water with your sister, that will get you out of half the trouble with your father. When you come to your senses and go back to work for him, you’ll be fully reinstated to favorite son status.”
“I’m his only son,” he reminded her.
She pinched his cheek. “Exactly. You need to remember that.”
He wasn’t going to argue with her about why he was not going to go back to work for his father—ever. He agreed to take Fred and Ingrid’s daughter to the library gala. It was a couple months away. By then, he could either be completely disowned or back in everyone’s good graces. Either way, he’d get out of going somehow.
He decided to change the subject to something they would both rather talk about. “Do you want to see the plans for the house I’m flipping? I could use your advice on something I’m thinking about doing to the living room.”
His mother’s eyes lit up. As much as she wanted him to go back to work for his dad, her love for design would always win out in the end.
CHAPTER TEN
“I VOTE THAT anyone but my father goes up in the attic.”
Bonnie’s dad glared at her as he unbuckled his tool belt. “Don’t start with me. Why don’t you go sell houses to someone and let us work in peace?”
Well, for one thing, there was no one in town willing to let her sell them a house. Secondly, she was not going to let anything happen to him today that might send him to the hospital.
“I’m not spending another afternoon in the ER, so let Aaron go up there.”
“I can go up there, David. It’s fine.”
“Are you kidding me? Both of you need to get out of my way. I am going up into the attic, and no one is stopping me.”
Bonnie wasn’t moving from her place in front of the pull-down attic stairs. “Dad, you have a concussion.”
He rolled his eyes as if he was the child in this relationship. “Let me do my job. Move. Now.” He may have looked childish, but he sounded very parental.
“He’ll be fine. What could happen up there?” Aaron asked.
He could fall through the ceiling, there could be a rabid raccoon hiding up there, maybe he’d trip and hit his head. The possibilities were endless. This job was a magnet for trouble.
“Nothing bad is going to happen. I’m going to inspect things and come back down. That’s what’s going to happen.” Her dad wrapped his arms around Bonnie, picked her up and moved her out of his way.
“Dad! Stop. I was going to move.”
“Next time, do it when I tell you to.” Up he went.
Aaron covered his mouth to hide a grin. It wasn’t funny. The corner of her mouth curled up, but she fought a full-blown smile. Okay, it was a little funny.
“You look pretty today,” Aaron said while they waited in the hallway by the bedrooms.
Bonnie fidgeted and tugged on the pale pink blouse she had put on today. She purposely didn’t dress to work today, because she was clearly not cut out for construction. “Thanks.”
“You should wear pink more often. It complements your complexion.”
“My complexion?” This time she smiled without restraint.
He ducked his head, his cheeks pink like her shirt. He gripped the back of his neck with his hand. “I don’t know. I’ve heard my mom say that before. It looks good on you, that’s all I’m trying to say.”
She could feel her forehead crease. Since when did Aaron Cole get so easily flustered? The Aaron she knew was full of confidence. There was no way she could throw him off his usual game.
“You assured me there weren’t going to be any more accidents on this job. You better make good on that promise.”
“I’ll make sure. We aren’t doing anything dangerous today and you’re not going to be wielding any sledgehammers, so I think we’re in the clear.”
She put a hand on her hip and tipped her head to the side. “Really? You’re going to go there with me?”
His laughter caused her stomach to do a little flip, and the way he looked at her sometimes made her wonder if he saw someone different than she did when she stared into a mirror. Someone more.
“If the butterfingers fit,” he said with a shrug.
“Oh, really?” She was smiling so much her face hurt.
“Really.” His swagger was back, and it was even more attractive than his adorable sheepishness.
“You two done flirting? I could use some help in here,” Sasha said, coming out of the master bedroom.
“We aren’t—” Bonnie started to say.
“Coming,” Aaron said, slipping past her to help Sasha.
Flirting? Bonnie was not flirting with Aaron. Aaron was like a brother, and he thought of her as an annoying little sister. He dated people like Caroline Gilbert, Miss Blue Springs 2012, or Sylvie Washington, who modeled part-time and ran her own cosmetic company. He’d never been interested in women like Bonnie.
Her dad’s feet appeared as he climbed down the ladder. She came over to hold it steady for him even though it was attached to the ceiling.
“Where’s Aaron?”
“Helping Sasha.”
“What’s the good word?” Aaron asked, coming out of the bedroom.
“Well, the only good news is that the attic does extend over the living room, so it is possible to take down the ceiling and really open up that room.”
“Yes!” Aaron fist pumped. “It’s going to look amazing. Wood beams, maybe a couple skylights. It will sell the house.”
“The not-good news is that it looks like that roof is a problem. There was leaking at some point. I can see the water damage on the attic ceiling. I’m surprised we couldn’t see water damage in the living room. I fear you need a new roof.”
“How much is that going to cost?”
“Around four thousand. The other problem is you might have asbestos wrapped around some pipes up there. I can’t say for sure, but you need to get someone in here to check it out. If it is asbestos, removing it is going to be costly.”
Aaron’s face fell. “How costly?”
“I can’t say for sure, but I’d estimate it around seven, maybe eight thousand.”
Bonnie felt that in her chest. Twelve grand was a lot of money. Of course, Aaron had plenty to go around.
“We have to take care of it no matter what, right?” Aaron asked.
“You have to take care of it no matter what.”
With his lips pressed tight, he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. “Well, there goes more of our profits.”
“Disappointing, I know,” her dad said. “But it’s a good thing we checked up there and found it. I’ll call around and find someone to remove it.”
Her dad picked up his tool belt and walked back out to the living room. Aaron leaned against the doorjamb. “You warned me,” he said to Bonnie.
“I warned you about what?”
“You said I might be getting in over my head with this house. You were right.”
“I love being called right, but I’m sorry I was right about this. Hopefully, this is the worst of it. Giving the living room high ceilings is going to be awesome. We can make that a huge selling point.”
“Can you get me an extra twelve thousand because of it?”
Bonnie scrunched up her face. “Probably not that much, sorry. I’ll do my best, though.”
“I know you will. I’m pretty sure if you flash that smile at someone, they’ll buy this house for top dollar.”
She appreciated his faith in her. Although she didn’t have many people wanting to buy houses from her at the moment, so they’d have to pray someone from out of town, with no knowled
ge of who the Coles were, came in to buy. “I will do everything in my power to make you money.”
“Well, this is still an excellent learning experience even if I only make a hundred dollars, right?”
“You are learning a lot. And I’m going to work hard to make you more than a hundred dollars.”
“That’s sweet of you.”
Sasha appeared behind him, a towering giant filling up the entire doorway. “You know what would be sweet of you? Coming back in here to help me instead of once again flirting with the pretty lady.”
“He’s not—”
“I’m coming,” Aaron said at the same time.
“Thank you,” Sasha said. “And yes, he’s flirting with you. Has been all day.”
Bonnie needed to get out of there. She was supposed to be watching her dad to make sure nothing happened to him, not chatting it up with Aaron and Sasha.
“Why does Sasha keep complaining about you two flirting?” her dad asked when she got out into the living room.
“How did you—”
“Voices carry in an empty house, my dear,” her dad explained. “Is there something going on that I need to know about?”
“Between me and Aaron?” she whispered, because if voices carried, she did not want Aaron or Sasha to hear this conversation. “There’s nothing going on. We were talking about whether or not he was going to make any money off this place.”
“And how pretty you look in pink.”
Could he really hear that up in the attic? Her face burned. “Stop talking, please.”
“I like him, but until you work out things with Lauren, I wouldn’t suggest getting too friendly with our friend in there.” Her dad nodded toward the hallway.
“I am not getting too friendly with anyone. And I will not be working anything out with Lauren.” Not that she had much of a choice, since it was highly unlikely that Lauren would ever admit she was wrong and try to make amends for all the terrible things she had done.
“It’s really sad that the two of you would walk away from so many years of friendship. Your mother would have been very disappointed.”
That was a low blow. Bringing up her mother was unfair. He wasn’t wrong about what her mother would think about all this, though. Of course, she would have confronted Lauren a long time ago. There was no way her mom would have allowed no contact between Bonnie and Lauren to go on for this long.
Her dad winced and touched the bandage on his forehead.
She moved closer and placed a hand on his arm. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Just have a bit of a headache.”
“See? Concussion. You should be taking it easy. I think that you can call asbestos removers from home.”
“I’m not going home,” he said, stepping away. “We’ve got lots of wallpaper to remove today and lots of work to do on that master bedroom.”
He wasn’t going to budge. It didn’t sound like peeling off wallpaper could be too dangerous. Both she and her dad needed groceries, and since she had to drive to another town to buy them, she had things to do.
“Promise me you’ll be careful and I’ll go buy us some groceries,” she said, giving up.
He pulled his car keys from his pocket since they had driven over together and tossed them to her. “I’ll be fine. Go, be free. Shop till you drop.”
Bonnie shouted goodbye to Aaron and Sasha. When she opened the front door, the last person she ever imagined being on the other side stood there with a scowl on her face.
“Lauren.” Bonnie couldn’t manage anything else. She was so shocked, she had to wonder if she was seeing things.
“You have to be kidding me,” Lauren sneered. “I knew this was a mistake.” She started to back away.
“I’m leaving,” Bonnie said, wishing she would have left about five minutes ago. “If you’re here to see Aaron, you won’t have to worry about me.”
Lauren shifted her oversize designer purse in front of her like it could act as some sort of shield to protect her from getting too close to the person she hated the most in the world. “I don’t know why I came here.”
Bonnie wanted to say the same thing. She was so taken aback by Lauren’s presence that she didn’t notice her father had come up behind her until he made his presence known.
“Aaron! Your sister is here!” he shouted, making Bonnie nearly jump out of her shoes. “Hello, Miss Lauren. Would you like to come in?”
Bonnie couldn’t believe her dad could speak so civilly to someone who basically was the reason he was fired from the job he’d had all of his adult life. He was way too nice.
Lauren seemed equally surprised that he was being congenial. She pushed her chestnut hair back over her shoulder. “If she’s leaving, I’ll come in.”
Now that the shock had worn off, there were a million things Bonnie wanted to say. None of them would go over well, however, so she bit her tongue. Instead, she stepped onto the porch with Lauren.
“I’ll be back later to get you, Dad.”
Lauren moved aside so Bonnie could step off the porch. Never in her life had she looked into eyes that were so cold. To think almost two months ago, the two of them had had weekly dinners together and giggled over glasses of wine. They’d made plans to take a girls-only weekend trip this summer. There were no doubts they would keep each other’s secrets, and they had discussed the possibility of their future children being best friends.
How quickly things could change. Bonnie’s anger had been so strong the last few days, but today, she realized how depressing it was that this friendship was over. Sadness was the only thing Bonnie felt as she got in the car and drove away.
* * *
“LAUREN.” AARON COULDN’T believe she was actually standing inside his house. Had his mom worked a miracle so quickly?
“I need to talk to you.” She glanced at David. “Alone, if possible.”
“I’ll let you two catch up, but I want you to know that I’ve been praying the good Lord heals your heart, Lauren. Hatefulness is an ugly disease I wouldn’t wish on anyone,” David said before retreating back to the living room.
Lauren folded her arms across her chest. Aaron could tell that she wanted to say something but didn’t. It was one thing to allow Mr. Windsor to be collateral damage in this war against Bonnie—it was another thing to face him and own her vengefulness. David was like Aaron; he knew she was better than this. They just needed to convince her.
“I’m guessing you talked to Mom,” Aaron said.
She had no problem unleashing her wrath on Aaron, however. “I don’t know why you thought going to Mom was going to help this situation. You don’t get to tell me who to forgive or when to forgive them. If I want to stay mad at you-know-who for the rest of my life, that’s my choice.”
He noticed she had lowered her voice and made sure not to use Bonnie’s name. “And that’s why Mr. Windsor keeps praying for you. For someone who cares so much about being pretty, you should remember what he said about hatefulness.”
She glared at him. “I don’t need anyone’s thoughts and prayers. And my hate is justified, so it doesn’t hurt me at all.”
“Did it feel good to see Bonnie or her dad? Because I’m going to bet it didn’t. What has to happen to convince you that Bonnie didn’t do anything to you? When does she get the benefit of the doubt? Because it’s wrong to hold this against her forever when you have no proof she did anything in the first place.”
“Wrong. I have plenty of proof. My real friends have told me about several times they saw her and Mitch talking a little too close, times she was being a little too friendly.”
“Ooh, Bonnie was friendly? How strange! I mean, she’s not friendly to anyone else. That’s so out of character for her.” Aaron’s sarcasm was biting. Was she really going to buy in to these ridiculous accusations? “Come on, Lauren. Don’t tell me your
proof is exaggerated gossip.”
“I know you think she’s so innocent, but you’re wrong.”
“Because Theresa Gilmore told you she saw her talking to Mitch one night? Or because Wendy Hillbrand said she saw them standing next to each other at the engagement party? Bonnie is here. Mitch is in France. They haven’t spoken. They aren’t having some torrid affair behind your back.”
Lauren jutted her chin out. “How could you possibly know they haven’t spoken? Do you monitor all her calls, day and night?”
“I know because I talked to Mitch the other day.” Mitch had called to get Bonnie’s phone number, which Aaron refused to give him, but he wasn’t about to mention that part to his sister. Unfortunately, being away had not lessened Mitch’s feelings for Bonnie. His infatuation was something they would have to deal with eventually. All Aaron could do was hope Mitch stayed away long enough to fall for some French beauty and forget all about Bonnie. “He doesn’t even have her number. How could they be carrying on a relationship before the wedding if he doesn’t even have her phone number?”
He watched as she mulled that over. That little nugget was difficult to dispute. There was no way that fit into her Bonnie-is-evil theory.
Sasha appeared, carrying the toilet that needed to be thrown away in the dumpster outside. “Do you want to salvage any of the shelving in the master closet?”
Lauren’s eyes went wide and her jaw dropped at the sight of him.
“No, I’m going to put in a whole new closet system, so all that can be trashed.”
“Did you hire another person to add to our humble crew?” Sasha asked, nodding at Lauren and giving her a big ol’ grin. “Is she better with a sledgehammer than our little Bonnie was?”
“Sasha, this is my sister. Lauren, this is Sasha. He’s helping us out, since everyone else who works the trades in this town is suddenly unavailable.”
“Lauren.” Sasha got a perplexed look on his face. “Where have I heard that name before?”