by Amy Vastine
“Is this a shot of your first sale?” he asked, pointing at the photograph.
“It is. It was the best day of my life when it happened. I was so ridiculously proud, like I had accomplished something so momentous, helping someone find their dream home. That’s lame, isn’t it?”
“No,” Aaron said. “Not at all. I understand that completely. Why do you think I changed careers? I don’t think there’s anything more satisfying than giving someone not just a house, but a home.”
She sat next to him on the couch. “I love that.”
“I love spending time with you,” he admitted. He wanted to do more of that, and he didn’t want his fear to keep him from letting her know. “What are you doing Friday night?”
“I don’t know, what am I doing?” She took another sip of her drink and leaned in.
He didn’t have a plan. There were lots of things they could do but only one that he wanted to do. He cupped her face with his hand and brushed her cheek with his thumb. “Anything you want, as long as I get to be there with you.”
“Anything?” she asked a bit breathlessly.
“Whatever you’d like.”
She somehow got closer. Their noses were almost touching. “I’d really like to kiss you.”
Heart racing and throat dry, he was falling hard. “That sounds like a great plan. Do we have to wait until Friday to do that?”
She didn’t bother to answer with words. Tipping her head ever so slightly, she pressed her lips to his. The kiss was better than the tacos and the drinks. It was better than any kiss he’d ever had before. He stopped long enough to put their glasses on the coffee table. Taking her face in both hands, he went back to kissing her for as long as she would let him.
Bonnie pulled back with the biggest smile spread across her face. “I can’t believe I’ve made out with Aaron Cole twice.”
The way she said it made it sound like that was something she had been hoping would happen. “I can’t believe I just made out with Bonnie Windsor. Twice.”
“I’m fairly certain you and your friends never put my name on their dream girl lists when we were in high school.”
“You and your friends put me on their dream girl lists?”
“Dream boy.”
“And by friends I hope you mean everyone except for my sister, because that would be awkward.”
Bonnie covered her mouth with her hand and giggled like she was back in high school. “Your sister never put you on her list. But she did put your friend Luke Ellington on there every time.”
“Luke? Seriously? He would have dated Lauren in a heartbeat if he knew she was interested. How come she didn’t say something? She never was shy about telling boys she wanted them to ask her out.”
“I don’t know why she didn’t. Part of me thinks it was because he wasn’t her usual type. She always seemed to think she needed to be with the most popular guy at school. She didn’t give the guys who she actually had things in common with a chance.”
That was so true. Mitch was a perfect example. Aaron had always wondered what Lauren saw in him. They didn’t have any of the same interests. He usually annoyed her more than anything else. The only thing that made sense was that he ticked off all the boxes she imagined were more important.
“Who else had me on their list?”
Bonnie scrunched up her nose in the most adorable way. “I’m not telling. I don’t need any competition.”
“You think I would run off and date someone else who had a crush on me over ten years ago?”
“With my luck, yes.”
Aaron couldn’t let her think he had any interest in anyone but her. He pulled her close again, and this time he initiated the kiss. There wasn’t a single person on this planet he wanted to be kissing other than Bonnie.
He would have kissed her all afternoon long if there hadn’t been a knock at her door.
“Expecting someone?” he asked.
“No.”
“Sasha says sometimes little girls come door to door selling cookies. Maybe we’re about to get dessert. Let me answer it.” He popped up off the couch and went to the door with Bonnie following behind.
“I doubt it’s someone selling cookies. Like I said, I am not that lucky.”
“Probably not the cops. There’s no way they could accuse you of making too much noise.”
“What?”
Aaron forgot he hadn’t told her that story. He hadn’t because he didn’t want her to think that it was because of her.
He swung open the door—and it was worse than anything he could have imagined.
“Aaron? What are you doing here?” Mitch stood on Bonnie’s front porch with an enormous bouquet of flowers in his hands.
Aaron did the only thing he could think of—he slammed the door right in his best friend’s face.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
JUST WHEN BONNIE thought things couldn’t get worse, they managed. Her breathing became labored and she felt dizzy. Her heart was pounding in her chest. She leaned against the wall and put her hands on her knees.
“This is not happening,” she said between breaths.
Aaron still had his hand on the doorknob and looked just as stunned as Bonnie felt. “I’ll tell him he has to leave. I’ll leave with him if I have to.”
“Did you know he was coming home?” Being blindsided by Mitch was one thing, but if Aaron knew about this and hadn’t warned her, she would be devastated.
“No. He never said anything about coming home the last time I talked to him. I figured he’d stay there the rest of the summer. That was the plan.”
Mitch knocked on the door. There was no getting out of this confrontation. Perhaps the sooner Bonnie told him she wanted nothing to do with him, the sooner he would find someone else to torture.
“I will get him out of here,” Aaron promised before opening the door just wide enough that he could step outside. He promptly closed it behind him. Bonnie went to the door and looked out the peephole. Their distorted heads were all she could see. She pressed her ear to the door instead.
“What are you doing home?” she heard Aaron say. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming back?”
“I didn’t know I had to inform you of my every move,” Mitch said. “What are you doing at Bonnie’s? You told me you didn’t have her phone number, but here you are hanging out at her house in the middle of the day.”
Bonnie had had no idea that Aaron had been talking to Mitch since he left. It made sense since they were friends, but it was still surprising given that Aaron was not happy with what Mitch had done before he left. It would have been nice to know that Mitch was trying to contact her. She would have sent him a clear message that she was not interested in anything he was offering.
“You need to get out of here. You being here could cause Bonnie a lot of harm. Come on, come to my place and let’s talk about what’s been going on since you left.”
Bonnie waited for Mitch to protest, but he didn’t. He followed Aaron off the porch. “Can I leave these for her? I feel bad that Lauren has been taking this out on her. I left and she took all the blame. I just want her to know I’m sorry.”
That was nice of him. She could at least let him apologize to her face. She opened the door.
“Mitch,” she called out.
He glanced at Aaron as if asking for permission before climbing back up the stairs of her porch. He held out the roses.
“I am so sorry for leaving you here to face all the wrath over my foolish decision. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt you and Lauren. I mean, I know hurting Lauren was inevitable, but I didn’t mean to do it the way I did. I was emotional that day, and I am really sorry.”
“I appreciate that. It has been incredibly hard.”
“Well, hopefully things will get easier for you now that I’m back. Lauren can
focus all of her revenge on me instead of you. I’m really sorry. I know I said that already, but I mean it.”
“She heard you,” Aaron said sternly. “You need to leave. If people see you here, it will only hurt her.”
He wasn’t wrong. Bonnie wanted to retreat back into her house. “Good luck, Mitch.” She didn’t know what else to say. He was going to need it if he was going to survive whatever wrath was headed his way as soon as Lauren found out he was home.
“Thanks, Bonnie.” He left with Aaron, who looked more unhappy than anything else.
“Mitch is back, huh?” Bonnie hadn’t noticed her neighbor Becca had been weeding the landscaping on the side of their house.
Great. It was only a matter of time before the town’s gossip train had this news spread across the whole county.
“Unfortunately,” Bonnie replied, feeling guilty for being mean while holding the gorgeous bouquet of roses he had brought her as a peace offering.
Becca raised her eyebrows as if skeptical that was truly Bonnie’s feeling on the subject. “That should be interesting. I hope things work out for you guys.”
Bonnie almost shouted that she’d been making out with Aaron Cole ten minutes ago. The only person she wanted things to work out with was him. This was going to be her new battle, but she didn’t have the energy for it today. She would have to correct all the misconceptions out there about what kind of relationship she had with Mitch even though she had no relationship with him.
Aaron would figure out what to do about Mitch. At least he seemed genuinely sorry for what he had done and he hadn’t come back professing his love for her. That was a huge relief. Still, she was disappointed that she didn’t get to enjoy the fact that she and Aaron had taken things to the next level before this new issue popped up.
She took off for the Greenbriar house. The inspectors were supposed to come check the plumbing and electrical today so her dad and Sasha could start hanging drywall. Once they got all the walls up, things would start moving along much faster. She also hoped that Greenbriar would be Aaron’s next stop after talking to Mitch. She texted him to let him know she was heading there just in case.
The loud pop of the nail gun greeted her as she walked in. “Hello,” she called out.
“Back here!” Her dad’s voice came from the master bedroom.
They were putting up the walls separating the bedroom from the bathroom. “Passed inspection?”
“I have never seen anyone work so hard to not pass someone in my life,” Sasha said. “This guy was bound and determined to find something wrong so he could delay us, but he did not know who he was up against. Your dad is a master at what he does. There wasn’t one thing he could find that wasn’t up to code.”
“We need to be careful,” her dad said. “Next time they will simply not show up or try to show up when we aren’t here. Someone might have to stay here all day to prevent them from putting it on us.”
“It’s bound to get worse before it gets better. Mitch got home today,” Bonnie announced.
Her dad was visibly disappointed. His shoulders dropped. “How do you know?”
“He showed up at my house with roses in hand.”
He held up the nail gun like it was a weapon. “Me and that boy need to have a talk. He is not going to come back and put us in the middle of another war with the Coles.”
“I’d be happy to meet this Mitch guy.” Sasha punched his fist into his palm. “I’m sure I could be very persuasive about leaving our Bonnie alone.”
The last thing she wanted was for either of them to get in the middle of this. “You two don’t need to do anything to Mitch. He was actually very apologetic and didn’t make things weird. No talk about being in love with me anymore. Aaron is with him now.”
“Oh, Aaron’s on the case,” Sasha said with a chuckle. “He was probably all, ‘Back away from my girl, loser. There’s a new sheriff in Bonnie Town.’”
Bonnie could feel her cheeks flush. “There is no sheriff in Bonnie Town except for me. I’m in charge of what happens to me, thank you very much.”
“That’s my girl,” her dad said. “You don’t need any man in your life other than your dear old dad.”
She wouldn’t go that far. She didn’t mind having Aaron around Bonnie Town. He was welcome anytime, but he wasn’t in control. She was.
“You two should get back to work. Can I do anything to help while I’m here?”
Her dad nodded. “Aaron would love you if you could get that wallpaper off the walls in the living room. He was really struggling with it the other day.”
“I don’t think she needs to do anything to make Aaron love her,” Sasha said, picking up a sheet of drywall.
Bonnie shook her head, and her dad was not amused. At least Sasha was clear about where her heart was leaning. Maybe everyone else wouldn’t be so hard to convince. She certainly wouldn’t mind if Aaron was falling in love with her. The feeling would be mutual.
After twenty minutes of scraping wallpaper, Bonnie could see why Aaron hated this job. It was peelable wallpaper, which meant the top coat came off but the backing stayed stuck to the wall. She sprayed some more stripper on it to loosen it up. It smelled terrible, and her fingers were covered in it as she tried to get the backing off.
She could hear the alternating pop of the nail gun with the buzz of the saw from the master bedroom. The noise was distracting. There was a stereo plugged in and sitting on the card table. Music might help encourage her to persevere. She scrounged around for a rag to wipe her hands on. There was nothing out there. She went back to the bedroom to ask the guys where she could find one.
“Hey,” she said, accidentally startling Sasha, who was holding the nail gun. It discharged, and her dad screamed. His finger was now attached to the drywall. Bonnie thought she was going to pass out. The room started to spin, and her stomach turned.
Off to the hospital they went.
* * *
HAD DAVID BEEN a minor, Aaron was sure that Blue Springs Hospital would have called the authorities on him for endangering his safety on a regular basis. He checked in at the front desk.
“Hi, again.” He smiled at the receptionist. She was around his mother’s age and had long nails with tiny American flags painted on them. “My friend is here again. Can I go back?”
“I’m thinking it might be more cost-effective to hire a doctor on-site at this point,” she said, tapping those nails on her keyboard.
“I don’t disagree. That or I need to wrap my foreman up in Bubble Wrap from now on.”
“You sure Bubble Wrap would be enough?”
Aaron laughed, because no amount of Bubble Wrap would’ve stopped the speeding nail from puncturing David’s hand. “I probably need to rethink that. Maybe I can cover him in some titanium. That’s bulletproof, right?”
“I have no idea,” she said. “But you can go back to Room 103 and check on him.”
He thanked her and headed back. The doctor was in the room and had everything prepped to stitch David up. Bonnie was seated in the chair on the other side of the tiny room.
“I can’t leave you alone one day without an accident?” he said, stepping past the curtain that was partially drawn in front of his door.
“I’m starting to think it’s Bonnie,” David said. “Every time she’s over there, something happens.”
“No fair. I will admit that the sledgehammer accident was my fault, but the rest just happened while I was there. I played no part.”
“You distracted a man holding a nail gun. That was a little bit your fault,” David argued.
Aaron knew the last thing Bonnie needed was to be accused to being bad luck or the bringer of pain for her father. She had dealt with enough blows today.
“I think it’s safe to say that the only person cursed on this job is you, David. You better go see Madame Katrina on Main St
reet and get your tea leaves read and have her perform some karma-fixing spell or do something to your chakra.”
He managed to get a laugh out of Bonnie, who pushed him out of the room. “We’ll get out of the good doctor’s way,” she said.
“Are you okay?” He knew it was a loaded question but asked it anyway.
“No and yes. But mostly no.”
He pulled her close for a hug. To think an hour ago they were at her house kissing and forgetting about all the bad stuff that was literally right outside her front door. He wished he had better news to share, like Mitch had agreed to go back to Paris, but they weren’t that fortunate.
“I’m sorry this day has been kind of a nightmare.”
“Some parts were definitely better than others,” she said, resting her cheek against his chest. He loved the way she fit in his arms. He rested his chin on the top of her head.
“Some parts were kind of amazing,” he said. There was no “kind of” about it. Kissing her was beyond amazing.
“I don’t suppose you convinced Mitch to go back to France. Permanently?”
“He’s planning to talk to Lauren, which I warned him was a terrible plan. He thinks that he can fix everything by apologizing. As if my sister is going to simply accept his apology and move on.”
Bonnie pulled back with a look of fear in her eyes that made him shudder. “You can’t let him face her alone. I feel kind of bad for him. I think he sees the error of his ways and really is remorseful.”
“Don’t worry, there is no way in the world that Lauren is going to let Mitch get within a fifty-foot radius of her. She doesn’t have any interest in anything he has to say.”
Bonnie wasn’t so sure. “If she thinks there’s a possibility he’s going to tell her he was wrong and beg for forgiveness, she might. Was he going to talk to her now?”