A Bridesmaid to Remember

by Amy Vastine

  “We need to tell the police everyone you’ve been talking to over the last couple weeks so they can interview them. Anyone you complained to about me, about Bonnie, about Mitch.”

  Lauren nodded. “I’ll tell them whatever they need to know.” She reached across the table and touched his hand. “You look like you haven’t slept. I am so sorry if someone did this because they thought I would want them to. I know how hard you worked on that house. I hope you can fix it back up.”

  “We can fix it. It’s going to mess up my timeline and cost me more money, but we’ll fix it. I was worried that you were so angry with me that our relationship would be irreparable. That’s why I couldn’t sleep last night. I’m sorry I’ve been such a lousy brother the last few months. I should have held Mitch more accountable for what he did to you. For that, I’m sorry.”

  “Apology accepted.”

  He gave her hand a squeeze. “I won’t apologize for standing up for Bonnie, though. I’m in love with her, Lauren. I’m in love with her, and I think she’s in love with me. We’re really good for each other, and just like I knew you didn’t wreck my house, I know she didn’t wreck your wedding. She doesn’t want to be with Mitch. She wants to be with me.”

  Lauren didn’t respond right away. She sat with that news for a minute, but she didn’t let go of his hand. That had to be a good sign.

  “You’re in love with Bonnie?”

  Aaron nodded. His nerves were upsetting his stomach.

  “You think she’s in love with you?”

  He nodded again.

  “You know, I’ve heard this before.” She tapped a finger to her chin. “Where have I heard this before? Oh, right! During my wedding vows.”

  “I know Mitch said the same thing. The difference between me and Mitch is that Bonnie is aware of how I feel. She wants to date me—we’ve actually talked about it.”

  Lauren rested her cheek in her hand. She stared right into his eyes. “Answer me one question. If I told you that I forbid you to be with Bonnie, that I would never speak to you again if she was the one you wanted to be with, who would you choose, me or Bonnie?”

  Aaron’s heart sank. She was supposed to see the light. She was supposed to want him to be happy, not make him choose between two of the most important people in his life. He shouldn’t have to. He also knew that if Lauren actually gave him that ultimatum, Bonnie would refuse to be with him. She would never allow him to destroy his relationship with his sister to have one with her.

  “I would say, Lauren, I love you. You are my sister, and I care about you and I want the best for you. I also expect the people I love to love me back. And if you really loved me, you’d never ask me to forsake my happiness for yours.”

  He waited anxiously for her reply, because he hadn’t really answered her question. He’d instead asked her to reconsider asking it. “That was one heck of an answer. You somehow managed to choose Bonnie without not choosing me. You must really love her.”

  “I do. And I know deep down in that broken heart of yours, you do, too.”

  “Let’s not go that far. Can we please get out of here? I don’t know who you have to convince, but I need to go home.”

  Lauren cooperated with the police. She gave them all the names of everyone who she had complained to about Bonnie, Mitch and Aaron. She did her best to account for her time. Aaron even suggested they get her cell phone record, because he had texted her most likely right before the vandalism and immediately after. If she was way out in Morris like she thought she was during that time, the cell phone towers would confirm it.

  They released her, much to their parents’ relief. With that settled, Aaron was in a much better mental state to take care of things back at the house. His sister had confirmed what he knew to be true. She hadn’t done that to him. She would never have done that to him.

  Everyone was in the kitchen, gathered around the island when he returned. David had the list of repairs, and it was long.

  “Good news,” Aaron announced.

  Bonnie spun around. “She confessed.”

  He couldn’t blame her for thinking the worst of Lauren. Lauren had admitted she had done some terribly hateful things to Bonnie over the last few months.

  “No, the good news is she didn’t do it.”

  Everyone stared back at him wide-eyed and slack-jawed. “How do they know?” Sasha asked.

  “They don’t know for sure yet, but I do, because she told me she didn’t.”

  Bonnie put both hands on her head. “Are you kidding? Are you seriously joking right now? Aaron, please tell me you did not let her talk her way out of this. Please tell me you are going to hold her responsible for one time in her entire life.”

  He pulled her close. “Hey, I know it’s hard to believe right now, but the evidence is going to show she didn’t do it. Please trust me. I know my sister better than anyone.”

  Bonnie stepped away from him and covered her mouth with her hand. She shook her head. “She’s playing you. You’re being played by the master of manipulation. She did this when she was mad. She doesn’t want to deal with the consequences, so she’s lying and she’s going to play on your emotions and your good heart and your complete denial so she can get away with it.”

  “I spent a long time talking to her. We aired out a lot of our differences. She’s in a much better mental space than she’s been in in months. We’re not going to blame her anymore.”

  Bonnie exploded. “I’m going to blame her forever! If you want to live in your denial, you go right ahead, but I won’t live there with you. I am going to live in reality.”

  “Bon Bon,” her dad said, trying to refocus her, but she would have none of it.

  “No! No one defend her. I won’t listen to it anymore. No.” She was shaking with anger. Aaron was at a loss for how to help her calm down. “I can’t be here if everyone here is going to pretend that Lauren didn’t do this.”

  She stormed past Aaron, bumping his shoulder on her way out. Everyone else was frozen in their spot until Mitch moved.

  “I’m going to go after her. I don’t think she should be alone right now.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “OF ALL THE MANIPULATIVE, horrible, monstrous things she has done this summer, this really takes the cake.” Bonnie had spent the last half hour raging about Lauren to Mitch. They had gone back to his condo. He seemed to be the only one who understood. Maybe it was because he had lived under Lauren’s control. He knew exactly how conniving she could be.

  “You’re right. I don’t understand how the rest of them don’t see it. It’s like one of those things where what people are looking for is sitting right in front of them but they don’t see it. They won’t look right in front of their faces.”

  “Exactly! What else could she have done to make it more obvious? What’s Lauren’s favorite color?”

  “Pink,” Mitch replied, not missing a beat.

  “Who does she blame for everything that has gone wrong in her life?”

  “You.”

  “Me. ‘Blame Bonnie.’ That’s what she wrote on the fireplace!” She opened her eyes wide and flailed her arms around. “How much more obvious can she be?”

  “It doesn’t get more obvious, if you ask me.”

  She continued to pace in front of his giant eighty-inch wall-mounted television set. The television Lauren had picked out, no doubt. “And where was Lauren last night?”

  “No one knows.”

  “No one knows. She was in her car. Where could she have been going? I just can’t think of anywhere she might drive to. Maybe she went...to the house! I mean, how do they not see it?”

  Mitch shook his head. “I don’t know. You are so right about everything. I think Aaron is too blinded by family loyalty to see it, or maybe he knows the truth, but like you said, they never hold Lauren responsible for her actions. She
gets away with everything. Maybe he’s simply letting her off the hook, contributing to the cover-up.”

  “If that’s true, I’m going to be so mad. I can’t accept that. I can’t go along with it. I can’t enable it. If that’s what he’s doing, then whatever we thought was going on between us is over before it even started.”

  She sat on his black leather couch. The one Lauren had made him buy, because that was the controlling person she was. Bonnie was going to make sure she helped Mitch find a new home, new stuff, new everything so he didn’t have to live in a Lauren-created world anymore.

  “I’m so tired.” Emotionally and physically, Bonnie was exhausted. She couldn’t think straight anymore. Maybe that was why everyone was able to believe Lauren. They were too tired to fight her lies.

  “Why don’t you go lie down?” Mitch suggested. “I have a guest room. You can close your eyes for a little bit, give yourself a chance to relax.”

  That sounded pretty spectacular at the moment. “Thank you. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you being here for me. And listening to my nonsense at this point.”

  Mitch wouldn’t hear it. “You are not speaking nonsense. You’re the only one I’ve heard be real all day.” He showed her to the room, which had its own bathroom. She washed her face and lay down on the bed. She could sell this condo for good money. She would sell it for him and she would find him a new place to live. Maybe she would talk him into moving out of Blue Springs. Maybe it was time she moved out of Blue Springs. Her eyes grew heavy, and her thoughts slowed and quieted down.

  Bonnie didn’t know how long she slept; she only knew she was awakened by raised voices in the living room. It took her a minute to realize what was going on.

  “What do you think is going to happen?”

  “Keep your voice down. She’s sleeping.”

  “Bonnie wants nothing to do with you, and it doesn’t matter what you do or what you say, that’s not going to change.”

  “Do you think you get to speak for her because you love her? She isn’t yours to control. She gets to make her own choice and have her own opinions. You Coles are all the same—you love to tell people what to do. Love to be the boss, and you pretend it’s love so that makes it okay. Well, I got away from your sister just in time, and I’ll help Bonnie see you for what you are before it’s too late as well.”

  Bonnie sat up. Her heart pounded in her chest. Had Aaron said he was in love with her? Why did Mitch think that? She shook her head. That was beside the point right now. She didn’t want anyone to fight over her. She rolled out of bed and went to stop them from arguing. Aaron’s face was red, and Mitch was standing much too close. Aaron pushed Mitch, and he stumbled backward and tripped over the footstool in front of the chair in the corner. He landed hard and almost hit his head on the glass coffee table.

  “Stop it!” she shouted at Aaron, going over to Mitch to help him up. “Are you okay?”

  “Come on, Bonnie,” Aaron said. “I’m here to take you home.”

  “I don’t need you to take me anywhere. I will go home when I’m ready to go home.”

  “I know you’re upset. We need to talk about this. Me and you, without anyone else muddying the water.” He glared at Mitch.

  “I’m okay, Bonnie.” Mitch winced as he tried to get up. “If you need to go, you should go. Don’t worry about me.”

  He was clearly in more pain than he wanted to let on. She helped him to his feet.

  “Please, Bonnie. Come with me. Your dad is waiting in the car.”

  So much for not involving anyone else who might muddy the waters. Her dad had been soft on Lauren from the get-go. He was part of the problem, not the solution.

  “There’s nothing to talk about. You believe your sister. I don’t. I won’t.”

  “What if the evidence proves she’s innocent?”

  “The cell phone tower her phone pinged off when you texted her? Easy, she could have had Theresa or Kathy driving her phone around, away from the house, so no one would know she was there.”

  “Do you hear yourself right now? Do you really believe that Lauren would be that diabolical?” Aaron asked. “Do you think she planned an elaborate scheme to vandalize my house and cover it up with multiple accomplices?”

  “Yes,” Mitch answered for her.

  Aaron tugged at the front of his hair in frustration. “Literally no one is talking to you.”

  “I agree with him,” Bonnie said in Mitch’s defense. “I think it’s more than possible.”

  “Oh my gosh.” Aaron smacked his forehead with the heel of his hand. “You have turned into Lauren. You sound exactly like her. You’re doing to her what she did to you. That is so hypocritical.”

  He might as well have stuck a dagger in her heart. That was what it felt like. She certainly hadn’t gotten enough sleep to be able to take that hit with grace.

  “Get out!” She pointed him toward the door. “Get out and tell my dad that you two can defend Lauren until you’re blue in the face, but I am going to tell everyone and anyone that she was behind this.”

  Aaron’s laugh was somewhat maniacal. “You just did it again. You’re making the same arguments and threatening the same smear campaign. Listen to yourself.”

  “She told you to leave,” Mitch said, getting in between them.

  “I’m going to give you a couple days to come to your senses. You are better than this, Bonnie. You don’t want to be hateful for the sake of being hateful like Lauren was.”

  “Is,” she corrected him. “Your sister continues to be hateful. You’re either too blind to see it or are choosing to ignore it.”

  He shook his head and left with nothing else to say. There wasn’t anything else he could say. The damage had been done. Bonnie sat on the couch and held her head in her hands as the tears threatened to fall. Mitch sat beside her and gently rubbed her back.

  “I’m sorry that got so ugly,” he said softly and in such a contrast to the tone he had been using a moment ago.

  “I thought he loved me.”

  “Aaron isn’t a bad guy. You know that. I mean, he does some questionable things sometimes, but he’s not bad.”

  She lifted her head. “What do you mean, questionable things?”

  “I shouldn’t say. That’s gossiping, and I don’t want to make you any more upset than you already are.”

  Now he had to tell her. “Spill it,” she demanded.

  “Last night, I met Aaron and Sasha out at that new gastropub downtown. Have you heard about it? Their appetizers are really good.”

  “I’ve been banned from all the local restaurants because of Lauren, so I wouldn’t know.”

  “I’m sorry. I should be quiet. I’m not making things any better.”

  “Tell me.” Her irritability level was at an all-time high. She didn’t mean to snap, but that was the way it came out.

  “We were hanging out, and Aaron started telling us about this date he has next week.”

  Their date. Had he planned to take her out as early as next week? Not getting their first date was another reason to be angry with Lauren. The list grew longer and longer with each passing minute.

  “I guess he’s going to the library gala with Hilde Rutherford. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but now that I know he’s been trying to get something started with you, it seems a little sketchy.”

  Hilde Rutherford? Bonnie didn’t know who that was. She’d heard of the Rutherford family, but Hilde wasn’t familiar. Aaron had never mentioned her before. Of course, he’d been distant lately. Maybe that was the reason. Maybe he was spending time with Hilde.

  “I’m sure it’s nothing. It’s not like the gala is very fun. Boring music, boring food, even more boring speakers. I mean, come on, have you ever had fun at that thing?”

  Bonnie had never been to the library gala. She couldn’t affo
rd a ticket, and there was no way the Coles would have welcomed her this year. It was no wonder that Aaron had had to find a more suitable date. And if she wasn’t good enough to take to the gala, how would she ever be good enough for something more? Aaron would never choose her over his family. Today made that evident.

  “I’ve never been to one.”

  Mitch back straightened. “What? How have you been best friends with Lauren this many years and haven’t gone to the Cole library gala?”

  She shrugged. Who cared about a stupid gala? She hoped Aaron had a great time with Hilde and that the Coles welcomed her into their cult with open arms.

  “You got a nice dress at home?” he asked, pulling her out of her head. Thoughts were getting dark in there—she needed to go home and get a real nap.

  “I have plenty of nice dresses, why?”

  “We’re going,” Mitch said with a quirked brow.

  She was too tired to follow this conversation. “We’re going where?”

  “To the gala.”

  She barked out a laugh. “Do you have a death wish? Mr. Cole would flip his lid if you and I walked into the gala together.”

  Rubbing his hands together, he smirked like the Cheshire cat. “He absolutely would. And imagine how enraged Lauren would be.”

  She would be completely beside herself. There was no telling how Aaron would react. But he’d have Hilde to keep him distracted. “What time will you pick me up?”

  * * *

  IT HAD BEEN almost a week since Aaron had spoken to Bonnie. She didn’t answer his calls or texts. Her dad had shared the news that Lauren’s cell phone records cleared her from being a suspect. The only person whose cell phone pinged near the house was Mary, but she seemed the least likely of Lauren’s friends to have vandalized the house unprompted. She didn’t have a solid alibi, though, so the police were taking a closer look at her.

  Bonnie couldn’t care less that the evidence didn’t line up and point a finger at Lauren. She was bound and determined to prove that it was Lauren, regardless of what the facts truly were. It was worse than trying to convince Lauren that Bonnie didn’t cheat with Mitch. The two of them were more alike than either of them would admit.