by Amy Vastine
Point taken. Maybe his family wasn’t as harmless as he thought. He snatched the bag out of her hand. “Fine. I’ll buy them, but I want everyone in this store to know these are for Bonnie Windsor, because she isn’t the reason my sister didn’t get married.”
Several shoppers stopped and stared as he strode to the front of the store and checked out. He had to end this nonsense and the only way to do that was to talk to Lauren. After he ate lunch with the Windsors, he was going to do just that.
“Did you bring a reusable shopping bag, sir? Or did you want to purchase one?” the young man bagging the groceries asked.
Aaron seized the bag of marshmallows from the boy. “She doesn’t need a bag.” He handed the cashier a five-dollar bill and tossed the marshmallows to Bonnie while he waited for his change. The least she could do was carry them out of the store.
“Good job not making a scene,” she said as they exited the store.
“This better be the best sandwich I have ever had in my entire life.”
Bonnie’s laughter was almost worth his frustration. “I fear that expectations may be too high at this point.”
She was wrong. PBM sandwiches were the greatest invention known to man. It was like a s’more with peanut butter instead of chocolate that was smashed between two slices of bread instead of graham crackers. They were broiled in the oven just long enough to toast the layer of mini marshmallows and begin to melt the thick layer of peanut butter Bonnie had spread on there. Aaron and her dad both ate two.
“I completely understand why Lauren loved these,” he said, taking his last bite. At least Aaron could relate to his sister on this one particular subject.
Bonnie shook her head. “I can’t believe she actually talked about PBM sandwiches. I always assumed nothing compared to what you ate at home. I remember thinking the best thing in the world were the sundaes we used to eat at your house that were served in those huge glass bowls.”
“Those were good, and I’m sure Lauren enjoyed them. I think she loved PBM sandwiches so much more because they were made with love by your mom. Everything Lauren does is because she desperately wants people to love her. Byron could add sprinkles to ice cream sundaes, but he never added any love.”
He watched as Bonnie let that sink in. Truthfully, he was trying to make her feel a little bad for his sister. No one knew better than he did that they hadn’t exactly grown up in the most emotionally warm family, and that had affected Lauren more than him. Based on her expression, he could see there was still some hope Bonnie might find it in her heart to someday forgive his sister for what she’d done.
She wiped a bit of peanut butter from the corner of her mouth with her napkin. “Lauren may want to be loved, but she needs to learn that you have to give to receive.”
“True.” He couldn’t disagree. Lauren was much better at getting than giving. Aaron still wanted to believe that Lauren loved Bonnie even if she had a terrible way of showing it.
Aaron’s phone rang. Caller ID told him it was his father, who only called for one of two reasons: to tell Aaron to do something or to tell him to stop doing something. Given Aaron’s life choices recently, either reason had potential today.
“Dad?”
“My office in fifteen minutes, or else.” That was all he said before hanging up. He didn’t even give Aaron a chance to respond.
“Everything okay?” Bonnie asked as Aaron slid his phone back into his pocket.
“I have been summoned to my father’s office. ASAP.”
Bonnie gave him a sympathetic smile. “There are so many things you could be in trouble for doing today. I tried to warn you.”
“It’ll be fine,” he said, more to convince himself than her. “Maybe I won’t go. What can he do to me?”
David chuckled at Aaron’s unconvincing bravado. “I don’t think you want to find out, son. If I was you, I would go.”
Internally, Aaron groaned. He knew he would have to face the music at some point. It was discouraging that it hadn’t taken very long.
“I guess we’ll discuss plans for the house when I finish having a very grown-up conversation with my father about how I am an adult who can make his own decisions.” Aaron placed his plate by the sink. “I wish he’d just chastise me over the phone rather than make me drive over there and back.”
“Good luck,” both Windsors said as he reluctantly left.
He hated how little impact asserting himself had on his father. It didn’t matter that he’d quit and no longer worked for him—if Walter Cole wanted Aaron in his office pronto, Aaron was expected to be there. It was going to take some practice saying no when being the cooperative child had been his MO for so long.
His father’s assistant gave him the same sad smile Bonnie had. “He’s ready for you.”
Of course he was. He probably had scheduled this ten-minute tirade into his day between brokering a deal with some foreign investors and a call to someone on his board of directors. Aaron stepped into the massive corner office. The views from his dad’s office were some of the best in all of Blue Springs. It was too bad the old man never took a moment to appreciate it.
The elder Cole sat behind his immense mahogany desk. Everything about the office screamed power and wealth. His chair was more like a brown leather throne on wheels, which sat much higher than the stationary ones on the other side of the desk. Pictures of Walter with important people hung on the walls alongside the awards and achievements he had earned over the years. Aaron realized there wasn’t one photo of the family.
“How’s it going, Dad?” Aaron took a seat across from his dad. “Did you need my help hiring my replacement? You do know I don’t work here anymore, right?”
“I don’t have time for your smart mouth. You need to call off whatever deal you made with David Windsor. You are not going to work with him. It upsets your sister, who in turn upsets your mother. I don’t want to deal with your mother being upset. I have enough on my plate since you decided to abandon the family business.”
Aaron tried not to laugh. It was hilarious to hear his dad speak about him as if he was so essential to the company’s success. “Well, maybe it’s time Mom stopped letting Lauren dictate how she should feel. Just because Lauren is deflecting her anger onto Bonnie instead of onto Mitch, doesn’t mean we all have to follow in her foolish footsteps.”
His father slammed his fist down on the desk. “I don’t care who you think or don’t think is to blame. Your sister was humiliated in front of everyone she knows in the most egregious way possible. You act like it’s no big deal and she should just get over it.”
“I’m not trying to downplay what happened.” He hadn’t meant to come off as dismissive of Lauren’s feelings. It was everyone’s lack of care for Bonnie’s. “I understand that what Mitch did was terrible. But do you get that it was Mitch who did this to Lauren, not Bonnie? Have you blackballed the Bennetts as well? When Mitch comes back from France, will he not be able to buy bread at the market?”
His father leaned back in his chair. “You will not do business with either of the Windsors. I have a call with New York. You can go now that we’re clear.”
Aaron could feel his heart thumping in his chest. He had to remind himself he didn’t work for his father anymore. “Or what?”
His dad set his phone down. “Excuse me?”
“I won’t do business with them or what?” Aaron couldn’t imagine what threat his dad could actually pose.
His father simply answered, “Or you’ll force me to choose between your happiness and your sister’s.”
Aaron would have asked what that meant, but his father was clearly finished with him. He picked up his phone and dialed someone in New York.
Reasoning with his father was pointless. This wasn’t only about the Windsors and Lauren’s hurt feelings. This was about getting what he wanted. His father wanted him to come back
and work for Cole Industries. Instead of supporting him in what he wanted to do with his life, Aaron’s father was willing to go out of his way to see to it that his son failed. The reality of that was worse than anything he could actually do to him.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“NO, I UNDERSTAND, BUD. You have to do what’s right for you. I’ll see you around.” Bonnie’s dad ended his call.
Aaron had closed on the house exactly one week ago. He and her dad had spent the first week planning, cleaning up all the garbage in the yard and securing the permits they needed to get started. Bonnie had a bad feeling that these first few things would be the last ones to go smoothly during this flip.
Her dad had been trying to put together a team of subcontractors to help. He’d reached out to everyone he knew, hoping some of them would be interested in some side work. Thus far, no one had taken him up on his offer. It didn’t even help to throw around Aaron’s name. Bonnie was certain he was now just as blacklisted as she was.
“Another no?” she asked.
Her dad nodded. “It’s clear they’ve all been told not to associate with me or Aaron. That boy doesn’t realize how much work he’s going to have to do if we can’t find a few extra hands.”
“I have hands.” Bonnie held hers up.
“Yeah,” her dad said with a laugh. “We need hands that know how to do things like lay tile and hang drywall, however.”
Unfortunately, she was not skilled in that kind of work, but she had to be good for something. “I can help with demolition, at least. I know how to swing around a sledgehammer.”
“You sure you want to go back into that big scary house full of mice?” he teased her.
Bonnie shivered at the thought. “I said demolition, not extermination. Please tell me you were able to hire an exterminator.” The Coles had a lot of influence, but they couldn’t possibly have all the exterminators in the area in their back pocket. At some point, there had to be an end to their sphere of influence.
“Yes, dear. The exterminator has already been through the house. There shouldn’t be any mice in there.”
“Or wasps?”
“No wasps,” Aaron announced as he walked out of the house. He was dressed exactly like her father—jeans, plaid flannel shirt. He even had safety glasses resting on the top of his head like they were Ray-Bans. “So when’s the demolition crew getting here?”
“You’re looking at it,” David said, opening the tailgate of his pickup. “Unless you have some buddies who can give us a hand.”
Aaron took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second. When his eyes opened, a look of determination fell over his face. He strode over to the pickup and helped unload the tools they were going to use. “I’m here to learn, and I’ve got you to teach me. We don’t need anyone else.”
“What about me?” Bonnie asked. “You sure you don’t need a scrappy, five-foot-four powerhouse who’s ready to knock down some walls?” She picked up the sledgehammer, but it was heavier than she expected, and the head of it thunked on the ground as she lost her grip.
Aaron and her dad both chuckled.
“Careful, Little Miss Scrappy,” Aaron said, taking the sledgehammer from her. “Don’t hurt yourself.”
Bonnie flexed her nonexistent biceps. “I have so much pent-up frustration, I need to do something destructive.”
“I thought you were here to find out if we wanted anything to eat or drink,” her dad said as he buckled his tool belt around his waist.
“I did.” That had been the original plan before she found out that the only ones working were these two. She could be put to better use if they needed the help. “But it seems like you need more than food and coffee.”
“I disagree,” Aaron said, stepping around her. “I would kill for a large coffee with cream and sugar right about now.”
“Fine,” she relented. “I’ll get coffee, but when I get back, I’m putting a hole in something.”
Her dad gave her a peck on the cheek. “I’ll take a large black coffee and an apple danish if you can find one, Bon Bon.”
“I hope there’s no mice in there!” she shouted.
Aaron smiled over his shoulder. “If there are, I’ll be sure to introduce them to my new friend,” he said, holding the sledgehammer above his head.
Happy to not have to see that, she got in her car and headed into town. The Bean was a small coffee shop at the north end of Main Street. The roar of a motorcycle caught her attention as she got out of her car. A man the size of a small giant parked right in front. Dressed like he was a card-carrying member of a real biker gang, he got off his bike. The pink teddy bear strapped to the back made Bonnie do a double take.
The biker was at least two feet taller than her, and he had a reddish-brown beard that came down to his belly button and long hair pulled back into a ponytail. His black leather vest had various patches on it, and chains hung from his belt. As intimidating as he looked, he kindly held the door open for her.
“Thank you,” she said with a smile. “Are you and your bear visiting or just passing through town on to somewhere more exciting?”
He grinned back as they both got in line for coffee. “Well, I don’t know. If I can find some decent work, I may stay for a bit. Right now, I’m just here to visit my sister and brand-new baby niece. The bear and I got into town late last night. I figure my sister and brother-in-law could use some caffeine. I hear new parents don’t get much sleep.”
“I have heard that, too. You’re a good brother.”
“I try. This is the first baby in the family. I hope I’m a good uncle as well.”
This guy was as sweet as the teddy bear on the back of his motorcycle. “What’s the baby’s name?”
He leaned forward. “Now, I am in no place to judge someone for an unusual name, but I think this one is kind of weird. They named her Winter, but she was born in the summer. I don’t get it.”
“Oh, I think it’s a beautiful name. Maybe they were trying to be ironic?” Bonnie offered.
He guffawed. “Maybe. That’s nicer than saying they were being weird.”
“I can’t believe you still dare to show your face in this town.” Jeanne Watson and Kathy Cole appeared out of nowhere. Bonnie had been so distracted by her new friend she hadn’t scanned the place for unfriendlies.
“Why should I hide when I’ve done nothing wrong?”
“Nothing wrong?” Kathy scoffed. “Having an affair with Lauren’s fiancé and ruining her wedding isn’t wrong? Wow, that’s news to me. Did you know that’s not wrong, Jeanne?”
“I always thought that was literally the worst thing a person could do to someone they claimed was their best friend. Maybe we were both wrong.”
Bonnie could feel her face flushing red at their sarcasm. For almost a month, she’d wanted to be able to clear her name with these women, but she hadn’t expected them to be so mean. “I didn’t have an affair with Mitch. I had no idea he had feelings for me until the same exact moment you two did.”
The bells on the door chimed, and Bonnie made eye contact with Mary as she stepped inside The Bean. Mary had been one of Bonnie’s closest friends up until the wedding-that-wasn’t. Bonnie had tried multiple times to reach out to Mary over the last month, but sides had been chosen and Lauren had won everyone’s support, even though everything she believed was a lie.
Jeanne wouldn’t stop. “I can’t believe you’re still trying to sell that story to everyone. Why didn’t you just go to France with Mitch? Wouldn’t that be so much easier for you and all of us?”
“Doesn’t it make sense that I’m not in France with Mitch because I want nothing to do with him? He and I were never a thing. His feelings are completely one-sided.”
“Hi, ladies. Maybe we should find a table instead of making a scene in line,” Mary suggested to Jeanne and Kathy as she approached.
&nbs
p; “I don’t know if I can stay with her here. I think we should leave,” Kathy said.
“Why should we leave?” Jeanne questioned. “She should leave. She’s the one no one wants to be around.”
Bonnie was doing everything in her power not to burst into tears. This was more humiliating than the two incidents with Cal at the market combined. “I’m not staying. I’ll be out of here as soon as I get my coffee.”
The woman in front of her in line finished giving her order and stepped aside. It was Bonnie’s turn, and she was more than ready to grab her coffees and leave. Connie Wheeler, the owner of The Bean, was behind the counter.
“Hi, Connie. Can I get a large coffee black, another large coffee with cream and sugar, and a medium iced coffee with cream? Oh, and if you have an apple danish, can I get one of those, too?”
“Are you seriously going to serve her?” Jeanne asked. “If you serve this backstabber, not only will we not spend another dime here, I will be sure to let Lauren know so she can steer clear of here as well. I sure hope The Bean can withstand the negative Yelp reviews we’re all sure to write.”
“Jeanne,” Mary said in a scolding tone. “No one needs to get Lauren all riled up.”
Connie paused, and Bonnie could see it in her eyes. The fear of Lauren’s retribution had her frozen in her spot. Bonnie couldn’t ask Connie to go up against Lauren any more than she could have asked Cal last week. There was a gas station down the road that served coffee and most likely wouldn’t be the gathering place for Lauren’s friends. Bonnie could go there and get what she needed.
“Never mind, Connie. I’ll go. I don’t want to cause you any trouble.” She glanced at Mary, who seemed more sympathetic than she’d expected. Jeanne and Kathy, on the other hand, were both thrilled with themselves. They would be sure to tell Lauren how they trampled all over Bonnie today at The Bean.
Bonnie turned to leave, but a hand fell lightly on her shoulder. “Hang on a second,” the biker said. He stepped forward and spoke only to Connie. “I’ll take two large caramel frappés, a large black coffee, a large coffee with cream and sugar, and an iced coffee with...” he looked at Bonnie “...cream?”
