“I was going to talk to her myself. I don’t need you to intercede on my behalf.”
Aaron chuckled. His laughter at her expense raised her hackles. “I don’t think I have ever seen you stand up to my sister,” he said. “I can remember all the way back to when you two were little girls. Lauren always called the shots. Remember when you played house and she always had you be the maid?”
Bonnie straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. That might have been true back in the day, but things were different now. “We’re not little kids anymore.”
“No, you aren’t,” he agreed. “But how far did you have to drive to pick up those bridesmaids’ gifts? Is it normal for the maid of honor to pick up and wrap her own gift?”
“He’s got you there, Bon Bon,” her dad said.
Bonnie let out a frustrated huff. “They couldn’t ship them on time, and she had to be at the winery for that hospital fund-raising event. I had the time to do it and she didn’t.” That was a lie. Bonnie had told Lauren she had a showing and couldn’t go, but Lauren convinced her to call and reschedule so she could do her bidding. Bonnie tried to rationalize it. “It’s called being a good friend.”
Aaron nodded in agreement. “You’re absolutely right. You have always been a good friend to my sister, but she doesn’t always return the favor, and you never say a word. No offense, but being assertive is not your superpower. I, on the other hand, have been telling my sister what I think, good or bad, for her whole life. Let me talk to her.”
He made it difficult to argue with him. Bonnie couldn’t change Lauren’s mind. If she couldn’t stand up to Lauren when they were actually friends, how was she supposed to successfully defend herself now?
“If you think you can sway her, go for it.”
“I thought she was going to come around. It’s not like you and Mitch have been talking since the wedding.” He paused a second and bit down on his lower lip. “I mean, you haven’t, right?”
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
