“What’s there to think about? I lost my job, and he’s offering me a new one.”
“Dad, it’s not that simple.”
“I told you, we have to roll with the punches. And it looks like we rolled right into this.” Her dad waved a hand toward Aaron.
“How about you two talk it over and get back to me. No pressure to decide right now. I do need an answer, though. I’d like to start flipping houses sooner than later.”
“We will talk it over,” her dad replied.
The two men shook hands, and Bonnie opened the door. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Aaron flashed her that smile. “Me, too.”
“Well, that was interesting,” her dad said once Aaron was gone.
“Interesting? That was an invitation to go poke a bear. Two bears. Two huge, powerful bears with lots of other bear friends who would love nothing more than to tear us to shreds.”
Her dad chuckled as he made his way back to the kitchen. “Oh, Bon Bon, I have never heard you be so dramatic. I think Aaron is right—this is a match made in heaven. He wants to start this business, I need a job, you need some commissions. We all win.”
“Until we lose.”
“What can the Coles really do to stop us?” he asked. She could tell he legitimately couldn’t think of anything. That was because her father was a good man who didn’t think of ways to destroy people. Ever.
Bonnie knew better. She had no doubts the Coles would find lots of ways to make this impossible once they found out the Windsors were teaming up with their son and brother. “‘What wouldn’t they do’ is a better question.”
AARON WENT HOME and decided to enjoy an extra day off before his real work began. Hopefully, the Windsors would agree to work with him. If David didn’t help him, he wasn’t sure how he was going to make this dream a reality. He cleaned his house. He rearranged the books on his bookshelf, putting them in alphabetical order by title and then switching it to grouping books by the color of the cover. He watched a few cooking shows and decided to make himself lunch and dinner. He surfed the internet for a few hours, took a nap and organized his shoe collection. After watching three episodes of The Office, his doorbell rang. Couldn’t be Lauren. She would have barged right in like she did last time. There was no way his dad would have come. He’d be waiting for Aaron to come to him. His mother would probably try to reach him by phone for at least another day before coming over to check on him. This had to be someone outside the family.
He opened the door to find Bonnie on the other side. It was late, and she had obviously been unable to sleep. Her long hair was pulled up in a ponytail. She had on flannel pajama shorts and a Blue Springs High School T-shirt. She was all kinds of adorable, something he’d been thinking with way more frequency lately.
“If this is some sort of game, we don’t want to play,” she said.
Aaron had to ease her mind. “I’m not playing any games. I can write up a business plan if that will prove to you how serious I am. I want to do this because it’s something I am truly passionate about.”
Her eyes narrowed in doubt. “If this makes my family a bigger target for Lauren, we’re out.”
He smiled. Maybe there was hope. “Does that mean you’re in?”
She worried her bottom lip and closed her eyes. All he needed was for her to give him a chance to prove himself. That was more than anyone in his own family seemed willing to give him.
“We’ll do one house with you,” she finally replied. “If all goes well, we will consider doing more, but for now, we only agree to one.”
One was better than none. Aaron would take it. “You have yourself a deal. Thank you for letting me prove myself.”
“Don’t make me regret it,” she said, stepping off his front porch and taking off toward her car.
She wouldn’t regret it. Not if he had anything to say about it. Aaron would do whatever it took to make this work.
CHAPTER FIVE
“WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN us into?” Bonnie poured herself and her dad another cup of coffee. He had brought over doughnuts for the two of them to enjoy while they waited for Aaron to show up.
“Hopefully you got us into a profitable business deal.” His optimism was admirable but possibly quite misguided.
“With a Cole, when I am currently blacklisted in the community by his sister. You do know that as soon as Lauren finds out, he will be pressured into cutting us loose. Maybe she already did. Maybe that’s why he isn’t here yet.”
Her father finished chewing his bite of apple fritter. “Lauren will come around. You two have been best friends since you were little girls. She’s always acted entitled, but underneath all her self-absorbed nonsense was someone who always looked out for you.”
Bonnie wasn’t too sure of that. How could someone be a good friend and do what Lauren had done over the last couple weeks? Bonnie had done nothing to deserve being outcast, and there was no one who could prove she did. Mitch had even admitted to his fantasy being one-sided. Of course, his trip to France made it difficult to do much defending of her honor.
“She’s not looking out for me anymore. Now she’s out to destroy me, and she has the power and influence to do it.”
He wiped his hands on his napkin. “No one is going to destroy my girl. You are unbreakable. And she might have money behind her, but you have me and all the other people who love you in this world.”
That list didn’t seem very long at the moment. Anyone who was friends with both Bonnie and Lauren had sided with Lauren, most likely
