She dropped her hands to her sides. “Why? Sweetheart, your sister needs you now more than ever. She needs to know you have her back.”
“Mom, Lauren is being unreasonable. The reason I am standing with Bonnie is because that is what is best for Lauren. She needs to see that if she doesn’t end this attack on her innocent friend, it’s going to be her downfall.”
His mom shook her head. “No, it won’t. It makes her feel better. And she deserves to feel better right now. What those two did to her was unforgivable. She needs to show the world it cannot treat her like that.”
Aaron was all for Lauren standing up for herself. He was not okay with her trampling all over Bonnie to do it. “Mom, listen to yourself. What did those two do? From where I was standing, only one of them humiliated Lauren, and that was Mitch. He is the only one responsible for how bad Lauren feels right now.”
She waved that thought off. “You’re telling me that Bonnie, Bonnie Windsor, didn’t do a single thing to lead him on so he would be daring enough to do that to your sister? No one in their right mind would take a chance like that if he didn’t already know he was going to get what he wanted.”
How could he explain that was the beauty of Bonnie? She was completely clueless that she could win someone over by simply being herself. She didn’t have to do anything but smile and treat people with kindness. That was what had him caught in her web right now. He could understand exactly why Mitch wanted to be with Bonnie instead of Lauren. Aaron would have liked his best friend to find a better time and place to tell Lauren he had changed his mind about getting married, but there was no ill intent on Bonnie’s part.
“I know you’re wrong. I know Lauren is wrong. But I’m not going to waste my breath trying to convince you that you are. Instead, tell me this. What if you are wrong? What if Bonnie had no idea what Mitch was going to say that day? What if Bonnie doesn’t even like Mitch? Can you live with yourself if her life is turned upside down because of Lauren’s hurt feelings?”
His mom sat on the enormous sectional in the middle of the room. She let her head fall back. “You know I have always liked Bonnie. She’s always seemed like a nice girl.”
Aaron felt a surge of hope. He sat next to her. “She is a nice woman, Mom. She always has been and will continue to be. Can we say the same about Lauren?”
His mom frowned. “Don’t talk about your sister like that. She is a nice person.”
“She’s not acting like it.”
“I’ll talk to her about backing off Bonnie a little bit. I’ll point out that she hasn’t had anything to do with Mitchell since the wedding. Can you imagine what your sister would have done if they were together right now?”
That was never a possibility, a reality Aaron would never have to consider. “Thank you for trying.”
“Now you have to do something for me,” she said, crossing her legs.
Aaron’s shoulders tensed. Nothing good was going to follow that sentence. She was going to ask him to go back to work for his father or something equally impossible.
“Mom—”
“Hear me out,” she said. “The library gala is coming up, and I need you to do me a favor.”
“What kind of favor?” he asked hesitantly.
“The kind that includes you accompanying Fred and Ingrid’s daughter to said gala.”
A date? That was unexpected, but still not something Aaron wanted to entertain. He wasn’t sure he was even invited to the gala this year, considering his father had basically banished him from the kingdom.
“Did you run this one by Dad? Because I am fairly certain that I am not on his list of favorite people right now. I doubt he wants me traipsing around his gala showing my traitorous face.”
“Well, if I get you out of hot water with your sister, that will get you out of half the trouble with your father. When you come to your senses and go back to work for him, you’ll be fully reinstated to favorite son status.”
“I’m his only son,” he reminded her.
She pinched his cheek. “Exactly. You need to remember that.”
He wasn’t going to argue with her about why he was not going to go back to work for his father—ever. He agreed to take Fred and Ingrid’s daughter to the library gala. It was a couple months away. By then, he could either be completely disowned or back in everyone’s good graces. Either way, he’d get out of going somehow.
He decided to change the subject to something they would both rather talk about. “Do you want to see the plans for the house I’m flipping? I could use your advice on something I’m thinking about doing to the living room.”
His mother’s eyes lit up. As much as she wanted him to go back to work for his dad, her love for design would always win out in the end.
CHAPTER TEN
“I VOTE THAT anyone but my father goes up in the attic.”
Bonnie’s dad glared at her as he unbuckled his tool belt. “Don’t start with me. Why don’t you go sell houses to someone and let us work in peace?”
Well, for one thing, there was no one in town willing to let her sell them a house. Secondly, she was not going to let anything happen to him today that might send him to the hospital.
“I’m not spending another afternoon in the ER, so let Aaron go up there.”
“I can go up there, David. It’s fine.”
“Are you kidding me? Both of you need to get out of my way. I am going up into the attic, and no one is stopping
