“I’m sorry this day has been kind of a nightmare.”
“Some parts were definitely better than others,” she said, resting her cheek against his chest. He loved the way she fit in his arms. He rested his chin on the top of her head.
“Some parts were kind of amazing,” he said. There was no “kind of” about it. Kissing her was beyond amazing.
“I don’t suppose you convinced Mitch to go back to France. Permanently?”
“He’s planning to talk to Lauren, which I warned him was a terrible plan. He thinks that he can fix everything by apologizing. As if my sister is going to simply accept his apology and move on.”
Bonnie pulled back with a look of fear in her eyes that made him shudder. “You can’t let him face her alone. I feel kind of bad for him. I think he sees the error of his ways and really is remorseful.”
“Don’t worry, there is no way in the world that Lauren is going to let Mitch get within a fifty-foot radius of her. She doesn’t have any interest in anything he has to say.”
Bonnie wasn’t so sure. “If she thinks there’s a possibility he’s going to tell her he was wrong and beg for forgiveness, she might. Was he going to talk to her now?”
“He had dinner with his parents tonight, and then he was going to go over to Lauren’s. I’ll call Lauren and give her a heads-up that he’s back.” He knew he didn’t really have to do that. Enough people in town had seen Mitch—there was no way the news hadn’t gotten back to Lauren already. Aaron could only hope that no one mentioned he’d been on Bonnie’s doorstep.
Pacing back and forth in the hall, Bonnie chewed on her thumbnail. “You have to go there.”
“Maybe we should both go. You and me.” Maybe they could even announce they were sort of a couple. Wouldn’t that put all these rumors to rest? If she was dating Aaron, she couldn’t be dating Mitch, too.
“I don’t know. If she saw me and Mitch together—even though we aren’t together—it could be a complete disaster.” She stopped pacing and dropped her arms to her side. “I also can’t keep putting you in the middle of this. You’ve strained your relationship with your sister enough for me already.”
“If I didn’t want to be in the middle of it, I wouldn’t be. But I have your back. All the way.”
Bonnie shook her head, her determination clear in her eyes. “It’s time for me to stop avoiding her. I need to face her and finally have my say. It’ll be better if Mitch is there, because then there won’t be any confusion. Everyone will be on the same page about how I feel and who I want to be with.”
She bit down on her bottom lip. Did that mean what he thought it meant? Did she feel things for him, and was she willing to tell Lauren about it? Aaron really wanted to be there for that.
“Any chance you’re feeling things for someone I know?”
One side of her mouth curled up in a crooked smile. “I’ll let you know after our date on Friday.”
Their date. They had a date. Why did he pick Friday when it was only Tuesday? That seemed so far away.
“I look forward to it, Miss Windsor,” he said with a little bow.
“As do I, Mr. Cole.” She clasped her hands behind his neck and kissed him ever so chastely.
Aaron floated out of the hospital and back to the house. For all the drama today, one thing was certain. He was falling head over heels for Bonnie, and she might just feel the same way about him. The thought would get him through anything Mitch and Lauren would throw their way.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
BONNIE FELT LIKE a stalker sitting in her car outside Lauren’s house. She didn’t want to go in until after Mitch got there. If Mitch didn’t show up, she wasn’t sure she was going to have this conversation with Lauren. All the bravery she’d showed Aaron at the hospital had disappeared as soon as she turned onto Lauren’s street.
“It’s just Lauren,” she reminded herself in the rearview mirror. Lauren, who slept with a stuffed animal named Baby Hippo until she was fifteen. She acted way tougher than she really was. Bonnie knew that deep down there was an extremely fragile person in there. She was much more vulnerable than she let on.
A knock on the passenger side window nearly gave her a heart attack. Lauren pulled on the door handle and motioned for Bonnie to unlock the door. Bonnie let her in.
“Are you working up the nerve to come in and kill me, or are you waiting out here for the guy you hired to kill me to come out and tell you the job is complete?” she asked, sitting down in the passenger’s seat. Her hair was up in a ponytail, and she had taken off all her makeup.
“I—I—I didn’t come to kill you,” Bonnie stammered. Why would she think that?
“Then why are you creeping outside my house?”
There was a simple answer to that, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to say it out loud in case Mitch didn’t show up. “I was working up the nerve to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“Mitch is back in town.”
“I know. I’m also not surprised you know that already. I’m assuming you two have seen each other since he returned from France?”
“He came over to apologize for making such a stupid spectacle at your wedding,” Bonnie admitted. There was no doubt someone had told Lauren that they had seen him at her house.
Lauren fixed her gaze on something outside in front of the car. “You weren’t excited to see him?”
“I like to believe that you are not half as self-absorbed as people like to think and you actually noticed that I was never overly friendly or nice to him.”
“You are always nice to everyone, Bonnie.” Lauren turned her head and smirked. “It’s one of
