“We’re all good. We’ll be even better when we get our revenge, won’t we, Bonnie?”
“You two have no idea what you’re in for. Revenge will be sweet.”
Aaron tried being optimistic. Things would work out. Some playful vengeance would be served, and that date would happen. The worst had to be behind them.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“WHO IS THE prettiest baby in the entire world? Who is it? Who is it? It’s Winter!” There was nothing sweeter than the sound of baby’s laughter. Bonnie was one hundred percent, utterly and absolutely in love with Sasha’s niece.
“Stop stealing all the giggles. Hand her over here,” Sasha said, reaching for the little girl in Bonnie’s arms.
There was also nothing cuter than the manliest of men holding a baby. Throw in some baby talk and Bonnie was reduced to mush.
“Who’s going to ride in Uncle Sasha’s sidecar when she’s bigger? Who is? Winter is!” He gave her belly a poke with his finger, and the baby laughed like he had told her the funniest joke she’d ever heard.
“Never in a million years would I have believed my brother would be good with babies.” Sasha’s sister, Athena, handed Bonnie a glass of water and sat down like it was the first time she’d done so in days.
“He’s a natural,” Bonnie said, watching him bounce little Winter on his knee. “Isn’t it sort of annoying that Sasha is good at everything he does? I feel like if we went bowling, he’d knock down the pins in my lane and his at the same time. That’s how good he’d be.”
“Yeah, try growing up with that. Guess who was valedictorian of his class and who got a perfect score on his SAT?”
Bonnie’s eyes went wide. Wonders never ceased when it came to Sasha. “You were valedictorian of your high school? Is your picture on a wall somewhere?”
“I was, and it is. I can’t help it that I was graced with so many abilities. Look at me. I’m huge. Can you imagine how big my brain must be?”
“Ginormous,” Calvin, Sasha’s brother-in-law, said as he came out of the bedroom. He was dressed in a suit and tie.
Sasha wolf whistled. “Wow, look at your daddy. He’s all dressed up to take Mommy on a date. Maybe in nine months you’ll have a little brother or sister.”
“Don’t even say it. One baby at a time, please,” Athena said, forcing herself to get up off the couch. “Thank you again for helping him babysit tonight, Bonnie. We appreciate it so much.”
“The pleasure is all mine. I’ve been begging Sasha for weeks for some baby time. Have fun, you two.”
“But not too much fun, Calvin. Athena doesn’t want another baby just yet.”
“If you weren’t holding my beautiful baby daughter, I would throw something at you right now,” Athena said with a playful scowl. She had the same beautiful red hair and fair skin as her brother. They were very much alike except for the fact that she was literally half his size.
Sasha chuckled. “Go, get out of here.”
“Thanks again, Bonnie,” Calvin said, holding the door open for his wife.
“I like them. Almost more than you,” Bonnie said when they’d left.
“All I take away from that is you like me the most.” He held Winter up over his head. “Did you hear that, Winter? Bonnie likes me the most. Yes, she does. Yes, she does!”
“Careful,” Bonnie warned a second too late. Winter spit up right on her uncle’s face.
Once again, she was impressed with Sasha’s skills. He kept his cool, handed the baby to Bonnie and went to the bathroom to clean up. “That was disgusting,” he said when he returned.
“Never bounce a baby after she’s eaten and then shake her over your head. It’s like tossing some Mentos into a can of soda. You would be a fool to think nothing is going to happen.”
“And I am no fool. I was valedictorian, after all.”
“I was happy to just graduate high school.” School was hard for Bonnie. She’d struggled with reading when she was little, and she had to work hard for every grade she got. She knew college wasn’t for her and, after a few dead-end jobs as a young adult, she’d talked to Gordon about what he did for a living and was convinced to get her real estate license. She’d never regretted it.
“You and Aaron went to school together?”
“We did. He was a couple years older than us.”
“Us?”
Funny how even now after everything that had happened, Bonnie still thought of them as inseparable when she spoke about them in the past. “Me and Lauren, his sister.”
“Bad Lauren. How does someone like you become best friends with someone like her?”
Someone who didn’t know them well might think it was an issue of opposites attracting, which in some respects was true. Bonnie and Lauren were different in many ways, but it was the things in common that had made them as close as they were.
“You love Aaron, right?” she asked him.
Sasha nodded. “He’s the best.”
“There are parts of Lauren that are very similar to her brother. I love those things about her as well.”
“You love Aaron, too, right?”
The question struck Bonnie as more serious than when she asked it of him. “I like Aaron a lot.”
An evil grin spread across Sasha’s face. “Like him. Uh-huh.”
“Are you thirteen years old or something? Sometimes I think Winter is more mature than you are.”
“Oh, Bonnie, Bonnie, Bonnie, Bonnie. Thou dost protest too much. Just say it. Out loud. Don’t be afraid.”
“Say what?” she asked, even though she knew exactly what he wanted her to say. Did she love Aaron? Sure, the same way she loved Sasha. Was she in love with Aaron? Thinking it made her heart skip a beat and her palms sweat.
“Say it! Say it! Say it!” he chanted, much to Winter’s delight and Bonnie’s horror.
“Would you please stop? You are so embarrassing. Your poor sister. I can just imagine the torture she had to
