“What does it mean that you kind of talked to her about me?”
“It means we talked. I probably talked more than she did, but you came up.”
“And she told you that she’s in love with me?”
“You truly don’t see it? Every time the two of you are in the same room together? You don’t see it, hear it, feel it?” Sasha seemed genuinely perplexed.
Aaron needed to think about it. Did he? He knew what he felt. Did he know what she felt?
“Hey, Aaron!” Mitch came up to the table and gave Aaron a slap on the back. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages. Where have you been hiding? At that house you’re working on?”
“Pretty much. We’re almost finished. The open house should be in a couple weeks. Truth be told, I sometimes wonder if I should sell it or move in myself,” Aaron said, noticing Sasha was glaring at him, most likely for not introducing him to their unexpected guest. “Mitch, this is Sasha, a friend of mine. Sasha, this is Mitch.”
“Mitch? The Mitch?” Sasha questioned Aaron, who nodded. “Mitch, why don’t you join us? We have plenty of apps to share.”
That was the last thing Aaron wanted, but there was no way to rescind the offer now.
“That would be great. I was just going to get a couple beers before I headed home, but I could eat.” He snagged an empty chair from another table and sat between Aaron and Sasha. His phone buzzed, and he read it and set it down on the table. “My mom is driving me nuts about this library gala. She thinks we need to make an appearance as a family. I think we need to stay home.”
“I agree with you. Stay home.” The last thing they needed was for Mitch and Lauren to be in the same room for any period of time. “If I could stay home, I would, but my mother bribed me into taking Hilde Rutherford.”
“Never heard of her,” Mitch said. “Is she hot?”
Lauren had really dodged a bullet with this one. “I have no idea. I don’t know that I’ve ever met her.”
Mitch helped himself to a chicken wing. “Blind dates are the worst.”
Sasha’s brows were pinched together. “You’re going on a date?”
“Not a real date,” Aaron said. “I don’t even know the woman. I’m doing my mother a favor.”
Mitch wiped his fingers on his napkin. “It’s about time you got back in the dating scene. I can’t remember anyone you’ve dated since Lara, and that was last year.”
“How long have you guys been friends?” Sasha asked Mitch.
Mitch popped some cheese curds in his mouth. “Since high school,” he answered after devouring them.
“Oh, then you know Bonnie. Bonnie Windsor?”
Aaron didn’t like where this was headed. Sasha knew who Mitch was, and bringing up Bonnie was a bad idea. Unfortunately, he was helpless to stop this conversation from going off the rails. It was a runaway train with no brakes and a mangled track up ahead.
“I know Bonnie Windsor very well. She’s great.”
“She is,” Sasha said. “Aaron thinks so, too. I’m trying to explain to him that when two people connect the way he does with Bonnie, he’s foolish to let that slip through his fingers.”
“Aaron and Bonnie?” Mitch’s forehead creased, and his lips dipped into a frown. Aaron squirmed. This conversation train wasn’t just going to go off the rails—it was going to plummet into the deep cavern of doom.
“Don’t listen to him,” Aaron said, trying to minimize the damage. “He has no idea what he’s talking about. Try one of these fried mushrooms, they’re delicious.”
Sasha shook his head. “Deny, deny, deny. You can’t deny it forever, Aaron. That woman is your soul mate.”
Boom! The train crashed into a fiery grave.
“Bonnie and Aaron? That’s...hilarious. I don’t see it,” Mitch said.
Aaron tried to smooth things over. “Like I said, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
They finished off two of the appetizers before the waitress came back over to check on them and offered to take Mitch’s order.
“Oh my gosh,” Mitch said, looking at his phone. “I totally forgot I’m supposed to be on a conference call with China in like fifteen minutes. I have got to go. I’m so sorry.” He pulled out a money clip and threw a twenty-dollar bill on the table. “Let me get the appetizers. It was nice to meet you, Sasha. Aaron, I’ll see you around, buddy.”
“Too bad he couldn’t stay,” Sasha said after Mitch was out of sight. He also snagged the last chicken wing.
“That was the guy who left my sister at the altar because he thought he was in love with Bonnie.”
Sasha popped a fried mushroom into his mouth. “I know.”
“Then why did you say all that?”
Sasha laughed. “All what?”
“The stuff about me and Bonnie.”
“Because I’m right. You two should be together. I wanted everyone to be clear about who deserves Bonnie’s heart, and it’s not Mitch.”
Aaron shook his head. He wished he could be as sure as Sasha was. He also had no idea how he would fix all of these issues. Sasha picked up the bill, refusing to let Aaron throw in any money.
After dinner, Aaron tried texting his sister again and got the same automated response that she was driving. He called her, but it went straight to voice mail. He left a message, asking her to call. He knew she was still upset with him, but the least she could do was respond with an “I hate you” or “Leave me alone.”
Maybe the first person Aaron would tell about him and Bonnie was Lauren. If she knew they were in love like Sasha believed they were, she would finally get past this.
He was in love with Bonnie. The thought made laughter bubble out of him. He loved Bonnie. According to Sasha, she loved him back. What a wonderful world it would be if he
