“Now, I want you both to be happy, and I think you’ll be happiest together.”
She couldn’t agree more. As soon as her dad left, Bonnie fell into Aaron’s arms.
“Alone at last,” she said.
He pressed his cheek against the top of her head. “It’s funny you say that, because I was just thinking about how nice it is that we don’t ever have to be alone again because we have each other.”
His words melted her heart. “I love that.”
“I love you.”
She pulled back and looked up at him. “I love you, too.”
He bent down and kissed her in a way that made her feel that tingle all the way in her toes. She felt so safe in his arms. For the first time in a long time, she didn’t worry about what the next day would bring. She wasn’t afraid of what someone was going to think about her. There was such a feeling of contentment deep in her soul that assured her everything was going to be all right.
“I don’t know about you, but I am starving,” Aaron said as they swayed back and forth in a tiny circle even though there was no music.
“I could eat.”
“Please tell me you have some marshmallows at your house, because I am craving some PBM sandwiches.”
“I do not,” Bonnie said. “But I am no longer banished from the town market. I can go in there and buy whatever I want. No one will stop me. Is it wrong that part of me wants to go into every place that refused me service and be like, ‘Whose money aren’t you getting now? Mine!’ The other part of me wants an apple danish from The Bean right now.”
“I think we should give people a second chance. Everyone except Tim over at Tim’s Taqueria. I don’t want his tacos, and his margaritas aren’t that good. The day we went there was his second chance, so too bad, Tim.”
Bonnie giggled into his chest and waved her hand. “See ya, Tim.”
Outside the skies were getting dark. The shadows began to grow longer in the house, and the world seemed just a bit quieter. Aaron took her hand and spun her around and pulled her close.
“You know, had Lauren and Mitch got married, we would have been dance partners that night at the reception,” Aaron said.
“That’s true. We missed out on our first dance because of those two.”
“I hope we dance a lot. I could see us dancing right here twenty years from now. We’ll have four kids.”
“Four? I am an only child. I wouldn’t know what to do with four children.”
“Fine, three.”
“Two.”
“I read somewhere that the average couple has two and a half. Let’s split the difference,” he joked.
“You think we should have a half of a kid?”
“Maybe we share him with another family. We get him Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and every other Saturday.”
“I think that could work.”
“You think so?” Bonnie nodded her head. “Yeah?” She shook it. “No?”
“No, I don’t think that will work,” she said through the giggles. If the rest of her life was this lighthearted and silly, she’d be a happy girl.
“Me, either. Let’s stick with two or three. We round up or round down depending on how we feel after we have two. Two can be draining, especially when the second child is like Lauren.”
Bonnie stopped. “Promise me our children will only be like Good Lauren.”
Tipping his head a little, Aaron replied, “I’m not sure we get to decide their personalities. I feel like that’s determined before we get our hands on them. But if we get a firecracker like Lauren, we will teach her to be kind and patient, like her mama.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“I don’t think I can sell this house,” Aaron said. “We just decided how many kids we’re going to have here, and I’ve imagined dancing with you when I’m old and you’re gray.”
She smacked him lightly on the arm. “I am not going to go gray. I’m blonde—I’ll stay blonde.”
“Fine, I’m going to get old and gray and you will stay young and forever blonde, but I want to do it here. We put so much work into it, and you picked out all your favorite things.”
Bonnie shook her head. “This house is very nice and it has a lot of things I like in it, but this is not our home. Trust me, when we find our house, we’ll both know it.”
“Are you sure? I mean, your dad had three near-death experiences in this house. That gives it character, right?”
“Rule number one when flipping a house—don’t get too attached,” she reminded him. “Don’t break the rules on the first flip.”
He resumed their dancing. “You’re right. Good thing I’ve got you here to keep me on the right house-flipping path.”
“Always.”
THE OPEN HOUSE was set to begin at noon, but Aaron was there a little early. He’d walked around the outside of the house four times. The landscaping looked good.
“Everything looks amazing,” Bonnie assured him when he came inside and couldn’t stop pacing. “Don’t worry.”
That was easy for her to say. She had been there all morning setting up vases of fresh flowers, organizing her materials, dusting everything for the third time. Her nerves had already been worked out.
“This is my big day. This is my house-flipping final exam. Whatever grade I get here will determine my final grade in the class.”
Bonnie slipped her arms around the back of his neck. “If I was handing out grades, I would give you an A.”
Panic shot through him. “Not an A-plus? What’s wrong with it? Is something not right? I can have your dad over here in a couple minutes to fix whatever made you say A instead of A-plus.”
Bonnie put both hands on his cheeks. “Aaron. Relax. I didn’t realize your grading scale allowed for pluses and minuses. This place is an A-plus. Someone is going to buy it and give you enough money to do it all over again with a new house.
