“OF ALL THE MANIPULATIVE, horrible, monstrous things she has done this summer, this really takes the cake.” Bonnie had spent the last half hour raging about Lauren to Mitch. They had gone back to his condo. He seemed to be the only one who understood. Maybe it was because he had lived under Lauren’s control. He knew exactly how conniving she could be.
“You’re right. I don’t understand how the rest of them don’t see it. It’s like one of those things where what people are looking for is sitting right in front of them but they don’t see it. They won’t look right in front of their faces.”
“Exactly! What else could she have done to make it more obvious? What’s Lauren’s favorite color?”
“Pink,” Mitch replied, not missing a beat.
“Who does she blame for everything that has gone wrong in her life?”
“You.”
“Me. ‘Blame Bonnie.’ That’s what she wrote on the fireplace!” She opened her eyes wide and flailed her arms around. “How much more obvious can she be?”
“It doesn’t get more obvious, if you ask me.”
She continued to pace in front of his giant eighty-inch wall-mounted television set. The television Lauren had picked out, no doubt. “And where was Lauren last night?”
“No one knows.”
“No one knows. She was in her car. Where could she have been going? I just can’t think of anywhere she might drive to. Maybe she went...to the house! I mean, how do they not see it?”
Mitch shook his head. “I don’t know. You are so right about everything. I think Aaron is too blinded by family loyalty to see it, or maybe he knows the truth, but like you said, they never hold Lauren responsible for her actions. She gets away with everything. Maybe he’s simply letting her off the hook, contributing to the cover-up.”
“If that’s true, I’m going to be so mad. I can’t accept that. I can’t go along with it. I can’t enable it. If that’s what he’s doing, then whatever we thought was going on between us is over before it even started.”
She sat on his black leather couch. The one Lauren had made him buy, because that was the controlling person she was. Bonnie was going to make sure she helped Mitch find a new home, new stuff, new everything so he didn’t have to live in a Lauren-created world anymore.
“I’m so tired.” Emotionally and physically, Bonnie was exhausted. She couldn’t think straight anymore. Maybe that was why everyone was able to believe Lauren. They were too tired to fight her lies.
“Why don’t you go lie down?” Mitch suggested. “I have a guest room. You can close your eyes for a little bit, give yourself a chance to relax.”
That sounded pretty spectacular at the moment. “Thank you. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you being here for me. And listening to my nonsense at this point.”
Mitch wouldn’t hear it. “You are not speaking nonsense. You’re the only one I’ve heard be real all day.” He showed her to the room, which had its own bathroom. She washed her face and lay down on the bed. She could sell this condo for good money. She would sell it for him and she would find him a new place to live. Maybe she would talk him into moving out of Blue Springs. Maybe it was time she moved out of Blue Springs. Her eyes grew heavy, and her thoughts slowed and quieted down.
Bonnie didn’t know how long she slept; she only knew she was awakened by raised voices in the living room. It took her a minute to realize what was going on.
“What do you think is going to happen?”
“Keep your voice down. She’s sleeping.”
“Bonnie wants nothing to do with you, and it doesn’t matter what you do or what you say, that’s not going to change.”
“Do you think you get to speak for her because you love her? She isn’t yours to control. She gets to make her own choice and have her own opinions. You Coles are all the same—you love to tell people what to do. Love to be the boss, and you pretend it’s love so that makes it okay. Well, I got away from your sister just in time, and I’ll help Bonnie see you for what you are before it’s too late as well.”
Bonnie sat up. Her heart pounded in her chest. Had Aaron said he was in love with her? Why did Mitch think that? She shook her head. That was beside the point right now. She didn’t want anyone to fight over her. She rolled out of bed and went to stop them from arguing. Aaron’s face was red, and Mitch was standing much too close. Aaron pushed Mitch, and he stumbled backward and tripped over the footstool in front of the chair in the corner. He landed hard and almost hit his head on the glass coffee table.
“Stop it!” she shouted at Aaron, going over to Mitch to help him up. “Are you okay?”
“Come on, Bonnie,” Aaron said. “I’m here to take you home.”
“I don’t need you to take me anywhere. I will go home when I’m ready to go home.”
“I know you’re upset. We need to talk about this. Me and you, without anyone else muddying the water.” He glared at Mitch.
“I’m okay, Bonnie.” Mitch winced as he tried to get up. “If you need to go, you should go. Don’t worry about me.”
He was clearly in more pain than he wanted to let on. She helped him to his feet.
“Please, Bonnie. Come with me. Your dad is waiting in the car.”
So much for not involving anyone else who might muddy the waters. Her dad had been soft on Lauren from the get-go. He was part of the problem, not the solution.
“There’s nothing to talk about. You believe your sister. I don’t. I won’t.”
“What if the evidence proves she’s innocent?”
“The cell phone tower her phone pinged off when you texted her? Easy, she could have had Theresa or Kathy driving her phone around, away from the house, so no one would know she was there.”
“Do you hear yourself right now? Do you really believe that Lauren would be that diabolical?” Aaron asked. “Do you think she planned an elaborate scheme to vandalize my house and cover it up with multiple accomplices?”
“Yes,” Mitch answered for her.
Aaron tugged at the front of his hair in frustration. “Literally no one is talking to you.”
“I agree with him,” Bonnie said in Mitch’s defense. “I think it’s more than possible.”
“Oh my gosh.” Aaron smacked his forehead with the heel of his hand. “You have turned into Lauren. You sound exactly like her. You’re doing to her what she did to you. That is so hypocritical.”
He might as well have stuck a dagger in her heart. That was what it felt like. She certainly hadn’t gotten enough sleep to be able to take that hit with grace.
“Get out!” She pointed him toward the door. “Get out and tell my dad that you two can defend Lauren until you’re blue in the face, but I am going to tell everyone and anyone that she was behind this.”
Aaron’s laugh was somewhat maniacal. “You just did it again. You’re making the same arguments and threatening the same smear campaign. Listen to yourself.”
“She told you to leave,” Mitch said, getting in between them.
“I’m going to give you a couple days to come to your senses. You are better than this, Bonnie. You don’t want to be hateful for the sake of being hateful like Lauren was.”
“Is,” she corrected him. “Your sister continues to be hateful. You’re either too blind to see it or are choosing to ignore it.”
He shook his head and left with nothing else to say. There wasn’t anything else he could say. The damage had been done. Bonnie sat on the couch and held her head in her hands as the tears threatened to fall. Mitch sat beside her and gently rubbed her back.
“I’m sorry that got so ugly,” he said softly and in such a contrast to the tone he had been using a moment ago.
“I thought he loved me.”
“Aaron isn’t a bad guy. You know that. I mean, he does some questionable things sometimes, but he’s not bad.”
She lifted her head. “What do you mean, questionable things?”
“I shouldn’t say. That’s gossiping, and I don’t want to make you any more upset than you already are.”
Now he had to tell her. “Spill it,” she demanded.
“Last night, I met Aaron and Sasha out at that new gastropub downtown. Have you heard about it? Their appetizers are really good.”
“I’ve been banned from all the local restaurants because of Lauren, so I wouldn’t know.”
“I’m sorry. I should be quiet. I’m not making things any better.”
“Tell me.” Her irritability level was at an all-time high. She didn’t mean to snap, but that was the way it came out.
“We were hanging out, and Aaron started telling us about this date he has next week.”
Their date. Had he planned to take her out as early as next week? Not getting their first date was another reason to be angry with Lauren. The list grew longer and longer with each passing minute.
“I guess he’s going to the library gala with Hilde Rutherford. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but now that I know he’s been trying to get something started with you, it seems a little sketchy.”
Hilde Rutherford? Bonnie didn’t know who that was. She’d heard of the Rutherford family, but Hilde wasn’t familiar. Aaron had never mentioned her before. Of course, he’d been distant lately. Maybe that was the reason. Maybe he was spending time with Hilde.
“I’m sure it’s nothing. It’s not like the gala is very fun. Boring music, boring food, even more boring speakers. I mean, come on, have you ever had fun at that thing?”
Bonnie had never been to the library gala. She couldn’t afford a ticket, and there was no way the Coles would have welcomed her this year. It was no wonder that Aaron had had to find a more suitable date. And if she wasn’t good enough to take to the gala, how would she ever be good enough for something more? Aaron would never choose her over his family. Today made that evident.
“I’ve never been to one.”
Mitch back straightened. “What? How have you been best friends with Lauren this many years and haven’t gone to the Cole library gala?”
She shrugged. Who cared about a stupid gala? She hoped Aaron had a great time with Hilde and that the Coles welcomed her into their cult with open arms.
“You got a nice dress at home?” he asked, pulling her out of her head. Thoughts were getting dark in there—she needed to go home and get a real nap.
“I have plenty of nice dresses, why?”
“We’re going,” Mitch said with a quirked brow.
She was too tired to follow this conversation. “We’re going where?”
“To the gala.”
She barked out a laugh. “Do you have a death wish? Mr. Cole would flip his lid if you and I walked into the gala together.”
Rubbing his hands together, he smirked like the Cheshire cat. “He absolutely would. And imagine how enraged Lauren would be.”
She would be completely beside herself. There was no telling how Aaron would react. But he’d have Hilde to keep him distracted. “What time will you pick me up?”
IT HAD BEEN almost a week since Aaron had spoken to Bonnie. She didn’t answer his calls or texts. Her dad had shared the news that Lauren’s cell phone records cleared her from being a suspect. The only person whose cell phone pinged near the house was Mary, but she seemed the least likely of Lauren’s friends to have vandalized the house unprompted. She didn’t have a solid alibi, though, so the police were taking a closer look at her.
Bonnie couldn’t care less that the evidence didn’t line up and point a finger at Lauren. She was bound and determined to prove that it was Lauren, regardless of what the facts truly were. It was worse than trying to convince Lauren that Bonnie didn’t cheat with Mitch. The two of them were more alike than either of them would admit.
“It frustrates me that whoever did this didn’t stick to spray painting the walls. Why did they have to get it on the floors and the counters?” Sasha asked as he finished sanding down the painted floorboards.
“Because if they only sprayed the walls, it wouldn’t be a pain in our butts to fix. I’m fairly sure their purpose was to make us miserable.”
“Mission accomplished,” David said from the kitchen. He’d decided they should sand down the cabinet doors that weren’t broken and repaint them.
The alarm on Aaron’s phone went off. He had to go home and clean up. He was due to pick Hilde up in two hours for the gala. His plan was to make an appearance, shake a few hands, chat up a couple major donors and get out of there. If Hilde wanted to stay longer, she could leave with her parents.
“I have to go,” he said, putting his tools away. Looking at all the work that still had to be done was depressing. They had been so close to being done, and now it felt like they were basically starting over. Such a waste of time and money. Thank goodness for insurance.
“Will we see you tomorrow?” David asked, wiping his hands on one of his work rags. “I was going to pick up the new toilets in the morning.”
“Tomorrow is Sunday. I think we need to take the day off and relax a little bit before we have to work our butts off the rest of the week,” Aaron replied.
“Whatever you say, boss,” Sasha said.
“Say a prayer for me, gentlemen. Between dealing with my mother and all the sucking up I have to do, I may not make it out alive.”
“It’s shame you have to be subjected to a party with caviar and champagne,” Sasha said. “While surrounded by the town’s rich and famous.”
“Don’t forget having to collect all those checks to help fund the library so people like you and me can read all the books we want for free,” David added. “The sacrifice is real.”
Aaron slapped his knee a couple times. “You two are a real comedy act. Hilarious. Let me know when the show is hitting the road. I’ll be sure to buy a ticket in every city.”
Sasha couldn’t stop laughing. “I’ve got the perfect joke for the opener. A biker, a carpenter and a tortured rich guy walk into a gala...”
David shook his head but still chuckled at the big man’s ridiculousness.
“Careful now, or the punch line of that joke will be, ‘...and the biker got fired,’” Aaron warned him.
Sasha’s expression immediately turned serious. “That’s not funny, boss man.”
“You would know all about things that aren’t funny.” Aaron pretended to drop a microphone. “Boom.”
“That’s because everything about you is funny. Your face, your hair, your unusually long fingers.”
Aaron glanced down at his hands. He didn’t have unusually long fingers. Did he? “You’re not worth the comeback. Have a good night,” he said as he walked out the door.
He would survive a few hours of hobnobbing, he kept telling himself as he struggled to tie his bow tie and slid his feet into shiny dress shoes that rubbed his heels and left blisters every time he wore them.
He checked his phone. No new messages. No missed calls. What was Bonnie doing? Was she really going to let Mitch fill her head full of conspiracy theories? At this point, she probably believed his father had hired someone who’d purposely made it look like Lauren did it, knowing she’d be vindicated and the case would go unsolved.
He stopped in his tracks. What if his father had done it? Or paid someone to do it? That wasn’t such a far-fetched idea. His father had been beside himself when the police were holding Lauren for questioning. He wouldn’t have expected her not to have an airtight alibi. He could have been freaking out that he set her up to take the fall.
He also wanted nothing more than for Aaron to give up house flipping and come back to the family business. His mom had been warning him all week that his dad wanted a couple minutes of his time at the gala tonight. Maybe he planned to make a big deal out of the vandalism and use it to lure Aaron back on board.
The more he thought about it, the more he was sure his dad had paid someone to destroy his house. He was the most likely suspect, hiding in plain sight. Getting him to admit it wasn’t going to be easy, but Aaron would make him confess. He’d use his pride against him, forcing him to take credit because the plan was brilliant.
HILDE RUTHERFORD WAS not a talker. In fact, they had been together for more than an hour and the woman had said approximately seven words—if he counted “mmm-hmm” as two words. Aaron had schmoozed with all the important donors but had yet to see his father. It wasn’t like him to not be front and center on this night. Maybe he was busy paying off his hired hand and getting the vandal out of town.
“Mr. Cole,” someone from behind him said just as Aaron spotted Walter Cole enter the gala.
“Can you hang on one second? I need to speak to my father about something. I’ll be right back.”
“It’s kind of an emergency,” the young man in waitstaff attire said, following him as he crossed the room to get to his dad.
“Can you handle it on your own for five more minutes while I talk to my father? Please.”
His dad held a drink in one hand and laughed at what was most likely a terrible joke.
“I’m not sure Mr. Bennett and Miss Windsor will wait that long. I sense they’re ready to make a scene.”