Graydon certainly hadn't expected to run into the two people he was interested in most when he was out to dinner with one of his many lady friends. He did a noticeable double take when he saw them walk into the restaurant with a middle-aged man.
His date was so concerned that she asked him if anything was wrong. He had to compose himself quickly and put on his usual debonair smile.
"Nothing at all, my dear. Shall we order?"
But after that Graydon's eyes remained on the little group sitting a few tables over instead of his date. He hadn't even heard of Keeley Hall before this week and now he was seeing her with Aaron in the flesh.
Lacy Knighton would be furious. It was better not to tell her and simply observe for himself.
The way the three of them easily conversed with each other it was obvious they had all spent time together before. Was Aaron cheating on his fiancée? Or had the fiancée been fake all along like he suspected?
When Graydon saw Keeley head towards the bathroom, he knew he had to time it perfectly to make his plan work. He was going to bump into her on purpose and see what kind of person she was. You could tell a lot about someone based on how they treated perfect strangers.
After he bumped into her she looked up in surprise and smiled sheepishly as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going."
So she was a nice one, eh? Taking responsibility when it wasn't even her fault. Only the kindest of people did that.
He put on a charming smile. "Don't worry about it. I'm at fault too."
She seemed relieved and hurried back to her table where she happily chowed down on her food. Noticing the happy, relaxed expression on the usually reticent Aaron's face, Graydon couldn't help but wonder what spell this girl had cast on him.
She was absolutely normal in every way but he had to admit she was a much better match for him than that witch Lacy. He actually seemed to enjoy her company. That was how relationships were supposed to work.
No, he couldn't get ahead of himself. He didn't know if they even had a relationship. They might simply be old friends.
Regardless of their relationship, it was painfully clear that Aaron valued this girl which made Graydon value her as well. Anyone connected to Aaron could potentially be useful to him.
A few minutes later, Aaron began choking on something and Keeley was the one to frantically put her hand on his back and check if he was okay. The mystery deepened. What exactly was going on between those two? And how did Bethany Carlisle factor in?
She wasn't on social media but Graydon knew a thing or two about hacking. He could probably find more information on her, particularly about her relationship with Aaron, if he dug deep enough. He wanted to know which of his theories was correct.
'I sincerely hope you aren't a cheater, Aaron,' he thought with a tinge of dismay. 'Because then I would have to destroy you too.'
===
They dropped Robert off with his leftovers after Aaron recovered sufficiently from his wasabi attack so he could signal the waiter for the check. Keeley gave her dad a big kiss on the cheek as she waved him off and sighed happily as she leaned back against her seat.
She looked toward the driver's side with a grateful smile. "Thanks for suggesting we bring him along. I think he really needed this today."
"No problem. I've always liked your dad."
Always? He had been too busy with work to visit with her after they got married but she supposed he had seemed happy enough hanging out at her place in high school. He really was such a softy under that emotionless exterior.
Keeley sighed and brought up a difficult question she'd been wondering about because of her dad lately. "How did you do it? How did you keep going for so long once I was gone?"
He turned to face her as they pulled up to a stoplight. "Is this because of your dad?"
She couldn't hide anything from him anymore. He saw through her too easily. "Yes."
Aaron sighed and flexed his hands on the steering wheel before answering.
"For the first few years I was fueled by revenge. After that I drifted along aimlessly for years, barely managing to distract myself with work, until I met someone who needed me. His name was Jeremy and I think you would have found him interesting. He reminded me of myself when I was younger."
She couldn't deny she was a bit curious about how his life played out after she was gone. "Who was he?"
"My protégé. I eventually left Hale Investments and all of my other assets to him. I didn't have anybody else to leave them to."
Right. Without an heir he would have had to leave the company to someone else eventually. She assumed he wouldn't have found someone to replace him and left the board in chaos since he didn't typically get close to people back then.
"Is he…alive right now?"
Aaron chuckled slightly. "Yes, but he's also only a year old. I was actually thinking about him the other day, wondering if he'll still come work for me eventually."
It must be so strange having so much knowledge of the future. Keeley was only six years behind the end of her original timeline now and it was weird enough that certain shows, songs, and movies hadn't come out yet.
He lived nearly twice as long as she had in their first life. What sorts of things did he remember? How much had the world changed in those twenty-seven years?
He wasn't the type to pay attention to pop culture so she couldn't even ask him how the newer Star Wars trilogy ended. She had died about six months before the final film was set to be released. Now she had to wait another six years to know the ending.
Annoying. All that foreknowledge and she couldn't even ask him anything useful!