Jeremy's curiosity burned watching Aaron work after Violet left. He acted as if he hadn't just displayed a completely different personality. But eventually he caught onto his assistant's staring.
"What is it?" he barked.
"You're very different around your daughter," Jeremy said honestly.
Aaron sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I get that a lot. The first time Roger and Kyle met my wife they nearly had heart attacks. Cameron and Aiden weren't quite that bad but they used to give me such a hard time about her."
So it originated with his wife, huh? It made a strange sort of sense. But Jeremy had to wonder what sort of spell Keeley Hale had cast on her husband.
He had only met the woman once in his six years of working at Hale Investments. She was running late on the way to pick up her youngest child from school and needed to drop off an important doc.u.ment Aaron left at home.
Their encounter lasted all of two minutes. When he asked why she couldn't give it to Aaron directly (she had asked for Jeremy by name for some reason), she laughed and said that would make her even more late.
Aaron had been in a bad mood after that but Jeremy never made the correlation. She would have been even later because her husband wouldn't have let her go so quickly. Or so he assumed now.
Based on his reaction seeing his daughter, Aaron Hale loved deeply. Jeremy wondered what exactly could bewitch the coldest person he had ever met into falling in love.
Keeley Hale was a brilliant scientist but his impression from meeting her in person was very brief. She was pretty enough for an older lady but that was about all he could see. Was Aaron into brains over beauty or what?
"Why would they do that?" Jeremy dared to ask.
Aaron scowled. "Because they thought someone as scary as me shouldn't be in love with someone normal. But everyone falls in love at some point. Even people like us."
Jeremy noticed how he worded that. People like us. Single-minded workaholics then. That was all he had in common with his boss.
He might be indifferent to most people but he wasn't cold. On the surface he was perfectly friendly. A lot of people liked him but he usually didn't genuinely like them back. They were merely a means to an end, like his study buddies back at Yale.
Jeremy couldn't imagine falling in love, since he had seen how it ruined his mother's life. But he supposed if someone came along who wouldn't hinder his dreams he might consider a relationship. Someone intelligent and easy to talk to.
"When did you?" he blurted, immediately biting his lip afterwards. Ah, he wished he could take that back!
But Aaron didn't seem to mind the question. In fact, a nostalgic smile appeared on his face. What kind of crazy magical power did Keeley Hale have?! Jeremy wanted to meet her again so he could re-evaluate his first impression and try to figure it out.
"A very, very long time ago. We were seventeen."
Seventeen?! One of the most ruthless and powerful businessmen in the western world had been in love with the same woman since he was seventeen?! How on earth could you still hold such strong feelings for someone after so long?
Jeremy's parents didn't even seem happy on the rare occasions they were together. They had fallen out of love but weren't willing to do anything about it. Probably because his dad didn't want to pay alimony.
Since Aaron was in a good mood, he decided to probe further. "How did you meet?"
"Her maiden name was Hall. We were seated next to each other alphabetically in literature class. She was surprisingly friendly considering the rest of the students there were terrified of me," he said matter-of-factly.
So he had already developed his powerful presence even back then? That was impressive. But was friendliness really enough to merit a lifetime of devotion? There had to be more to the story than that.
Jeremy was afraid to ask anything else though in case he stepped on his boss's toes. He would figure out the mystery of Keeley Hale eventually. Right now he was more curious about her daughter.
"She's a very friendly person," Aaron continued, unasked. "Our son Kaleb takes after her. Nathan too, I suppose. Oliver and Violet are a bit more selective about who they hang out with."
He recalled that Aaron mentioned something about her favorite person being back in town in front of the elevator. She must be the type who tends to stick with one best friend rather than have a bunch of acquaintances. Not that there was anything wrong with that.
Jeremy tended to be more in the camp of having lots of meaningless acquaintances but he could respect the desire to be close to someone. Women tended to be closer to their girlfriends than men were with their guy friends anyway.
He had never experienced such a desire for himself but he couldn't deny he felt strangely drawn to this contradictory woman. Would Aaron murder him if he tried to get to know his daughter better?
"Violet is a lot like you," he ended up saying. He couldn't think of another response to his boss's words.
"Yes, in a lot of ways," Aaron replied. "But she's far more passionate than I could ever hope to be. And she has her mother's smile."
With that, Jeremy could almost understand the older man's love for the same woman spanning decades. If Keeley smiled at him all the time in the same way Violet had smiled earlier…
"Passionate how?"
His boss twirled a pen between his fingers as he responded. "You would have to see her dance to understand that."
Seeing her dance, huh? Jeremy was definitely interested in doing that if it would help him understand Violet better. He would need to look into the next show the New York City Ballet was putting on.
He discreetly looked it up on his phone and was dismayed to discover it wouldn't be for weeks. For some reason, he didn't want to wait that long before seeing her again.