Keeley steeled herself by taking a deep breath as she stood in front of Aaron"s gigantic luxurious apartment complex. Once she went in, there would be no going back.
Unfortunately, she couldn"t doorbell ditch him either since she didn"t have the elevator key. Her plan was to go in, pet the cat for a few minutes, and leave by claiming she had homework to do (which was actually true).
She stepped into the grand lobby and approached the doorman at the desk. "Hi, I"m here to see Aaron Hale? He lives in the penthouse."
The doorman seemed to recognize her from the three times she had been there before but remained professional. "Your name, miss?"
"Keeley Hall."
He excused himself to the back room, no doubt to call Aaron and buzz her in, and returned less than a minute later.
"Right this way, Miss Hall."
The doorman turned the elevator key for her before stepping out and wis.h.i.+ng her a nice day.
She gripped the pan of brownies tightly as she pa.s.sed floor after floor. She wasn"t ready to be back in his lair.
The elevator doors opened with a ding and…no one was there. It opened straight into his apartment—hence the need for a key—but there was no indication anyone was home.
This could be a good thing. All she had to do was sneak the brownies into the kitchen upstairs and sneak back out with no one the wiser!
Keeley crept up the stairs quiet as a mouse, praying he wouldn"t spot her. Her prayer wasn"t answered. Aaron was sitting at the kitchen table waiting for her.
"Hi Aaron," she said with a resigned smile on her face. "I have your brownies so we"re even now."
He peeled back the foil on top and a pleased expression crossed his face. "They look delicious, thank you. Sit down, I"ll serve them up. Would you like some milk?"
"Uh, sure." Someone was feeling awfully solicitous today.
Dinah trotted into the room and jumped up onto the table to sniff Keeley"s hand before headb.u.t.ting against it. Molly did this too.
"Hey pretty girl," Keeley greeted before lowering her voice to a whisper. "Is this human glacier taking care of you properly?"
She responded by yawning and flopping down on the table to take a nap. At least she seemed like a happy, well-adjusted cat. Her opinion of Aaron rose fractionally. He may have been a rotten husband but he was a good cat owner. That counted for something.
Aaron made two trips to bring over two gla.s.ses of milk, plates, and a spatula to serve the brownies with. He cut out a brownie for each of them before sitting down next to her.
"Thanks."
"You"re welcome."
After eating about half of his treat, he looked up at her and asked quite formally, "Did you have a nice Halloween?"
She"d had worse.
"It was okay. Did you end up watching A Nightmare on Elm Street?"
It was the movie she suggested when he asked. They had watched it together on their first Halloween as a couple and she had nightmares for a week, eventually begging him to stay the night so she wouldn"t have to wake up alone and he actually did. It was one of her better memories of him.
He nodded but didn"t speak because his mouth was full of brownie.
"It was an interesting concept," he said once he chased it down with some milk. "The blurred lines between dream and reality."
He sounded like he was talking about any old film rather than one of the scariest movies in the American horror genre. Did anything scare this guy?
"Did it scare you at all?"
"No. Real life is much scarier than the movies."
What a cryptic statement. Her curiosity won out over the desire not to prolong the conversation. "How so?"
"Movies are meant to be unrealistic. People know that those things won"t actually happen to them deep down and watch for the entertainment value. In real life, you have to deal with the unpredictability of human nature. Humanity is inherently selfish and selfishness can lead to disaster."
Sadness briefly clouded his ever-present neutral expression as he spoke. She wasn"t sure whether or not she imagined it.
It was a rather pessimistic outlook on life. Had Aaron always been this much of a downer? No, he was much more neutral about things before. What had changed?
"Not everyone is like that."
A soft smile appeared on his face, startling her. "I know. You"re not."
Keeley"s heart stopped. Did he just say what she thought he said? An actual, genuine compliment accompanied by a real smile?
Suddenly she felt extremely guilty for wanting nothing more than to escape his presence when he looked so genuinely happy having her here. This wasn"t like her Aaron at all. Maybe she had been unfair to this version by holding onto things he didn"t even do.
"I"m not as good as you think," she mumbled with downcast eyes.
"Be nice. You"re the best person I know."
She looked up at him in disbelief. How could he exaggerate that much?! She was always mean to him!
"…have you forgotten that I"ve never hidden my dislike for you?"
His cold, dark eyes glinted with an emotion than may have been amus.e.m.e.nt.
"No. But at least you"re honest. That"s more than can be said for the majority of the people I know. You don"t suck up to me or hide your true intentions. It"s refres.h.i.+ng."
The waves of confusion cras.h.i.+ng over Keeley threatened to drown her. He seemed to be perfectly serious; he meant what he was saying. Was this why he bothered with her in the first place? Because she was candid?
It was different than she thought. All this time she believed that he was messing with her for daring to defy him and was trying to get her to bend to his will. It turned out that he only wanted to interact with someone who could be genuine with him. What a novel concept.
Aaron, like other human beings, wanted a real connection with someone. He went about it in the worst way possible but his intentions weren"t terrible. This changed her perception of him quite a bit.
Had this been the reason her Aaron initially liked her as well? A lump formed in her throat. Even if it was, it wasn"t enough to make him truly care about her. This Aaron would lose interest too, just like she wanted.
"You"re weird. n.o.body else would find someone being mean to them refres.h.i.+ng." She pulled a face to hide her true feelings his statement invoked.
"I never claimed that I wasn"t weird," he said lightly before finis.h.i.+ng his brownie.