Run, Girl (If You Can)

Once Aaron was out of earshot, her father decided to tease her. "You two seem awfully close these days. I was surprised when you invited me to go furniture shopping with him."

Keeley's embarrassment increased. He still didn't know he was the friend she was staying with.

"I owed him a favor for helping me move. He had been talking about wanting new furniture for a while but doesn't trust his own taste. His place is pretty minimalist."

"It seems like you're over there fairly often to know which pieces of furniture to get," Robert said shrewdly.

She waved it off as best she could.

"It's easier to hang out at his place because he doesn't have roommates. He's let me use his TV room a few times, it's amazing! The TV covers half of the wall and the couch is the biggest I've ever seen. Three people could lie down on it side by side and still not touch."

He smiled and ruffled her hair. "Well I'm glad you're getting along. I think he needs someone like you in his life."

Keeley was confused. "Someone like me?"

"Someone warm."

As Aaron walked back over to them, she recalled a conversation they had a couple of weeks ago where he said she brought warmth into his cold world. Looking at the relaxed air he gave off now she could see it. Even icebergs needed to experience feeling warm.

Keeley never realized how much of an impact she had on him until that moment. It was a bit overwhelming and she almost wanted to cry but held herself back.

'Stupid. That's a dumb thing to get emotional about,' she chided herself internally.

They headed back to the inner part of the store and spent the better part of 45 minutes testing out couches, recliners, and love seats. Keeley tried to stick to black or gray to match his color scheme and rationalized that the art could be the pop of color in the rooms.

You wouldn't think testing couches would be exhausting but if she had to sit down and get back up one more time she might just pass out.

"I think that's enough for you," Aaron said as he noticed her get a bit lightheaded when she stood up, reaching out to steady her. "We can pick out art another day. Let's pay for what we've already picked and set up a time for it to be delivered. I'm going to treat you both to dinner."

"Are you sure?" Robert asked hesitantly. He wasn't used to other people paying for his food.

"Just accept it Dad, he doesn't know how to take no for an answer. I can't tell you how much food he's brought me over the past year," Keeley said as she rolled her eyes.

"Is that why you gave him a mug that says '#1 Errand Boy' on it for Christmas?"

Aaron nodded and answered seriously. "It's my most prized possession."

She giggled. The tone didn't exactly match the words, making his statement even funnier.

Robert shook his head and smiled at them. Those two were too cute. They needed to just get together already. He noticed his daughter lit up around Aaron in a way she didn't around anyone else since he came over for Christmas Eve.

After checking out and setting up a delivery time for the following day, they went to that Japanese steakhouse Keeley and her father liked. Since Robert hadn't been here in this life, he was amazed by what the chef could do over an open fire.

She watched his enjoyment with a relieved smile on her face. He obviously needed to get out and do something fun today. Who would have thought that would happen in the form of furniture shopping? She owed Aaron one for thinking of inviting him out.

Glancing over at him as he deftly used his chopsticks (the Halls both had to use forks) she thought about how much he had changed. The Aaron she had married and the Aaron currently eating egg rolls acted very differently.

He had become much more considerate, funny, and dare she say, normal. He wasn't the almighty existence he had been before but she liked it better that way. It made him more human.

He had actually become the kind of person Keeley 2.0 liked spending time with. It didn't feel like a chore or like she was indulging him anymore. She was actually kind of enjoying herself.

Sitting around a table, laughing and eating good food with her father and Aaron…this was the kind of life she used to wish for. Now she wasn't sure how to feel about it so she tried focusing on enjoying the moment without comparing it to the past.

She got up to go to the bathroom at one point and on her way back accidentally knocked shoulders with a very tall, devastatingly handsome man she had never seen before who somehow seemed oddly familiar.

"Sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Don't worry about it," the man said with a smile. "I'm at fault too."              

Keeley forgot all about the encounter once she got back to her table, not knowing that the man was still looking at her from his own table like she was a rather intriguing puzzle.

The food was delicious and when the meal was winding down, she noticed a glob of something green that remained on everyone's plates. "Nobody wanted their wasabi?"

Aaron shook his head. "I'd rather live, thanks."

"I don't even know what wasabi is," her father admitted.

Her eyes sparkled with mischief. She had tasted it once before many years ago and it hadn't affected her at all. She was going to freak Aaron out by eating a bunch of it at once and not reacting.

She stabbed the green ball on her plate with a fork and shoved it into her mouth whole right as Aaron cried out, "Keeley, don't—!"

The inside of her mouth burned slightly but it really wasn't so bad. She smiled serenely and decided to play dumb. "Don't what?"

He gaped at her like she was an alien. "…you just ate an entire ball of wasabi and didn't feel anything? This stuff has to be defective. There's no way."

She didn't even have time to warn him before he stubbornly ate his entire ball of wasabi as well and practically choked to death as tears streamed from his eyes. Panicked, she thumped him on the back a couple of times.

"Are you okay?!"

"You're insane," he coughed. "How did you even do that?"

Robert chuckled at both of them before trying a tiny piece of the wasabi to see what the fuss was all about. He didn't react either. All he had to say was that it was an interesting flavor.

"Both of you are superhuman," Aaron wheezed. The Halls exchanged a glance with each other before bursting out laughing at his expense.