Run, Girl (If You Can)

Roger tactfully didn't bring up the divorce but still addressed her situation. "If you haven't been staying here, where have you been recently?"

"Oh, with Aaron and Keeley. I ran into her the day I became homeless and she offered," Alice said bluntly. "They've been very kind to me and their children are adorable but I wanted my own space as soon as possible. Friendly advice: don't ever stay with newlyweds."

His eyes widened. "Don't tell me he's worse than he was at that dinner."

She chuckled darkly. "So much worse. You have no idea what I've been through! Yesterday she fell asleep while sitting on him and he carried her upstairs when she refused to wake up. That's only the tip of the iceberg."

Roger shook his head in disbelief. "What did she do to him?!"

Alice had wondered the same thing at first. After a while it came to her; Keeley made Aaron happy. Ice was only his default because he was a terribly unhappy person. High society tended to do that to people.

She hadn't ever thought of him as an unhappy person until she saw what he was like when he actually was happy. It was eye-opening. Seeing him like that had helped her realize how unhappy she actually was too. It was why she got out almost immediately after.

A small smile appeared on Alice's face when she answered. "She makes him happy."

"That isn't an emotion I would ever equate with him but I think you're right, based on what little I've seen. Do you know how they met?"

She didn't know the exact details but she knew it happened during the latter half of her senior year of high school. Rumors had swirled around like crazy at the beginning of the third quarter and they only got worse over time.

"Not exactly, I only know it happened during our senior year of high school. One day Aaron surprised everyone by not sitting in the cafeteria with the other high society kids. Instead he sat with three completely unknown middle class students in the student lounge, including Keeley.

"Aaron wasn't in my group of friends back then so I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to him but the rumors were impossible to ignore. About a month later I saw him kiss her at the Valentine's dance and she slapped him right across the face."

Roger nearly choked on air. "She slapped him and lived?!"

Alice smiled at the memory. "He must have liked her already. A few weeks after that Aaron was spotted eating lunch with her every day for a month. Everyone in the whole school knew about it. The rumors died down slightly once they stopped hanging out but after the graduation ceremony I saw him taking pictures with her.

"To my knowledge, that was the last time they ever met. Over the years, whenever Aaron showed up at an event that required a date he appeared with a different woman on his arm every time. Everyone else thought he was a playboy but I had my suspicions that he had someone in his heart.

"Turns out my theory was right. He confirmed it for me the day he got fake engaged to get Lacy Knighton to back away, may she rest in peace. He said the person he cared about wasn't anyone I knew so my suspicions immediately jumped to Keeley, though I couldn't remember her name at the time.

"Crazy, right? That means he was in love with her for seven years before they finally got together. That takes a lot of persistence. If I had waited that long to be with someone, I would probably act the same way," she finished a bit wistfully.

Seeing Aaron and Keeley together, Alice realized that she never truly experienced what it was like being in love. She had uselessly pined after Brock because she thought she was supposed to as his longstanding fiancée and later as his wife. That wasn't real love.

"I'm done!" Marissa announced, walking back into the living room. She caught onto the heaviness in the room and frowned. "What are you guys talking about in here?"

"How obnoxiously in love with his wife my boss is," Roger piped up.

She looked at him like he had sprouted another head. "Isn't your boss Aaron Hale? The guy you said could turn a tropical island into a frozen tundra in two seconds flat?"

"That would be him."

She gave him one more odd look before brushing it off. Aaron Hale was irrelevant and she had business to discuss.

"I have a few ideas on how to fill your space. Including my consultation fee, I think I can get you everything you need for around six thousand dollars."

Alice's smile bloomed. "Really? That's wonderful! Keeley will be so proud."

"Who's Keeley?"

"That would be the aforementioned boss's wife," Roger contributed.

"Ah," Marissa said as if something had clicked into place. "Right, we have a few stores to hit. We can get the majority of the furniture in one place but we should go somewhere else for decorations and you might want to consider getting a mattress from a mattress store specifically."

"I trust your judgment," she replied easily. Anyone who dressed so tastefully and had such a nicely decorated office had to know what she was doing.

Marissa was a masterful worker. She would find two to four furniture options using the general parameters Alice set and have her pick which one she liked best. A bed, dresser, couch, entertainment center, vanity table, end table, kitchen table with four chairs, and coffee table were all picked out in around an hour.

It would have taken her hours on her own because she had no idea what she was doing. She was amazed how quickly everything was taken care of. Marissa even negotiated a deal where the store would send people to deliver and assemble everything for a few hundred dollars.

That sort of negated the whole reason Roger was there but Alice didn't mind. He was decent company and had provided more than one useful opinion about furniture choices.