Aaron was baffled that his half-brother had such a bubbly fiancée. He didn’t seem the type that would tolerate that sort of thing for more than a date or two. He was even more baffled that he and Keeley were invited over to Gray’s apartment.

Keeley had only been there once but he had been a few times during the course of the renovation. Gray had been invited (or invited himself) over to the Hales’ place a few times but had never once asked them over to his.

As Keeley made her signature marshmallow brownies, Aaron paced around the kitchen in agitation. He didn’t want to go. Socializing was exhausting enough when it was with people he actually liked.

He would much rather spend his coveted Saturday evening playing video games with Nathan, who was actually at home on the weekend for once. All of his plans had fallen through and he was a bit put out that not even his parents could hang out with him.

“I guess I’ll have to go be a part of the love fest if I want to do anything tonight,” he lamented loudly. “Noah has gotten fifty times mushier since he and Violet started dating.”

Aaron honestly couldn’t tell whether or not that was true. He had hardly seen the two of them since then because they were always at Violet’s new place. What was so wrong with a man being unafraid of showing how much he loved his woman anyway?

He supposed Nathan was still young and uninterested in relationships. Lately he had been much more invested in hanging out with large groups of friends than going on dates.

Which was perfectly fine by him. The less relationship drama in this house, the better. Kaleb hadn’t been himself while he was getting over his most recent breakup and that had been hard to see as a parent.

“If the ‘love fest’ as you call it gets too terrible to bear you can always invent an emergency so we can leave early,” Aaron suggested hopefully.

Keeley smacked his shoulder. “Be nice. Aren’t you curious about  Mandy at all?”

“Not particularly. If she makes him happy, good for him. If she keeps him too occupied to want to go out to dinner so often, good for me.”

Nathan raised an eyebrow at that statement. Oops. He had been too blunt. Violet was the only one who knew about their relation to Gray. The other kids hadn’t paid much attention to the man who had joined them on Thanksgiving because they were too preoccupied with Jeremy.

“Who is this you’re having dinner with again?” he asked.

“One of your dad’s acquaintances. He recently got engaged and is introducing us to his fiancée. You know him—he came over to our house for Thanksgiving this year,” Keeley said without looking up from the brownies she was frosting.

“Oh, right. Isn’t he a little old to be getting married?”

She shrugged. “No one is too old to get married, Nate. Some people still get married in their 80s. Love has no age.”

Not that either of them actually thought love was involved in this union at all. Curiosity was Keeley’s primary motivator to go but Aaron didn’t care. Let Gray marry someone who was only in for his money if he wanted. He was a grown man; he could take care of himself. It wasn’t any of their business.

Once the frosting was on top of the marshmallows, Keeley wrapped the disposable pan in aluminum foil and gave Nathan a kiss on the cheek on their way out, telling him to say hi to Violet and Noah for her.

He gave her a “yeah, yeah” in response but still had a tiny pleased smile cross his face from getting kissed. No matter how old you get, you always secretly love affection from your mom.

“Do I look alright?” Keeley asked.

It was a habitual question that didn’t really require an answer. Aaron always told her some variation of how beautiful she looked. Today was no different.

“If by ‘alright’ you mean ‘stunning’,” he replied.

She really did look stunning in her dark wash jeans, navy blue peacoat, and low-heeled boots. Diamond cascading drop earrings adorned her ears and her face was bare aside from some tinted lip balm.

It never ceased to amaze him how she could look good in literally anything. Dressed up, dressed down, in her pajamas with bedhead…there was no look Keeley Hale couldn’t pull off in his eyes. He especially loved seeing her all messy first thing in the morning because it was a reminder that she was his forever. Only he and their kids got to see her that way.

Keeley beamed at Aaron in response to his compliment and squeezed his hand, pulling him toward the elevator.

When they arrived at Gray’s building the doorman unlocked the elevator to the penthouse floor for them. Aaron wasn’t sure who he was expecting to be standing behind the doors—a young and hungry supermodel type, maybe? Gray was rich and handsome enough to attract a trophy wife—but it definitely wasn’t who he found.

Mandy Applegate was a pretty, if understated, woman who appeared to be in her late thirties or early forties. Her hair was in loose curls and she wore a teal sweater with jeans. The only jewelry she had on were a pair of pearl earrings and her rather simple engagement ring.

Keeley’s eyebrows rose fractionally when she laid eyes on her. She was shocked too. This woman looked way too normal to be engaged to someone like Gray, who was known for having notoriously high standards.

She greeted them with bone-crushing hugs, which was slightly alarming. “Oh, it’s so good to see you two in person! I feel like I know you already. Come on in! The food is nearly ready.”

Keeley set the brownies down on the counter as Gray walked into the living room and said hello. “You brought your famous brownies, I see. It’s been a while since I’ve had the privilege to enjoy one of those.”

He wasn’t dressed up as much as usual either. Aside from his sweater being steel gray and the fact that he wasn’t wearing any jewelry, his outfit was identical to his fiancée’s. Most of the time when Aaron saw him, he was wearing a designer suit.

Had this woman tamed the beast or what? He knew that some of his friends thought that way about him and Keeley and he had to work to hide his frown. Maybe Gray was more similar to him than he thought.

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