Chapter 136 - Facebook Friends
Another boring board meeting had come and gone and the stockholders were slowly filing out of the conference room. The one highlight about this particular meeting was that Aaron's proposal to expand to Monaco had been approved with a majority vote of 9-2.
Aaron and his dummy shareholders obviously approved the plan but there were only five of them. To his surprise, everyone but his father and Samuel were in favor. It was a profitable plan; he was fairly certain Alistair only shot it down to spite him.
He knew he couldn't control his son and was bitter about it. Aaron went to events that were declared absolutely vital but other than that, didn't do a thing his father wanted.
He bought his own apartment and hired his own staff the moment he graduated from college and made no secret that he was distancing himself from his parents. A controlling man like Alistair Hale wouldn't be pleased by that.
The biggest spot of contention between father and son at the moment was the subject of Aaron's marriage. He had turned down every possible candidate because he was waiting for Keeley to fall back in love with him but his father didn't know that; he simply thought Aaron was being obstinate.
"Aaron," Alice called after him as he was exiting the boardroom.
"Yes?"
"Good job on your proposal," she said with a wink. She had noticed the cold fury emanating from the CEO when Aaron's plan got approved so wholeheartedly.
He understood her meaning perfectly but had to make innocent small talk while the other board members were in earshot. "Thanks. Have any nice plans for Christmas?"
"The Kellys are all going skiing in an exclusive lodge in Vail for the holidays. What about you?"
"I'm attending the von Dynes party on Christmas Day."
If he was really lucky, he would be able to spend Christmas Eve with Keeley. His parents weren't requiring anything of him that day and he knew she had allowed friends to spend holidays with her before. Robert liking him might work in his favor here.
"Oh yes, I've been to one of their parties before. Should be quite entertaining." He couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not.
Alice was a strange one; she knew what was expected of her and performed to a T but he could never tell how she really felt about anything. She always had a professional hostess smile on her face but he was fairly certain she wasn't happy in her marriage.
Just like Keeley hadn't been.
The similarities pained him but there was nothing he could do for his colleague. Brock Kelly actually was a philandering scumbag who didn't care about his wife; Aaron had only pretended to keep Keeley safe.
If she ever decided she'd had enough and divorced him, Aaron would help her find a good lawyer that wasn't affiliated with the Kellys' empire in the legal world. It was the least he could do for all the help she had given him as a member of the board.
She walked away and he subtly nodded at Cameron so he would go to his office instead of back to the analyst department once everyone else left.
Roger and Kyle went back to their desks like nothing had happened; their roles weren't as complex as Cameron's or Aiden's. Of all his tools in the company they did the least. All they had to do was hold onto his shares and vote with him at board meetings. Other than that, they acted as regular employees of Hale Investments.
Fifteen minutes after the meeting, Aaron was looking through reports when Cameron walked in.
"What's up?"
"What did you get Jennica for Christmas?"
His brow furrowed in confusion. "You called me all the way here for that?"
"Answer the question, Cameron."
"Alright, alright. I got her some original cast musical soundtracks she didn't already have and a charm bracelet."
Aaron drummed his fingers on the desk. Keeley wouldn't like those things. He shouldn't have put off shopping this long. She liked things that were meaningful but he couldn't think of anything that fit that description.
Cameron caught onto his boss' meaning. They hadn't been working together this long for nothing. "Find something that caters to her interests; it doesn't have to be big. I'll check what she's been liking lately on Facebook."
His fingers froze mid-tap. "You're friends with her on there?"
"Yeah, she added me a while back. Pretty sure she just wanted to make sure my profile was clean for Jennica's sake; my sister does the same thing with all the people we've dated."
He didn't care what the reason was. Why was Keeley friends with Cameron, who she hardly interacted with, but not him? Unacceptable.
The last time he tried adding her was when she was still hostile to him. There shouldn't be a problem this time. He sent the request with a certain degree of confidence. It was accepted almost instantly; she must have been online.
Aaron felt undeniably smug. Take that, Cameron! He was friends with her now too.
"Is there anything else you need me for or can I get back to work?"
"You can go."
He scrolled through her posts and noticed something potentially helpful. She complained about how she dropped her phone and the screen cracked so badly she could hardly see a thing that was being displayed but couldn't afford to have it fixed. The post was dated three days ago.
If he remembered correctly, she had one of the oldest iPhones on the market that had been a free upgrade from the dinky little slide phone she had before. That model had hardly any storage space.
Why not just get her the newest one with a fun phone case? Her current case was of R2D2 from Star Wars. He could find another Star Wars case easily enough.
Perfect. Useful but with an element of fun.
Aaron spent nearly thirty minutes debating which one to get—the words 'Star Wars iPhone case' yielded an insane amount of results—before settling on the one he thought she might like most. It was whimsical, consisting of a black floral background and elements from the movies such as lightsabers, the Millenium Falcon, and a Stormtrooper helmet mixed in.
He couldn't wait to see her reaction.