Chapter 410 - Burning A Hole In The Back Of Her Head
Thankfully Aaron's arrival ended the argument between their sons. Keeley really didn't know what to do with them sometimes. At least now they were all eager to eat.
Nathan and Oliver were talking about how excited they were to see the fire tricks, Kaleb talked to his father about basketball season, and Violet had turned to her grandpa.
"You're going to come to my recital next weekend, right?" she asked primly.
Robert gave his only granddaughter a wide smile and patted her hand. "Of course, my little flower. I wouldn't miss it for the world."
Violet gave him a pleased smile. "I got a lot better with my pointe shoes. They don't hurt as much anymore either."
"That's good to hear."
Keeley watched them continue to chat with a satisfied look on her face. Her father's life had become much more fulfilling since she had the twins and it only got better over time when there were more children to love.
He wasn't the same miserable man mourning the loss of his wife and son that he had been around the time Keeley first moved in with Aaron. He still refused to date but at least he wasn't as lonely anymore.
The kids slept over at his house all the time. Robert almost always joined them on weekend outings and real vacations. He never missed a concert, recital, sports game, or robotics competition.
Every year Aaron got him a season ticket to Yankee Stadium and he frequently took the kids along with him so their parents could go out by themselves. He had helped fostered Kaleb's great love of all things baseball, even going so far as coaching his little league team two years in a row.
All of the kids loved him, as Keeley had expected. Robert Hall was a great father. It only made sense that he would be a great grandpa as well.
He didn't have a lot of money to spoil the kids with but he always gave them his time, attention, and interest. That was what mattered. They didn't need any more toys anyway. Aaron more than had that covered.
"Grandpa, do you want to come trick or treating with us?" Nathan asked out of the blue.
Halloween was three days away. Even though Violet and Kaleb thought they were too old for trick or treating, Keeley still insisted they dress up for pictures.
When it was just the twins, they did some sort of themed family costume every year. That got harder to do as more kids were added on. At the very least she still wanted pictures of everyone together.
Neither of the twins were into it so they decided to be as unoriginal as possible. Violet was being a ballerina and Kaleb was going to wear his favorite Yankee player's jersey, baseball pants, and cleats with an imitation Yankees helmet.
Keeley could live with that as long as they actually participated in the pictures like they said they would. She and Aaron had already decided to be vampires. Oliver was going to be Chewbacca and Nathan had a dinosaur costume from a popular children's show.
"Sure, I can come trick or treating with you. Are you doing it in your building again this year?" Robert asked.
"Yeah, the older kids wanted to watch scary movies in our TV room. Most of our friends are coming too since our building supposedly has better candy than theirs," Keeley replied with a shrug.
"That's because rich people give out those huge candy bars," Kaleb said wisely. "The last time I went trick or treating I didn't finish my stash until June."
"I finished it before Christmas last year," Oliver groaned.
Not only did he get a terrible stomachache, he ended up getting three cavities. Neither he nor his mother had been terribly happy about that. This year they had already mutually agreed that she would hold onto his candy until he wanted some so it wouldn't happen again.
"Someone got his father's sweet tooth," Robert said with a laugh.
He had only ever seen Aaron around Keeley's baking and knew how many cookies and other goodies he ate around holidays. He really didn't have all that much of a sweet tooth though. If somebody offered him something, like cake at a party, he would eat it but he didn't seek sweets on his own.
The problem with Keeley's baking was that Aaron loved consuming anything she made for him. If somebody else offered him homemade cookies, he would turn them down in a heartbeat.
Keeley decided to keep quiet about this. The kids were under the impression Aaron loved sweets too because of how much he loved their mother's baking. There was no point destroying the illusion and letting them know how sappy he really was. They thought he was pretty sappy already.
When the chef came out and began frying the food up right in front of them, Nathan's and Oliver's eyes went as wide as saucers. They loved this part. Violet and Kaleb were more used to it after coming here so many times and weren't nearly as enthralled.
The food was delicious but Keeley felt oddly like someone was burning a hole into the back of her head with their eyes. When she instinctively turned around to check she nearly jumped out of her seat. Was that Ryan?
It totally looked like Ryan, with more wrinkles and a seriously receding hairline. And if he was staring at her…did he recognize her?
But she hadn't seen him since the twins were babies! Honestly, she thought he moved away. What would he be doing in this restaurant at the exact time she happened to be there?
She quickly excused herself to use the bathroom so she could get a better look. That was definitely Ryan. He had a woman with him who was probably in her late thirties and a girl roughly Oliver's age.
Did he have a family now? Then why was he staring at her? Was he in shock running into her after so long?
"What's wrong, Mom? You look a little weird," Nathan noted when she came back.
"Nothing," she said quickly with a bright smile. "Maybe I ate too much."
The last thing Keeley wanted was to ruin the dinner by Aaron noticing who had been staring. He had always hated Ryan and this was supposed to be a celebration. She couldn't let this kill the mood.