Keeley didn't end up going to Ryan's birthday party even though Valentina texted her asking where she was. Instead, she went furniture shopping with Aaron and her dad. It was a bit strange how that ended up happening.

Aaron asked her to help him start redecorating over the weekend like she had promised but she was worried about her dad and wanted to spend time with him.

"Why not bring him along?" he asked. "It would probably be good for him to get out of the house."

She couldn't deny that but doubted he would want to go furniture shopping. She shot him a text anyway and was surprised when he agreed almost immediately. Sometimes Aaron could be surprisingly perceptive considering he was usually a blockhead about other people's emotions.

So that was how the three of them ended up inside a furniture store on a Sat.u.r.day afternoon.

Aaron surprised her by picking a nice but definitely not ridiculously expensive store. He explained there was no point getting super fancy stuff because of the cats. Dinah had already scratched up a few of his couch cus.h.i.+ons.

Keeley was overwhelmed by all the choices. She wasn't even sure where to start.

"…remind me what you want again?"

"Furniture to fill the empty s.p.a.ces and more art for the walls," he said simply.

There was an awful lot of empty s.p.a.ce in his house, particularly on the second floor where the entertaining was meant to happen. She couldn't see him having enough people over to need extra seats but also couldn't deny the rooms looked lonely without them.

She put her hands on her hips and looked around. Still too many options. It might be better to start with something she knew he needed.

"Let's go to the outdoor furniture section."

Robert was confused. "You have a yard in this city?"

She snorted. "He has not one, but THREE terraces. It's insane. He needs to put things up there because it's the emptiest part of the entire house."

Aaron smiled indulgently at her. "Are you still convinced I need a hammock?"

"Yes! Follow me, I'll show you how important hammocks are."

She grabbed him by the wrist and yanked him forward in her impatience, not noticing the blissful expression on his face or the knowing smile on her father's. The outdoor furniture selection was fairly limited considering most people in the city lack both backyards and terraces but there was still enough to work with.

"You need to have places to sit on all of the terraces, not just one, so you can shake it up when you feel like it. If you get tables too you can eat out there when the weather is nice!" Something occurred to her. "Oh. Have you ever had a barbecue before?"

"…no."

"That's okay, I'll teach you! You'll need a grill…oooh, what about a fire pit?"

Her eyes lit up with excitement and she bounced up and down. "You've never roasted marshmallows either, have you? You have so much to learn, young padawan."

"Nice reference," Robert said with a chuckle.

Aaron seemed confused. "What's a padawan?"

"It's a Star Wars thing."

"I watched all of those movies and I have no memory of this."

She tilted her head as she gauged his confusion. "Did you watch episodes I, II, and III or just the originals?"

"The originals."

"Ah, that explains it. The originals are better but they're alright."

Her father interjected. "No they're not; they're terrible and should not be considered a part of Star Wars canon."

Keeley rolled her eyes. He claimed to hate them and yet he still caught her reference. "Ignore him. He's a purist."

She clapped her hands together and looked around. Where were the hammocks? That was what they specifically came for. She found them tucked away in the back of the outdoor section and raced toward them.

"…is she always this excited about hammocks?" she heard Aaron ask.

"Son, she's always this excited about everything she likes."

Keeley pouted. What was wrong with being easily excitable? There was so much dreariness in the world. Finding excitement in the little things helped keep her sane.

The first hammock she tried was skinny and deep. She had a hard time getting into it and could barely even see above her because she was coc.o.o.ned in fabric. That was no fun; hammocks were meant for staring at the sky.

"Dad! A little help please!" she hollered since she was stuck and couldn't figure out how to get out without spilling herself onto the floor. He rushed over immediately and offered a hand while Aaron held the fabric still so it would stop swinging side to side.

"Thanks," she said sheepishly. "I don't recommend that one."

Keeley scanned the room. A lot of the hammocks were like that one. Why was that style so popular? The thing was a death trap!

She found what she was looking for a minute later. The hammock was wide, flat, and even had a pillow attached. It was pretty cute too with its blue, white, and green stripes.

She carefully climbed on and scooted her way to the middle so she wouldn't flip. This one was pretty nice.

"Hey Aaron, come try this one!"

He made his way over and looked at it cautiously. "How am I supposed to get on without falling off?"

"Do what I did and crawl to the middle," she instructed.

He began doing so and she momentarily panicked. Not while she was still on it! They were both going to fall off that way.

Surprisingly, though it was shaky, neither of them fell off. Keeley scooted over to make more room for him. This was a double hammock so it fit two people perfectly fine.

"Well, what do you think?" she asked as they gently rocked back and forth. "Super relaxing, right? I could do this all day."

Aaron turned his head to look at her with a soft expression. "Yeah. I could do this all day too."

Robert chose that moment to speak up. She had nearly forgotten he was watching. How embarra.s.sing!

"I would recommend holding off on that until you get it to your house. The other furniture awaits us."

Feeling embarra.s.sed, she immediately got off the hammock and unbalanced things so Aaron crashed to the floor. She squeaked out an apology that he brushed off. Acting like nothing happened, he said he would take all of her advice and went to go talk to a store clerk.