Keeley ended up splas.h.i.+ng around in the water and tried boogeyboarding with her sons. Violet did it exactly once before giving up because she biffed it and got water up her nose. Aaron, surprisingly, was the best out of everyone at it.

"Wow, Dad! Show me how you did that!" Oliver said excitedly after Aaron managed to ride a wave all the way to sh.o.r.e.

"Honestly, I'm not sure how I did it but I can give it another shot," he replied with a shrug.

It definitely wasn't a fluke because he managed to do it four more times in a row. After that all three of the boys looked at him with something akin to awe. They begged him to help them go all the way too.

At that point Keeley rejoined her daughter on the sand. She was sipping an alcohol-free pina colada and was back to her book.

"I've only ever seen you read mystery novels," Violet said after a while. "Do you not like romance?"

She nearly snorted. She hadn't touched a romance novel since was she originally eighteen years old. First it was because she didn't have time and then because she was too disappointed in how her own love had turned out.

Even after her love life was flowing smoothly following her remarriage and re-falling in love with Aaron she still couldn't stomach them. They were so unrealistic and gave people unfair hopes. Real love didn't work like it did in novels.

A wry half-smile appeared on her face. "I had my heart broken a long time ago. That kind of turned me off from romance novels and chick flicks forever."

Violet appeared intrigued. Her mother had never talked about any previous boyfriends before. "Who was it?"

Well that was one question she couldn't answer honestly. She wasn't about to ruin her daughter's opinion of her father.

"A boy I met in high school. He had a rough home life and didn't know how to be in a relations.h.i.+p so in the end it didn't work out. I was bitter about it for a long time. That was probably way it took your dad a while to win me over," Keeley said with a touch of irony.

It took him so long to win her over because she wasn't sure she could trust him again. After that it was fear about Lacy Knighton and Alistair Hale that kept her heart closed off even once he was her best friend again. It took the woman getting murdered for Keeley to realize what she should have months before: that she was still hopelessly in love with her husband.

"I had no idea it took Dad time to win your heart. You guys are so perfect together I figured it must have always been that way," Violet said before taking another slurp from her straw.

Keeley shook her head, feeling a bit sheepish.

"No, it took us a while. I met him during the last half of my senior year of high school and wasn't open to love at all because of what happened before. We were apart for five and a half years before meeting up again. Even then he still had to work pretty hard to convince me to give him a chance."

Violet laughed. "Someone should make a romance novel out of your love story. I bet people would eat it up."

Ah, if only she knew. There was already a telenovela about it. But n.o.body knew that except for her. It was a secret she managed to keep from Aaron somehow after all these years. She didn't see the point in bringing it up and hurting his feelings unnecessarily.

"People do tend to like a persistent male lead, don't they?" Keeley asked lightly. "Your father is probably the most patient person I've ever met. He wanted only me and did everything imaginable to make that happen."

"I wish someone would love me that much." Her daughter sighed dreamily before continuing.

"The book I'm reading is kind of like that too. The characters were apart for more than ten years because she accidentally gave him the wrong phone number. It was one digit off. But he never stopped loving her and ended up finding her again as she was engaged to a jerk."

That sounded like a cla.s.sic romance novel to Keeley. She didn't think Violet was sentimental enough to enjoy that sort of thing though. She was normally so studious.

When she was younger she read a lot of historical fiction and fantasy novels. This romance novel phase was definitely a more recent development. Well, she was at a very romantic age.

Keeley had to wonder though. Violet said she wanted someone to love her as much as Aaron loved Keeley. Did she not realize Noah's feelings?

It was fairly obvious to both the Hale and Singleton parents that Noah's childish obsession with Violet as a playmate had evolved into an actual crush as he got older. The type of love she was talking about what mushy, sentimental, and supportive. A best friend relations.h.i.+p.

Aside from the mus.h.i.+ness…didn't she already have that with Noah? The boy went to every recital or concert she ever had and always showed up with flowers. How had she not realized her best friend liked her?

"Vi, I don't mean to pry into your business…but do you like Noah?" Keeley asked gently.

The shock on her daughter's face was genuine. "Are you crazy?! Liking Noah is basically the same thing as liking Kaleb!"

Ah, the poor kid. He was going to get his hopes crushed. Keeley and Jennica had talked about it before. It was completely obvious he liked Violet as more than a friend.

For his sake, she hoped it pa.s.sed soon and he was able to find someone who liked him back but at the same time…what would happen to her innocent 'I only need one person' daughter when Noah eventually fell in love with someone else?

"He's my best friend," Violet continued. "You don't fall in love with your best friend."

She sounded so certain and yet…it was a large part of the reason she was alive right now. Discounting all of the reincarnation stuff that came later, Keeley never would have married Aaron the first time if they hadn't already been best friends.

She couldn't say that now though since she had already told her daughter that it took time for him to win her over. After all this time, keeping her lies straight about who knew what from which lifetime was still confusing.

The only person who know the whole truth, oddly enough, was Aiden. Aaron had told her how he figured it out on his own the day Oliver was born. That had been shocking to say the least

Although he didn't know everything Aaron did because he had been too embarra.s.sed to share how badly he screwed up with the woman he loved. But he was the only other person alive who knew about their double reincarnation.