Run, Girl (If You Can)

Chapter 386: Overprotective

On the last day of preschool, Keeley and Aaron had the Singletons over for a barbecue to celebrate. Noah went to the same one as the twins though he was in a younger class.

The men were manning the grill while the women chatted and watched the kids splash around in a blow up pool Keeley set up for them on the terrace when it got hot. They were little enough that they didn't care about going to a real pool yet and they weren't the strongest swimmers anyway. Right now this was the safer option.

In all honesty, Keeley wouldn't have minded taking the twins to a real pool but Aaron had been so paranoid lately. His concern about her dying again somehow transferred onto the twins as well.

It broke her heart but she could see where he was coming from. He had been so blissfully happy the past five and a half years that he was afraid of having it all taken away from him again.

She could relate a little; having lost her mother and brother she sometimes wondered if her happiness was fleeting too. But worrying about that constantly wasn't a way to live so she always pushed through it. Aaron wasn't pushing through it so well.

He called her about ten times a day at work to make sure she was alright and was glued to her side at home. He barely let her lift a finger these days. She understood that she was eight months pregnant and all but she wasn't completely useless!

Keeley couldn't be too annoyed at him though because she knew why he was scared. All they had to do was get past June 16th and everything would be okay. Unfortunately, that was a week and a half away and she didn't think she could deal with this overprotectiveness for that long.

"You look tired. What's up?" Jennica asked as she nursed Logan.

She sighed. There was no hiding anything from her friend. "You know how Aaron tends to be a bit overprotective when I'm pregnant?"

Jennica snorted. "A bit? Last time he wouldn't even let you out of the house! That was when Lacy was stalking you guys though so I guess it kind of made sense. Why?"

"He's doing it again."

"But there isn't an actual threat against you this time!"

"I know. I wish I could find a way to convince him I'll be fine," Keeley said sadly.

He had been so tense lately and nothing she did could make him relax for more than five minutes. She couldn't exactly tell her friend it was because he was worried about history repeating itself, either.

Jennica rolled her eyes. "Well, it won't be for too much longer. You look just about ready to pop. When's your due date, anyway?"

"June 29th. Aaron and I are about to be outnumbered. And the twins are a handful already; I'm really not sure how we're going to do it."

"That's why we're done after this one," her friend said with a smile. "It's a bit of a bummer we didn't end up having a girl but I don't really mind. Boys are fun. I'm glad Noah has a little brother to play with. Once Logan gets a bit bigger anyway."

Keeley was glad too. Poor Noah was always so excited to see Kaleb and Violet because he had been the only child at home for the past three and a half years.

It worked out though; he was the only kid other than Kaleb that Violet really enjoyed being around. She seemed to merely tolerate everyone at school and in her ballet classes.

She only wanted her brother or Noah, which was difficult because Kaleb was such an outgoing boy who wanted to play with everyone. He was the only reason she even played group games at preschool or on the playground. Keeley worried about what would happen when they inevitably ended up in different classes at school someday.

Her shyness and stubbornness about who she wanted to play with aside, she was a happy and well-adjusted little girl. Incredibly bright too. Aaron credited that entirely to Keeley since she had a PhD.

She watched the children happily playing around in the kiddie pool together. Kaleb was having fun splashing his sister and friend by using a plastic cup to get more water moving around. Violet was shrieking and trying to duck away from the attack while Noah bravely stood in front of her to take the brunt of the water and splash Kaleb back.

Sometimes she really wished Noah was in the same grade as Violet. That would solve all of their problems. When Violet was around, Noah wasn't interested in anyone else either though he played well with others on his own according to Jennica.

When Keeley and Jennica took their kids to the park at the same time, Kaleb would go play with other random children on the playground while Violet and Noah were off in their own little world.

His mother said he wasn't like that when she took him to the park on his own. If it was only him, he would run off to play with other kids like Kaleb did. Noah was a perfectly friendly and sociable little boy unless his shy best friend was involved.

"I'm glad they get along so well," Keeley noted after watching their kids play for a while.

Jennica laughed. "Me too. It certainly lets us hang out more often than we would otherwise. The kids demand it at least a few times a week. Hopefully Logan and Oliver get along this well."

"Liam too."

The Quinns had been invited today as well but since it was Aiden's little brother Jack's birthday they weren't able to make it. As much as they loved their friends, family came first. Keeley would probably see a lot more of them as Liam got older and they wanted to set up play dates.

Nova was a fun person to be around—she was a perfect match for that goofball Aiden, honestly—and Keeley had enjoyed getting to know her better since she moved to New York. Before she came back to marry Aiden, Keeley had only met her a couple of times when she stayed with him the previous summer.

"I wonder if Alice will end up having a boy or a girl. If she has a boy there's going to be an awful lot of testosterone around here," Jennica said with a smile.

So far out of all of their friends' kids, Violet and Alice's daughter Lila were the only girls. Lila was barely two so even though she idolized Violet, she wasn't terribly interested in playing with the younger girl. She let her tag along because her mother kept reminding her to be nice.