Even good things can become monotonous, when nothing ever changes.
Aidan Ashcroft knows that she's more fortunate than many: She has a good job, a roof over her head, a close family, and some good friends. But doing the same thing day in and day out...
"Hon, you really need to sit still, unless you want me to accidentally ram one of these clips into your skull," Aidan declared, as she placed a hand on Aerin's shoulder to gently push her back into her chair. "If you keep this up, I'm still gonna be getting your hair in order when everybody else is out there ready to go."
Aerin closed her eyes and let out a deep breath, then said, "Yeah, you're prolly right. Ash, would you look in my bag over there and hand me the two little black pouches that are in the side pocket?"
Ashley rummaged around for a few seconds, then walked over to place the requested items in Aerin's hand. A puzzled look crossed his features as she stuffed one of them into the pocket of her jeans, and he inquired, "What's that for?"
"Something I should have done as soon as I got up this morning," Aerin replied. "I made these up before we left home so I could keep my head on straight during all of the chaos, and if I'd actually had it on me, I wouldn't have the fidgets so damn bad, and Aidan prolly coulda been finished making me presentable by now."
She then held up her hand, indicating that Aidan should stop what she was doing for a moment, then turned to look at Zoe, who, in her position as flower girl, was on the opposite side of the room making a last-minute check on the flowers. "Zoe, hon, would you mind taking this to your dad for me?" she requested. "He'll know what it's for."
"Sure, I can do that," the younger woman replied, making a slight adjustment to the emerald-green strapless dress she was wearing as she moved across the room to take the remaining pouch from her soon-to-be stepmother's hand.
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"I guess I'll go ahead and take my stuff along with, so I don't have to worry about holding things up by having to run all the way back here to grab the basket so I can get out there on time," she continued, as she leaned down to give Aerin a quick hug. "I don't know if I've said this before, but I'm glad that you and Dad found each other," she stated. "He's been by himself for too long, and since Zach and I both outgrew the fantasy of him getting back with our mom a long time ago, I'm just glad he's found somebody who actually cares about him, and makes him happy. So thank you for that."
The statement appeared to have Aerin at a momentary loss for words, but after a few seconds, she managed to say, "Thanks, hon, that actually means a lot. And so you know, I'm just as glad about it as you are, if not more so. Your daddy is basically everything any girl could want in a man, and you can be sure that I'll have no problem making sure he knows he's appreciated."
"Good. I'll hold you to that," Zoe replied with a grin. "But I'll also be keeping an eye on him to make sure he appreciates your appreciation. I mean, we all know how men can be, right?"
"Hey, you've got one in the room, y'know!" Ashley protested from behind Aidan, where he was helping her by adjusting the laces in the back of her corset-style dress as she continued to arrange Aerin's hair. This sent all three women into a fit of giggles, so after he had the cord secured, he huffed in mock indignation and declared, "Fine, then. I'll just go start putting our crap in the rental, so y'all can actually talk about me behind my back."
