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“I am so sorry, Aiden…  It must have been terrible to find your best friend with your wife…” I stated.  Aiden rubbed his hair, which now looked like a fuzzy ball of fluff.  “It was…  But what can you do?  I was young and naïve…  At least she’s happy,” he replied.  Wow…  He sure is different than most guys I know…  “If I were you, I would have killed my best friend.  How could he do that to you?” I stated, feeling Aiden’s pain.  Aiden shook his head to disagree with me.  “He wasn’t setting out to ruin our marriage…  I know that.  It just happened.  I don’t blame him for anything.  We had so many other problems that our marriage was bound to end in divorce eventually,” he explained.  I couldn’t understand how forgiving he could be…  Even I was still upset with Vince.  Even though I realized I didn’t love him, it still hurt that he found someone else and pushed me to the curb.  “Well, I really am sorry that you had to go through that…” I replied sincerely.  Aiden let a small smile creep into his lips.  “Thank you,” he stated politely as he let out a yawn.  I turned to the clock and saw that it was all ready 11:30.  “I guess it’s time to go to bed,” I stated as I pulled the sheets down so I could climb into the soft bed.  I rearranged the pillows and plopped my head down.  I didn’t realize how tired I was.  I had been up early for the flight, and even though I took a four hour nap, I was still feeling really exhausted.  “Can I have a pillow?” Aiden asked as he struggled to settle into the tiny loveseat.

The next morning, I was woken up by the sound of Aiden shaving.  It was weird to be sharing a room with a man…  Even though I had shared an apartment with two men in my life before…  One of them was Vince, the other, a man I didn’t want to talk about much—because it broke my heart to even think about it.  I shrugged off the depressing feeling and got out of bed to get ready for the day.  Aiden and I had an appointment with Linda and Gary at a little restaurant in town to talk about the wedding plans.  I was going to unleash my brilliant idea about the flowers on their dead lawn.  “Sorry; did I wake you?” Aiden asked as he emerged from the bathroom all ready dressed.  He was wearing khaki shorts and a black polo shirt; he looked kind of like a Calvin Klein model with his black hair spiked up towards the front.  “It’s okay; I need to get ready anyways,” I replied, walking past him, heading into the bathroom.  After a relaxing shower, I got dressed in a red and white striped short-sleeved shirt with a short, black, pleated skirt.

As I looked at my hair in the mirror, I cringed in horror.  Because of the high humidity, my soft waves had turned into a lion’s mane.  Generally I would straighten my hair because I liked it that way, but this humidity wouldn’t hold anything.  So I decided to put it up in a chic bun.  “All right; let’s go,” I stated as I exited the bathroom and grabbed another tote from my suitcase and transferred my items from my travel tote.  I slipped on my black wedges and looked into the mirror one more time.  I look good…  I thought as I walked out the door.  We grabbed a taxi and headed to “La Butte,” a French restaurant.  “Anne!  Aiden!” Linda called as she waved us to come over to their table.  I put on my smile and took my seat across from them.  Gary ordered us two Cokes and we settled in.  “I wanted to apologize for the way I acted yesterday,” Linda stated with embarrassment.  Aiden shook his head.  “It’s fine; you have the right to have a few meltdowns…  It is your wedding,” he replied.  I rolled my eyes; he was always saying the right things…  “That’s all right, Linda…  We just wanted you to know that you can only have 50 people at the wedding.  You can’t fit 100; your backyard is too small,” I explained, waiting for another one of Linda’s meltdowns.

She began to pout as she turned to Gary.  “Only 50?” she began.  Aiden tried to keep her from whining.  “We know you want to invite more people, but it just isn’t possible.  It is just half of the guest list…” he tried to say.  “But I have so many people I wanted to invite…” Linda whined.  “We know, but if you want your wedding in your parent’s backyard, you can only have 50 people,” I replied with a bit of hostility.  Linda nodded.  “I guess I’ll give up 25 people and Linda can give up 25 people,” Gary stated.  “Good; now I—we had an idea about the lawn,” I replied.  Linda clapped her hands happily.  “That’s wonderful!” she declared.  “What is it?” she asked curiously.  I smiled proudly at my idea and told them about the flowers.  Linda was very pleased with the whole thing.  “It’s brilliant!” she stated ecstatically.  Aiden smiled.  “She has some wonderful ideas,” he replied.  Wow, I guess I need to be a little nicer to Aiden…  It is OUR job.  That’s something I need to let go; I’m not the only wedding planner in this picture anymore.

A few hours and thousands of ideas later, we had decided on most of the details for Linda and Gary’s wedding, which was now in 6 days.  I couldn’t believe how little time we had to plan this wedding, but Aiden was proving to be useful.  He all ready ordered all the flowers, (I convinced Linda to choose pink orchids), he had booked servers for the reception, and found a place that rents out patio chairs for the backyard.  I guess Kip was right about him.  After we left the restaurant, Aiden and I went to the florist to pick the flowers.  “What is it with you and orchids?” Aiden asked as we entered the little flower shop near our hotel.  I shrugged my shoulders.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied innocently.  Aiden shook his head as he smelled a white daisy.  “Yes, you do.  I’ve seen some of your work; generally the flowers at a majority of the weddings had some type of orchids somewhere.  Why do you like them so much?” he asked curiously.  “I don’t know; I just think they are one of the most beautiful flowers ever created.  Their shape is just so intricate…  I’ve always loved orchids.  I can’t help it if lots of the brides I have worked with feel the same way…” I replied as the florist entered from the back.

“How can I help you?” she asked as she came towards us.  “Hello; I’m the one who called a while ago about the pink orchids for the wedding this weekend,” Aiden replied as the woman began to swoon at his accent.  “Oh, yeah…  Are you from England?” she asked, gushing over him.  I rolled my eyes.  “Yes, I am… About the orchids?” Aiden tried to change the subject.  The woman nodded.  “I’m Violet, by the way,” she introduced herself, holding out her hand.  Aiden shook it.  “He’s Aiden, and I’m Anne,” I replied, grabbing her hand and shaking it.  (I’ll admit, there was a tone of jealousy in my voice.)  Violet smiled uncomfortably.  “We will be able to have the flowers over Saturday night, and we should have them planted in a few hours,” she stated, going to her counter and cutting some flowers.  “Great; can you make sure they’re fresh?  I don’t want any brown flowers for the wedding,” I replied.  Violet nodded slowly and opened her big book; I think it was a date book.  “It can be done…  So, when are you two getting married?” she asked.

WHO?  Englishman and me?  Aiden and I looked at each other uncomfortably.  “Oh no…” Aiden started.  “We’re not getting married,” I added.  Violet looked at us in confusion.  “We’re the wedding planners,” Aiden explained.  Violet seemed pleased by our answer.  “I see… Well, the flowers will be ready and delivered around 6pm on Saturday evening.  I’ll come by and help out myself,” she replied, gazing intently on Aiden.  “Well, thanks so much,” I replied as I was all ready running out the door.  “We’ll be seeing you,” I added.  Aiden walked out behind me and began to laugh.  “She was all over you,” I stated as we walked down the sidewalk.  “She was, wasn’t she?  I am very appealing,” he gloated.  I punched him in the arm; he was being cocky…  “Did that bother you?” he asked, hoping it had.  I shook my head.  “No; the fact that Violet thought WE were getting married bothered me,” I replied.  Aiden let out another laugh.  “Why are you always so stiff?  You always seem so uptight…  Especially about men.  Why is that?” he asked.

I didn’t want to talk about that subject…  It would just bring back painful memories.  “I am not uptight,” I replied with hostility.  Aiden gave me that, “who-do-you-think-you’re-fooling” look.  I shrugged my shoulders.  “So maybe I am a little uptight… I don’t want to talk about it,” I replied.  Aiden shook his head.  “Why am I not surprised?  You never want to talk about anything since I’ve met you.  You bottle everything up inside.  One day that will all blow up, Anne,” he warned me.  I rolled my eyes.  “Fine; do you want to know why I’m always so uptight about men?” I replied.  Aiden nodded.  I let out a sigh as we sat down on a bench in the Arizona heat.  “I had someone; like you had Maria…  His name was Nathan…  We were so in love.  I met him at one of my weddings; he was a groomsmen.  We started going out and then he asked me to marry him…  It’s the closest I’ve ever come to having my own wedding.  The day after we got engaged, I got a phone call from the hospital; Nate was sick.  When I rushed to the hospital, he told me the terrible truth: he had cancer.  He had cancer since we met; he just didn’t want our relationship to end because he fell in love with me.  We were going to get married, but he died a few weeks before our wedding…  After he died, I just couldn’t bring myself to get close to many people… especially men.”  A tear threatened to come out as I felt the pain all over again.

The week had gone by so quickly; Saturday had come sooner than we knew it.  I had gotten used to sharing a bed with Aiden; it wasn’t so bad…  We headed over to the house Saturday evening to help with the decorations and make sure that the backyard looked beautiful.  “Ah, the wedding planners,” Carol greeted happily as she came and gave Aiden and I a hug.  She was growing more stressed out, I could tell, but she was glad to see the cavalry arrive.  The women began working on the decorations as the men set up the backyard with the foldout patio chairs.  Violet and her crew arrived at 6pm on the dot and began assembling the orchids.  By midnight, everything was set.  The backyard looked beautiful.  I couldn’t believe how wonderful it had turned out.  Linda had her very own secret garden with a beautiful pathway.  “I love it,” she breathed when we revealed her backyard paradise.  A few tears came to her eyes and I felt proud.  “Anne did a wonderful job,” Aiden remarked.  I shook my head.  “No; WE did a wonderful job,” I corrected.  I was finally ready to realize that Aiden was doing a great job.  I did need his help…  I couldn’t have done everything in a week without him. 

“Thank you so much,” Linda replied, giving Aiden and me a hug.  Gary gave us both a hardy handshake, and Carol and Chip gave a lovely meal before we headed back to the hotel.  “See you tomorrow at 9am, Linda,” I stated before we left.  “Tomorrow is the big day,” I reminded her.  Linda smiled giddily.  “I am so excited…  I can’t thank you enough for doing all of this for us,” she replied.  I gave her arm a little reassuring squeeze as Aiden and I called a taxi and headed back to the Hilton.  As I got ready for bed, I tried to think of what might go wrong tomorrow.  Something was going to go wrong; it wouldn’t be a wedding without something happening.  But as I struggled to find reasons or catastrophes, I couldn’t think of anything.  I guess we’ll just have to wait and see until tomorrow…  I settled into the bed and turned on the television.  Aiden plopped down beside me.  “Merry Christmas,” he replied.  I turned to give him a look.  “What are you talking about?” I asked, wondering if Aiden had gone crazy.  He flipped open his phone and showed me the date.  It read, December 25.  I was shocked.  “It’s Christmas?” I managed to ask.

Aiden nodded.  “I guess this weather threw us off.  It feels like it’s summer,” Aiden replied.  I shook my head and sat up in the bed.  “I can’t believe it’s Christmas…  And I’m here, doing a job.  I promised myself I would never do that,” I exclaimed.  Aiden nodded.  “It’s odd, isn’t it?” he asked.  I couldn’t believe it was Christmas.  I vowed to myself I would never work on Christmas.  “You know, my parents both worked like dogs when I was a kid; one Christmas they were both busy at work, and I celebrated Christmas with my brother, who woke up at noon.  I was only 9 years old.  It was a terrible feeling.  Now I was doing the same exact thing.”  I let out a sigh and lay back down in bed.  “Merry Christmas, I guess,” I stated.  “I’m sorry…  I know what it’s like to be alone on Christmas…” Aiden replied.  He handed me something.  “It just isn’t Christmas without a present,” he replied.  I took the gift from him to see it was a Hershey’s candy bar.  I let out a little laugh.  “Thanks; I didn’t get anything for you,” I stated.  Aiden shrugged his shoulders.  “You could just give me half of that candy bar,” he suggested.  I nodded and broke the chocolate in half.  I ate my piece and turned off the television.  “See you in the morning,” I replied as I shut my eyes.  There was a wedding I needed to rest up for.

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