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Author's Chapter Notes:
sorry it took me so long to get this up. More as soon as possible :) enjoy!!
Ashley smiled excitedly as she and Allyson drove down the highway.

“You can take a look at some of the things I’ve picked out. It’s just paint colors and things like that, but I have a binder on the back seat.” Allyson said as she focused on the road.

“Awesome.” Ashley said reaching behind her to grab the binder.

She opened the binder up to the first page and saw a picture of the floor plan with paint samples next to it. There was a mix of bright pinks and light greens, her favorite colors. She turned to the next page to see fabric swatches for curtains and pillows. She looked through the rest of the book and closed it with a big smile.

“So what do you think?” Allyson asked looking over at her briefly.

“Everything is so perfect! I love it all. How did you pick everything out that I would like?”

“Your brother was a lot of help. He told me a lot about you and he put me on the right track. He actually picked out most of that stuff.”

“Alex picked out all this?” she said in disbelief.

“Yea. He had a pretty good idea of what you would like. He’s actually pretty good when it comes to this stuff.”

“I guess he knows me better then I thought.” She smiled a little at the realization that maybe there was more to AJ then she gave him credit for.

“He really cares about you, and he wanted this to be perfect. He was going to surprise you but he was so nervous about everything being just right that he couldn’t wait and let me finish.” Allyson laughed.

“I’m really excited about this. I kind of got to decorate my room at our condo when we moved here, but we can’t paint or anything crazy so this is really cool.”

“He figured you’d want to be a part of it.” She said as she entered the gate code and pulled into the community where AJ lived.

“I haven’t been here in a while, I forgot how close it was to the beach.” She said looking at the houses as they drove by. “I can’t wait for the summer.”

“Here we are.” Allyson shut off the car as she parked in the driveway. She checked her watch as she looked through her purse for the key. “We have about three hours. I really want to work on the layout of the room.”

“Sounds good to me.” She smiled as they walked through the front door. “Wow, I forgot how amazing this place is.”

“He’s added a few things in the last couple of months.” She shut the door behind them. “Ok so your room is upstairs, come on I’ll show you.”

For the next few hours they worked on the finished touches of all of Allyson’s designs.

“Guys, I’m here.” AJ called out as he walked through the front door.

“Up stairs!” he heard Ashley call back. He jogged up the stairs and down the hall to Ashley’s soon to be room.

“How’s everything going?” he asked the two who were sitting on the floor surrounded by papers filled with notes and designs.

“Pretty good.” Allyson smiled.

“This room is going to be so cool!” Ashley said excitedly.

“Great. Did you guys get everything figured out?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m going to start work on here next week now that we have everything finalized.”

“Well I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. You ready for dinner?”

“Actually, I have to run. I’m meeting with another client to discuss a potential job.”

“Cheating on me are you?” AJ teased.

“I’m so sorry you had to find out this way, but there are other clients in my life.” She joked.

“You guys are crazy, but I’m starving.” Ashley laughed getting up off the floor.

“Where do you want to eat?”

“Anywhere good, you choose I don’t remember everything around here.”

“There’s a good Italian place a few miles away, sound good?”
“Yum!” she grinned.

“See what you’re missing?” he smiled as they walked to the door with Allyson.

“Next time I’ll be there.” She smiled as he shut the door behind them. “It was really nice to finally meet you Ashley.”

“You too!” Ashley smiled and got into AJ’s truck.

“I’ll talk to you sometime this week when I start the shopping for her room.” Allyson said as she opened her car door.

“Thanks so much for helping me out with this.” AJ said as he hugged her goodbye. “I haven’t seen her this happy in a while.”

“it’s what I love to do. I can tell she’s already going to love it.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A short while later the two were seated in a booth at the restaurant. After they ordered their food Ashley began to tell him about the plans she and Allyson had set.

“I’m really excited about it. It’s gonna look so awesome from what she drew out for me.”

“I’m glad you like it. It’s good to see you smiling again.”

“What are you talking about?” she looked at him questionably as she took a sip of her soda.

“It just seems that every time things start to get better for you something happens. I know your not depressed or anything like that, but it’s good to see you smile and really be happy.”

“So what’s gonna happen this time?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You said every time things start going good…they’re going good right now, I don’t want something to mess it up.”

“If I have anything to do with it things will stay going good.” He smiled to reassure her. “I want this to work out more then anything, I like having you around and I’m happy that we’re starting to connect again. I’ve missed having you around.”

“I missed you too.” She smiled. “Do you think mom is really gonna let me stay out here for good?”

“I see no reason why not.” He shrugged. As many things that have happened between us in the last few years I think that were both big enough to agree that the past is the past, and if we can put those things behind us I have a feeling we’ll be just fine.”

“I’m more then ready to forget all about it and start fresh.” She smiled.

“Great, then from this second right now we both have a completely clean slate.”

“Cheers to that.” Ashley smiled holding up her soda and silently hoping that everything would stay this good from now on.