The next morning, Dawn was getting Arianna dressed and AJ was making coffee when there was a knock at the door.

"I’ll get it, it’s probably D," AJ yelled.

He opened the door and let her in.

"Hi hon, how are you?" He asked, giving her a hug.

"Pretty good", she replied walking through the door. "Nice house you have here".

"Thanks. It’s even nicer when there isn’t toys strewn all over the place".

"Okay, where is she at, I have to see your pride and joy."

"Which one"? He joked. "Dawn’s getting her dressed, they should be out on a minute. Do you want something to drink?"

"No thanks", she answered.

"I’ll be right back, let me go see where they are", he said as he walked away.

D watched him run up the stairs, then turned her attention to the pictures on the walls. There were pictures of he, his fiance' and his daughter all over the place as well as the baby by herself. She was very cute. She still couldn’t believe AJ had settled down and was engaged with a little girl.

As she looked at the pictures, one thing stood out in all of them: he was happy. You could just see it on his face. There were quite a few pictures of he and his fiance'. She picked up one of the pictures. In the picture the two of them were looking into each other’s eyes, smiling. They looked good together, she had to admit. They both looked very happy. She could tell they were in love and were very close. She wished she could find that someone to love her that deeply. She was deep in thought when AJ came running down the stairs with his little girl on his shoulders and his fiance' following behind him.

"Here she is!" He said proudly.

He took Arianna off his shoulders and held her in his arms as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Hi sweetie", D said. "Look at those beautiful curls and blue eyes!"

Arianna looked at her puzzled, then hid her face in her father’s shoulder.

"Give her a few minutes, she’s shy at first," he whispered.

AJ moved out of the way so he could introduce Dawn.

"And this lovely lady here with the rock on her finger is my fiance', Dawn".

Dawn rolled her eyes and laughed as the girls shook hands.

"It’s nice to meet you", Dawn said, flashing her signature smile.

"You too," D replied with a smile. "I've heard so much about you".

"Don't believe it," Dawn teased as she looked at AJ, then back to D. "Come and sit down".

"Hey, come one now," AJ defended himself as they walked into the living room. "It was all good things!"

As they sat down on the couch, Arianna ran over and climbed in her mother’s lap. Dawn looked over at the pretty blond sitting on the couch. She couldn’t get over how different she was from herself, looks-wise anyway.

'Leave it up to AJ to go to extremes', she thought to herself.

D was petite, about five foot four, she guessed. She was fair-skinned with short blond hair and blue eyes. Much different from herself, at five foot seven, with dark brown shoulder length hair, brown eyes, and a dark complexion. Dawn watched her talk to AJ. She wasn’t sure about this girl, and if she touched AJ’s arm one more time, she would have to throw her out on the lawn.

"Does anyone want anything to drink or anything?" She asked, getting up and heading to the kitchen.

"I do, but I’ll get it", AJ answered.

Arianna sat on the couch looking at a book next to D. AJ followed Dawn into the kitchen.

"So, what do you think?" He asked.

"She seems nice", Dawn answered.

"You don’t like her".

"What makes you say that? I just haven’t had a chance to really talk to her," she answered, opening the refrigerator and pouring some juice into a small cup for Arianna.

"And? I know there’s something else".

She sighed and closed the refrigerator.

"I’m just trying to figure out what her intentions are. I mean, if she doesn’t know that you’re trying to set her up with Nick, then why is she here?"

"Because I invited her?" He replied sarcastically.

Dawn looked at him and gave him a dirty look. He walked over and pulled her towards him.

"Listen, we are old friends, that’s all. I made it quite clear when I ran into her originally that I was engaged and deeply and MADLY in love with my beautiful fiance'".

"I’m sorry", she began. "Sometimes it’s hard for me to deal with all the hootchies throwing themselves at you every day".

AJ kissed her forehead.

"Yeah, but she’s not a hootchie, and I don’t want any of those girls anyway, you’re the only hootchie I want," he joked.

Dawn smacked him playfully and started to walk away. He smacked her butt as she headed out to the living room. AJ glanced out the window and saw someone pulling in the driveway. It was Nick.

"I wonder what he’s doing here?" He said aloud, walking to the front door.

He opened the door just as Nick was about to knock.

"Hey Bone, what’s up?" He asked.

"Nothing much. Come on in", he said, ushering him into the house.

"Hey, what are you doing today? I need to borrow you for awhile," Nick said.

"Why, what do you need?" AJ asked, walking into the living room.

"I got a bunch of stuff I have to do with my boa..." he stopped when he noticed the cute blond stranger sitting on the couch, holding Arianna.

"I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you had company", he said, not taking his eyes off her.

"Oh, Nick, that’s D. D, Nick," AJ continued as the two shook hands.

AJ went over and sat on the couch next to Dawn.

"This couldn’t have worked out any better if I planned it myself", he whispered to Dawn.

They all sat and talked for awhile. AJ and Dawn could both tell that there was a strong attraction between D and Nick. Dawn put Arianna down for her nap after lunch and AJ went to help Nick with his boat.

"Well, I better get going. I have an appointment in a little while," D said, glancing at her watch.

"Okay. Do you have any plans later on? I was thinking, Alex will probably be gone most of the day. If you want to come back after your appointment, I can make us some dinner, then we can sit out on the deck and sip on some Fuzzy Navels," Dawn’s suggested.

Even though she had her reservations about D at first, seeing how much her and Nick were obviously interested in each other, she didn’t worry too much about her intentions towards AJ.

"Hey, you’re my kind of girl! I’ll call you after my appointment," D said.

Chapter 5
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