Chapter 27

I was bundled up but I couldn’t help but smile as I glanced over at Sidney in the driver’s seat. It was the first day that I’d really felt up to doing something and I was ecstatic. Sidney pulled into the parking lot and then helped me out of the car. It was a fairly warm day for late March, but I was still a little cold.

“Are you ready?” he asked with a smile. I beamed up at him.

“It’s been way too long since I’ve been here,” I replied. He took my hand and we walked side by side into the zoo.

The team had a shorter than usual practice and Sidney had rushed home to see how I was feeling. When I told him it was a good day he asked if I was up for going out. I had been hesitant at first since it was only yesterday when I’d bought the wigs, but when he mentioned the zoo I ran straight into the bathroom to put one on.

We only had a few hours to spend there before the zoo closed so I kept myself from standing at any one exhibit too long. With just over an hour left before closing we made our way to see the bears. When I’d had enough of them we moved to our last stop, the polar bears.

As I stood there watching them Sidney’s phone rang and he moved away to take the call. I didn’t mind and watched them move about in pure delight. I was hardly going to complain about watching them until closing, but I wondered where Sidney had gone when he didn’t rejoin me after a while. I turned around to see him talking to a male zookeeper. When he noticed me looking at them he told the man something and then walked over.

“Tanner, this is Zack Bairstow. He works here at the zoo, mainly with the bears,” Sidney introduced us.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said shaking his hand. I was still confused on how Sidney knew the guy.

“And it’s really nice to meet you. Sidney’s told me a lot about you,” he replied.

“Has he?” I asked looking over at Sidney. He just shrugged.

“I found him standing here one day for hours in the cold and we began talking. He came back a few times while you were in the coma. He talked about you all the time,” he explained. I looked at Sidney again with my eyebrows raised.

“He didn’t tell me.” Sid just smiled.

“Well, when I saw Sidney out here again I just wanted to come out and say hi. When he told me you were here I had to meet you. He told me you have a semester of school left. When you’re done you should come by and ask for me. We’ll see what kind of job openings we have with our bears.” My eyes went wide in surprise.

“Thank you so much. I appreciate that. I will definitely come by.” He smiled and shook my hand again before shaking Sid’s.

“It was nice to meet you,” he said to me. Then he turned towards Sidney. “Good luck the rest of the season.” Sidney gave him a wave before turning to look at me.

“Did you know about that?” I asked him.

“I swear I had no idea.” I was still in shock when we got back to my house later that night.

I walked into Mellon Arena the next night with Grace and Hailey. We parted once inside. They were heading to their normal seats while I was on my way up to Mario’s box. It was rare for me to have a good day, let alone two in a row, so I was excited to be here at the game against the Rangers. Despite feeling pretty good, everyone insisted that I sit in the box instead of in the crowd. At first I wasn’t thrilled with the idea but once I reached the box I quickly changed my mind.

“Hi, Tanner, how are you?” Nathalie asked me giving me a hug as I walked in.

“Good, thanks. How are you?” I returned.

“I’m getting along,” she joked.

Mario saw me and came over, greeting me with a hug as well. They told me to sit anywhere I liked so I took a seat next to Nathalie. I was provided with as much food and drink as I wanted throughout the game. A girl could get used to that. At some point I glanced over to one of the other boxes and saw a bunch of Sidney’s stuff in there.

“What’s the story on that box?” I asked Nathalie pointing over to it.

“Oh, that’s a box that Sidney has for kids to come watch the game. It’s usually kids with disabilities, cancer, that sort of thing.” I felt my heart melting as she told me that. “He usually makes an appearance up here before the game to sign things for the kids and meet them. It’s such a thrill for them.”

“I’m sure it is,” I said with a smile. I made a mental note to ask him about it later.

When the game was over I followed Nathalie downstairs where I met up with the rest of the girls. I sat down on one of the couches, pretty tired from being out. I listened to the conversation, but stayed fairly quiet while it went on. I was ready for a nap.

“Tanner, I have to tell you, blonde is a good look for you,” Jenny called over to me. I smiled and fluffed up the wig.

“Well, they have more fun, right?” I joked. She laughed along with the other girls. While the blonde wig I’d bought was quickly becoming a favorite, I knew that I’d always be a brunette.

“Hey, Babe,” Sidney said a little while later after coming into the room. I smiled up at him as he bent down to kiss me. He held out a hand and I took it so he could help me up off the couch.

“What’s the plan?” I asked.

“A bunch of us were thinking of going out for dinner and then heading over to Flower’s for the night. Are you up for it?” he asked.

“Tell you what. Drop me off at my place and go get dinner. That will easily take over an hour. I’ll take a nap. Just call me when you’re done and then I’ll go over with you,” I told him.

“Are you sure?” I smiled and kissed him in response. He took my hand and we headed out of the rink.

He dropped me off at my house and I immediately headed to bed and fell asleep. The ringing of my phone woke me up and I felt refreshed. A little bit later Sidney was at the door to pick me up. We drove over to Marc and Vero’s and headed inside. It looked like almost the whole team was there. We settled in on a couch and joined in the conversation.

“So, I heard you have a box for kids at the games,” I said to him a little while later.

“Yeah. It’s just something I like to do. The kids love it.” He shrugged it off like it was no big deal.

“I think it’s really sweet of you to do something like that. It’s probably the highlight of many of those kids’ lives.”

“Unfortunately a lot of them are terminal. Even so, they’re always the happiest kids I’ve ever met, no question.” I was saddened by that news and in awe at the same time. “Hey, I have an idea.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“It’s really fine if you don’t want to, I won’t be offended or upset. I also don’t want you to feel like you’re obligated to do it at all either. There’s only two home games left before playoffs. Would you want to sit in there with the kids?” I took his question in for a minute.

“Because I’m in the same situation?” I asked. He nodded.

“Yeah. I mean it always helps to have someone that knows what you’re going through there for you. I figure these kids need all the support they can get. You don’t have to. It just kind of popped into my head.”

“No, it’s okay. I just…..wouldn’t people figure it out?” I asked.

“Figure what out?”

“That we’re together,” I said. He thought about it for a minute.

“I don’t care. So what if everyone finds out? I’m not ashamed of you.” I laughed.

“That’s good to know,” I joked. He rolled his eyes at me.

“So what do you say?” he asked.

“I’m in.” He smiled and kissed me.

We stayed longer than I thought I’d be able to. I guess I was just having such a good time that I hardly remembered how sick I was. It was nice to be out and around people whose company I enjoyed. I decided that even if I wasn’t feeling great I was going to force myself to get out of the house more often. Sidney and I were the first to leave but everyone understood.

“Mind if I stay here tonight?” Sid asked when we pulled into the driveway.

“Not at all,” I told him with a smile. We walked into an empty house. It was a Saturday so I figured Kelly and Lisa were out somewhere. “I’m going to miss this place.”

“What do you mean?” he asked pulling a bottle of water out of the refrigerator.

“Well, I’m basically getting kicked out in two months.” He froze in place in confusion. I rolled my eyes. “School ends in the beginning of May. Then the lease is up on the house since everyone’s graduating. Well, everyone but me.”

“What are you going to do?” he asked following me into my room. I shrugged.

“I’ll probably have to start looking for a place for the summer since my doctor is here. Then I’ll have to find something for the fall semester if I can’t stay in whatever place I find for the summer. It’s all kind of up in the air right now. I just know that I’ll miss this house. The five of us have lived here since sophomore year. I hate change.”

He put his arm around me and pulled me to him. He placed a kiss on my forehead as I leaned into him. I got up a few minutes later and changed into pajamas while Sidney stripped down to his boxer briefs. God, he was sexy in them. I cuddled up in bed next to him and fell asleep.