Chapter 36

The following week I was up and ready to go much earlier than Sidney was. Apparently I was more excited about house hunting than he was. My good mood made me feel great and I decided to make some breakfast while Sidney caught up on all the sleep he hadn’t gotten lately.

“Do I smell eggs?” he asked walking into the kitchen. I smiled at him over my shoulder.

“You smell an omelet complete with ham, peppers, mushrooms, and just a touch of cheese. Salsa on the side of course,” I told him. He wrapped his arms around my waist and sniffed in some of the air over the skillet. “You’re going to make me ruin this if you’re not careful,” I warned him.

“It doesn’t have to look good. Think it’s going to look good when it gets in here?” he asked rubbing his stomach. I rolled my eyes at him and put the omelet on a plate.

When breakfast was over we got dressed and drove out to the address the realtor had given us. We pulled up in front of the house a bit later and I couldn’t keep the smile off of my face. We got out and she led us inside. The house was beautiful and one I could definitely see myself living in. I had to convince myself to keep an open mind because there were three more to look at.

After taking the tour and getting all the information we got into our car and followed the realtor to the second house. This one was very similar to the first, but I just didn’t like it as much. I couldn’t really explain it. It was just a vibe I got. As we headed to the third house I could feel my energy draining and wondered if touring four houses had been a bit excessive in one day.

As soon as we pulled up in front of the third house I banished the thought. My jaw dropped when I saw it. This house, at least on the outside, was my dream house. As we were led inside I wasn’t disappointed.

We walked into a large foyer. The stairs for the second floor were off to the right and curved along the wall. There was a large living room to the left that was all windows. We were given a tour of the first floor first and the minute I saw the kitchen I knew this house was it. It was enormous with dark finish on the cabinets, granite countertops, and stainless steel appliances. The island alone was bigger than the kitchen I currently had at my house.

The second floor was just as nice. I saw that in total there were five bedrooms and four bathrooms. I wasn’t sure why we needed that much space, but I figured we’d probably have a lot of visitors. The master bedroom was beautiful complete with the biggest walk in closet I’d ever seen. A girl could definitely get used to that.

“So, what do you think?” Sid asked me after the realtor had excused herself to take a phone call.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I don’t need to see the fourth house,” I said as I continued to look around. I heard him laugh.

“You like it that much?” I looked at him like he was crazy.

“You don’t?”

“I definitely do.” I smiled at him. I was glad we agreed. It was then that my head began to spin a bit. I must have wobbled a bit, because I felt Sidney grab onto me. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I think I’m just going to go grab the water I left in the car,” I told him trying to shake the dizziness off.

I made my way to the front door and walked out. I immediately covered my eyes with my hand to block out the glaring sun. I felt more and more light headed with every step I took. I was so distracted with how I felt that I didn’t hear the shouts or see the flashing white lights until I reached the car.

I looked up to see what the commotion was and froze in shock. There were news vans, reporters with microphones and tape recorders, along with cameras. It took my brain a minute to process what was going on.

“Oh, God,” I muttered to myself when I realized that somehow the media had found Sidney and I.

I turned to rush back inside when another dizzy spell hit me. I put a hand out to the car to steady myself and put my other hand over my face. I could hear my name being called and see more flashes through my closed eyelids. I needed to get inside now.

I pushed myself off the car and took a few unsteady steps towards the house. I didn’t make it far before my legs gave out and I fell to my knees on the ground. My head was full on spinning and I couldn’t make myself move. I began to feel nauseous.

“Tanner!” I heard Sidney’s panicked voice call out.

I barely managed to lift my head up to look in the direction of his voice. I could barely make out his shape as he ran over to me from the front door followed closely by the realtor. He knelt down next to me and I knew he was saying something, but I couldn’t make out the words. The nausea overtook me and I began to throw up.










Sidney told the realtor that he and Tanner weren’t going to need to look at the fourth house unless there was something spectacular about it. After being informed that there wasn’t, he smiled. He and Tanner had found their house. His smile began to fade when he began to hear shouting.

Curious, he made his way to the front door that Tanner had left open. He looked in horror at the sight in front of him. People from the media were crowded along the street outside. Then he spotted Tanner kneeling a few steps away from the car, pale, and holding her head.

“Tanner!” he called out. He rushed over to her side feeling both scared and angry at the same time. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?” She didn’t respond. “We should get you inside.”

He’d hardly had the time to get the words out when Tanner started to throw up. He tried his best to block her from view with his body. He heard the realtor on the phone calling the police. He barely made out his own name being called out as he held Tanner’s hair back.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she choked out through tears.

“It’s not your fault, Baby. Don’t apologize,” he whispered. He hated that she blamed herself for anything, especially something like this.

He waited another second to make sure she wasn’t going to be sick again. When he was sure he wrapped his arms around her and picked her up. He carried her inside and kicked the door closed behind him. He put her down on one of the stairs so that she was sitting up, but could lean against the staircase since there was no furniture in the house. Then he turned on the realtor.

“What the hell is going on out there?” he spat at her. Her eyes were wide and she looked like she was in shock.

“I have no idea. I swear I didn’t say anything.” She continued to apologize when Sidney heard Tanner sniff. He turned back to see her crying.

“I couldn’t get back inside. I tried to get back inside but I couldn’t,” she was saying. He knelt down in front of her and took her hands in his.

“Tanner, look at me. Look at me,” he demanded when she didn’t. Hearing the tone of his voice she turned her red-rimmed eyes to him. “You didn’t do anything wrong. None of this is your fault. It’s going to be okay.”

She nodded, but didn’t look like she believed him. The tears kept coming. Sidney’s heart was breaking. He knew that Tanner didn’t want her cancer to be public knowledge and he also knew it was going to be tough not to make it just that after the incident today.

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him. She didn’t pull away until the police arrived. When the media had been cleared out and it was time to go Sidney helped her to her feet. She was still a little unsteady and despite knowing that she’d probably yell at him, he picked her up again. He was surprised when she offered no protest and he carried her out to the car. She went straight to bed when they got home.