Chapter 40

I groaned as I tried to find any comfortable position. I was having an awful day and the combination of the aches in my body and an upset stomach were making it impossible for me to even lie down comfortably. Just one more month, Tanner, just one more, I told myself.

I looked towards the window where the curtains were drawn to keep it as dark as possible in the bedroom. I could see a sliver of sunshine that had made its way through and grimaced. It was a nice day and I couldn’t even enjoy it. Sometimes I really hated my life.

I decided that maybe some music would help me fall asleep and rolled over to open the drawer of the nightstand. Halfway there I vaguely remembered Sidney taking my iPod and putting it into the nightstand on his side when I’d been almost completely asleep the day before. I rolled in the other direction and opened his drawer. Taylor’s words from a few weeks before popped into my head when I looked inside.

Sitting there in the drawer was a ring box. My breath had caught in my throat as I looked at it. I’d been putting off talking to Sidney about Taylor saying she couldn’t wait to have me as a sister because I was scared. As much as I loved Sidney, I just didn’t know that I was ready for marriage.

Now I was staring down at a little black box that could only be holding a ring. Was he an idiot? Did he really try to hide it in the drawer of one of the nightstands in the bedroom we shared? Who does that? I wanted to take my eyes off of it, to just shut the drawer and pretend I’d never seen anything, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen. I reached in and grabbed the box.

“What are you doing?” I dropped the box and spun around to see Sidney standing in the doorway. I swore I saw panic flash through his eyes.

“What? Nothing.” He looked at me skeptically as he started to walk towards the bed. “My iPod. I wanted my iPod,” I told him, suddenly remembering why I’d opened the drawer in the first place as I internally cursed myself for my real smooth initial response to his question. I hastily grabbed the iPod and held it up for Sidney to see as I slammed the drawer shut with my other hand.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, sitting down beside me.

“Like death warmed over.” He sighed and smiled sadly at me.

“Well, that’s too bad. I had a surprise for you, but maybe I should just wait.” My interest was piqued.

“No, I’m exaggerating. Well, only slightly, but it was still an exaggeration.” His smile grew.

“Well, if that’s the case.” He stood up and moved as far away from the bed as he could get before turning towards the door. “Come on in!” he yelled.

I furrowed my brow in confusion. Who or what was coming into the bedroom? I heard the squealing before I saw anyone. My eyes widened as I started to figure it out. Suddenly I was bum rushed by four very familiar girls. I was so excited to see them that I hardly felt the pain as my best friends enveloped me into a group hug.

“What are you guys doing here?” I asked with a smile when we finally pulled apart. They had all joined me on the bed.

“That guy invited us up to visit and help celebrate the cup coming to Cole Harbour in two days,” Kelly replied, pointing over at Sidney. I turned to look at him and he was grinning back at me.

“You’re perfect,” I told him.

“Gag,” Lisa joked as the rest of the girls joined her in making gagging noises.

“I’ll let you guys hang out for a bit,” Sidney threw out before giving a small wave and walking out of the room.

“I can’t believe you four managed to keep this a secret. Especially you, Grace.”

“Oh fuck off,” she shot at me with a laugh.

The five of us stretched out on the king size bed and talked. Seeing them was the perfect antidote for the pain and nausea I was feeling earlier. They had faded completely in my good mood. We chatted until Sidney came back up and asked what everyone wanted to do for dinner.

“Pizza!”

“Sushi!”

“Burgers!”

“Chinese!”

Sidney looked over at me with wide eyes and I just laughed and shrugged. Sidney grumbled something about being a butler before leaving the room again. A few minutes later I heard his car start up.

“He didn’t even ask what we wanted,” Hailey pouted.

“Don’t worry, whatever you’d want he’ll probably bring back,” I assured her.

“Okay, so tell us about how things have been here lately” Kelly urged. I sighed as an image of the ring box flashed into my head.

“You have no idea how glad I am that you guys are here right now. I really needed someone to talk to.”

“What’s going on?” Lisa asked. I glanced at the nightstand before saying anything.

“When I was staying at his parents’ house Taylor and I were talking. She basically told me that the whole family loves me. Then right before she left the room she made a comment about not being able to wait to have me as a sister.”

“What?!” Grace squealed. I nodded as they all grinned at me. One by one the smiles faded as they saw that I wasn’t exactly as thrilled as they all seemed to be.

“Why aren’t you happy about this?” Hailey questioned.

“I don’t know if I’m ready for that. Obviously I want to get married someday, and unless something awful happens I want it to be to Sidney. I just think I have way too much going on in my life right now for that. Sure after next month the chemo’s done, but I have to finish school and then get a job. I have no idea what that’s going to entail or how busy I’ll be,” I explained.

“Have you talked to him about it?” Kelly wondered. I shook my head.

“I kept putting it off because I wasn’t sure he was even going to, but then today I found it.”

“Found what?” Lisa wanted to know.

I reached over and opened the drawer of Sidney’s nightstand. I heard the collective gasp as they all looked in. I watched as Grace stuck her hand in the drawer and pulled out the ring box. I felt all four pairs of eyes on me.

“Have you looked at it?” Grace asked. I shook my head. Hailey snatched the box out of Grace’s hands.

“Well, you are now,” she said.

Before I could stop her she had the box open. I felt myself cringing even before I saw the ring. There had to be some sort of rule against this. All five of us sat staring in the box and my eyes went wide when I saw it. Suddenly Kelly broke the silence when she started to giggle.

“He’s going to propose to you with the Shattuck-St. Mary’s national championship ring from high school?” she joked.

“Tanner, you’re an idiot,” Lisa threw in, grabbing the box from Hailey, snapping it shut, and then throwing it at me. I felt relief flow through me as I joined the others in their laughter. I was just apparently crazy.

“Just talk to him, Tan. You don’t have to ask him if he’s going to propose. Just have a talk about your futures together,” Grace suggested.

The next day was spent mostly trying to prepare for the Cup’s arrival the following morning. Things were hectic and I spent most of the day sitting on the couch giving out directions and orders every time Sidney started to panic about something not going right. He wanted the day to be perfect, and I didn’t blame him. Not only did he get a day with the Cup he’d battled so hard for, but it was his birthday too. And I had my own plans for that.

When it seemed like everything was under control I told Sid that I wanted to take the girls for coffee. The five of us headed out, going shopping instead. We picked up everything I was going to need, and then a present for Sidney. When we got home I left everything in the car so the surprise wouldn’t be ruined.

That night Sidney could barely even eat, he was so giddy. It was like a kid on Christmas Eve who is so excited for Santa that he can’t even sleep. I sent Sidney up to bed early because of his early wake up the next day and then the girls and I snuck everything inside. We discussed our plan for the next day and then I headed upstairs to bed myself. I was going to need all the sleep I could get.