Chapter 41

Sidney lay curled up in bed next to Tanner, unable to sleep. He’d been wired since the day before. His alarm was going to go off in 10 minutes and then he was going to head out to pick up the Cup. Tanner had sent him up to bed early hoping he’d get some sleep, but it hadn’t happened. He’d curled up to her immediately when she’d come to bed hoping that would help him sleep. He’d managed to sleep on and off a little bit, but he was wide awake now.

For the next 10 minutes he decided he was just going to enjoy the last little bit of time he’d have alone with Tanner before the excitement of the next two days. They were going to be a whirlwind but he was looking forward to them and glad Tanner was here to experience them with him. The alarm went off and he quickly turned it off.

“Good morning,” he whispered to Tanner when he curled back up to her. She pulled her knees up to her chest and groaned. “Are you okay?” She made some sort of half whine, half moan noise in response. “Tanner, what’s wrong?”

“I think I’m going to be sick,” she mumbled, burying her head into her pillow. His heart dropped a little bit. This couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t be having a bad day today. She had to be there with him.

“Do you need me to help you into the bathroom?” he asked. She shook her head and pulled her knees even closer to her chest.

“I think if I move I’ll get sick immediately. Maybe this will pass.” She kept her eyes squeezed closed and was taking long deep breaths. He knew she was really feeling bad if she was doing that.

“I can’t believe this is happening to you today,” he groaned as he placed a kiss on her cheek.

“I’m sorry,” she sighed and he saw a tear fall down her cheek.

“No, don’t apologize. It’s not your fault. I just hate that you feel like this ever. You know that.”

“You should start getting ready. Maybe I’ll feel better soon. I just need to lie here for a minute.” He kissed her forehead before getting out of bed.

He moved around the room in the dark, grabbing his clothes and making his way into the bathroom to get ready. He was upset and disappointed about everything. He wanted Tanner there next to him for everything, but he couldn’t make her do that when she was obviously feeling like she was. It just wasn’t fair that she had to go through this. He finished up and walked back into the bedroom.

“Are you feeling any better?” he asked as he sat down on the bed. Tanner was still curled up in the same position she was in when he’d left the room.

“Worse,” she grumbled. He sighed. “I think I have to stay here today. I’ll never make it to the cruise tonight if I push it.” He knew she was right, but he didn’t like it.

“Are you sure?” She nodded and he frowned. This was not how he’d pictured his day starting. “Okay. I have to get going or I’ll be late. I hate that you’re feeling like this. I wish you could come with me.”

“I’ll see you later though. Have fun with everything. And happy birthday.”

“Thanks. I love you. I’ll see you tonight.” She attempted a smile that looked more like a grimace. He gave her one last kiss before making his way downstairs.

“Morning,” Hailey greeted him when he walked into the kitchen. He nearly jumped out of his skin.

“What the hell are you doing up so early?” he asked, his heart racing. She looked up at him and laughed as she took a sip of her coffee and turned the page of the newspaper.

“I’m a morning person,” she replied. He looked at her skeptically.

“I’ve never seen you awake before noon,” he joked. She laughed again.

“You were only at our place on mornings after I was out drinking all night,” she shot back. “Where’s Tanner?”

“She’s not feeling well so she decided to stay back for the day so she can hopefully come out tonight for the cruise,” he told her. She scrunched up her face.

“That’s no good. I’ll go up and check on her in a bit.”

“Thanks. I’ve gotta get going. I’ll see all of you tonight.” Hailey nodded and he left the house to pick up his family. Then it was on to get the Cup.










I stayed curled up in bed after Sidney left, wishing my headache would just go away. I heard footsteps in the hallway and a quiet knock on the door. Before I could say anything I heard the door creak open slowly.

“Tanner?” I heard Hailey whisper.

“I’m awake,” I said. She walked over and sat down on the bed.

“He’s gone.” I threw the blankets off of me and rolled over. “Nice acting job. He looked really concerned.”

“Well, I didn’t have to do a ton of acting. I have a killer headache,” I told her.

“Do you want to get some more sleep then?” she asked.

“No, there’s too much to do. I’ll get Grace. You get Lisa and Kelly.” She nodded before leaving the room.

I walked down the hall to the room Grace was using. I knocked on the door but there was no response. I opened the door and could see Grace sleeping. I called out to her but she didn’t move. I made my way over to the bed and considered how to wake her up. I launched myself onto the bed, causing the mattress to bounce her in the air.

“What the hell?!” she yelled, jolting awake. I giggled and she glared at me.

“Sidney’s gone. It’s time to get up.”

“I could kill you.”

“You were dead to the world. I couldn’t think of any other way to wake you.” She glared at me in response. “Okay, well, we need to get going soon. Meet downstairs in an hour?” She just continued to glare and I laughed before getting up and walking out of the room.

An hour later all five of us were sitting in the kitchen having breakfast. I went over everything that we needed to do that day. I’d thought about splitting the group up to get things done quicker, but I wanted everything done perfectly so we stayed together. Once breakfast was over we piled into a car and headed out.

Hours later we were back at the house carting things inside. We had to store everything in the basement which was a huge pain in the ass, but necessary. Once all of that was done we sat down and started diagramming and planning out a schedule for the next day. We finished with just enough time to get ready for the cruise that night.

“How are you feeling?” Sid asked when I arrived later. I shrugged, still putting on the act.

“Not great, but I didn’t want to miss this,” I told him. He smiled at me sadly and I almost felt bad for misleading him, but I knew it would be worth it.

“Tanner!” I heard an accented male voice yell. I turned and smiled as I was enveloped in a hug.

“Hi, Max. How are you?”

“Fantastic. I’m glad you felt well enough to come out tonight.”

“Do you think I would risk not seeing you? Not a chance,” I joked. He grinned at me as we filed onto the boat.

The cruise was a lot of fun. Sidney’s friends and family were all there and Max was as entertaining as always. When we finally got back to Sid’s it didn’t take much convincing to get him to go right upstairs to bed with me. I was afraid that he’d figure out something was going on if he stayed downstairs too long.

“Do you want your presents now?” I asked when we got into bed that night. He looked over at me and grinned.

“You got me presents?” he asked giddily, rubbing his hands together. I rolled my eyes at him and leaned over, pulling the two presents out from under the bed.

“They’re really not anything special. I couldn’t really get out to get you anything, so I’m sorry that they’re kind of lame,” I told him.

He placed a kiss on my forehead before deciding which gift to open first. Sidney chose the bigger one first and I had to contain my giggle. He ripped the paper off and looked down at the stuffed pig in confusion. He held it up to me with a questioning look on his face.

“Thanks?” he questioned. I laughed.

“When I was at your parents’ I noticed you were missing something that I knew I had to replace. While I don’t know what the original Puckchop looked like, I thought this guy was cute enough to be a replacement.” Sidney started to laugh.

“I’ll never live that story down, will I?” I shook my head with a grin on my face.

He moved on to the second gift and my smile faded. I hoped it wasn’t too lame or sentimental for him. He ripped the paper off and then looked at the cover of the album for a minute before looking up at me. I averted my eyes, still nervous about how he’d feel. He opened the album and started flipping through pages. It was a basic scrapbook, full of pictures, quotes, and mementos from our relationship. When he was done, he closed the book and didn’t say a word.

“It sucks, I know. I’m sorry. I swear I do better than this with presents when I can actually get out of the house,” I started to ramble. He shut me up by placing his lips on mine. I melted into the kiss, forgetting about my worries.

“This is the best gift anyone has ever given me,” he whispered as he pulled away. I smiled while keeping my forehead pressed to his.

“Really?” He smiled too.

“I mean it. You just have to promise me one thing.”

“Anything.”

“Keep this updated.” My smile grew and I kissed him.

“I will.” We laid back on the bed and cuddled up together.

“I love you, Tanner. Thank you.” He kissed me again before we fell asleep.