Game Plan
Thursday had arrived quickly. After my and Spencer's apple orchard date, we headed back to my house and turned on an old slasher movie while we ate all the baked goods he had gotten.
After clocking out for the day, I threw open the back doors and windows to let in the fresh air. The space immediately smelled like a crisp fall day. Dolly took this as her cue to bolt outside and jump into the piles of leaves scattered through the back yard—barking as they fell around her.
Following her outside to let the sun heat my skin, the grass was warm against my feet as I stepped into the yard.
The smell of freshly cut grass hit me as a small breeze fluttered around me.
I snatched up the tennis ball that Dolly brought to me and tossed it out for her a few times.
This was my little slice of heaven. The sun beat against my skin, warm enough to feel the heat; fall was in full swing with the gorgeous foliage, and my sweet girl was running and living her best life.
Eventually, I made my way to the kitchen to start dinner, and I popped some chicken in the oven for Spencer and me. Since I needed to pack for the Roberts Family girl trip, he was coming to keep me company. I’d also use it as an excuse to see him some more since I wouldn’t for a week.
Stepping into the pantry, I rummaged around the shelves looking for sides to pair with the chicken. I placed my hands on my hips, waiting for something to jump out at me because nothing sounded good. While I was looking for sides to make, I heard the front door open.
“Knock knock, I’m here!” a familiar tenor voice yelled from the front door.
“In the pantry!” I hollered out to him. I was still rummaging through everything when Spencer stepped inside.
“There’s my beautiful girl.” He grabbed my face and pulled me into a deep kiss. Every kiss we shared felt like a first kiss all over again. My stomach twisted into knots, and I always broke away smiling.
“Hey there, handsome. I missed you too. I was looking for dinner stuff.” I pulled away a little breathless and so happy to see him.
He wore a crooked grin, his glasses slightly askew, and his still-damp curl flopped over more than usual.
I reached up and adjusted his glasses and placed a small kiss on his nose.
“You didn’t have to cook. I could’ve done that, or we could’ve ordered something.”
“Oh no. It’s no big deal. Just did some chicken, so it’s easy and not much of a mess to clean up.
I—” My phone started going off from the kitchen, and my brows furrowed in confusion.
“Who could be calling me?” Stepping around him and heading to where it was sitting on the counter, I picked it up and quickly glanced at the screen to see “Mum” flashing across it.
I quickly hit accept and pulled it to my ear as I leaned against the bar, wondering why she’d be calling.
“Hey, Mom, what’s up? Everything okay?”
“Hey, sweetie. Things are… okay.” She sounded awful, and it put me on high alert right away.
“What’s wrong? You sound weird.” My spidey senses were tingling. Her tone was wrong, and I knew something had to be going on.
“I know that’s why I’m calling, sweetie. Me and Olivia are both sick. I think we got food poisoning, I’m not sure. But we can’t go on our trip, honey. I’m so sorry.”
My stomach dropped. This wasn’t their fault, of course. They couldn't help getting sick, but this really sucked. I was looking forward to this time with them. Spencer had walked up behind me at some point and rubbed his hands up and down my arms, sensing something was wrong.
“Oh, Mom, I'm so sorry. What can I do for you? What do you need? Do I need to call someone to cancel the cabin? Let me bring you some food over too. I can get you that egg drop soup from your favorite Chinese restaurant you love. If you can give me—” Immediately, I was going into caretaker mode and making a mental checklist of what all I needed to do to make sure they were okay.
“Calm down there and take a breath, Allie Grace. You don’t need to do anything.
I’ve already had some stuff ordered to the house for us.
All we can do is drink lots of fluids, try to eat some bland food, and hope it stays down.
As far as the cabin goes, if we cancel, we lose what we paid.
Why don’t you take Spencer? I’ll find us another weekend for a girls’ trip so we still have that time, baby. ”
“I’ll feel so bad, Mom, I can’t do that while you two are at home sick. Who’s going to take care of you? That’s not fair.” Spencer's arms wrapped around me in a warm embrace. His clean, masculine scent wrapped around me like a soothing balm to my fraying nerves.
“Allie Grace Roberts, now listen to me.” How is it even sick she can still pull out the mama voice?
“Don’t you dare feel guilty about me telling you to do something.
I can see how much that boy adores you and how much you adore him, and I think this little trip would be good for you two.
So you’re gonna get off this phone, you’re going to call him and tell him he’s going, and I’m going to lie down and sleep.
Understand?” I swallowed and nodded even though she couldn’t see me.
You did not want to argue with Donna, sick or not.
“Yes, ma’am, I understand. Are you sure—”
“What did I say, Allie Grace? I love you. Goodbye.” That I love you and goodbye was laced with the most sass possible.
“I love you too, Mama. Bye.” I hung the phone up and stared at my reflection on the black screen.
“Is everything okay, baby?” Spencer tentatively asked.
“Um, yeah. Well, I mean, no, not really. My mom and sister are apparently sick with possible food poisoning, so they can’t go this weekend, and I… I know it isn’t their fault, but it sucks, ya know?”
“I know love, I'm sorry.” Pulling me into him, he held me tightly as he bent down to place small kisses on the tops of my shoulders.
“She said to tell you that you need to pack and that you’re going instead.” I could feel him instantly tense up. I turned around to finally face him, and he braced his arms on the bar, caging me between them.
“What? I couldn’t possibly go. This was a trip for your family. Your mom paid for this cabin, right? I-I would feel awful.”
“I said the same thing for feeling guilty, and she said to essentially suck it up and have fun.” I laughed because, even sick, good ole Donna got her way.
“Are you sure, Allie? I know how important this was for you,” Spencer asked, his tone and eyes full of worry.
“I know it’s last-minute, but maybe she’s right. This will be fun and good for us. Besides, if no one goes, we lose money.”
I didn’t want my mom to lose any money, so it made the most logical sense for Spencer and me to go. And I did think it would be good for us to travel together, even if it was only a short distance away.
“I’ll need to run home and put in time off and grab stuff, but yeah, I think I’d really like this. It’ll be fun to experience it for the first time with you.”
“Well, in that case, why don’t we run to your place to grab stuff real quick after dinner, and then I can pack when I get back?” I smiled at him, feeling excited that I got to show him around for the first time.
We got to his apartment, and I helped him gather clothes together to try to speed up the process.
He worked on grabbing an assortment – shorts, jeans, button-ups, and T-shirts.
I made my way to the bathroom and grabbed all his shower stuff, toothbrush, and other essentials as well.
I looked at his body wash, and ah ha, there it is.
Scents of eucalyptus, cyprus, and white birch.
Thank you, scent gods. He always smelled so damned good.
After he made sure everything was packed, he hopped onto his work computer and put in time off for tomorrow and Monday as well, since I took that day off too.
I was excited that he was able to get it approved at the last minute, but he said his boss was flexible when it came to time off.
After we made sure he had everything packed, we checked all his windows to make sure they were locked, then turned all but two lamps off.
I took his suitcase to the car for him while he made sure the front door was locked.
Quickly loading his suitcase into my trunk, we hopped in the car and headed back to my house so I could pack everything I’d need.
I tried to start earlier in the week, but work had been so busy that I felt so drained afterwards that I didn’t have the mental capacity to work on it.
Emma was usually my go-to packing partner, but she had her stretch of twelves at the hospital, and then she had been acting off, so I let her have the space she needed.
Emma was like a scared animal backed into a corner.
If I pushed her too much, she’d clam up even further and try to convince herself nothing was actually wrong.
Whenever she was ready, she’d talk to me about whatever was wrong.
Needless to say, I had absolutely nothing ready, and it was stressing me out to the max.
I grabbed my iPad out and propped it up on my dresser with my packing list so I could check everything off as I went.
Traveling Allie was a different creature altogether.
I needed everything to be perfect and in order, or I would be completely stressed out over it.
“What can I do to help you, my love?” Spencer asked as he walked up behind me to wrap his arms around me.
“How about you sit here in this spot on the bed while I pack.” Plastering a smile on my face, I tried to make sure my tone came out friendly and not like he was in my way or anything.
I got overwhelmed when it came to things like this.
I was so used to doing it on my own that it was easier for me to do it and not ask for help.
“Are you sure? You helped me with pretty much all of my stuff. I don’t want to sit here and feel like you can’t rely on me.”