The Total Package (20 page)

“Don’t worry, darlin’. It stopped being food a while ago. Now you just sort of smell like warm cinnamon.”

“That explains the burning in my nose.”

She leaned over the toilet one more time, but there was no other sound except her painful dry heaves. Tyson left the bathroom, and after she was done, she fell away from the bowl and limply to the floor.

“These tiles are nice and cold,” she said to no one in particular.

Dani didn’t know how long Tyson left her there, but when she heard him speak, it sounded far away.

“I think you’ve slept here long enough,” he said matter-of-factly before bending down to scoop her up into his strong capable arms. She weakly curled up within them and laid her head on his shoulder.

“You really are the total package, Tyson.”

“You’re not so bad yourself, sister,” he replied as he carried her back into the bedroom. The sheets were already turned down and there were ten bottles of water lined up in rows on the nightstand. He gently placed her on the bed and opened one of the bottles before saying, “I know it’s the last thing you want to do, but you need to drink as much of this as you can.”

Being a good girl, she obediently sat up and tried to follow his instructions by taking several sips. Then she lay back down. A minute later, her eyes opened wide and she was back to moaning.

“I can’t stop the room from spinning.”

“Take one of your feet and put it on the floor. It’ll make you feel grounded,” he told her.

She planted a foot flat on the floor. Much to her relief it worked. It was completely awkward, but she was willing to stay in the ridiculous position all night if it kept the nausea to a minimum.

“Ha-ha. Grounded. That’s what I should be. For like two weeks.” She gave him one more giggle.

“I have a pretty good idea your day tomorrow will be punishment enough,” he replied, letting himself enjoy the adorableness of it one last time.

“You know all the tricks,” she murmured before passing out.

Tyson covered her up as best he could and tucked her in with a kiss to her forehead. He stood beside the bed and watched her, waiting a few minutes to make sure she was going to stay asleep. Before leaving to make his way back to the party he leaned over to kiss her one more time and said, “Except the one to get you outta my head.”

CHAPTER 15

DANI’S EYES FELT
like crusty, burning pits before she opened them. She kept them closed as she debated which was more debilitating, her pounding head or her queasy stomach. Her mouth felt like an army had marched through it and half the troops had wiped their boots on her tongue.

But her eyes shot open as soon as the memory of how she spent her New Year’s Eve came flooding back. Dani quickly sat up, and with the movement her stomach took the lead in the “what’s worse” contest.

With a slow and mortified turn of her head, she checked the other side of the bed and found it empty, with no indication that the covers had been moved in any way. Her panty hose and bra were still on under her nightgown.

Of course he went back to his own room,
she thought miserably, carefully swinging both feet over the side of the bed and onto the floor. She placed her elbows on her knees and the heels of her palms on her eyes in an effort to stop the throbbing.
Not even Tiger Woods could get turned on by last night’s display.

She picked her head back up and spied all the bottles of water lined up on the nightstand. She also found the notepad with the DoubleTree heading and Tyson’s neat, legible handwriting.

Happy New Year, Dani. Breakfast is 9 at Aqua. Checkout is noon.

He had the unmitigated gall to add a smiley face.

Dani covered one eye and glanced over at the digital clock at the opposite side of the bed: 9:45. Too late to join whoever else was downstairs in the hotel’s restaurant. That was probably for the best. Not only was the mere thought of food revolting, but she also had no desire to do the walk of shame in front of Mr. God’s-Gift-to-Women and his new bride. Or Chase Walker and his sassy wife, who hadn’t touched a drop. She had embarrassed herself and Tyson enough.

“Tyson,” Dani groaned out loud as a new wave of queasiness, this one mixed with a hearty dose of humiliation, washed over her. She fell back onto the bed praying another hour would be enough to sleep it off.

DANI AWOKE WITH A START
an hour and a half later. She scrambled to take a quick shower and pack up, forced to temporarily put her suffering on hold. She didn’t bother looking into the mirror after taking off what was left of last night’s smeared makeup. Her face was sallow, and her eyes had circles around them dark enough to get the job as the cover model for
Raccoon Quarterly
. No amount of concealer or blush in her little bag of tricks would save her. The only thing that was going to help change how she looked was time and a whole lot of sleep. It was impossible for Dani to wrap her head around the fact that there were people who indulged in such behavior on a regular basis.

She sat on the bed after getting dressed, trying to stall until the last possible minute before going down to the lobby and facing him. At 11:55 there was a light knock on her door. Thinking it was housekeeping, she went to let them in. She opened the door to find Tyson instead.

“Morning, Dani,” he said with a small telling smile as he walked into her room to get her suitcase. Without asking, he reached for her hand and placed two Advil in it. “How you feeling?”

“That question is rhetorical, right?” she groaned. Her fingers curled around the much-needed pain medication like they were diamonds.

“That good?” he continued, glancing over at the nightstand and the still untouched bottles of water. He took one and held it out to her. “I promise, the more of these you drink, the quicker you’ll start feeling up to snuff. You have to hydrate. Your brain is banging all around in there from lack of water.”

He pulled up the handle on her bag and began to roll it behind him. “We’re all checked out. I made your good-byes to the Montgomerys and the Walkers. They asked me to tell you it was nice to meet you. And they hope you feel better.”

Dani was still too muddled and fuzzy to tell if he was being sarcastic. She only knew one thing: she wasn’t going to get a read by looking at him, since shame prevented her from meeting his eyes. And that was a real pity, because under normal circumstances, looking at him always made her top-ten list.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to say good-bye,” she mumbled, contrite.

“It was only the Montgomerys this morning, all forty of them. The Walkers left last night. Chase was all hyped and yelling something about getting back to living the dream.”

Dani kept her eyes on the floor. Right about now, Chase Walker was lavishing love and affection on his wife after finding out he was going to become a father.

Mercifully, Tyson led her out through a side door. Dani poured herself into the passenger’s seat and let him drive them back to the airport. They were quiet, but for different reasons she was sure. She was in twelve kinds of agony, and not all of them included the amber liquid that had turned her inside out. He was merely thoughtful. At first she didn’t think much of it. Too many things were hurting her. And Tyson was good with comfortable silences. She had just worked up the nerve to start slipping in a few random glances at him when he spoke up.

“Dani,” Tyson began slowly. “I think you may have been right in saying it was bad policy for us to be seeing each other. I think us going to this wedding together was a mistake.”

“I’m sorry I embarrassed you,” she said immediately.

“No, it’s not that,” he was quick to assure her. “But it is a stark reminder of just how different we really are. You got so blasted last night, but other than a wicked hangover, you don’t have a problem. And by that I mean, you can go out socially, tie one on, suffer the consequences, and not drink for another six months without missing it. I’ll never have that luxury. It’s not fair for me to expect you to give up cocktails at a party or a beer at a game just because I have to. But it’s also not fair
to
me to have to sit by and watch you do it. I make you so uncomfortable you didn’t even feel like you could drink in front of me last night. I can’t be responsible for something like that.”

“I don’t blame you if you don’t believe me, but I swear this was a very, very rare occurrence. I don’t know what came over me.” She knew exactly why she did it, but how was she supposed to tell him any of her reasons now? Even the one about her shoes turning against her would just make her look reckless and stupid. She tried to make a small joke out of it. “It’s another first I got to share with you.”

Tyson continued like she hadn’t spoken. He sounded resolved, although not actually sad. “There are just too many painful memories attached to it for me.”

Dani knew in that one sentence he had already made up his mind. He wasn’t lecturing her, and this wasn’t about making her repent. He had thought about it rationally, then decided his course of action, what he thought was best for everyone involved. But for Dani, the disappointment was sudden, and crushing. Her response was to once again erect her wall of anger.

“You’re probably right. We’re not really a good fit,” she told him curtly. She knew Tyson well enough to know there was really nothing else to say that would make any difference.

“If it’s all right with you, I’d love to go back to being friends. I still think you’re amazing. I’m just not the guy for you.”

But his kindness was too little, too late. How nice of him to decide what was and was not right for her. She nodded, stone-faced, and he took her silence to mean she was still suffering and left her to nursing her hangover.

Nothing more was said for the rest of the ride, except that Tyson insisted that she keep drinking the bottles of water he brought along. Sometimes she took his advice, sometimes she didn’t; all the while she intermittently stole glances at him. His face was unreadable.

“You going to be okay to drive home?” he asked politely as they got off the turnpike exit for the airport.

“Of course,” she replied stiffly
. I’m used to you getting your jockstrap twisted in a bunch and discarding me.

Tyson pulled the car in front of the terminal and they both got out. He went to grab his garment bag out of the trunk and she started making her way around the car to take the driver’s seat. They met at the rear bumper, finally coming face-to-face. His look had softened and hers had turned to stone.

“I’ll see you back in Austin?” he asked encouragingly.

“Unless you get me fired before then” was her ice-cold response.

Tyson shook his head and sighed. He hated the look on her face, and fought the urge to wrap his arms around her. He knew if he kissed her, all he had just put her through would be for naught. “Dani, it’s not like that, and you know it.”

Before he could say anything more, they heard the shrill yet familiar sounds of strangers shrieking, “Hey! It’s Tyson Palmer. Over there!”

“Your public awaits,” she said, her tone bland. Then she brushed past him to get back into the car. She looked over her shoulder as she opened the door. “Happy New Year, Tyson.”

“Happy New Year, darlin’.” Tyson watched the taillights of the Mercedes as she drove away.

Dani headed back to Ardmore and probably would’ve started to cry, but she was too dehydrated to produce any tears. There wasn’t a single part of her body that didn’t feel sick and sore. Now she could add her heart to the mix, the only part that wouldn’t feel better over time and was already used to the ache. By the time she reached the rest area right before her exit to the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the water caught up to her and she made a pit stop. She dragged herself out of the car to the restroom, telling herself that she should be grateful and relieved. He had made it easy for her. She would never subject Brendon to someone as rigid and unyielding as Tyson. Her secret could forever remain just that. Hers.

She was so preoccupied with the stern self-lecture of all the things she would need to do moving forward, she never felt her iPhone slip out of her jacket pocket. It fell silently onto the bathroom stall floor, secure in its thin protective case.

By the time she realized it was missing she was already back home and had slept the day away, interrupted by occasional visits from Brendon to check on her by prying open her eyes with his fingers. It was only after her brothers reported getting some pretty outrageous texts that Dani starting manically searching for her phone. Then the Mavericks front office checked in to ask her why she was calling and hanging up on Tyson, Marcus, Cameraman Stan, and her boss. They also wanted to know just how many people she knew in Guatemala and why she would want to talk to them for nine hours.

Her cell phone carrier shut off the phone and the Mavericks office assured her a new phone and number would be waiting for her upon her return to Texas. All her contacts were lost in the mayhem. She would be denied the opportunity to tell Tyson to lose her number, assuming he had second thoughts and tried to reach out after dumping her. But she knew better than to think he might indulge in a late-night drunken text fest.