Therapy is Good for the Soul

Bailey wrapped a towel around her hair and another around her body as she stepped out of Tyler’s shower. She sang along to Sara Evan’s “Born to Fly” while applying her favorite peaches n’ cream lotion on her legs and arms. As she took the towel on her head off, she noticed the time when she glanced at her phone.

“Holy crap! Tyler, you better shake a tail feather and hop in the shower! Em and Steven will be here any minute and we haven’t even started dinner.”

Tyler came in and wrapped his arms around Bailey’s waist, before planting a kiss on her cheek. “You should have let me join you in the shower like I suggested.” He placed featherlike kisses along her jawline.

“We’d be runnin even later if we did that. Now scoot!” Tyler stole another quick kiss when she turned to face him and tried to gently push him away.

“You know we could always call and reschedule.”

“They’re probably already on there way, so please get in the shower.”

“Fine.” He sighed and headed towards the shower.

“Tyler Paul Seguin, What the Devil were you thinkin?!!” Bailey hollered when she looked in the mirror to put on her make-up.

“What’d I do now?” He couldn’t help but laugh when she stomped her foot and placed her hand on her hip as she turned towards him. He knew laughing would only piss her of more, but he couldn’t help it; she was just too adorable when she was trying to look intimidating.

“Stop laughin! It’s not funny Tyler! I can’t believe you did this!” She said pointing to the rather large cluster of hickeys on the right side of her neck. “For Pete’s sake we’re not in high school!”

Tyler sauntered over to her, placed his hands on her hips and pulled her flush to him. “I’m sorry Bay, but you’re just too irresistible! I can’t control myself when I’m around you sometimes.” He seductively began to nibble on her neck.

“TYLER STOP IT! You’re goin to make it even worse.”

His eyes held hers, and the corner of his sensual lips lifted in amusement, He leaned in closer until he was whispering in her ears “Sorry, you just smell and taste so damn good!” Tyler lightly traced his fingers over her bare shoulders and followed the trail with feathery kisses driving Bailey wild. His eyes blazed darker as he placed his hand on her chin and turned her face towards his. He grazed his tongue across her bottom lip before giving it a gentle tug allowing an entrance for his tongue to connect with hers. They were both breathless when they finally pulled apart startled by Bailey’s phone ringing.

“Hey Bailey, you ok?” Em couldn’t help but notice Bailey’s audible breaths.

“Uhm, yeah, just rushin to get ready.” She gently smacked Tyler’s hand away and whisper yelled, “Quit!” as he tried to continue where they left off and distract her. He chuckled as he watched Bailey’s skin flush while Emily questioned her and she did a horrible job trying to convince her best friend she hadn’t interrupted them making out. “I was runnin around like a chicken with its head cut off tryin to clean up, that’s all. Tyler’s been in the other room.”

“Bailey, you know I can still read you like a book and you’re a horrible liar! Not to mention I can hear Tyler, so give it up girl. Anyways, I will let you get back to the fun you two were clearly having, but I just wanted to let you know Steven and I are running behind. We’ll probably be twenty minutes late. Is that ok?”

“No problem, that’s actually better for us too.”

“I bet! See you soon.”

“You too, bye Em.” Bailey’s cheeks must have turned ten different shades of red while she was on the phone with Emily. She narrowed her eyes and glared at Tyler after she hung up the phone. “I’m goin to kill you!”

“Love you!”

“I love you too. Now Git!” She shooed him away and pointed to the shower. He kissed her cheek one last time before hoping in the shower, laughing all the way.

After Bailey finished getting ready, she headed to the kitchen and started cleaning and cutting potatoes to season and throw in the oven. Tyler joined her about ten minutes later. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her cheek.

“Nice scarf.”

Bailey spun around and swat his chest. “Very funny. It’s so damn huge and dark I can’t cover it with make-up. You’re lucky I had this here.” She tugged on the infinity scarf while sending a little glare in Tyler’s direction.

“I just wanted to let everyone know how much I love you.” He smirked.

“Mmm Hmm. I think I prefer this gesture a bit more.” She held up her left hand and wiggled her ring finger to show off her engagement ring.

“That’s not as much fun though.”

“Whatever. Now, come on we need to get dinner ready. Will you please get the grill started?”

“Anything for you.” He bent down to kiss her cheek before heading outside to start the grill. When he came back in there was a knock on the door. “I got it.” He opened the door to greet Emily and Steven. “Come on in guys.”

“Hey y’all. We’re runnin a bit behind so dinner isn’t ready yet. Can I get y’all somethin to drink?”

“What do you have?” Steven asked.

“Beer, tea, juice, coke, Gatorade, and water.”

“I’ll take a beer.” He replied.

“Tea for you Em?”

“You know it!”

Bailey walked over to the kitchen and pulled out two glasses from the cupboard. She filled both with ice, then opened the refrigerator to pull out two beers and the pitcher of fresh brewed sweet tea. She handed Tyler and Steven the beers and gave Emily a glass of tea.

“I brought some bridal magazines and my wedding album we can go through to give you some ideas.” Emily held up the shopping bag she brought.

“Perfect! The only things we’ve decided are who’s goin to be in the weddin, the date, and our colors. Why don’t you take those over to the couch and I’ll join you after I finish seasonin the veggies.”

After she put the final touches on the vegetables she handed the container to Tyler. He bent down and gave her a quick kiss before he and Steven headed outside to the grill. Bailey started cleaning the counter area she’d been working on. The boys came back in a few minutes later to get the steaks marinating in the refrigerator, a plate for the vegetables, and more beers.

"What are y'all laughin about over there?"

"Nothing much, just how your trying to hide a hickey with that scarf"

"Oh my God Tyler; I can't believe you told him we had make-up sex!"

Tyler literally spit out the beer in his mouth and stared at Bailey in disbelief while Steven busted out laughing. "He didn't but you just did." Emily joined Steven and they were both hysterically laughing at Bailey's slip of the tongue.

"Then how did you know about the dang hickeys?"

"I swear I didn't say anything, we were talking about the streaker at the Red Sox game last night."

"He's telling the truth; he didn't say a peep about you. I was just joking; I had no idea that was the real reason for the scarf."

Bailey skin was beet red as she was flustered and embarrassed. She wanted to run and hide in that moment. Tyler sensed this and pulled her into an embrace. Bailey gripped the front of his shirt with both hands and pressed her forehead into his chest. "I should push you away right now."

"Why? I'm not the one with a big mouth."

She tugged on his shirt then gave him a gentle shove. "It wouldn't have been an issue if you didn't give me this stupid love tattoo!"

Tyler couldn't help but chuckle, and bent down to kiss the top of her head. "Can't blame that on me either; It's your fault for being so damn sweet!" She shook her head and rolled her eyes, as she felt the flush return to cover her face.

"Let me see what all the drama is about; I bet it isn't even that bad." Emily came over to take a look at Bailey's neck. Bailey unwrapped the infinity scarf and pulled it over her head. "Holy Shit! Damn, Tyler you got her good! That thing is huge!"

Bailey swat Tyler's chest. "See, I told you it was bad!"

"Looks like you'll be wearing scarves for a while."

"I'm prayin that I don't get called in tomorrow because I'm not allowed to wear scarves at work and there's no way I can cover this with make-up."

"Ugh, guess you can always go the turtleneck route."

"I don't own any and I'm sure it would look suspicious if I suddenly wore one."

"You can always go with the ole standby of its a curling iron burn." Steven chimed in.

"Ha ha! I work for a cotton pickin hospital; I think they'd see right through that. Nobody would actually fall for that anyways. I just hope it will fade and shrink enough by Monday that I can cover it with make-up. Otherwise, I guess I'll have to cover it with some gauze and paper tape and pray, unlike y'all, my coworkers take mercy on me and don't really say anything about it."

"I wouldn’t get your hopes up on that, but I wouldn’t really worry about it, we've all been there. If anything they'll be jealous of the great time you two obviously had." Emily hooked her arm through Bailey's and started pulling her towards the couch. “Here, you look through my album to get an idea of all the things we need to cover and see if you get any ideas. I’ll start looking through this one and mark dresses I think will look good on you.”

“Sounds good to me. Just remember, nothing strapless; I don’t want to worry about a Janet Jackson type wardrobe malfunction all night. I don’t want a mermaid style or frilly ruffle dress either.”

“Got it, no mermaids, ruffles, and must have straps or sleeves.”

Tyler and Steven worked on dinner while the girls looked for ideas for wedding ideas. Each time they came inside to get something, Tyler would glance over at the girls. Watching how excited Bailey seemed talking to Emily about the wedding made Tyler smile. He loved seeing so much joy in her eyes.

“Ooh this is my sister, we’ve been playing phone tag for a couple of days trying to plan her visit. Do you mind if I take it?” Emily asked Bailey when her phone rang.

“Of course not; tell Sarah I said hi.”

Emily excused herself and headed towards the kitchen while talking to her sister on the phone. She sat on one of the breakfast counter stools while looking for a pen and some paper in her purse. Meanwhile, Bailey continued to thumb through the pages of Emily and Steven’s wedding album.

Tyler came inside to grab a coupe of beers and noticed Bailey suddenly got up and headed down the hall. Something about her mannerisms made him question if something was wrong, but he second-guessed himself, figuring she probably just needed to use the restroom so he headed back outside. About ten minutes later, Tyler heard the oven timer going off.

“Are you two deaf?” Tyler asked as he headed to the kitchen to turn off the oven and take the potatoes out. He realized Bailey wasn’t in the room. “Em, where’s Bay?”

“Bathroom I guess. I just got off the phone with my sister, so I’m not really sure.”

Tyler walked over to the couch where Bailey had been sitting when he last saw her. He picked up the wedding album and immediately knew what was going on when he saw it open to the pages dedicated to Emily’s dad.

“Shit! Tyler I’m so sorry; I didn’t mean to upset her.” She immediately regretted bringing her album, as she too realized that Bailey was probably thinking about her own dad and given his prognosis became upset knowing he may not make it to her wedding.

“It’s ok. I’m going to go check on her. It may be a while so feel free to start dinner without us.” Tyler said as he headed towards his bedroom.

When he pushed open the door, he saw Bailey lying on his bed petting Marshall. Every so often he could hear audible little whimpers, letting him know she was crying. He crawled into the bed next to Bailey and reached across her waist and joined her in petting Marshall. After a few minutes of silence, he gently moved her hair and tucked it behind her ear. He kissed her cheek, before finally breaking the silence. “Bay, I’ve decided I don’t want to marry you next year.”

Bailey’s breath hitched and her entire body stiffened at Tyler’s words. She rolled over to face him. “You don’t want to marry me anymore?” More tears streamed down her face as she choked out the words.

Tyler wiped away the tears with his thumb followed by a light kiss under each eye. “My silly girl, don’t be ridiculous! Of course I still want to marry you; I just can’t wait another year to make you mine. Since you already said you won’t elope, the best solution is we get married at the end of this season, instead of next.”

The corner of Bailey’s lips turned up slightly. “You want to get married this July?” She asked checking to making sure she understood him.

“Yes. I can’t wait to make you officially mine and for me to be yours. What do you say, will you marry me?”

Bailey brought her lips to his providing the answer he needed. “Everyone’s goin to think I’m pregnant, you know.”

“Let them think what they want. This is what’s right for us!” He pressed his lips to hers. When his tongue grazed her bottom lip, she slightly opened her mouth allowing an entrance for his tongue to join hers. When they pulled apart, he looked directly in Bailey’s eyes. “Bay, I know we decided to have the wedding here, but if you’d prefer we can have it in Georgia. I can also fly your family here on a private jet and pay for one of your dad’s nurses and doctors to travel with them. Whatever your family needs, I’ll make it happen.”

“You’d really do all that for my family?”

“Of course, after all they’ll be my family too. Besides, I want our wedding day to be special and be everything your heart desires!” Tyler’s words caused Bailey to cry again. “Bay, please don’t cry.”

“Tyler Paul Seguin, you’re the sweetest and most generous man in the world! I love you!” She managed to get out in between sobs.

Tyler pulled Bailey into his chest and kissed the top of her head. “I love you with all my heart! I’m always going to do anything I can to make you happy, so you might as well get use to it.”

Bailey pulled herself even closer to Tyler and tightened their embrace. “How’d I get so lucky to have you in my life?”

“I could ask the same thing. We’re just meant to be.” He brought his lips to hers. “So, what do you think, should we get married in Georgia?”

“If it’s ok with you I’d like to talk to my parents and Daddy’s oncologist to see what they say. If they think it’s safe and he’d be up to it, I really like your idea about flyin them up with a doctor and nurse.”

“Of course it’s ok. Since we’re now on a bit of a time crunch, why don’t we hire a wedding planner to help us to make sure we have everything covered?”

“Ok, that sounds good. Thank you for bein so understandin!” She pressed her lips to his once again.

“My pleasure! Now, lets get you cleaned up so we can get back to our guests and eat because I’m starving.” Tyler kissed her cheek before they both got out of bed. After Bailey washed her face, the two of them went back to the living room.

“Bailey, I’m so sorry! I never should have brought my album.” Emily nearly tackled her best friend when she ran over and enveloped her in a hug.

“It’s ok Em. I’m actually glad you did; it made me realize there are some traditions that are really important to me. Tyler and I talked and we’re goin to push the weddin up and get married this summer.”

“Wow! That’s right around the corner. Are you sure you can pull that off with work and all?”

“I know we can. As a matter of fact, Tyler and I decided earlier today that I’m goin to cut back my hours at the hospital to part time so we can spend more time together.” Tyler placed his hands on Bailey’s shoulders as she spoke and planted a kiss on the top of her head.

“Wow! Never thought I’d hear my workaholic best friend say that. She must really love you Tyler.”

“No one knows that better than me.” Tyler said as he bent down to kiss Bailey’s cheek and wrapped his arms around her waist.

“Planning a wedding on such short notice is still a big undertaking for just the two of you, especially with Tyler getting ready for the playoffs.”

“We know, Tyler suggested we hire a weddin planner, so that should help. Plus I’m kind of hopin my best friend and matron of honor is willin to help too. What do you say?”

“Of course, I’ll do anything you need. Wait, did you just ask me to be your matron of honor?” Bailey smiled and nodded her head yes, then both girls erupted in screams as they hugged each other while jumping up and down in excitement. Tyler and Steven just shook their heads and chuckled at their girls being silly.

“All right ladies, do you think you can calm down long enough for us to eat?” Steven inquired.

Emily stuck her tongue out at her husband. “You’re just jealous because they want me in the wedding and not you.”

“Actually, we’d like Steven to read one of our scripture passages if he’s willing.” Tyler chimed in.

“Ha! And I’d love too. Thanks for including me.”

“Great, now that it’s settled that both of you will be a part of our wedding, let’s eat.”

The girls hugged each other one last time before heading to the table. Bailey made sure to give Steven a hug as well before she sat down. Steven said a quick blessing before they began eating. The group discussed possible locations that would work for the ceremony and reception during dinner. After they were done eating, they took their conversation to the living room and Tyler’s couch.

“Since you’re getting married this summer, you’ll need to do your gift registry soon. Have you thought about what stores you want to register at?”

Bailey turned to face Tyler. “I’ve actually been thinkin about this ever since you proposed. Between the two of us, we already have so much stuff, and well please don’t take this the wrong way, but you make a crap load of money. It just seems wrong to ask people for gifts, when we can afford to get them ourselves.”

“Now I see how things are; once we get married you want to spend all my money.”

Bailey got nervous and a look of worry crossed her face. “No, that’s not what I meant.” Tyler started to laugh and pulled Bailey into his side before she got any more flustered.

“I know what you meant Bay; I was just teasing you. I’m fine with not registering for gifts if that’s what you really want. However, I’m pretty sure people are still going to want to give us something.”

“I thought about that too. What if we asked them to make donations to the American Cancer Society or your foundation instead of gettin us somethin we probably don’t need?”

Tyler couldn’t help but smile; he loved Bailey’s generous heart. He kissed her cheek. “I think that’s a wonderful idea! We can list both charities so the guests have a choice.”

“Well that will definitely save you a lot of time, aggravation, and boredom.” Steven said.

“Tyler, look through their weddin album while it’s here and see what you think. I really like all the candids and black and white photos they got. If you like the photos, we can use their photographer, so that will be one less thing we need to stress about too.” Tyler grabbed the album off the side table and started thumbing through the pages.

“Bailey, besides confirming a location, you really need to decide on a dress very soon. It will take some time for it to come in and you know you’ll need alterations for length in the very least.”

“Are you tryin to say I’m short or somethin?” Everyone laughed, knowing it was very unlikely that any dresses would already be tailor made to her petite frame. “Brittany and Katie said they want to come for that too. Maybe we can do it in a couple of weeks when the team’s on the road. Since Momma can’t come, I’m goin to Skype her, so she can still be a part of the decision, especially since her and Daddy are payin for it.”

“Bay, I told you, your parents don’t need to pay for anything. I can cover the entire wedding, including your dress.”

“I know Tyler, and I tried to tell them that, but they insist that they pay for certain things. They had a weddin savins for each of us and if we don’t use it, it will hurt their feelins. Just hope Brittany’s expensive tastes can understand I’m workin on a budget.”

“I’ll make sure Looch talks to her about it, so you don’t have to worry.”

“Thank you.” Bailey gave Tyler a quick kiss. “I can’t believe we’re really goin to do this.”

“You’ve said yes twice to me now, so there’s no going back.” He pulled Bailey into his side.

“Are you kiddin me? July can’t get here fast enough!” She wrapped her arms around his torso and pulled herself even closer to his body.

“The two of you are sickening cute; I almost can’t stand it.”

“You know you were just as lovey dovey before your weddin too.”

“Not sure we were quite as bad as you, but we did have our moments.” Emily decided to do some cuddling of her own and rest her head on Steven’s shoulder.

The couples enjoyed each other’s company for the rest of the evening talking about wedding ideas for Bailey and Tyler. When Steven noticed Emily yawning, he decided they’d better call it a night. Bailey wrapped her arms around Tyler’s waist as soon as he turned around from closing the door after their guests left. Tyler didn’t hesitate to return her embrace.

“Thank you.” Bailey whispered into Tyler’s chest. His response was a simple, “I love you” and a kiss to the top of her head while his hands gently rubbed her back in a comforting and loving manner.

Notes

I feel awful that it's been forever since I've posted a new chapter! I got really sick and was out of commission for a while, then had to play catch up with school. I hope i didn't lose all my readers because it's been so long. Anyways, I hope you like this one and as always I'd love your feedback!

THANKS AGAIN for Reading Bailey and Tyler's story!!!!