Page 38 of Always Earned, Never Given

Declan:Don’t waste your money, Dad.

Coach Sinclair:I’m ignoring everything you say, Dec.

Declan:I feel the love, Dad.

Katherine:Aiden, feel free to invite Sabrina. The girls can room together.

Annabelle:I don’t think I’m supposed to be on this text chain, but congrats!!

Coach Sinclair:I added you to this, Annabelle. You and Tommy are family, and we’d really like it if you’d both be there.

Annabelle:I...I don’t know what to say.

Nattie:Say you’ll come, Belles. It’ll be fun, and you already closed the studio for that week.

Annabelle:We would love to. Thank you so much! Tommy will be so excited.

Katherine:Annabelle, we’d really like Tommy to be the ring bearer if he’d want to.

Annabelle:He would love that. (BTW I’m not crying right now. That’s someone else)

Katherine:Aiden, please tell Sebastian we’d like him to come as well.

Carys:Can I bring a friend?

Katherine:We can discuss that later.

Carys:How’s that fair?

Murphy:Sucks to be the youngest, Care Bear

Nattie:I love you, Daddy!

Coach Sinclair:I love you too, honey. Now go tell your boyfriend he’s bunking with Murphy!

Wiping the very real tears from my face, I force myself to pull it together and smile at the thought of celebrating Coach and Katherine’s wedding with all our friends. Then I start to think about how Tommy will handle a night like that. My spiraling thoughts are interrupted by another ping on my phone. My smile comes back in full force when I see that this time it really is the girls.

Group Text:

Nattie:Hey, Hey, Ladies. My dad just announced the wedding date, and it’s New Year’s Eve.

Chloe:Woo-hoo! Big Daddy Sinclair’s really putting a ring on it!

Nattie:Zip it, Chloe. Kathrine’s had a ring on it for months now.

Chloe:Maybe he’s putting a ring somewhere else. I hear older guys are all about the Prince Alberts.

Nattie:Oh, gross!

Sabrina:Yay! That’s great, Nat.

Nattie:Oh, Annabelle?

Annabelle:I knew this was coming...What, Nattie?

Nattie:Should we expect you and Declan to sneak away for some secret nookie?

Chloe:WTF! When did Belles and Dec have secret nookie? Why didn’t anyone tell me?

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