Chapter 71

**So, this is a little break from Sidney and Lauren, just because I love Marc and Vero so much! Hope you all enjoy it - no fears, the stars of the story will be back next chapter!**

Chapter 71

“Wake up, mon amie!” Marc said cheerfully, planting kisses all over Vero’s face. She scrunched her nose up, refusing to open her eyes.

“I thought today was a day off. Why are you waking me up so early?” She said, her eyes still closed.

“Because we have plans.” Marc said, and Vero cracked an eye open to find an excited grin on Marc’s face.

“We do? What are our plans?”

“I can’t tell you that. It’s a surprise. But we’ve got to get going.” He said, throwing the covers off and tugging on her arms until she got up out of bed.

“A surprise? What kind of surprise?” she eyed him carefully.

“A good one, I promise. It’ll be fun. Lauren assured me you would like it.”

“Lauren knows what the surprise is?” Vero said, reaching for her phone on the nightstand, but Marc intercepted it and held it above his head, much to Vero’s protest.

“Just because I woke you up this early doesn’t mean you can wake her up. Besides, she’s sworn to secrecy.”

“Oh, I bet I could get her to tell.” Vero said. “Us women stick together.” She explained, matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, she thought you might say that. She promised she would break that woman code thing in this instance. She promised that you would like it.”

“Well, if Lauren said so, then I will go.” Vero said, heading for the bathroom.

“So you’ll take Lauren’s word, but not mine?” Marc asked, chuckling.

“Yep.” Vero said simply, standing in the doorway with her toothbrush.

“Oh, and you don’t need to take a shower before we go.” Marc said, putting some clothes into his suitcase.

“Excuse me?” She asked quizzically.

“Just trust me.” He said, planting a kiss on her forehead as he brushed past her to grab his own toothbrush. “Oh, and make sure you pack your swimsuit.” He said through a mouth full of toothpaste.

“Pack? I need to pack? And my swimsuit?” Vero said, growing more and more confused.

“Yes, we’re going away for the night. And yes, chèrie, you will want to bring your swimsuit.”

“You’re lucky I love you are cute, otherwise I’m not sure how easily I would go along with this mysterious plan of yours.” Vero said, pulling her suitcase out of the closet.

A little while later, Marc had loaded their bags in the car and after a trip to the Starbucks drive-thru, they hit the highway.

“So, we’re going north. What else am I allowed to know?” Vero asked curiously. She was starting to get excited about this spur-of-the-moment trip. It wasn’t often Marc got the chance to slip away like this.

“Well, all I will say is that this is just the appetizer. Something much better is waiting for us at our destination.” Marc said, holding up his Starbucks cup.

“The only thing better than Starbucks is Tim Horton’s.” Suddenly, Vero’s eyes shot open even wider. “Exactly how far are driving, Marc-Andre?” she asked firmly.

“Not as far as you think. We didn’t bring our passports, remember?” Marc said, winking at her.

Vero suddenly remembered Lauren mentioning that she loved having two Tim Hortons’ in Erie when she was going to school there. “We’re going to Erie?” She guessed.

“Yes.” Marc answered, offering up no other information other than the constant grin on her face.

“What are we going to do there?”

“You’ll just have to wait and see.”

“Humph.” Vero said, crossing her arms across her chest and staring out the window.

“I love you, Vero.”

Vero turned to face him, caught slightly off guard by the sudden change of topic. “I love you too, babe.” She said, linking her fingers through his. “I’m excited for out day together, no matter what we’re going to do.”

When they pulled up at their destination, Vero got a big smile on her face.

“What exactly is this place?” Vero said, looking at the giant tubes that were coming out of the side of the building.

“It’s called Splash Lagoon. Lauren said she always wanted to come here. One of her friends used to be a lifeguard here.” Marc said as he carried their bags in.

“So, all those tubes are slides?” Vero said, her eyes lighting up.

“Yep.” Marc grinned like a little boy.

“Oh this is going to be a fun day!” Vero said, skipping towards the front desk.

They checked in and quickly changed into their suits.

Vero and Marc spent the day laughing like little kids, splashing each other in the pool and racing each other down the slides. Marc loved seeing Vero smile so much. After the incident with Jimmy, Vero hadn’t been herself and he was always worrying about her lately. He hadn’t seen her this relaxed in a while, and he was glad he got to spend this time with her, just the two of them.

A few people had recognized him, but they were really good about giving them their space. That didn’t mean they weren’t snapping pictures of him from the side of the pool, and he rolled his eyes when he thought about how many pictures of him in his swim trunks would be posted on the internet that night.

When they got tired, Marc and Vero headed up to the room and Vero climbed in the shower. She had been in there a minute or so, she poked her head out of the curtain.

“Marc? Are you coming?” She said, a smile playing on her lips.

Marc looked at her, unsure of what to say. “Are you sure? I mean, just with things...I wasn’t sure if you’d want me to…”

“Marc, I know what you mean. But I love you. And I can’t promise I won’t be weird for a while, but I want to try. And right now I want you to get your cute butt in here.”

Marc grinned as he stepped in the shower, wrapping her up in his arms.

“I love you. You know that?”

Vero leaned back against his chest. “Yeah, I do. I love you too. Thanks for being so understanding lately. I’m sure I haven’t been easy to live with.”

Marc smirked. “How would that make it any different from the way things have always been?”

Vero playfully elbowed him in the stomach. “Ha ha. Very funny.”

“But seriously, life hasn’t exactly been normal lately. I’m just glad you seemed like you had fun today.”

Vero turned around to face him. “Are you kidding? I had so much fun today! I haven’t had that much fun in years. It reminded me of that time when you and I had that cannon ball contest that one summer. Do you remember? We were probably only 11 or 12.”

“Of course I remember. You had that pink and blue bathing suit – I thought you looked so hot.” Marc said, closing his eyes and recalling the memory.

“I’m glad to see that that is what you remember about that day.” She said, rolling her eyes and leaning up to kiss him.

They quickly washed up because Marc had told her their day wasn’t over yet. They quickly got dressed and ready to go and headed back out to the car. A few minutes later, they arrived at a little restaurant right downtown. “Lauren said she loves this place.”

“Two Friends Italian Market.” Vero said, reading the sign. “That’s a cute name.”

They found a table in a corner inside and opened the menu. After a few minutes, they agreed to split a calzone and ordered a couple of side salads as well. They enjoyed a quiet dinner and headed back to the hotel.

When they got back to their room, both of them collapsed onto the bed, their muscles aching from spending all day swimming and sliding at the indoor water park. They changed into some sweats and crawled under the covers, flipping channels until they could agree on a show to watch. Vero curled up against Marc and rested her head on his chest.

A little while later, Marc looked down at her and smiled at her steady breathing. Even after all these years, he never grew tired of watching her. He always thought she was strikingly beautiful and he could never figure out how he got so lucky. A woman like Veronique Larosee could have had any man she wanted, but she had picked him, the skinny, dorky hockey player from down the street. If she hadn’t looked so peaceful, he wouldn’t have woken her up right then to propose to her. But instead, he kissed her forehead softly and pulled her closer against him, tucking the sheet gently under her chin and closing his eyes, images of her filling his head as he fell asleep.