An Arranged Marriage to a Jerk

Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Accidents and Coincidences

"Wow... you look amazing."

Connor is standing at my front door. It's raining again and his raincoat is covering his casual suit. He's looking me up and down, his eyes slightly wider than usual.

"Thanks," I say quietly. I gaze past him into the rain. It's starting to pour now and I grab my umbrella. As I try to pull it off the hook beside the door, the hook falls. I lunge forward to grab the umbrella and it hits me on the foot. I cry out and fall back into Connor. He catches me easily and gently rights me as our dog, Cooper, runs over, steals the umbrella, and runs out of the room.

"Are you always this clumsy?" he asks. He's smiling but he isn't letting go of my arm yet.

"Usually? Yes."
We giggle and walk out the door together. He pulls his coat off and holds it over my head. We rush to the car and I ease my foot into the car. When he closes the door and runs to the drivers side, I sit back and take a breath. My foot is killing me, but I try to calm down. I need to focus. If we're going to make this work, we have to-

"Geez, your foot looks terrible." I didn't hear him get into the car. Nice job trying to focus.

"It's not that bad." I don't look down but he leans over and touches my ankle. "Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital?"

I laugh but he can tell it's fake. "Of course not. I'll be fine. Let's just... go to dinner."

"Okay."

We drive in silence and he keeps glancing at my foot. I'm sure it's fine. After all, it's just an umbrella.

When we finally pull into the parking lot, it's raining harder. We park near the front and run into the crowded restaurant. We are quickly led to the private section reserved for the expensive clients. "Have you been here before?" He asks when we are finally seated and have glasses of water in front of us.

"No, I-" I cut myself off when I see the name on the menu. El Lobo Hambriento. Crap! "My parents are here!"

"Really?" Connor looks around and his eyes stop at the table a few yards away from us. They're smiling and laughing. It's a weird sight... but I'm still freaking out. "What should we do?"

"Um..." The waitress comes over.

"What would you like today?" She glances down at the black and tan carpet and takes a step back. "Are you alright, ma'am?"

I frown. "Of course, why?"

"You're... bleeding."

Connor looks under the table and his face pales. "We're going to the hospital. Now.'

I finally look down. It's bad... really bad. The umbrella hit one of the silver spikes on my shoe which lodged into my foot. I also have a rapidly forming bruise on my ankle and blood is slowly trickling down my foot. The umbrella even hit the top of my foot, casing it to bleed there, too.

"I'm fine! Can I just have a towel or something that I can tie around it to stop the bleeding?" The waitress rushes off and quickly comes back with a few black napkins. Connor picks up my foot and I wince. He gently ties the towels around my foot and I grip the table. It really, really  hurts.

"Look, let's just have a nice dinner. We'll have the specials. I'll have a Sprite and he'll have a Diet Coke. Thanks." She rushes away and I pull my foot back. I try to act like I'm fine, nothing's bothering me, but i can see people starting to look at us. My parents are starting to notice, too.

"Are you sure?"

I laugh loudly. "Of course!" I glance over and see my dad pointing to my mom. They smile and wave and I wave back. "Act like we're in love!" I mumble.

He laughs back and gives a big wave. He reaches over and takes my hand. I grip his tightly and he gently rubs his thumb along my hand. It's a warm feeling. I like it. "I guess this means no hospital," he mutters back.

"So.. last time we discussed career choices. This time, let's discuss family life!" I say loudly and happily. My parents smile and go back to their dinner. I can still see them glancing over at us .

"Alright," he says.

"Wait... are you for real?"

"Sure, why not. How many kids do you want?" I smile softly. He's good... really good.

"Three. Two boys and a girl."

"Two. Two girls." I lose the smile.

"You want girls?" I ask, disbelieving . "Aren't you the jock?"

"Yeah but I'm not much of a mentor. I'd have to be on the top of my game with boys. With girls, I would just have to love them."

"Really," I say. "Because I think-" I stop suddenly. My foot is throbbing. I look down and the black napkins are wet with blood. "Oh!" I cry out.

My father walks over to our table. "What's going on, you two! Fancy seeing you here!" You can tell he's had a lot of red wine.

"You too, sir, but we really need to get her to the hospital. I'll explain later, just meet us there." Connor gently helps me out of the booth and I manage a smile. Or a wince... I can't really tell. I'm lightheaded  and he supports me to the car. He helps me through the rain and into his car. "Told you we should have gone to the hospital."

"Mm hmm," i mutter back. Everything is spinning. I look down at my foot again and my shoes are streaked with blood. Even my dress has stains of dark crimson on it.

Awesome. The one night I dress up I end up going to the hospital.