Page 17 of Fake for 7 days

How on earth would I pay for this damage? My insurance wouldn't be enough to cover it.

My head was pounding.

No money, no money, no money.

Should I just drive home and hide in my bed?

Isabella Abbott! You're on your way to a bachelorette party! For the first time in ages, you want to really enjoy yourself. Today has been shitty enough! You deserve a change of pace. Besides, Fiona, Judy, and the others will rip your head off if you don't show up. And on top of that... maybe everything isn't as bad as it seems.

I thought about Carter Jenkins' last words. In my head, I was already calling him Carter. Without Jenkins. Hadn't he said that he wanted to find a solution with me where I wouldn't even have to inform my insurance? I hadn't imagined that, had I?

No.

And I certainly hadn't imagined that after saying this, he had winked at me in a way that made me feel even warmer than I already was. For a moment, I had wondered if he was flirting with me. Didn't things like this only happen in movies? In those Hollywood comedies I occasionally watched with Hayley, such things happened. People had an accident, met someone, and a few months later, they were standing at the altar with that very person.

Isabella Abbott, you old dreamer. Just because the guy was good-looking doesn't mean anything. You've met plenty of attractive guys in your life and flirted with some of them. And what did you get out of it? Nothing but trouble in the end. You scared off all the decent guys early on and ended up empty-handed or even with a broken heart. Just stay away from men, and you'll be better off. That's worked well for you since breaking up with Owen.

That was indeed true. I had fared well with that approach.

But if you wanted to make sure your heart was never broken, you could never give it away.

And if you never had any trouble, you also never had any fun.

Right?

I was in the mood for fun since I had looked into the stranger's bright blue eyes.

For a lot of fun.

My heart, however...

A loud honk sounded beside me. I startled out of my daydreams.

A blue Ford was trying to pull out of a parking space at the curb and couldn't get past my Toyota. The Ford's window was rolled down. A bald man with a red face glared at me angrily.

"What the hell are you doing? I've noticed before that women can't park. But parking in the second row and then staring at your own dented heap as if it were the eighth wonder of the world is really too much. Get out of here right now!" The man grew angrier and angrier and finally shouted at me loudly.

I stared at him, dumbfounded. Sure, I wasn't parked in the most convenient spot. But did he have to freak out about it? Couldn't he just politely ask me to move and wait a minute?

"Did you win your driver's license in a lottery or what?"

I resisted the temptation to give a rude answer or flip the man off. This insolent guy might attack me or even report me to the police. That would be the last thing I needed. I'd had enough trouble for today. Wordlessly, I turned around and got back into my car.

It was time to move on. The girls were probably already waiting impatiently for me at the Hotel Tiffany.

Just ten minutes later, I stood in front of the hotel's main entrance, nervously rummaging through my bag. The accident, the attractive Carter, and the unfriendly man in the Ford had distracted me so much that I hadn't checked whether I had the crown with me or not.

I checked all the compartments of my bag.

Nothing.

Oh, plenty of other things: Kleenex, lipstick, my birth control pills, my phone, money, keys, my sunglasses, which I definitely wouldn't need tonight anymore...

But no sign of my crown.

I sighed. A quick glance at the clock showed me that I was now significantly late. Driving back home, getting the crown, and coming back here would cost me at least another hour. I couldn't do that.

So I was facing another punishment. For another evening without a crown.

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