Page 11 of Fourth Down Forever
Fuck. Married. I can't believe I'mmarried. My whole body goes numb when the thought enters my mind. Looking down at my hand, I stare at the spot that not only a few hours earlier had a ring wrapped around it. How do I go forward from here? Is this going to mess with my goals? The goal of becoming a pediatric nurse.
I grew up in a broken house, an only child whose parents lived separately but not divorced, because they couldn't afford it. They fought all the time: over me, money, ideas, everything.
When I turned eighteen, I moved out and found my own way to pay for it. Which is why I'm twenty-four still working my way through college. I was supposed to graduate a year ago, but tragedy happened when I had to help my dad after his accident.
"Sam?" My manager’s voice breaks through my thoughts about my parents.
"Yeah?" I say looking over at him.
"Can you get table twelve?"
I nod, leaving him behind as I make my way to the table.
Pulling out my notepad, I ask without looking up, "What can I get you to drink?"
"A shot off that hot ass," one of the guys says.
Grabbing my attention, I look up at him and just stare.
I don't say anything to him. Just continue staring and making the whole table uncomfortable waiting for my reaction. Itactually gives me a weird sense of satisfaction when I watch him squirm along with the other guests at the table. Most people don't know what to do if you don't give them a reaction of some kind. You can see that they want to scold him or tell me to back off, but they do neither.
Finally, he gulps and drops his head, muttering, "Sorry."
I plaster on a smile. "No problem. Now, what can I get you guys?"
"Beers all around, whatever is on tap," one of them says.
"Got it," I say without even jotting it down. Beer is an easy order. It's when groups want to get an array of cocktails with long names on it that I have to write it down.
Making my way toward the bar, I give the bartender, Tommy, my order. While I wait for it, Tommy decides to start a little bit of small talk. "How was your night?"
"Fine." Because there is no way I'm admitting to one of my co-workers that I accidentally got married last night.
"Did you go out?" he ask.
I let out a sound of agreement before allowing myself to tell him a bit of what happened. "Last night was Janae's bachelorette party," I say, trying to be as casual as possible. Sweat starts to bead on my neck. Can Tommy tell that I'm not telling him the whole truth? Did something change last night and now I have a hidden sign that says I'm married? I push that ridiculous thought away.
No one can tell, Sam.
Which he proves me right when Tommy places the beers on the bar, gushing, "I can't believe Janae is marrying a professional football star."
"I know, crazy," I reply. Mindlessly grabbing the drinks, I turn and make my way from the bar without another word, ready to get out of the conversation.
After I hand out the drinks to the table, more and more customers start to come into the bar area, keeping me busy for the next few hours. I welcome the reprieve from constantly trying to figure out this whole marriage debacle.
While I finish cleaning up my tables, the manager comes up. "Hey, you can take off, we should be good. Thanks for coming in on such short notice."
"Thanks, but it was no problem. See you in two days," I tell him as I place the dirty rag into its proper bin.
After I wash my hands, I grab my things, pulling up the Uber app as I walk out onto the Strip. When I look up from my phone, my eyes go wide when I'm met with a surprise—Kade standing outside, leaning against a black car with his arms crossed over his chest, showing off his muscular arms.
"What are you doing here?" I ask him skeptically.
"Taking you to dinner," he says. Not a question, just a statement.
"I never answered you about dinner."
"I know. Thats why I'm here, you can't just shrug me off so easily then. My wife needs to have dinner—"
