Married This Year

by Tracey Pedersen

  “I would totally steal a car for you, but on this occasion, I borrowed it from my brother.”

  “It’s nice. I like yellow,” she said as she slipped into the seat before he banged the door shut.

  As he climbed in his side, he felt obliged to explain the car. “It’s not brand new, but it’s clean and—”

  “Stop, Luke. I don’t need the history of the car. I’d have been happy to go on the bike—or to take a taxi, or even the bus.” She put her hand on his leg as he pulled out into the traffic. “I think you’re more obsessed by the list than I am. Let’s relax and have a nice evening together.” He grinned at her and she watched as relief washed over his features. His smile widened further as he relaxed, and she knew they would have a great night together. “Where are you taking me, anyway?”

  “It’s a surprise, but I know you’ll love it.” He watched the road, glancing at her every so often when he thought she wasn’t looking. They drove toward the bay, and the car was soon sliding into a parking spot beside the beach. She opened her door to get out, much to his disgust, and banged it closed behind her. He pressed the central locking button as she looked across the water and he started to tell her where they were going for dinner. When she swung around to look at him she let out a loud cry.

  He rushed to her side and found her bent over, holding her face and moaning. “What happened? Are you okay? Stand up and show me!”

  “I’m fine.” Her muffled voice sounded anything but fine. “Give me a second.” Her voice was thick, like she was holding back tears, and he kept his hand on her shoulder, waiting for her to stand upright and tell him what had happened. She finally took a sobbing breath and straightened, and he gasped as she eased her hand away from her eye.

  “Oh God, we need a doctor. You are not fine, Jordan.” He clicked the button to unlock the car, but she stepped away from him.

  “No, wait, I think it will be fine. Can you give me a second? We can still go to dinner,” she pleaded. “I’ve been looking forward to it—I don’t want our night to be ruined. What hit me, anyway? Did you see?”

  “I didn’t see anything. Did something fly past?”

  “No, it was on the roof of the car. I didn’t see it—just felt it whack me.”

  He turned around to see what could have hit her, and his eyes fell on the roof racks. His brother did a lot of extreme sports, and his roof racks stuck out from the edge of the car. She must have leaned in too far and walked into the edge of the nearest one—with a lot of force, judging by the enormous egg now growing on her eyelid.

  “It’s the roof rack. It must have hit you. God dammit, why didn’t I bring the bike?” He stamped his foot like a small child, and she heard him bang the side of the car. “Of all the stupid ways to ruin our night, it had to be about me making the damn list,” he muttered.

  “What did you say?” Her hand was over her eye, and she was carefully stepping onto the grass.

  “Nothing. Here, don’t move without me. Let me hold your hand, so you don’t fall over. Can you even see out that eye?”

  She scoffed. “Of course I can—don’t be silly. Come on, let’s go eat. We’ll get an ice pack and it’ll be fine.”

  “I don’t know, Jordan, you haven’t seen it. The wait staff will think we’ve had a fight in the car and I punched you.”

  She laughed and a few tears slipped down her cheek. “Don’t be silly. I’ll tell them what happened, and it’ll be fine.”

  “You’ve said that a few times, now. I’m unconvinced, but I’ll let you have your way for a little bit longer. Here,” he wrapped one arm around her back and clasped her free hand with the other, “let me guide you. I don’t want anything else happening to you tonight.”

  They made their way to the restaurant, and as expected, the staff rushed to get an ice pack. They shot nasty looks at Luke as he tried to explain what had happened to her.

  “I’m sure she walked into something, sir. Is this the first time she’s walked into that something whilst in your company?”

  “I know how it looks, but I promise you she didn’t want to go to the doctor. This is our first date.”

  “Well, it’s sure to be memorable for you both.” He took his disapproving stare back to the bar and returned with menus and water for the table. Jordan had returned from the bathroom, where she’d checked the damage for herself. Luke could tell she was putting on a brave face, but all he wanted to do was get her to a doctor.

  “Come on, let’s order.” She closed her menu and addressed the waiter who had taken their drink order. “What’s good here?”

  He glanced at Luke, who pursed his lips and nodded in her direction. The waiter then rattled off his three favourite dishes, and she chose one that sounded good. Luke ordered a steak, and they were soon alone at the table. He reached across to hold her hand, and she smiled a watery smile in his direction.

  “Thanks for putting up with me. I can’t believe I was so clumsy.”

  “I can’t believe we’re sitting here, instead of in the emergency room.”

  She sniffed and smiled as best she could as she held the ice pack to her face with her free hand. “We can’t have our first date in a hospital—it’s a bad omen, surely.” She was making light of her injury, but he couldn’t help but watch her with a worried frown. A bruise had started to appear on her cheekbone, inches from where the roof rack had made contact. He worried she’d broken a bone or done some other serious damage.

  “We can go on a date some other time, Jordan. You don’t have to be brave.”

  “I’m good, really, I am.” She tried to reassure him and might have succeeded, if a woman walking past their table hadn’t skidded to a halt beside them.

  “What happened to you?” she asked, throwing an angry glare in Luke’s direction. “Are you alright, dear? That looks nasty.” Jordan pulled the ice pack away from her face. The bright lights of the restaurant hurt, and she closed her eyes long enough to miss the woman recoiling in shock when she saw her damaged eye. “Oh my goodness! Why aren’t you at the hospital?” She turned her steely glare on Luke, “Why the hell are you calmly sitting there when you should be seeking urgent medical treatment, you lazy sod?”

  He threw up his hands at this latest assault on his character. “You tell her that. I want to take her to the hospital, but she won’t go. She says she’s fine.” He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the stranger, who turned back to Jordan.

  “Are you certain, dear? It looks painful.”

  “It looks worse than it is, I promise. If it doesn’t feel better later, we’ll definitely go to the hospital. Thanks so much for your concern; it’s lovely of you to stop and check.” When she had finally convinced the woman to return to her table, she put the ice pack on her eye again and tilted her head backward. “People are so concerned about me. How nice is that? If you really did hit me, someone would have stepped up and gotten me away from you. I’m quite heartened about the state of the world.” He didn’t answer, and she looked at him sideways, her one good eye focussing on him. His expression would have been comical, if not for the haunted look in his eyes, and she suddenly worried that she’d totally turned him off wanting a relationship with her. “What? Are you going to have nightmares over this?”

  He burst out laughing and then looked ashamed of himself. “Stop it,” he hissed under his breath. “People are staring at us, and now they think I’m laughing at you. I’m never going to be allowed to come here again. I’m surprised someone hasn’t called the police, already.”

  “Oh, you’re making this into such a big deal.” She laid the ice pack on the table and he gasped as he saw the change in her skin. Her eye was now purple and black, and she looked like she’d survived a car accident. Tears continued to trickle down her face, and he couldn’t tell if her eye was streaming or if she was actually crying.

  Their meal arrived at that moment, and the waiter put the plates in front of them before turning away. He took one step and then seemed to argue with
himself and turned back. He addressed Jordan, even though she couldn’t see him standing there. “Madam, would you please allow me to call a doctor for you? Please!”

  “Honestly, what is everyone freaking out about?” She gingerly touched her eyelid and Luke saw her wince. “Let us eat our dinner and we’ll go and find a doctor ourselves, okay? Does that make you feel better?”

  “Oh, yes, madam. Thank you. Now I’ll be able to assure the other diners that you’re going to see someone. Please don’t take too long—many people are concerned about you.”

  He stalked away to the kitchen, having glared at Luke one last time. Jordan picked up her fork and started eating her pasta. She had trouble rolling it up as her eye continued to stream fresh tears, but she took her first mouthful and smiled at Luke as he cut into his steak and watched her carefully between bites. He didn’t miss the small wince as she chewed and swallowed.

  His steak disappeared in record time, and she was surprised when his cutlery clattered onto his empty plate. “Gee, you ate that quick. Reminds me of another date I’ve been on this year. Do you have somewhere to be for date number two tonight?” She laughed and then stopped as he glared at her. “What?”

  “That’s not funny and you know it. I’ve waited months to take you out. I watched you go out with every idiot who came along because of some stupid rules and a stupid list. I’ve worried about who you were with and if you were getting home safely, and every time you managed to get out unscathed. No matter how awful the date was, you kept your sense of humour and never gave up.” He pulled his hand through his hair and the usually-smooth wave stuck up in all directions. “Now, here we are, on what I planned would be the romantic evening of the year, just for the two of us, and you’ve sustained more damage than any other night out. After spending the night with me, you’ll be going home with a possible concussion and the possible promise of plastic surgery. I’m pissed—”

  “Wait, what? Plastic surgery? What are you talking about?” She seemed genuinely confused at his words.

  “Jesus Christ, Jordan, that’s it.” He leaped out of his chair and removed the cutlery from her hands, throwing it into her bowl. He knew the other patrons in the restaurant were staring at him, and he didn’t miss the gentleman three tables away who stood from his seat. He needed her to understand what had happened to her tonight. “Come on, we’re going to the bathroom,” he said more gruffly than he’d intended. “I’ll get your bag.”

  She didn’t move, but stood there with her head bowed. He held out his hand to her. “Come on, Jordan, I need you to see your face in the mirror.” She didn’t take his hand, but lifted her head slightly, so he could see that she was crying real tears, now—big, fat tears that slid down her cheeks and dripped onto her shirt. “Hey, what’s wrong, now?” He moved closer and took her hand before she let out a racking sob.

  “I can’t see you. I’ve tried to be brave, but I can’t go to the bathroom on my own again, because I can’t see at all out of my eye.” She was wailing, now, and he wrapped his arms around her and gently helped her toward the back, where the toilets were located. She continued to sob as they walked together, and she clasped his hand tightly.

  “Why didn’t you let me take you sooner?” he whispered into her hair.

  “I didn’t want to ruin our date any more than it already was. I wanted this too, Luke—don’t think that I didn’t.”

  They reached the bathroom and he took her straight into the ladies, ignoring the woman who glared at him as they entered. Every patron in this restaurant had glared him at tonight and one more wasn’t going to hurt. He stood her in front of the mirror and she removed her hand from her eye where she’d been shielding it from the other guests. Her gasp as her good eye finally focussed on the mirror told him she’d finally grasped how serious the situation was.

  He watched even more tears start the trek down her cheeks as he asked, “Can I please take you to the hospital, now?”

  ***

  Christmas Day was a quiet affair. Luke refused to leave Jordan’s side, still blaming himself for her injury. He accompanied her to lunch at her parents’ and fended off her mother’s questions about why she’d been so clumsy. Several times, her mother announced what a godsend it was that Luke had been with her. Jordan couldn’t even grind her teeth, because it hurt too much.

  After lunch, she was sitting at the kitchen table as her mother washed up the dishes. Luke and her dad had been banished to the lounge room, even though they kept insisting they should help. Jordan knew her mother wanted to get her alone.

  As soon as the dishes were cleaned and put away, her mother joined her at the table. “What’s going on with you two? I saw him holding your hand.”

  “It’s early days, Mum. We only went on our first date last night, and look how it turned out.”

  Her mother giggled, “You sure did try hard to drive him away.” She squeezed Jordan’s hand and whispered across the table to her. “He’s a good boy, Jordan, and he’d be lucky to have you.”

  She looked at her mother through her good eye. A bandage covered the damaged one, and the doctor had advised that it could be several weeks before her sight returned to normal. “That’s different than what you usually say.”

  “Oh, take no notice of me—I just want you to be happy. If Luke can make you as happy as you deserve, we’ll gladly keep him. I’m going to take him to the club in the New Year and teach him how to play bridge.”

  Jordan laughed out loud, “Have you told him that, yet?”

  “Of course! It was his idea. He likes us as much as we like him, you know.”

  She smiled at her mother across the table and realised her mum and dad might know Luke even better than she did.

  ***

  “I don’t want to go. Couldn’t we go to someone’s house, instead?” Jordan contemplated a New Year’s Eve in the same place she’d made her resolution last year. It wouldn’t have been so awful, except that she was sure to see Fish there. She had to wear flat shoes, too, since her balance was off with one eye still covered.

  Luke took her hand and pulled her attention away from the mirror, “We can do anything you want to do. If you want to stay home, we will.”

  She leaned her head against his chest. She did want to stay home, but she didn’t want everyone to think she was sulking. “Fine, I’ll go. Can we sit in a dark corner, so everyone doesn’t stare at the cyclops?”

  He laughed and kissed her on the forehead, “You’ll be the most beautiful cyclops at the party. Now, let me grab a quick shower and I’ll be ready to go.”

  She watched him drop his clothes on the bedroom floor and retreat to the bathroom. Her mouth watered as he moved across the room, and if she hadn’t been under doctor’s orders to keep her injury dry, she would have followed him into the shower.

  She sighed. That would have to wait for another few weeks. It was definitely something to look forward to, though. She tidied the bed where they’d had a late afternoon nap to prepare for the long night ahead, and she bent down awkwardly to pull a handbag from where it was wedged between her bed and the side table.

  I’ve been looking everywhere for this!

  She opened the bag to clear out any items from the last time she’d used it, which must have been at least six months ago. She pulled out all the crumpled tissues and napkins and dropped them onto the bed, while she kept digging around. One of the napkins caught her eye, and she picked it up and unfolded it to find the original list from last New Year’s Eve, where they’d documented her perfect man. She smiled to herself as she read down the items. With each one, she couldn’t help but compare it to the man singing a Dolly Parton song in her shower right now.

  Luke was everything on this list, it turned out. He was taller than Jordan by several inches, he always made her laugh, and there wasn’t a kid anywhere who didn’t love him. He was already planning their first holiday together for next Easter, and he treated her so well that sometimes she worried it would all go away. Although he’
d kept it mostly secret until recently, he did, indeed, have a job—or his staff did. His two businesses both had managers to run the day-to-day operations, so it was no wonder he’d been at her house so much.

  He didn’t have a car, but he did have a house that he’d finally let her see inside two nights after they’d dropped off the motorbike. She could make that small concession to him. Above all else, he had that magic, standout item: he looked fantastic in his jeans!

  She walked carefully to the end of the bed and sat down as she considered how close she’d come to shutting him out because of a silly list. She couldn’t believe how childish that seemed, now, and it was her one regret about their relationship.

  Not the crazy dates, or the life-threatening moments of the last year. I’d do all of those again, and more.

  She wished above all else that she’d seen the goodness in Luke months earlier. Her mother had picked up on it, but it had taken Jordan a little longer.

  She bent down to pick up his discarded clothes from the floor. She was still being careful moving around the house on her own; Rex had tripped her up twice, and she wasn’t taking a chance on a third time.

  Luke opened the door and came out with the towel wrapped around him, at the exact moment she shook his jeans out to fold them up. She saw him frown and then heard something drop onto the floor near her foot. When she reached down to pick it up, Luke jumped forward and snatched it out of her hand.

  “Hey, what is that?”

  “Can’t tell you,” he said as he hastily tucked it back into the pocket of his jeans.

  “Oh, no fair. I found it. Now you have to show me.”

  “No, Jordan. It can wait.” He pulled on his jeans and then grabbed a clean shirt from the cupboard as she tried again.

  “You can show me. It’s not like I can even see properly—you’ll probably have to explain what it is.” She laughed at the surprised look on his face and his now-obvious worry over what she’d said.