The Runaway Bride

Seven(Edited)

Edited ✓

VII: Good Mornings

THEO KNOWS HE SHOULD APOLOGIZE. He knows he should swallow his damn pride and spit out a sincere apology to the new doctor, but he just couldn't.

There was something about her. She just rubbed him the wrong way. Maybe it was the way they initially met, but he can't seem to be in the same room as Simone Mercer without acting like a complete asshole. Theo knows there's nothing wrong with her clothes. Sure she seemed to have a penchant for skirts and heels, but she wasn't exactly dressed inappropriately...just differently. Around here no one got dressed up to run errands, but Theo had heard talk around town that she'd worn a dress to get a haircut.

Truthfully, Simone actually looked like a young Jackie Kennedy. All Simone was missing was a trademark like Jackie's infamous pink suite and River Falls would have its very own fashion icon. She didn't come off as loose like Theo had let he believe. And because he can't control his tongue, the pair of them had even more tension than before.

"Dad!" Theo turned to the door and watched his son run into his room.

Nathan Edward Thornton was about two feet, two inches of pure adorableness. He was short and thin, almost lanky if Theo were being honest. Big wide eyes, hidden behind bottle-lens frames, and a mouth firmly set greeted Theo so early in the morning.

"Wanna tell me why you aren't dressed yet?" Theo asked as he finished doing up the buttons of his shirt.

His son sighed and scratched his blond head, "I've decided I can't go to school today."

Theo let out a hearty laugh, "And why is that?"

"I've fallen terribly ill, I'm afraid." Nathan threw in a fake cough and pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose with a perfectly innocent expression.

"Really?" Theo said, playing along. Nathan has been going through another strange phase, and lately he's really gotten into British black and white films. A couple movies in and now he's been speaking better than the waitstaff at the Buckingham palace.

Nathan threw himself down on Theo's bed and raised the covers up to his neck. "Uhhuh."

Theo rolled his eyes. "Well, it's a good thing your dad's a doctor, huh?"

"I cannot possibly go to school with such a horrid fever." Holding back an amused laugh, Theo walked over to the bed and sat down beside Nathan.

"Nate, you don't have a fever."

"But I woke up in cold sweats and I think I'm showing signs of—"

"Nathan." The boy smartly shut up and eyed his father. "What did I tell you about self-diagnosing?"

"You said that just because it's on WebMD doesn't mean I have it."

"What else did I say?"

Nathan sighed, "Or my medical encyclopedias. Self-diagnosis is not only inaccurate but can lead to self-prescribing over the counter remedies. Yeah, I got that dad."

"Okay, now go get dressed before you're late for school." Theo ignored his son's disappointed look and watched him stomp out the room with mild amusement.

Nathan was as stubborn as he was smart. And Theo had been told by the teachers down at the elementary school that Nathan is a genius. He was currently reading at a seventh grade level and he was only eight, and Nathan's understanding of math and science was way ahead of his time. The principal pulled Theo in for a meeting with a bunch of specialists from a couple towns over that were interested in running a series of tests on his son. And he knew that Nathan wasn't very keen to take those tests. If Theo didn't know his son to be such a hypochondriac, he would have though Nathan's fake illness had to do with the fact that he's supposed to start his half-hour sessions with the researchers today.