Page 13 of As a Last Resort

SAMANTHA

First thing in the morning, I was on the dock with my phone held over my head as far as I could. With my one cellular bar, my phone displayed Robby’s swollen face, complimented by a backdrop of white hospital sheets and beeping machines.

“Well, don’t you look chipper for a coworker gunning to steal my spot as director,” he said in greeting.

“Please tell me you’re joking. You can’t seriously think I somehow gave you appendicitis.”

“No, Leigh, I don’t think you somehow blew up one of my organs. I should be thanking you if you did though. I’ve already got a full roster of dates once I bust out of this joint. The nurses are lining up like I’m a spigot in the middle of a desert.”

“I’m sure you’re their definition of a dreamboat. When are you clear to leave?”

“They said another two weeks in the hospital.”

“Two weeks?” I repeated slowly.

His face froze for a moment. “Something leaked that wasn’t supposed to. Again.”

“Were you listening to them when they said to lie still and rest?” I gritted my teeth.

“You know how I feel about rules, Leigh. Personally, I think they just like looking at me, so they’re holding me hostage with hospital jargon.”

“So, you’re definitely not going to make it to Florida.”

“Let’s wait and see, sugar. I wouldn’t want to leave you there all alo—”

Robby’s face froze. The signal was gone. And Wi-Fi was out at the hotel.

“Can you hear me?” I repeated over and over, trying to snag a single bar of service to unfreeze Robby’s mid-word face on my screen.

“How about now?” His face stared back at me while I heard bits and pieces of static coming through. “Robby?”

I got to the end of the dock and just as I hit the railing at the farthest point, my heel slid through the dock at the exact same time a bar popped up.

“Wait, don’t move! I mean, I won’t move! Can you hear me?” I was half bent over with my phone over my head as high as I could reach, trying to balance as the wooden planks ate half my heel.

“I said… I really thought I’d at least get to see… bikini… down there…”

“Yeah, so I can’t hear you, but everything’s going great! I’ll email you preliminary financials later!”

“… one more shot…”

“Right, okay, byeeee!”

“You better…”

I pushed END and looked up at the sky. Why me? I collapsed down on the dock and tried to tug my shoe free from the world of splintered wood. “Freaking Pugsnout and his stupid appendix and his stupid—”

“Interesting nickname for your boyfriend.”

I craned my neck around and almost dropped my phone. Austin was behind me on his boat mopping up the deck. Shirtless.

“Oh my gosh, no. He is not my boyfriend.”

He raised his eyebrows. But I had a hard time paying attention to his eyebrows when his body looked like it was cut from actual rock.

“No, really. It’s nothing. It’s less than nothing actually, if that’s possible. He’s my coworker. My cocky, overly confident, good ol’ boy coworker who unfortunately is very good at his job but also likes to make inappropriate sexual comments to me and everyone else on the planet.”

“Pugsnout?”

“He snorts like a pug when he laughs,” I answered. “Hence, the pug reference. My assistant, Ivy, is way more creative when it comes to nicknames for him. Pugsnout is about as creative as I get.”

He nodded, turned, and went back to his mopping, a signal he was done with this conversation.

But, seeing as how New York City had a billion people on every block, I wasn’t used to such limited human interaction on a daily basis.

I was clearly going through verbal withdrawal, even though I had spent only one night back on the island so far.

Also, there was this tiny muscle on his very tan arm that kept waving at me that was extremely distracting. So, I kept talking.

“Technically Robby’s the one who should be down here performing the due diligence on this project. I’m just stepping in while he’s recovering from a universe-induced sentence of appendicitis.”

He kept mopping.

“You know, when the universe steps in on your behalf and does something you wish you could do but don’t actually have the ability to do. Like blow up someone’s organ.”

Still mopping.

“He definitely deserves it, in case you were wondering. I would’ve chosen different timing, but you know, I don’t run the universe. And all that.”

I leaned back on my hands. My heel popped out at that exact moment, rocking me backward.

He eyed my shoes and went back to his business, throwing a coil of rope next to me on the dock. He checked a few knots here and there and threw the remaining bucket of water over the side.

“Didn’t need to mop it a third time?” I joked. Not funny. Ugh, clearly I forgot how to have a normal conversation with a human being. Pull it together, Samantha. I didn’t need to impress him by trying to be funny. I was not an awkward thirteen-year-old anymore.

But he hadn’t even cracked a smirk yet. I didn’t remember Lexi’s brother being such a stick-in-the-mud when we were little. Although, he really wasn’t around much. What was with this guy? Clearly not a morning person.

“You working today?” I asked.

“Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be working?” he asked, turning around.

“I still can’t get service at the inn. Or in the coffee shop. Or at that park bench over there. Or on any street, at all, on the entire island. Except for this spot right here just now that happened to work for one point seven seconds.”

“Walk to the end of the fishing pier.”

“Already tried that.”

“The right side of the pier. It’s the closest point on the island to the mainland.”

“Is there a secret wireless gremlin stashed under the right side of the pier I’m unaware of?” No reaction. Absolutely nothing. “I feel like you smiled more when you were younger.”

“What?” He looked at me with what I interpreted as a genuinely disinterested expression.

“Smile. That thing where the sides of your mouth go up at the same time and is kind of like a moon shape but on its side.”

“If I think something’s funny then yes, I smile.” He was stone-faced. But there was a little spark in his eye.

I turned and started walking, hoping to salvage at least a shred of my dignity. “I didn’t realize the locals were such a rough crowd.”

“Aren’t you technically a local?” he asked.

“Thanks for the pier tip!” I called out over my shoulder.

People in small towns were supposed to be friendly by some cosmic rule of nature. Clearly, rules didn’t apply to him. I walked halfway back up the dock and of course, my heel got caught in the deck. Again.

“You should try wearing some different shoes,” he called out.

I turned around and glared. “Well, you should try wearing a shirt!” I shouted back.

The corner of his mouth pulled.

I narrowed my eyes, unstuck my heel, and turned back around.

I didn’t look back.