Page 35 of As a Last Resort

AUSTIN

I ’d be lying if I said the sting from our earlier conversation at the hospital had faded. I understood her relationship with her mom was complicated, but what lingered most was the fact that Sam was staying with me.

She’d be sleeping in a room. In my house.

Tonight.

Only a few feet away from mine, which was perfectly fine.

Totally fine.

I’d probably forget she was even there.

ME: How’s your mom?

SAM: OK. I’ll fill you in tonight.

I’m sorry.

For earlier.

ME: I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Pugalicious there yet?

SAM: Ugh. On his way from airport.

ME: Be ready with your bags in 5. I’m coming to scoop you.

SAM: Knight in shining armor to the rescue again?

ME: We’re going to watch the Mariners’ showcase with Lexi.

SAM: As in, football?

ME: Yes ma’am.

SAM: Oh bummer.

I promised the paint I’d watch it dry tonight.

Rain check?

“I thought you were kidding.” She answered the door of her bungalow wearing a sweatshirt with LET’S ASSUME I’M RIGHT plastered across the front that hung to her knees without any makeup on and her hair piled on top of her head.

This girl was chipping away at my resolve every moment I saw her without even trying.

“I can’t believe you still own that.”

I looked down at my MARINERS CLASS OF ’12 shirt. “Of course I do. What else would I wear to a football game? You, on the other hand, might want to change. Where’s your luggage?”

“Right in here. Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

“Yep.” Nope.

Maybe I’d stay at Patrick’s. I couldn’t stop picturing my sheets wrapped around her legs. I had no idea how I was going to keep my mind functioning for two whole days.

“I figured you could just drop me off at your place on your way to the game. I’m going to leave the rental for Robby.”

“We’re meeting Lexi there.” I hoisted her bags down the front step. What in the hell did she have in these things? Kettlebells?

“No, it’s cool. Really. I’m not the sports type.”

“You’re not really the beach type either, or the fishing type, but they’re on your list for work, right?”

She folded her arms across her chest and leaned against the doorframe.

“I’m pretty sure Robby selfishly snuck the showcase on the due diligence list thinking he’d be the one to go.

I’m not sure it’s vital to the success of a new resort property to watch a bunch of teenagers run around tackling each other. ”

“Is your boss expecting you to check off everything that’s on PugMasterFlex’s list?”

She glared at me.

“How long do you need? Just curious. I left the car running.” I pointed behind me. I loved getting a rise out of her.

“Can we go next week?” she whined.

“There’s only one showcase. It’s now or never.

” A fact that I was more than grateful for.

I loved supporting the home team, but more often than not, whenever I was at the field, I’d get cornered into a conversation about when I was going to stop playing around with the ferry business, get my head back into the game, and take over this team like I was always meant to do.

She stood there and sighed.

“You’re pouting.”

“No. I’m slowly accepting my fate for the evening.” She exhaled again even louder and turned around back into her bungalow. “I’ll grab a paper bag,” she shouted over her shoulder.

“For what?”

“To put over my face when I see everyone I went to high school with.”

“Let’s gooooooooo, Mariners!” Sam screamed at the top of her lungs. I looked over at Lexi. “Was she always so enthusiastic at our high school football games?”

“Definitely not,” she whispered behind Sam’s back.

“That call is bull, ump!” Sam shouted.

I leaned over but kept my voice down. “They’re called referees.” She glared at me. “I’m just saying, generally speaking, people refer to them as referees.”

“Well, maybe I’d call them referees if they could DO THEIR JOB RIGHT!”

Lexi busted out laughing.

Sam sat back down all flustered and stuffed a huge piece of cotton candy in her mouth and sighed. Then she glared at me again. “This is awful.”

“Looks to me like you’re enjoying yourself.”

“But it isn’t as awful as I remember it being seven years ago.”

“Maybe you just enjoy watching sweaty eighteen-year-olds tackle each other more when you don’t have to sit next to them in chem class.”

“Definitely not the case.” She stuffed another enormous piece of spun sugar into her mouth. “And this may be the best cotton candy I’ve ever had.”

After the showcase portion of the night, the players rolled right into a heated scrimmage.

After the fourth quarter buzzer sounded, Rex’s team rushed the field, clinching the win that counted for absolutely nothing.

But regardless, in typical victory fashion, the quarterback and a few of the offensive linemen surprised Rex and dumped a large cooler of Cool Blue Gatorade over his head.

Once the chaos on the field calmed down, the team filed into the locker room and the stands emptied.

Usually I didn’t hang around after, dodging questions of when I was going to return and claim my birthright.

But I told Lexi we’d meet them at Harpoon’s in just a little. First, I wanted to show Sam something.

Once the stadium was clear, I hopped the fence and walked out across to the field.

“Wait, aren’t we going to get arrested or something for being out here? We’re not even players.”

“For walking across a high school football field? I’d hope our boys in blue have better things to do than chase down riffraff that’s scouring the football sign.”

“We’re going to scour the football sign?

” The excitement in her voice plastered a goofy smile across my face I was thankful she couldn’t see.

As far as I knew, we were the only high school in the state where half the stadium backed up to a body of water.

Made it rough for seating, but we had the best views by far.

“You sound excited.”

“I’ve always wanted to do that!”

“Well, tonight is your lucky night. I want to show you something and the view’s better up there.”

She followed me across the freshly trampled grass. The main stadium lights flicked off just as we reached center field, leaving only the floodlights casting a glow across the grass.

“If we were in a movie, this is the part where the sprinklers would come on.”

“Or, the killer would come out and murder us,” I replied.

She hit my arm. “I thought you were into romances!”

“I mean, or thrillers.”

Her eyes went wide. “Oh no, are you the hometown best friend’s brother who kidnaps the girl who came back only to bury her body and they’ll find me forty years later in an unsolved mystery case by some kid finding a shoelace sticking out of the ground and he’ll pull it up and there I’ll be?”

I blinked. “I don’t think so. I don’t like blood.”

“Whew. Okay. Let’s keep going.”

I chuckled and kept walking. Where did she even come up with this stuff?

We slipped around the back of the old scoreboard, the salt of the ocean air wrapping around us, and started up the weathered wooden stairs. The creak of each step battled against the soft crash of the waves rolling onto shore just below us.

“What are we doing up here?”

“You’ll see,” I whispered back, a playful smiled tugging at my lips.

“Why are you whispering?”

“Why are you whispering?”

“Because I don’t want the killer to know where we are.”

“Makes total sense,” I whispered again, trying not to laugh as we reached the top. I sat down, letting my legs dangle over the edge of the platform. She followed, her body close enough that I felt the warmth radiating from her skin. “Now that we’re safe though, look that way.”

Gently, I cupped her chin and turned her toward the mainland.

Her breath caught.

From where we sat, the view stretched out across the water like something from a dream.

Against the ink-black sky, the shoreline glowed with twinkling lights from cozy bars and restaurants waiting to greet customers after the game.

The water shimmered with the reflection of stars hanging above us.

But just below the coastline of lights that skated across the horizon, the sea glowed with an ethereal blue light, swirling like a trail of stardust in the waves, the culprit of her stolen breath.

“It’s called sea sparkle.”

Her eyes widened with wonder. Her gaze traced the glowing blue and white ribbons that wove through the water, casting an otherworldly glow that hugged the entire coastline. “What is it?”

“It’s actually called Noctiluca scintillans , but basically it’s plankton that glows when it’s pissed off.”

She furrowed her brow, but her lips curved into a smile. “How do you piss off plankton?”

I chuckled. She was effortlessly funny and it made my heart swell. “It’s pretty easy. You can just run your hand through the water and it lights up.”

“Could you imagine if that happened to us?” she asked. “Every time we were really mad, we started glowing a different color.”

“That would be pretty amazing actually.”

“You’d glow a baby yellow. Super chill and sunny, but not too bright. You’re one of those people who’s calm, but then it’s a total tsunami of bottled-up emotion once every ten years and you’d glow bright red.”

“You’d glow pink.”

“Pink?” she said with a laugh. “Why pink? I’d be steel blue or neon yellow for sure.”

“Nope. Definitely pink. A light pink too. Like an, aww-that’s-cute-she’s-getting-mad kinda pink.”

She narrowed her eyes on me. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with, do you?”

We sat in an easy silence, watching the glowing water inch slowly down the coast. The moment felt suspended. The warm salty air curled around us, and the starlight traced her face in such a way that I would forever be able to recall exactly where her freckles ended.

“Thank you.” She looked down at her hands fidgeting in her lap. “For today. The beach, the hospital, and being there even when I was kind of being a jerk. But mostly for the bacon.” She leaned into me and put her head on my shoulder. “I really needed that. All of it. So, thank you.”