Page 4 of As a Last Resort

Dad never wanted to put the vegetables on first. Always thought they took up too much room and his steaks couldn’t breathe properly.

She handed me the knife.

“Fine, but no serious life questions. Deal?”

“Only not serious life questions allowed. Deal.”

“Hi, Mom!” Lexi strolled in with her fiancé, Rex, trailing behind her.

My little sister entered a room the same way Mom did—a lively little ball buzzing with energy locked in a five-foot frame.

You couldn’t help but be drawn in by her aura.

They even looked alike, both with sandy blond hair reminiscent of Farrah Fawcett’s heyday, naturally windblown and all bouncy like it had huffed a helium balloon.

And Rex was the perfect Ken doll to her Barbie.

He moved here to coach the Mariners, the Rock Island High School football team.

When Lexi introduced him to the family, it was like Dad had won the lottery.

Rex slid effortlessly into the role I’d failed to fill—the Marcs family legacy carried on, but by someone else.

And when Rex took them to the state championship his first season—didn’t matter that they lost. By the look on Dad’s face, you would’ve thought they won.

It quieted the doubters, sure, but more than that, it eased Dad’s focus on me, at least for a little while, something I could never quite do on my own.

But I couldn’t ask for a better guy for Lexi.

He’s a man of few words, but when it comes to her, he lights up.

They met at Harpoon’s Oyster Bar when she was saving up for photography school.

He asked her out, and she shot him down on the spot.

She had a rule about never dating guys who hit on bartenders.

But it was love at first sight for him. He wouldn’t take no for an answer, showing up every night just to order a Coke until she gave in.

Then, three dates in, and she was smitten.

He proposed after just a few months. Now, with the wedding a month away, all eyes are on me—the last one standing.

Which is ironic, since I was the first to get engaged.

“Hi, sweetheart,” Mom said warmly. “Would you mind chopping up the lettuce? Rex, go distract Bill out there. He’s fixing to start taking apart my chairs and throwing the wood on the grill if we don’t put something on it soon. God forbid it sit there hot for a minute with nothing on it.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He winked at my sister on the way through the sliding glass door.

What’s up with people winking all the time?

“Did your dress come in?” Mom asked Lexi.

“Yep! I have to go in for the fitting this week. And I confirmed the hotel is completely blocked out. Patrick said he’d man the ferry Friday night with his cousin until all the guests are over.” Lexi faced me. “He promised me he wouldn’t run it into any icebergs.”

“Just a heads-up, he’s wearing a formal tux.”

“To the rehearsal dinner?”

I nodded.

“Of course he is,” she said with a chuckle.

I wiped my eyes with the back of my wrist.

“Oh no! Are you getting emotional about your baby sister getting married off?” she joked.

“Oh, stop, it’s the onions. And it’s about time you got off Dad’s payroll,” I replied.

“Right. The onions.” She smiled. “It’s seriously not a big deal.

I could always ask Mallory to go with you if you need emotional support.

” Mallory, a friend of my sister’s from high school, had a major crush on me that bordered on stalker level territory.

My hands still sweat whenever I meet a Mallory.

“Are we going to eat tonight or tomorrow?” Dad walked through the slider and wrapped his arm around Mom’s waist. She playfully slammed the basket of vegetables into his stomach and told him to scoot along.

He did a double take when he caught sight of my eyes. “What’s wrong with you?”

“It’s the onions,” Mom, Lexi, and I all chimed simultaneously.

Mom steered him back out the slider to put on the vegetables.

“Mallory would be a fun date.” Mom’s attempt to steer the conversation back to my dating status was predictable. It wasn’t a matter of if she would bring it up at every family dinner night, it was when .

“Do you remember when she showed up on our doorstep with flowers?” I asked.

“I’m not opposed to a little role swap.” She definitely was.

“She picked them from the front lawn. Bees were literally swarming around her head, and one stung her on her neck.”

Mom’s face puckered. “Oh goodness. I don’t remember that.”

“She used it as an excuse for me to take care of her.”

“She wouldn’t do that,” Lexi replied.

“Okay, what about the time she slit her own tires, so I’d give her a ride home?”

“She didn’t.” Mom’s mouth hung open.

Lexi pointed the knife at me. “There’s no proof of that.”

I narrowed my eyes on her. “But you admit it’s a possibility.”

“I mean…” Lexi trailed off giggling.

“And she definitely sent me that anonymous valentine senior year, the one that had the hand-drawn picture of a potato on it that said If you were a potato you’d be a sweet one… ”

“That was actually a really beautiful watercolor of a potato though.” One of Lexi’s admirable qualities—always finding the silver lining. Even in a stalker situation.

“Crayon,” I corrected. “It was crayon, Lexi.”

“Well, everyone certainly has to have a talent.” Mom pursed her lips together to desperately hold in a grin. “Let’s perhaps pass on Mallory as a date option for now. Don’t you worry, I have other options.”

“ Single doesn’t sound so bad now, does it, Mom?”

“Okay, that’s it, you two out back,” she ordered. “I’ve got the rest. Shoo, shoo.”

Lexi and I moved past the patio onto the grassy yard that overlooked the water.

It used to be my great-grandmother’s house, one of the first on the island, passed down generation after generation.

It was right on a point of the island, jetted out onto a small strip of land.

Little crabs ran around the pebbles at sunset.

Small waves flopped against the rock barrier to the property.

If you sat in the Adirondack chairs my great-grandfather had built with his bare hands and looked straight ahead to the water, it stretched out as far as you could see in almost every direction.

It gave the illusion you were sitting at the edge of the world.

“Mom’s not going to let it go.” Lexi settled into one of the chairs’ worn-in grooves.

“And I’ll give her the same answer I always do. I don’t need a date.”

We looked behind us to Dad at the grill, his signature KISS THE COOK apron hanging around his neck, tongs in hand, and Mom running out another dish of salt-and-oil–tossed veggies she forgot about.

He’d bark and complain about there not being enough room and she’d grab his rear as she dropped off yet another thing for him to maneuver onto the hot grate.

They had been high school sweethearts, my dad the quarterback of the football team—yes, the same high school team he coached to states and Rex recently took over—and my mom captain of the math team and the cheerleading squad.

They were the perfect picture of what young love could morph into once you grew old if your fiancée didn’t leave you for your best friend—boy, girl, a golden retriever, and a house with a view of the water.

The only reason we didn’t have a white picket fence was Mom said it would block the view of her hydrangeas from the street.

“Dinner’s ready!” Mom called out.

“Brace yourself for the inquisition,” Lexi warned with a grin. “I’ll get you some liquid ammo.” She headed inside first to grab a beer for me.

Even though our family dinners were technically relaxed, it was more like the laid-back outdoor setting of a Serena & Lily catalog. The table overflowed with food, Edison lights hung from the trees, and white linen napkins were intentionally crumpled on the table.

“Are we expecting company?” I asked.

“You know how your mother is,” Dad replied.

“Where did the lobster tails come from?” Lexi asked as she dropped my beer off and plopped down in her seat with her own glass of white wine.

“Carl brought in fresh catch and I couldn’t resist. Look at these!

” Mom held a tail up and smiled like she was the poster child for Rock Island Lobster Hunting Tours.

Without looking down I knew that each of us would have our own little white ramekin dish with melted salted butter.

She was always prepared for everything, especially when it came to taking care of others.

“Speaking of,” she continued, “I was thinking since we’re doing the rehearsal dinner in the backyard, we could do a little cold seafood bar. I know you wanted to keep it simple, but maybe an ice bar with a few different options, like lobster, oysters, shrimp, and crab claws?”

“With a huge ice sculpture in the middle in the shape of two swans intertwined or something?” Lexi deadpanned.

“Yes! That’s exactly what I was thinking!” Mom beamed.

“Mom. No. I said simple.”

“But it would be so easy, and people would love it.”

“Let your mother have her fun.” Dad was always the first to defend Mom, right or not.

“Especially since you’re the only one I’m going to be doing this for in the near future,” Mom finished with a very pointed look in my direction.

Lexi eyed me.

Yes, I know what’s coming.

“I’ll call Carl and set it up. Tell him to add a few extra to the head count just in case.”

She just wanted to get to the fact I didn’t have a date, again , but in the most roundabout, respectful way possible.

“We don’t need extra seats, Mom. My long-lost soulmate is not going to walk onto my boat tomorrow.”

“You never know. I met your mother in line at the water fountain.”

“We know, Dad,” Lexi and I said together.

“We just want you to be happy, that’s all. I’ll set an extra table setting.”

“She’ll set an extra table setting,” Dad echoed.

“It’s your sister’s wedding. You shouldn’t be alone.” Mom was relentless.

“It is my sister’s wedding, which means my dating status is completely irrelevant to the conversation.”

“I wouldn’t say it’s completely irrelevant.” Lexi smiled into her wineglass. “But people do go to weddings single more often now. Better chance of meeting someone.”

“Oh! What about Rex’s cousin? The one who’s the lawyer?” Mom asked.

“Married with two kids,” Rex said.

“Oh, I must be thinking of someone else. What about your other cousin from California?”

“She’s a lesbian,” Lexi said.

“So, is that a definite no?” Mom asked.

“Mom, please.”

“What? You have to ask these days.”

“He and Patrick will adopt a baby girl one day if grandkids are what you’re worried about.” Lexi ducked just in time to miss the brussels sprout I aimed at her forehead. “What? I’m just kidding! I’m sure it’ll be a little boy.”

While I appreciated my mother’s tenacity, our nights inevitably turned into discussions of why I needed a date. How else could I ruin the devil’s plan to keep me a lonely single hermit who lived with only one plate and one fork in the kitchen the rest of my life?

I layered on my I’m-done-with-this-conversation tone. “We all can’t be lucky enough to find ourselves at the end of a fairy tale with our soulmate like you two lovebirds did.”

“Especially when the person we think is our soulmate turns out to be a cheating slut.”

“Alexandra!” Mom cried.

“What? I’m just saying.”

I had moved past the point of hating Vanessa a long time ago, but selfishly, it felt good to have someone dislike her more than I did.

“That’s enough out of you, young lady.” Dad’s smile betrayed his stern voice.

Mom grabbed her wineglass and leaned back. I braced for the blow. “Speaking of, have you talked to her lately?”

Lexi dropped her fork. “Mom, seriously, what the f—”

“Language, Alexandra. I heard she and Tom were on the rocks. Maybe she’s having second thoughts.”

“Having second thoughts, three years later?” Lexi was getting pissed.

“Still were the best-looking homecoming king and queen I’ve seen in all my years.” Dad was using his fork to talk to me again.

I took a calculated second to not throw my pint across the table. “That picture was taken years ago right after the game. Which, for the record, she was probably screwing Tom shortly after. So, let’s not rewrite history just because our skin tones complement each other.”

Mom patted my hand and lowered her voice. “People make mistakes.”

Dad perked up. “Speaking of, Rex, have you told Austin about your offensive coordinator leaving? Spot’s open. Got your name all over it.”

My chair screeched against the travertine of the patio.

“I’ve got to prep for the morning. Got a full run tomorrow, Dad. You know, for the business I own. The job I already have.” I downed the rest of my beer and turned to leave.

“Honey, don’t get upset with him,” Mom called out as I headed toward the patio slider. “He’s just thinking about what’s best for you long term.”

“I like my job. And I’ll say this once more then I’m done with this conversation for good. I’m not going to bring a random date just to have a warm body sitting awkwardly next to me at my sister’s wedding.”

As I slid the door closed, Mom’s whisper floated in behind me. “I’ll find him someone. We can’t have a lopsided picture.”