Page 9 of As a Last Resort
“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.
