The cell phone’s glass screen chilled my cheek, probably smearing my first professional make-up job. “Hi, Mom?”
“Oh, Lexi! I was hoping to find a minute to call you,” my mother said, her voice hoarse.
Mom had her hands full with my young half-brothers. “Yeah. It’s okay. Is Rogan doing okay?”
“Oh, yes. He’s so much better,” my mom said, her voice brightening. “The doctor said the antibiotic worked, and he’ll be discharged this afternoon. I’m just glad he didn’t need a tonsillectomy.”
“Oh, me, too. Is he getting all the ice cream he can eat?”
“Ice pops. They don’t do ice cream with tonsillitis anymore, just in case you need surgery. Just ice pops.”
“Bummer for him. Is Gerry there with you?”
“Yes, he’s right here.” Her voice warmed. “He hasn’t left Rogan’s bedside except to pick up Jake from kindergarten. Do you want to talk to him?”
A tiny spark of jealousy sizzled in my heart, but its red glow faded into fatigue. “No, I don’t need to talk to him, but that’s great, Mom. I’m glad he’s there for you.”
“Gerry has been great, arealhelp.”
Her insinuation that I had not been proper help while her son was in the hospital back in Nebraska wafted through her voice.
Heaviness settled in my chest. “Yeah, I’m sorry I haven’t been there more this week.”
“That’s all right, Alexandra. I hope your day is going better than mine!”
Ugh, I hated my full name. It sounded like a stripper.
The white satin and petticoats in my puff of a skirt rustled against my ankles. “I’ve been pretty busy. The wedding is today.”
“Oh, is it Tuesday already?”
“Yeah, it’s Tuesday.”
“Well, happy wedding day to you! All the best.”
Everything inside me leadened, pulling my shoulders down and the white lace tight across my back. “Thanks, Mom.”
“I mean,finally.Jimmy made you wait long enough. Six years isa long timeto date someone.”
Oh, this old argument again. “Weallagreed that he needed to finish college first, and this way, I could save up for a nice wedding for us.”
“Yes, but making you waitso longwhilehewent off to college out of state?—”
The fatigue camping out in my chest twisted. My mom had a lot of opinions about wedding propriety for someone who’d never even married my dadand then married some other guy to have herrealfamily.“It wasn’t cheap, you know. Jimmy wanted a destination wedding. The honeymoon suite for two weeks cost a lot of money. It took me years to save enough for it all.”
“Yes, yes. I’m sure it was expensive for you?—”
The bridal room’s door flipped open.
Five giggling women wearing matching silky peach dresses, Jimmy’s sisters and cousins, burst through the doorway.
Lydia hollered, “We brought you a shot! Come on, Lexi! Let’s get youmarried!”
Theywere my future.
Steadfast traditions and fun-loving natures knit the expansive Johnson family together. They played sports and board games together on weekends. During the week, everyone worked together at Johnson Construction LLC, where I was the HR Admin.
As soon as I’d startedseriouslydating Jimmy Johnson six years ago, when he was seventeen and I was two years younger, they’d absorbed me right into their family with a giant sucking sound. They’d given me a structure I’d never had and a full-time job with benefits right out of high school for almost as much money as I could’ve made somewhere else.
