“Who else would I be?” I replied, slightly offended.
“I’m just… wow, you look so pretty,” he said, appearing genuinely gobsmacked.
Again irritation spread through me. Sure, I didn’t dress up often, but he didn’t have to act like I’d started out as a warthog. Looking ‘pretty’ was my little sister Caroline’s job. Mine was forty hours a week managing a rental business with untold amounts of unpaid overtime, followed by household chores and helping my younger siblings with all their insignificant teenage problems.
“Are you sure you want to wear those shoes? It’s raining outside.”
“I’m aware, Dad, but I can’t wear rain boots to a television interview,” I snapped. I didn’t know why I was being so testy with him, but certainly the last person I wanted fashion advice from was a guy who’d worn the same basic outfit of Levis and plaid shirts for the last twenty years.
My dad put his hands up and made the face he always gave me when he thought I was being unreasonable.
“And besides, if you’d allowed them to come here to the house to interview me, I wouldn’t have to go out in the rain.”
“Look around, Mackenzie. Would you really want them coming here?”
Even though I didn’t need to, I still took that look around and my resolve faded. No, I definitely didn’t want the cameras in here. This was a house that was bought and furnished by a man… and not by just any man, but by a man with no style. Nothing in our home matched; everything had once been broken and then repaired back to an even shabbier replica of its prior dingy self. The carpet had not been replaced in all the time we’d lived here, and if I had to guess, it had probably graced these floors for longer than I’d been alive. None of us were certain what color it had actually started out as, but now it was decidedly a chocolate brown shade. And worse still, my dad’s idea of home décor was displaying his children’s school artwork on the walls with a single thumbtack. Over the years the flimsy paper had folded inward, and the original masterpiece could only be seen by smoothing it out against the wall.
“Hey,” he said, interrupting my thoughts. “Relax. Everything will be okay.”
He knew me well. I was scared. My shoulders drooped. Being the center of attention had never been my thing, and the idea of having someone interview me about my life sent shock waves of fear blasting through me. Granted, only viewers of our local county news station would see the interview, but still, for me, it was a huge deal. What was I going to say? I led the world’s most boring life. In fact, that’s how I’d made it ontoMaroonedin the first place: I sent in a video of myself basically documenting my dull, small town girl existence and somehow that caught their eye. I was convinced that the fact that I’d never ventured further than three hundred miles in any direction from my hometown in all my life was what sealed the deal. I would be their token ‘fish out of water’ contestant.
And now here I was about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime. Thirty-nine days on a deserted island, living off the land, scrounging for my own food, and surviving with just the clothes on my back. There would be no bathrooms, stifling heat, and cameras in my face 24/7. Damn, that sounded awful. I mean really, just… yuck!
The truth was, I was far from an adventurous person. The only reason I’d applied in the first place was because the money I could potentially win on the reality show far outweighed the misery I was about to endure. That cash would not only provide for my family and secure their future, but it would be just the push I needed to finally make my stand and escape this monotonous life.
I looked up to find my dad still staring right at me with that surprised look in his eyes.
“What?” I asked impatiently.
“I never really noticed how much you look like your mother until today.”
A lump instantly formed in my throat, and I fought the urge to cry.
“You’re so much like her. Do you know that?”
“I know,” I whispered my response. “You tell me all the time.”
“But I never really saw the uncanny physical resemblance until today.”
The far-off, pained look in his eye softened my resolve. I walked over and hugged him. “You still miss her so much.”
“You don’t just get over the love of your life, Mackenzie.”
“No, I don’t suppose you do.”
We stayed quiet for a moment, remembering the woman we both loved.
“I know you’re going to argue, but I’m just putting it out there again. You need to start dating.”
“No one can replace her.”
“I’m not saying replace. I’m saying move on. It’s been sixteen years, Dad. Someday we’ll all be grown and out of the house, and then you’ll be alone.”
“You’ll never leave.” My little brother Cooper burst into the room in order to make his thoughtless observation. I glared at him, bristling at his suggestion that I’d be an old maid living at home with Dad for the rest of my life. He flashed me his signature cocky smile as he ran his fingers through his brown wavy hair. Cooper was in dire need of a haircut, and at that moment I wouldn’t have minded shaving it clean off his head for him.
“Well, theoretically, Coop, I could find a guy and get married and have a family of my own.”
“Yeah, I guess, theoretically,” he shrugged, grabbing a snack from the cupboard.
