Chapter 16 #2
Chase ran a hand through his already-mussed hair and leaned against Lydia’s desk, still staring at the numbers on his iPad like they might suddenly make sense.
“I can’t believe it, Lydia. We’ve had more hits on the website than we’ve had all year.
We’ve had to go to a second printing by nine o’clock this morning.
Locals are actually coming in off the street to buy copies of the paper.
When, in recent history, has this ever happened? ”
Lydia didn’t look up from her computer. “Better sit down for this,” she said, her grin slow and triumphant. “AP is picking the story up on the wire.”
Chase blinked. “Shut up.”
“Nope.” She clicked her mouse and spun her screen toward him. “There it is. Your byline. Our little paper, going national.”
Chase let out a low whistle and dropped into the nearest chair, suddenly feeling like he needed it. “Well, I’ll be.” He shook his head. “We’re gonna need a third edition, aren’t we?”
Lydia grinned. “Better call the printer. And tell him we might need a fourth.”
Scout stood at the top of the gangplank leading into the tour boat, clipboard in hand, greeting guests with a polite smile as they passed her.
The Baker Island tour was on schedule, and she intended to keep it that way.
Her head might still be spinning, but work demanded focus.
Happily, Frankie was occupied with his father’s visit, so the tour’s responsibilities fell squarely on her shoulders, and she was glad for it.
Frankie wouldn’t be here to make things more complicated, which he excelled at.
Her mind kept circling back to the meeting in the chief’s office—the moment when the conversation turned to the ownership of the gold.
The way Naki’s voice shifted, the quiet steel behind it, the subtle but undeniable shift in the room.
It was like a line had been drawn, whether he meant to or not—Naki on one side, Scout and the chief on the other.
They’d been focusing on protecting the park.
Naki had a much bigger picture in mind. The easy camaraderie of the past few days evaporated in an instant.
It shouldn’t be a surprise. After spending time with him, after that visit to his childhood home, she understood now in a way she hadn’t before—this wasn’t just history to him.
It wasn’t just a treasure hunt. It was something deeper, something personal.
Of course he wanted to make sure that gold ended up where it should have been all along—with the Penobscot Nation.
How could she fault him for that? His people, his history, his community—that was what drove him.
She felt embarrassed with herself for not considering the gold hunt through Naki’s eyes, only through the lens of a park ranger.
Had she only imagined those moments between them? The way he looked at her, the way his silence felt like listening? Maybe she’d read too much into it. Maybe she’d wanted something that wasn’t there.
She glanced up to greet the next guest as he came up the gangplank and did a double take.
Her father was climbing the gangplank to stand before her.
For a moment, time unraveled and she was fifteen years old again, heading out on an adventure with her most favorite person in the world.
He looked almost the same. His hair had more gray than brown now, and fine lines traced his face, but his eyes still sparkled with the same mischievous glint, like he was in on a joke no one else could see.
The old leather satchel hung over his shoulder, worn and familiar, as if it had never left his side.
Scout tightened her grip on the clipboard, forcing her voice to steady. “Dad, this is not the time.”
“I’m here strictly on shipwreck business,” he said, his tone light. “You won’t even know I’m here.”
Her jaw clenched as she tried to formulate a response, but the resolve on his face disarmed her. Before she could protest, Naki appeared behind him, towering over him.
Scout lifted her hands, palms up, silently asking, Really?
Naki shrugged, his expression sheepish. “He can be stubborn.”
Scout’s father slipped around her and stepped onto the boat.
She spun on her heel to watch him but froze when a voice from the dock cut through the morning air.
“Hold up! I’m comin’ too!”
She turned. “Mother?”
Her mother was making her way down the pier, flanked by Frankie and Maisie.
Wearing high heels, a colorful Lilly Pulitzer sundress, and a wide-brimmed sun hat, she looked stunning .
. . and utterly out of place amid tourists in windbreakers and hiking boots.
Scout could only gape as her mother smiled brightly, clearly enjoying the tour operator’s attention as he helped her step onto the gangplank.
“Why are you here?” Scout said, moving down the gangplank to intercept her.
“I got your message, Magnolia Pearl,” her mother said, squeezing around her, “and a girl needs her mother in times like this.”
A classic Mother-move. Arrive unannounced, at the worst possible moment. A stealth act. Panic started cramping Scout’s stomach.
Frankie and Maisie trailed after her, looking equally bewildered. “Magnolia Pearl?” Frankie said, his face lit with amusement. “Oh, that bites.”
Maisie swatted him on the back of his head.
Chuckling, he moved around Scout to head into the boat.
“Scout,” Maisie said, “your mom showed up at Pops’s office and insisted she be brought to you.
She said it was a family emergency, but she wouldn’t say what it was.
So Pops reassigned us. He told us to bring her to you and help you out for the day. ”
Before Scout could respond, a loud voice erupted from the middle of the boat.
“James Henry Johnson! What the h-e-double-hockey-sticks are you doin’ here?”
Scout cringed. The family emergency had just begun.
Text conversation between Scout and her counselor, Elizabeth:
Scout
Emergency! I need a wisdom bomb. BOTH of my parents just showed up on the Baker Island tour. What am I supposed to do? How should I handle them?
Elizabeth
Scout, what is your role today?
To be an interpretive ranger for Acadia National Park.
Then go BE that ranger.