AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As we walk from the pier towards the town I stay towards the front of the group with Cat, Jacqueline, Teresa, and Ann. The boys take the back. I hear Carter call out my name and ask me if I want to get strategizing, but I just pretend I can’t hear him over the wind.
Isle North is quaint, like something out of a vintage postcard. White washed houses dot the shore, nestled in between tall pine trees, their paint well-worn from being buffeted by sea winds. There’s a small white and red lighthouse perched on a large rock jutting out into the ocean and a walkway that leads from it to a small house. As we approach the town, a cluster of colorful buildings comes into view, red and green and yellow with tin roofs. A perfect subject for a painting, I think. Not that I have the time to do that anymore.
There’s a post office, a general store, and a seafood shop and restaurant called Shaky Jane’s. I see a house that has a doctor’s office sign out front, and I’m sure the doctor living there looks after everyone on the island.
We pass a few people on our way through and they all nod or wave at Captain Jones, who is accompanying us to the trailhead just to make sure we find it.
A woman with short brown hair walking a dog stops to ask us, “Heading out for a hike?”
“Yep,” Cat says. “Looking forward to it.”
“It might storm later,” the woman responds, directing her comment at Captain Jones. “But more likely to be tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I’ll keep an eye on the weather forecast and call them if we need to leave early,” he says.
Great, just what this day needs: rain. I imagine for a moment trying to complete this asinine scavenger hunt with Carter while being pelted with rain. Just the thought makes me wince.
“We dressed with rain in mind!” Cat says cheerfully, pointing towards her hiking boots.
It’s late April so the weather in Maine is a bit unpredictable, and muddy, so most of the group wore long sleeves and boots. I’m wearing workout clothes and sneakers, because I packed after a shift at the hospital and just threw things into my suitcase. At least my shirt has long sleeves so I won’t be cold.
“The trails aren’t too muddy,” the woman says, and then she heads off.
We continue our way through the town, and I make sure to stay far ahead of Carter so as to keep the interaction minimal. I’m the first one to reach the trailhead after Captain Jones and I’m already sweating and my face is getting red.
Everyone else arrives and Jamie orders us into our pairs, and tells us to make sure we take photos of everything we find for evidence. He explains that we’ll all start in the same place, but that there are a few trails that connect, and it will make sense for us to branch out.
As we get started up the trail, I feel Carter fall into step beside me.
“So,” he says, “we have this in the bag, easily. I already know where we can find half of these things.”
“How?” I ask, unable to resist. Because the scavenger hunt is full of things like “find a small white pine” and “find the ruins of an old lighthouse.”
“I’ve been here before, remember?”
“What?”
“On the boat, I was telling everyone about the times I’ve been here for field research,” he says slowly, and then continues when I don’t respond. “Isle North has puffin colonies that nest on the eastern side of the island. Their numbers have been increasing for the last few years, and I’ve probably tagged over a hundred of them myself.”
I swear I hear a note of hurt enter his voice, so I say, “I was seasick for the whole ride, Carter. That’s why I stayed inside the cabin.”
In truth, I was less seasick and more nauseous at the thought of talking to him, but I don’t want him to realize that I was purposefully avoiding listening to him. It’s the end of his PhD and he doesn’t need my negativity. He might have hurt me years ago, but I’m not heartless.
“Right, of course,” he says, and then returns to looking at the scavenger hunt list. “Wow, they really made this with me in mind—it literally says to find a puffin.”
“Are they even nesting here yet?” I ask. “Isn’t it early in the season?”
“Yes,” Carter says, slowly again. “But how did you know that? Been reading my papers?”
“I’ve lived in Maine for most of my life, Carter, I know things,” I say. I’m not going to admit to having Googled him on multiple occasions and read up on his research. It’s helpful for me to know when he might be away on field work.
Fuck, I sound like a stalker. Or an anti-stalker. Whatever the pathological version of trying to avoid someone at all costs is.
“Sure you do, Ange,” he says, flashing me that annoying know-it-all smirk of his. I’d like the chance to dig around inhishead for once. He’d hate it.
I don’t respond because I know it’s useless—once Carter has you read, he won’t back down. The frustrating thing is he’s usually right and I have no interest in digging myself into this hole any deeper.
Instead, I march on ahead, pulling closer to Cat and Jacqueline, and Jamie and Hunter, in front. Carter, to my annoyance, hurries along after me, until we’re both ahead of everyone else.
