“Okaaay,” Amber said, drawing out the word. “Be right back.”
The breath caught in Cami’s throat. That was what Reese had said on his way out the door to the fishing trip. It was their inside, running joke. They each said ‘be right back’ to the other when they left the house in the morning, and on long trips.
Cami turned away and faced the forest preserve to hide her tears from Mitch as he drove in the second solar post. You better come back, Reese Lavelle.
Chapter 13
Mount Desert Island, Maine
In the gray light of morning, the first day after the tsunami struck, Jo put her hands on her hips and stared at Reese. He shifted uncomfortably, suddenly feeling like he'd done something wrong and now faced the disapproving glare of his grandmother.
"You sure you want to do this?" she asked gruffly.
"I don't think there's any doubt that he wants to do it," Ben said, leaning on a pair of duct taped crutches they'd found inside the ranger station. "It's a question of whether we can do it."
Reese nodded at Ben. "He's right. There's no way I'm not going to try." Reese looked out over the water.
It'd been a long night. He and a few others who'd come down from the mountaintop to help had scoured the shore using flashlights. Somewhere around 3 a.m., they'd worked their way halfway to Bar Harbor and discovered a sailboat impaled on the beach. The sailboat still had a serviceable dinghy floating nearby, tethered by a frayed rope.
Reese had immediately wanted to climb aboard, power up the little outboard mounted on the transom, and drive back around the island…but cooler heads had prevailed, and instead, he and Mr. Nikayoshi had taken turns hauling on the line. Like pack mules, they’d brought it back around the island, through the debris in the water, and moored it at the base of what was left of the Trenton Bridge.
Hours later, as dawn lit the world, Reese was joined by Ben and Jo and watched by a small group of those who wanted to stay behind. “Well,” Jo said, shaking her head, “I think I'd like to go with you…just as much as anybody else—but that little thing ain't gonna hold all of us."
"Not everyone wants to come with us,” Ben offered, looking at Matt. "There must be another 20 people still up at the top of the mountain."
“Ahyup,” Matt said, hooking his thumb under his belt. "And at some point, someone in a big fancy orange and white chopper will probably show up to rescue us.” He tapped his chest with his other thumb. "I don't like sitting around waiting for anybody—I don't do it in blizzards, but…this is different. What you’re talking about is suicide. I mean…look at it!”
“Okay, okay,” Jo said, raising a hand.
Mr. Nikayoshi rattled off a stream of Japanese and gestured across the debris field. He pointed at the dinghy, nodded, then grunted.
"And I can't understand a word he's saying,” Jo said, jerking a thumb at Nikayoshi, “but I'm pretty sure he does want to go with you," she said, scratching her forehead under the brim of her hat.
"I hope he understands that it's nothing personal that we can't take them…” Reese said, giving a polite nod to the Japanese family. "There's just not enough space in this little boat. We can't haul six adults and two kids."
"Well, they’re the youngest kids on the island, and I guess that makes me responsible. I'll stay," Jo said.
"You don't have to do that," Reese said. "I think there's plenty enough space for three adults."
"Even if one of them is gimpy," Ben said with a self deprecating laugh.
"I don't know…I’m not overly fond of boats to begin with. And that water out there's clogged with debris, and it's still pretty rough. How are we sure that the tsunami’s actually…uh, done?" asked Jo.
Reese turned and stared out at the floodwater. In dawn's early light, it was difficult to tell whether the tide was receding or still rushing in with yet another wave. They'd heard the sound of tree trunks ripping apart in the dull roar of all that water moving ashore all night. But the event had been going on for almost six hours by the time the world had grown dark.
Reese didn't know nearly half as much about tsunamis as he wanted to, but he couldn't believe that there were that many waves out there to still be pounding the shore almost 16 hours after the first one hit. It just couldn't. The universe simply couldn't be that unfair.
"At some point, everything has to end,” Reese said.
Everyone gathered by the shore turned to look at him.
"Well, that's uplifting,” Matt said under his breath.
Ben scoffed. “Yeah, dude, you suck at pep talks.”
"Look, we can ferry people across,” Reese said. “If we can make it across in this thing, then I can make it back and pick up a couple more people and bring them to the other side. Maybe we can get everybody off the island.”
“You got enough gas for that?” Jo asked. “Do you even know how much gas this thing has?” Jo slapped her thigh with the campaign hat. "It's too risky. Personally, I’d do it in a heartbeat, but…” She turned and looked at the Nikayoshi family, huddled together next to a splintered tree that had been pushed ashore during the night.
“What do
