Page 3 of Explorer's Revenge
They are all waiting inside as I enter like a ball of chaos. Ajax grins at me as he hugs me. “Fashionably late, as usual, Maeve.”
“Sorry, I was exploring an abandoned hotel.” I shrug as I sit, flinging my shoes onto the table, ignoring the disgruntled looksfrom some of the board dudes. They don’t have to like me. Ajax holds all the votes and he does. He sits down and watches me, uncaring about my lack of manners or business sense.
“Of course you were. I hope you recorded it.” He raises his eyebrow, and I nod.
“You know it.” I grab some water and down it as I peer at him. “So, what’s with the formal meeting? I didn’t start any international fights or sink a boat again.”
“No, no, nothing like that. You aren’t in trouble for once. We actually have another job for you.” He waves, and I groan.
“Not another picture-perfect event,” I grumble, hating them as much as they love them, but it’s part of the job to be the face for the adventure units like the dick squad. They said they wanted to get more women into the sport, but to me, it’s just torture.
“Not this time.” He grins, making me eye him worriedly. “This time you’ll be doing what you do best, exploring the unknown.”
I sit up, excitement beginning to course through me. “Don’t tease me.”
“I’m not. This is an all-expenses paid trip—no limits or rules. You can take a team if you want or go alone . . .” He waits, knowing I’ll bite.
“What’s the job?” I ask.
“To find and document the infamous lost city of Apear.”
“Oh shit,” I mutter. Not many people know, but my love of exploring came from tales about that city. “They found it?”
“Maybe. A man was shipwrecked, and he swears he stumbled into the ruins. No one else knows yet, and he didn’t claim the discovery. You are going to, aren’t you?” he asks, smiling at me.
“You bet your sexy ass I am. Where do I sign up?” He laughs with me and starts clapping his hands. “Let’s get you started. The quicker you leave, the better, right?”
“You know it.” I leap to my feet, grinning.
This is it, my chance to prove I am better than all others.
The world will always remember Maeve Carter, the first solo woman to find the lost ruins of Apear.
Eat a bag of dicks, Adreno Squad, because I’m about to be your daddy.
“Dad!” I yell as I slam his front door, kicking off my shoes.
“Kitchen!” he calls back, laughter in his shaky voice.
Grinning, I head past the living room and find him sitting in the kitchen with a cup of tea and a book. For a moment, I just stare at the man who raised me to love the world. I grew up in different countries, seeing everything the world has to offer. Some found it weird and said I had a bad childhood, but I wouldn’t change it for anything. Other girls got to go to prom, but I got to swim with sharks, explore ruins, cross the world on sailing boats, climb mountains, and dive into the deepest parts of the ocean.
We did everything together until he got sick. Now, it’s just me representing everything we love. I wanted to quit, unable to do it without him, but he wouldn’t let me, saying it’s in my blood and now I need to do it for both of us. It still hurts seeing him like this when he should be doing it with me, knowing it causes him pain as well as joy when I do things he can now only dream of.
“Hey, baby girl,” he says as I sit and take his mug, sipping it and gagging. He laughs. “Green tea. Apparently, it’s good for me,” he jokes as I wipe my mouth.
“Or Sandy is trying to kill you,” I tease as he laughs. “Speaking of, where’s the monster in law?” When he married, I joked she would be a monster, but I was so wrong. She’san incredible woman who loves both my father and me. She shouldered the burden of having a kid who wasn’t hers and a husband who preferred to spend his weekends doing dangerous shit that gave her sleepless nights, yet she never once complained. She came with us to every ceremony and was there for me in a way my own mother never was since she’d abandoned me as a kid. When Dad got his diagnosis, she quit her job and became his full-time caregiver despite the fact that he isn’t as bad now as he will be. She learned everything she could about MS.
Dad was diagnosed a few years ago after many bouts of lost balance, blurry vision, and his body just generally not doing what he wanted. Seeing such an incredibly strong man who’d spent his days climbing mountains reduced to this breaks my heart, especially knowing he’s still an adventurer at heart. We got unlucky—or lucky, depending on how you look at it—because he has primary progressive MS, which means it will only get worse, and the years since he was diagnosed have only proven that. He now walks with a cane and sometimes struggles with balance and seeing, and his coordination is disappearing while his brain becomes foggy. He hates it, but just like anyone with a lifelong condition, he has his good and bad days.
It ended his explorer career though.
That’s something we both resent, even if we have learned to live with it. He changed, but he found happiness in the mundane, creating a life with the woman he loves. When he reaches for the mug, I see his arm shaking, and I swallow as I hand it over, knowing better than to point it out. It will only upset us. Plus, he’s happy, and I don’t want to ruin that.
“So what has you bouncing around like a bunny, kid?” he asks.
“How was treatment yesterday?” I ask instead, tempering my excitement.
“The same as always. Spill it, kid. Nothing exciting happens in my life?—”
