The Pack Left Me Behind, So I Claimed My Future Chapter 07

The Pack Left Me Behind, So I Claimed My Future Chapter 07

At our desert base camp, all sixteen of us on the expedition team gathered around the table. This was my last meal there.

Elias had specifically asked the supply crew to bring back drinks, and Mr. Barrett had pulled out every ingredient the team normally rationed and prepared enough food to cover the table.

Selene kept her head lowered, her eyes slightly red. Lucien remained as silent as ever.

For two years, we had gone out surveying together in punishing weather, collected samples from the deepest reaches of the uninhabited wilderness, and supported and depended on one another. Now that it was time to part, none of us wanted to leave.

Those two years were not long, but they had given me a kind of warmth I had never experienced in the first twenty years of my life.

At the base camp, I was no longer the invisible girl no one cared about. They had shown me a hundred times more care than my own family ever had. Whether I was happy or hurting, someone was always there for me.

There, I could eat food I liked and sleep in a comfortable bed. I did not have to walk on eggshells or struggle to make myself fit in.

I knew that even after I left, the memories of those two years would remain a source of strength through whatever storms came next.

I raised my cup.

“Thank you all for taking care of me these past two years. I’m going to miss you.”

“You don’t need to thank us. We’ll miss you too.”

Throughout the meal, every member of the team reminded me to take good care of myself.

Before getting into the vehicle, I turned back to them.

“This is only goodbye for now. It’ll make our next reunion that much sweeter.”

On the plane, memories of those two years kept replaying in my mind. Before I turned twenty, I had been timid, used to swallowing every hurt, and physically frail.

Now I was confident and brave, stronger in both body and spirit.

When the plane landed, I stepped into the terminal with my back straight and my head held high.

“Maeve.”

I turned toward the voice and saw Professor Helena. She came over and hugged me.

“Welcome back.”

“Elias told me you did very well out there over the past two years. Your field skills have come a long way.”

I nodded and was about to answer when I spotted four familiar figures: Dad, Mom, Evander, and Nerys.

Dad and Evander stared at me, their bodies rigid. Tears shimmered in Mom’s and Nerys’s eyes.

Professor Helena leaned close and whispered in my ear.

“The year you left, they came to see me constantly. Once they learned when you were due back, they started taking turns waiting at the airport every day.”

“Why don’t you talk to them first? The final Northern Frontier survey report can wait.”

After Professor Helena left, I turned toward the four of them. They were still frozen in place, wearing the same expressions as before.

After a long silence, Dad took two steps toward me.

“Maeve, come home.”

I had spent my whole life longing to hear those words. Now that he had finally said them, they meant almost nothing.

“Let’s go.”

When we reached the parking lot, Evander hurried ahead and opened the car door.

“Maeve, you get in first.”

I did not refuse. I climbed into the car.

Nerys sat to my left and Evander to my right. Throughout the drive, they took turns trying to talk to me.

“Maeve, was it hard living in the Northern Frontier?”

“It was all right.”

“How was the food out there?”

“It was good.”

“Was the work difficult?”

“It was manageable.”

“What would you like for lunch? I’ll make it for you.”

I had waited twenty years to hear that question. For years, I had wished she would ask what I wanted every time she cooked.

She had never asked during those twenty years. Now I no longer wanted her to.

“Anything’s fine,” I said.