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Tess held up a hand to high-five him, but he folded his arms. “Could you have picked a heavier victim?” he whispered, as their volunteers applauded their speedy efforts.
Tess grinned, displaying three missing teeth in the sides of her mouth. “You need to start working out again, Dad. You’re a little winded from those stairs.”
He ruffled her hair and they dismissed the volunteers with the promised homemade cookies for their participation. As everyone dispersed, he checked his watch. “Okay, let’s get to work on resetting everything.”
The training exercise over, they needed to get the place ready for the actual visitors arriving the next day.
“That was really cool,” Rachel said as she approached him.
Shit, he thought she’d left with everyone else. “Thanks... Sorry, I can’t chat right now. We have a lot to do.”
“Would you like some help?” she asked.
“Yes!” Tess said.
Oliver shot his daughter a look before turning to Rachel. “No, thanks. We’ve got it.”
The Seattle native nodded, her red hair falling around her shoulders. “Well, since I’m here, maybe I could ask you a few questions?” she asked casually. “I can just follow you while you work. I promise not to get in the way.”
He’d known she had an agenda when he saw her name on their volunteer sign-up list that day. Rachel had moved to town when she’d met and fallen in love with a coast guard officer on a trip to Port Serenity to dispel the myth of Sealena. She’d since become a firm believer in the mysteries of the sea and had been hounding him to do this story about the lighthouse and his family’s connection to it. “Listen, Rachel, I know you’re hoping to really explore the history of this place, and your article on the lighthouse sounds great so far—” not that he’d really been listening “—but I’m just not comfortable with the idea of my personal life on display to several hundred people.”
He’d dealt with enough scrutiny years ago.
She nodded quickly, her gold, dangly earrings swishing from side to side. “It’s 4,863 people actually, but I totally understand.”
He doubted that.
“But we don’t have to talk about...what happened,” she said quietly and gently, as Tess was still within earshot, resetting the camera tripod. “Just the history of the lighthouse. How it was passed down in your family, that kind of thing... The future of it.”
“It’s mine next,” Tess said confidently, appearing next to him.
Oliver’s gut twisted slightly. That would normally be the plan—to pass the torch to the next generation. The job of watching the coastline had been passed along through his family for decades, and despite automation of the systems themselves and the US Coast Guard’s control over the operation, Oliver was the fourth-generation lighthouse keeper in Port Serenity.
For how much longer, he didn’t know.
And he certainly wasn’t sure he liked the idea of his daughter following in his footsteps.
“I’m sorry, Rachel, but the answer is no,” he said firmly.
Next to him, Tess pouted; he knew she’d love to be featured on Rachel’s blog. His little girl loved the local community and the family heritage revolving around the lighthouse, but he struggled with an uneasiness that maybe too much of their lives were tied up in the antiquity of the town.
“It’s just not the right time,” he said by way of excuse. “I still have a lot to do before the season starts.”
Rachel nodded. “Okay, sure...another time.” She touched Tess’s shoulder. “Great job.”
Tess beamed. “Thank you.”
“Before I forget, here is the invite to Darcy’s birthday party next week,” she said, handing a pretty light blue–themed party invitation to Tess.
His daughter’s eyes lit up again. “This is going to be so fun. She’s been talking about it for weeks.”
Darcy was Rachel’s stepdaughter of sorts, her boyfriend Callan’s adopted niece and Tess’s best friend. Despite the three-year age gap, the two girls were inseparable, as Tess had become like an older sister to the younger child. During the summer months, they tried to have playdates and sleepovers as much as possible. Oliver was grateful that Tess had such an amazing friend. Having lost her older sister three years before, he knew having Darcy helped to relieve some of that longing for a companion.
“I’ll reach out again when things are less busy,” Rachel said to Oliver with a wave.
He had no doubt that she would, and unfortunately, he’d left the door wide open for his scars to be exposed to all 4,863 of her followers.
CHAPTER TWO
