Page 82 of Ruining His Smirk

“What about you, Dr. Park?” I asked Daniel. “Are you and Reed not leaving? I heard you’ve overwintered here for the past four years. Surely you need a break.”

“I can’t leave that easily, Nate. My position here isn’t easily replaceable.”

“Ah.”

Daniel smoothed down the sleeve of his starched white shirt. “Once I decided I couldn’t leave, Reed decided he was obviously staying as well.”

“Obviously,” Reed added.

“It turns out pilots are even more difficult to find during the winter months,” Daniel continued. “There may not be any active field research, but there have been rescue calls in the past. Once his supervisor learned he was willing to overwinter, they offered him incentives to stay.”

“Oh, wow.” Dexter looked at Reed. “What kind of incentives did they offer you?”

“They offered me money, but I declined.”

Sam, Viktor’s boyfriend and clearly a quiet guy, spoke for the first time. “Did you bargain for something else?”

“I asked to be allowed to stay at this research station, even though my airbase isn’t here.”

“And?”

“They agreed.”

Reed leaned back in delight while whistles broke out across the room.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out.

Keith leaned forward. “Is it the result?”

I nodded, my eyes glued to my phone screen. The others heard him. Conversations around our section of the lounge stopped as everyone turned toward me.

“What result?” someone asked.

“It’s from my colleague in New York,” I explained. “He’s a marine paleontologist who specializes in ancient cetacean remains. He has sent back the full report on the carbon dating of the whale skeleton.”

“Read it aloud,” Dexter said immediately.

I began to read.ter said immediately.

I began to read.

Dear Nate,

I have attached the complete radiocarbon analysis report for the sample associated with the recovered humpback whale skeleton. I have copied the relevant conclusion below for your quick refernce:

"Following radiocarbon analysis and calibration against the appropriate marine reference data, the submitted sample produced an estimated age range of approximately seven thousand three hundred to seven thousand five hundred years before present."

Whistles and applause broke out around us.

“There’s more,” I smiled at everyone.

I returned my attention to the email.

Nate, this aligns almost perfectly with the period you identified. I think your hunch was correct. This is an extraordinary finding, and everyone here is eagerly waiting for the skeleton to arrive.

I skimmed the rest, but there wasn’t anything important, so I put my phone back in my pocket.

“What hunch?” Reed asked.