Page 55 of Capture the Moment

What? But Kate hadn’t said she would!

“I’ll grab my backpack from Pops’s jeep real quick and be back!” Halfway to the door, Maisie spun around with excitement. “This is going to beso ... much ... fun!” She emphasized each word with a clap of her hands.

Coop shot Kate a playful eyebrow wiggle before he turned to join Tim and Frankie at the door. At least he understood the situation Ranger Tim Rivers had just thrown at her.

Watching Coop pass by the big picture windows, it dawned on her that she would never have shown Oliver raw photos straight from her camera. Why? Oliver had a sharp eye for detail, no doubt about it. But he would’ve torn apart her shots, especially the ones she’d worked hard to improve. That would’ve left her grappling with self-doubts and insecurities, feeling like she wasn’t good enough, creative enough, bold enough, smart enough.

There was just something about Coop that put her at ease, made her feel as if she could fully be herself with him. Yet she hardly knew him. Why did she trust him so easily?

It was a question that lingered in her mind as she continued to browse through her photographs, waiting for the storm to pass. Waiting for Maisie the Magpie to return.

On the drive to Jackson Lake Dam, Maisie filled Kate in on fun facts about the dam. “When Jackson Lake was made by that dam thingy, it covered up a bunch of old buildings and stuff.Pops said that there are old homesteads, cabins, and even an old ferry landing that got hidden underwater. He told me that, once, during a really bad drought year, he could even see parts of old places peeking out. Isn’t that awesome? It’s like secrets are hiding beneath the lake. Wouldn’t it be cool to go scuba diving around the lake?”Is she listening?“Kate?”

Kate startled. “Scuba diving? No, I’ve never been.”

That wasn’t exactly what Maisie was asking, but it was close enough. “Me neither. But someday I want to learn how to scuba dive. Don’t you?” Before Kate could answer, she said, “I have more fun facts about the dam.”

“There’s more?”

“Tons more.” Maisie was just about to share more of her vast knowledge when Kate said, “Look! We’re here.” And sure enough, they’d arrived at Jackson Lake Dam.

Kate took her equipment out of the trunk of her car and went to work. And boy did she work. Maisie too. Kate kept sending Maisie off on errands to find out valuable information, like to go ask Coop if the bear causing the bear jam was 610 (it wasn’t). By the time Maisie found Coop to ask, then looked for Frankie and chatted with him for a while, and then returned to Kate, the bear had wandered off. Kate was disappointed. Maisie, not so much. She was just happy to hang around Kate.

Later that day, as Maisie helped Kate carry her equipment from the parking lot to her room at Jackson Lake Lodge, she picked right up where she had left off with fun facts. These ones were about the lodge. “Four presidents have visited here.”

“Yeah? Which ones?”

Maisie ticked off her fingers. “Presidents Kennedy, Nixon, Reagan, and Clinton.”

At the top of the staircase to the upper floor lobby, Maisie stopped in her tracks. She’d been here once before with Pops,and had the same overwhelmed-awesomeness-breathtaking moment when she took in the sight of the enormous windows that framed the Grand Tetons.

Kate was heading toward the elevator.

“Kate, slow down! Come and see this.” Maisie hurried around the furniture, eager to reach the window and soak in the stunning vista.

“Gorgeous,” Kate said as they stared through the windows, captivated by the jagged silhouettes of the Teton Range. “You know what I love most? It’s unchanged. People have been looking at those mountains for centuries, and they look just the same.”

“Do you ever wonder about them?”

“Who? All those presidents you said had visited here?”

“No, no. I mean way, way back. Like, before Lewis and Clark came exploring, before the mountain men came trapping here. The tribes. The Shoshone, Crow, Blackfeet, Gros Ventre. Don’t you wonder what their lives were like? Like, did they fall in love and get married and have kids and worry about their kids like people do now?” Most people. Not Maisie’s mom, but most.

Kate turned to her with a thoughtful look. “Maisie, you have more on your mind than I did when I was your age. All I thought about was boys.”

“Oh, I think about boys a lot.” Especially Frankie. She wondered if Frankie thought about her half as much as she thought about him.

Kate laughed and picked up her camera bag. “I’ve got to get up to the room and change out of these wet boots. Better still, grab a shower. Why don’t you just wait here for me? I won’t take long. And then I’ll drop you back at the visitor center to meet up with your grandfather.”

“Can I see your room? I’ve never seen a lodge room.”

“Oh. Well, sure.” Kate tipped her head. “Let’s go.”

“First, follow me for a second.” Maisie crossed the room to the Mural Room, a fine dining restaurant that she’d never eaten in but someday she wanted to. When Kate joined her at the door, she whispered, “Just look at that.”

Kate was looking out the window. “A panorama of mountains.”

“Yeah, but I meant the mural on those two walls. They tell the story of a mountain man rendezvous.”

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