Chapter 41
Lila Logan Cameron
Call sign: Cassiopeia
Lila made her way back to the cockpit and snaked her arms around Alejandro’s torso from behind.
“Is it done?” she asked him.
“Almost. Waiting for the right time.”
She caught his chin. “Waiting for my order?”
He never faltered. “Of course. What else? Now I need to see where I’m steering, senora.”
“Of course,” she repeated and released him. Both of their tasks were almost complete. Now she needed the right time. She trailed
Alejandro’s spine with her thumb. His shirt was almost as paper-thin as her robe.
“I should get to bed, then,” she said.
“Dream of greener grass, Senora Cameron,” he said calmly. He kept his gaze pointed forward, and she detached from him, leaving
a single ghost of a kiss at the nape of his neck.
“Buenas noches, Alejandro.”
And she did dream. Not of grass or anything green, though. No, that night, Lila Logan dreamed of fire.
“Mom and I saw a shark last night,” Tia announced at breakfast.
Alejandro had sliced the sailfish meat into delicate, salmon-like pieces that the family spread on their toast. Lila cut up
her fish and toast into minuscule bites before sampling a piece. She chewed it thoughtfully. It could use some cream cheese.
“A shark?” Rylan sat up straight. He had been silent all morning as well as late to meeting in the salon. But at least he’d
stopped crying, poor dear. “What kind?”
“What time last night?” Francis narrowed his eyes. “I was on watch from eight to midnight.”
“A big one,” Tia said with a mouthful of fish, not looking at her brother. “It was too dark to tell exactly what kind, but
it was like ten or eleven feet.” She held up her hands. “The fin was like this tall, I think.”
“So you saw it as well, Lil?” Francis studied his wife as he sipped his orange juice.
“I did,” Lila admitted. Should she have told Tia to keep quiet? No, that would have just attracted more suspicion. Her conversation
with Nico had put her on edge, even more than she already was thanks to Francis’s little surprise change in plans and the
fact that her only daughter was plotting to escape their family and never speak to them again. “I couldn’t sleep, so I went
to get some fresh air. Turns out Tia couldn’t sleep either.”
“Yeah . . .” Francis set his glass down with a clatter. “Seems no one’s been getting decent sleep around here lately.”
Rylan hadn’t touched his food. Did he regret confessing about Tia’s plans to run away? Lila couldn’t know for certain, but
she saw how much the knowledge weighed on him. It was right of him to unburden himself to his parents.
As for Tia running . . . it was obsolete, as far as Lila was concerned. Once they were back home (and they would get back home) everything would change for the better, and if Tia still wanted to go, Lila would hold the door for her. Maybe
she’d come back in a few years mellowed out and grateful. Or maybe she’d get mixed up with more boys like Nico de la Vega,
and Lila would find her in a ditch someday.
Only time would be kind enough to tell.
“Rylan, darling,” Lila said, “why don’t you go get one of your animal books? We can try to identify the kind of shark your
sister and I saw.”
To her relief, Rylan got up right away to do just that.
Francis sawed at his toast. “Did Alejandro see the shark? He was on watch at that time, wasn’t he?”
Lila smiled breezily. She had hoped that the lovely moment she and Francis had with Rylan in the dark little hatch would have
rectified her husband’s coldness toward her. Tia was planning to abandon her, abandon them all. There was nothing like having
a common enemy to smooth over cracks in a family foundation.
“Alejandro was in the cockpit steering, dear. Tia and I saw the shark more toward the front of the boat.”
“The bow,” Francis corrected.
“Naturally.”
Rylan came back in with a marine biology book clutched to his chest. He pushed aside his untouched breakfast and opened it
to the sharks and rays section. Lila peered at the photographs of the dinosaur-like monsters. The dark shape in the water
from last night could have been any of them, for all she knew. She hoped secretly that it had been a dolphin or a small whale.
A shark following their ship was nausea-inducing. What if someone went overboard?
“A reef shark maybe. Or even a tiger!” Tia pointed at several pictures in excitement.
Lila expected Rylan to look terrified by the possibility of a tiger shark trailing after their family boat, but he instead seemed enthralled.
Guess we aren’t as similar as I thought.
“I want to go see if I can spot it,” Rylan said, and he bolted from the room, bringing the shark book with him.
Tia, probably loath to be left alone at the table with her parents, retreated out of sight down the hall to her cabin. It
was strange that they hadn’t gone together. Lila decided to take it as a good sign that Rylan was finding his own footing.
Francis dabbed at a stain on his shirt collar, then folded his napkin and replaced it in his lap. Lila drained her glass of
iced lemonade.
“You weren’t in bed for a while after I got off watch,” he said, picking up his fork again.
Lila nodded, nibbled at the toast.
“You know, Lil, if you can’t sleep, you can wake me up. I can help.”
Lila stood and rifled through the refrigerator to get cream cheese. “I know, Francis. You’ve just been so exhausted since . . .
this week.”
“That’s the price of being captain. Even if there were no unfortunate incidents, I wouldn’t get good sleep.”
Lila sat back down and spread the cheese over the fish. “You see? It isn’t fair to wake you.”
Francis considered this. “What kept you up?”
Lila took a bite. The cheese added a creaminess to the meal that was sorely needed. Delicious. She should tell Alejandro to
add this for next time. Perhaps with a hint of lemon zest as well?
“You know I worry, Francis. About you. The twins.”
“What about the twins?”
Lila scoured her brain and settled on something simple and true. “College, if you must know. With everything so up in the air, with Tia so . . . volatile . . . I’m just agonizing over their education.” She knew this was a sore spot for Francis.
Francis sat back in his chair. Then he laughed, long and belly deep with a full smile. Lila relaxed.
“Oh, Lil . . . Is that all? Lila, love, look around us. Look at me, look at you. Neither of us went anywhere near college.”
He opened his arms as if their multimillion-dollar boat was evidence enough that they hadn’t needed college. Where had this
laissez-faire attitude toward higher education been when he made Rylan cry over picking a lesser school?
Men are fickle.
“You’re right,” she responded.
He leaned across the table and squeezed her hand, none the wiser to what truly plagued her mind. Then his gentle squeeze turned
into a vise grip.
Lila’s blood ran cold.
“Tell me the truth, Lila,” he commanded, his voice dropping to a baritone croon.
Her body clenched. Had Nico told Francis what he suspected? Would he betray his uncle just to kiss up to his new boss?
She gave him a carefully perplexed look. “Francis, let go.”
He did. He sat back in his chair and folded his hands over his stomach. “I wouldn’t worry so much about the kids, Lila. They’re
Camerons. They’ll have it all.”
He didn’t know.
Her smile felt fluttery and breathless as she stood again. Her hand tingled with the memory of his strength. “Of course, love.”
Francis raised a glass to her in some kind of backhanded toast. “Just as long as they learn how to take it.”