Page 31 of No One Aboard

Rylan wanted to say that she was wrong. Tia wasn’t the thing that was bothering him. Well, at least, not the main thing. But her haphazard runaway planhadput a strain on him. How was he suddenly responsible for whether or not the Camerons remained intact?

“It’s not just her,” Rylan whispered, and he rotated hisshoulder reflexively. If he hadn’t told MJ what she wanted to know, would she have kept shaking him? Would she have yelled?

“Your father?” Lila guessed.

“No.”

Rylan turned his face and buried it into Lila’s stomach. He liked feeling small like this, as if he were only his head and shoulders, tiny enough for his mother to wrap herself around him.

“MJ?” said Lila, going down the list, apparently, in order of who she deemed most inflammatory.

Rylan didn’t reply.

Lila sighed. “I do wish we could have vacations with just the five of us. I tried to talk your father into an overwater villa in Bora Bora, but he insisted on this.”

Of course he did. A Cameron graduation could not be celebrated with relaxation. There had to be an adventure. A rite of literal passage.

“Rylan!” Francis’s voice called out from abovedeck.

“You’d better get ready, dove.” Lila helped him sit up. She touched her thumb to his chin. “You’ll have a ball.”

She rose and steered him to the door just as Francis opened it wide.

“Ah, there you are. Going to see us off, Lil?”

“Dressed like this?” Lila said, sweeping the sheer fabric of her kimono through the air in a grand gesture. “No, I must—”

“Change first,” Francis and Rylan finished for her in unison. Francis slapped Rylan’s back affably. A warm feeling broke open in Rylan’s chest.

“Am I that predictable?” Lila moaned as she followed the two of them up on deck.

“Yes, Mom.”

“Having the proper outfit is an art,” Lila said, hugging the kimono around her slim form. “Even if there’s no one to see it.”

“We appreciate you making an exception, Picasso.” Francis looped an arm around her waist and planted a brief kiss on her scalp. “Don’t we, Rylan?”

“Yeah. It’s an honor,” Rylan laughed.

He was getting excited again. The water was beautiful, the day was perfect. Even if MJ were coming on the dive with them, it’s not like he’d have to talk with her. They could just swim and admire the sea, and when they returned Lila would be waiting for them, with drinks in hand.

Someone cleared their throat behind them, and Rylan, Lila, and Francis turned.

Tia was leaned against the chart house, arms folded. She had on her wet suit already, zipped up to the chin, and with her red-tipped hair and dark-rimmed eyes, she looked like some kind of angsty, dystopian warrior.

“We diving or what?”

“Yes, yes, go get your gear ready,” Francis said, and he pulled away from Rylan and Lila.

Tia shouldered her way past Rylan, and he rolled his eyes when her back was to him. Was she really upset by them having a good time? Acting like a family? It was like she didn’twantthe Camerons to be good. He gritted his teeth.

“Suit up, Rylan!” MJ shouted from the cockpit.

“Okay, okay,” he said, already irritated by Tia’s tantrum.

He started to cross the deck, but Lila drew him back. “Stay safe down there. Listen to your father. And when you come back, let me attend to your hair. It always looks so good after being in salt water—”

“Okay!” Rylan snapped. He yanked away. “Anybody else want to order me around while we’re at it?”