That brought Doc up short. Romeo too if the bark of laugher he quickly cut off and turned into a cough was anything to go by.
For a full three seconds, Doc blinked at her. Finally, he said, “I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard you say a cross word to anyone.”
“I’m notcrosswith you,” she assured him. “I’m just pointing out that you’re basically being the human equivalent of a gray sprinkle on a rainbow cupcake, and I wanted to make sure that isn’t because you’re hurt worse than you’re letting on.”
“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Romeo agreed.
Doc sent Romeo a dirty look before muttering, “I’m hurt. But I’m going to be okay.”
“Good.” Mia gave him a wide smile. “Then there’s no reason why you can’t be quiet while Cami finishes telling us why she’s sure our plane going down didn’t have anything to do with her.”
When Doc opened his mouth, Romeo jerked one of the oars out of the oarlock and wielded it like a baseball bat. “The lady did not mince her words, Doc,” he warned, having joined Mia in her attempt to use a little humor to turn down the temperature inside the life raft.
“It’s not fair that you have the gunandthe oars.” Doc’s face was the picture of discontent. But the vehemence had disappeared from his tone. “Come on.” He wiggled his fingers. “Hand over the Glock.”
“No hablo ingles, Señor Weaponless,” Romeo countered with a smirk before adding, “But you’re more than welcome to come up here and take over rowing.”
“I’m wounded.” Doc’s reply was overly petulant.
“That’s a convenient excuse.” Romeo snapped the oar back into the round circle of plastic, and then asked Cami, “Did I hear you right? Did you say your fatherworkedfor the Gambino Crime Family? As in, past tense?”
Cami nodded. “Dad’s in prison. He got caught up in an FBI sting involving a check kiting scheme about eighteen months ago. When he was first arrested, someone put a bug in Lorenzo Mannino’s ear that Dad was looking to cut a deal with the Feds by informing on the Family. Lorenzo is the current head of the operation.” Cami looked at Mia as she imparted this last bit.
“Anyway,” she went on, “when my dad was released on bail, Lorenzo had one of his goons plant a bomb on a chartered flight Dad was supposed to take to Philly to meet with one of his lawyers. You know”—she hitched a shoulder, and Mia could tell she was working hard to give them the facts without showing her emotions on the subject—“take out the rat before he had a chance to squeak.”
Cami claimed the movies didn’t do the life justice, but listening to her talk reminded Mia of the plot of a Martin Scorsese film.
“The morning of Dad’s flight, he came down with a wicked case of the flu. But the plane had already been paid for, so my sister decided to take it to do some shopping. Carlotta loved the Sophie Carlson boutique just off Rittenhouse Square.” Cami shook her head as if she’d gotten off track. But Mia suspected it was more because the instant the lawyer said her sister’s name, her eyes grew misty.
“To make a long, awful story short,” Cami continued despite her voice having gone hoarse, “the bomb meant to take out my dad took out my sister. And turns out, that suited Lorenzo just fine. Twelve hours after the plane went down, a letter arrived at my parents’ house telling Mom and Dad they still had one daughter left alive, and if they wanted her...me...to stay that way, Dad would do well to keep his mouth shut.”
“Which he has,” Romeo assumed.
“Which he has,” Cami affirmed, looking a little sick at heart. “So like I said, if itwasa bomb that took out the plane, I don’t thinkIwas the target. There’d be no reason. My father is keeping up his end of the bargain.”
“You don’tthinkbut you don’tknowfor sure,” Doc declared.
Cami tossed her hands in the air and the two began to bicker. But Mia stopped listening. Instead, she gathered her courage and turned to Romeo.
Now, while Doc and Cami were distracted with each other, was the perfect time for her to explain her earlier behavior. To apologize for the name-calling and assure him she suffered no misconceptions when it came to what he felt for her or what she could expect from him.
“We’re going to be okay,” he promised before she could get a word out. “It might take time, but someonewillfind us. You can go ahead and start breathing again.”
Of course he’d noticed she was holding her breath.
Although he was wrong aboutwhyshe was doing it.
She nodded. Or at least she meant to. She was too distracted by his mouth, which was curved into a soft smile that made his dimples pop, to know if she actually did it.
“I’m not worried about that,” she assured him. “I mean, notreally.I know no one on Wayfarer Island will sleep until we’re found. But Romeo, I should apol—”
“I really wish you’d go back to calling me Spiro,” he cut her off, and his words were so unexpected, her chin flew back.
She’d taken to calling him Spiro the night she first learned they shared a love for the Night Angels series. The first night they’d “slept together.” But the next day he’d said that thing about her being nothing he needed and him being nothing she should want, and she’d gone back to using his nickname.
Spirohad suddenly felt too...intimate.
“Why?” Her voice was so low she was surprised he heard her.
