Page 78 of Ford

“Oh, we’re being mysterious.” She looked over the top of her cup. “Maybe I should have a code name. Like—”

“Dory.”

She cocked her head. “Dory? FromFinding Nemo?”

“Yeah, wasn’t that about a fish?”

“Yeah, an airhead fish who kept forgetting where she was going. Is that how you see me—as a confused fish?”

She wasn’t smiling now, and he couldn’t help but grin.

“In what way am I a confused fish—wait, don’t you dare answer that.”

“Doesn’t she go on a mission because she thinks someone needs her help?”

“When did you see this movie?”

“One of the kids of a diplomat I guarded used to watch it. ‘Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.’”

“I don’t swim.”

“You did yesterday.”

“I got knocked into a pool. I splashed. That is not swimming. I can’t swim.”

“Really? Not even a dog paddle?”

“I can barely float.”

She didn’t seem like she was kidding. He put his coffee on the table. “You mean to tell me that you attacked someone in a pool, even though you had to know you’d go in, and you can’t swim?”

“You were drowning.”

He just stared at her. “That was stupid.”

“Well, thank you. Thank you very much. I sort of thought it was heroic.”

Hmm. It was. “Don’t do it again.”

“Now we’re back to giving orders?”

“I don’t know why, you don’t listen to me anyway.”

She put her coffee down. “That’s what this is about. I knew it. You’re angry at me for saving your life.”

“You didn’t save my life, honey. I was doing just fine on my own.”

“Listen, sugar, Ididsave your life. That guy was choking you. I got him off you—”

“And then you were taken hostage, toots! Which you wouldn’t have been if you’d just— Obeyed. Me.”

“Wow.” Kat leaned down from the upper bunk. “You two are really hitting it off, aren’t you?”

RJ looked away, leaning back on the bench.

Kat must have put down her computer because she climbed off the bunk, landing on the floor in front of him. “Okay, you two lovebirds, I’m going to hit the head, then grab some grub in the dining car.”

“I should go with you,” York said.