Free Ten Good Reasons by Lauren Christopher

“bastard” floated back toward Lia.
    “Hey!” Lia greeted.
    Evan looked back over his shoulder with such a sense of relief Lia actually felt sorry for him.
    But his attention went right past her.
    “Hey!” He shot forward, grabbing Avery’s little boy and yanking him back from the edge of the steps.
    Evan’s deep voice, the sudden lunge, and the unwanted attention must have met in a terrible swirl for the little boy, and he burst into tears.
    “I’m sorry,” Evan said, dropping the boy’s arm. “I just didn’t want . . .” He turned his ire on Lia. “Didn’t we discuss this?”
    Lia didn’t think it was fair for Evan to turn on her, but he was right. A child didn’t belong up here. At least not with two adults who were so inattentive.
    “Avery.” Lia turned to her calmly. “We like to keep children away from the captain’s bridge, and we prefer that adults stay on the lower decks, too.” She guided Avery back to the stairs as she talked. “Do you have questions, though? You must have a ton of questions to make your posts as accurate as they are. Ican answer almost anything for you. And what I can’t answer, we’ll throw back to Captain Betancourt after the tour is over.” She flashed her best smile back at Evan, as if they were the closest of friends. Evan just stared at her, looking incredulous. “Maybe we can sit down in the galley. Did you get your cookie from Cora yet? Conner, did you get your cookie?”
    In no time, Avery and Conner were smiling at her, Avery’s pride intact, as they made their way down the steep stairs and back toward the galley.
    As soon as she got them settled with their free cookies, and Cora started telling them tales of sailing the Pacific, Lia sensed another passenger heading toward the bridge steps. Dang, she really needed to put that chain up.
    “We’re going to let our captain concentrate on getting us out to sea,” she said, steering the two passengers in “
Go Wisconsin!
” sweatshirts away. “If you have questions for him, pass them along to me, and I’ll be sure to ask.” Marketing smile. Gentle touch to the elbow. Free cookie. Problem Two diverted.
    Lia hustled back to get the chain rigged up across the bridge stairs. Just as she secured it, she heard a strange clicking over the speakers. Then the same series of clicks, repeated.
    She sighed, undid her chain, and climbed back up. Her ankle was killing her.
    “Are you
signaling
me?”
    “On the radio, they said there were some grays just off Table Rock.” Evan pushed his hair back off his face and peered through the binoculars. “I’m going to head just to the west of them. We should be able to see them starboard, against the coastline.”
    Unsure what to do with so many words from him, especially in a series that didn’t involve grunts or scowls, Lia staggered toward the console. “What should I tell everyone? Stand at two or three o’clock?”
    “Let me get there first.”
    He began heading in that direction, then glanced her way and frowned.
    “Do you not want me to stand here?” she asked, unable to keep the aggravation out of her voice.
    “You’re fine.”
    As simple and uninviting as the words were, they felt like some kind of a welcome mat coming from him. Lia let her shoulders relax.
    “You should get off that foot,” Evan said.
    “Too much to do.”
    “Where’s the ice I gave you?”
    “Downstairs. I’ll use it when we’re done.”
    He shot her another look of annoyance. “Where downstairs?”
    “On the counter.”
    He reached just past her knee. “What’s your cook’s name again?”
    “Cora. And she’s not just a cook; she happens to be a very fine friend of—”
    “Cora,” Evan said into the microphone. “This is Captain Betancourt. Would you bring up the white tube of ice that’s on the counter, please?” He clicked the microphone off and put it back in place.
    Lia blew out an aggravated breath. She was used to being the bossy one. She and Evan might very