As she glanced up at Scott, her heart thumped a little harder.
She probably shouldn’t have come. Just because he’d helped her a couple of times didn’t mean he wanted her in his life.
It was like asking for rejection.
Because she didn’t want to show how vulnerable she was feeling, she went with careless.
“Hi, Dad.” She used a don’t-care tone that would have earned her a sharp rebuke from her mother, but Scott Rhodes didn’t react. He never seemed to react the way other people did.
“You’re up early.”
“Despite popular belief, there is no such thing as a typical teenager. We’re all individual. Some of us are tall, some short, some love Taylor Swift, and some love rock and rap.” She scrambled to her feet. “I thought we could spend some quality father-daughter time together. Bonding is important, don’t you think?” Because she was scared and stressed, she resorted to verbal sparring and sarcasm, but Scott didn’t seem inclined to play that game. Instead he gave her a brief glance and then lowered the ropes and the bags he was carrying into the boat.
His lack of response left her feeling childish.
“Are you going out in that? Can I come?” Now she was definitely acting like a little kid, begging for attention.
“Have you ever been on a boat?”
The fact that he hadn’t told her to go away gave her hope.
“Do you count a pedal boat in Hyde Park? If not then no, but I’m a quick learner. What would you want me to do? I don’t know a whole lot about sailing in real life, only from books. If you take me on this boat it’s possible I could sink it. I read Moby-Dick.” She shifted awkwardly, aware that she was talking far more than he was. “Mom gave me your copy.”
“You read it?”
“Yes. Why so surprised? I hate most of the stuff kids my age are reading. Usually about teenagers who save the world, which doesn’t make sense to me. Most teenagers aren’t even allowed to go to the bathroom without telling a grown-up. We have to say where we’re going, when we’ll be back and what grade we got. It’s all rules, rules, rules. Who is going to give them responsibility for the world? That’s not happening any time soon. I can’t suspend disbelief enough to read that type of thing. But Moby-Dick was real. I mean the Essex sank, I know that. Grams told me about it.”
He rearranged everything inside the boat. “It’s not going to be like Moby-Dick.”
“Because there aren’t any whales around here. I know. It’s tragic. I don’t believe in killing anything. I’m a vegetarian, which annoys Grams because she makes these amazing potpies. She’s learned to do cheese and leek because of me. It’s pretty good.” She glanced at the boat and then at the waves. “I don’t mean to be offensive or question your skill or anything, but those are big waves out there. Not that I’m an expert, but I’ve read a ton of stuff and I can tell you that something more robust would be safer. As we’re on Martha’s Vineyard and everyone knows Jaws was filmed here, I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
“We have something more robust.”
“We do?” She was surprised by how much she liked the we in that sentence.
He gestured with his head and for the first time she noticed the yacht bobbing in the bay.
“That’s yours? That big white one? Then what’s this one for?”
“This is a tender. I use it to get from the yacht to the shore.”
It hadn’t even occurred to her to wonder how people got to the boats moored outside the harbor. “You go on the yacht most days?”
“Every day. I live on it. It’s my home.”
“Cool. If someone annoys you, you can sail into the sunset or throw them overboard. Can I come and live with you?” She saw his expression change and her stomach gave a lurch. “I’m kidding. I know I’d be as welcome as a shark in a seal colony. If you’d wanted me in your life, you would have stuck around sixteen years ago. Don’t feel bad about it. No one wants me around right now, so you’re not alone.” Across the dock she saw a tall, lean boy sling a bag into a boat and spring in after it. She recognized him as the boy who had pinned up the Coding Club notice. Saul something. No, Sam. That was it. Sam.
As she floundered for the name, the boy glanced up and saw her.
Mack felt her face burn. This was awkward.
But to her surprise he lifted his hand in a greeting and a smile spread across his face.
It was the first time since she’d arrived on the island that anyone had seemed genuinely pleased to see her.
She hesitated and then lifted her hand and returned his greeting.
Scott glanced over his shoulder toward the boy in the boat. “You know Sam Tanner?”