Lenora turned toward him. "You are determined to make me look dishonest."
"I'm asking because you said you didn't read the labels. But you knew there was something to cover."
Roland lifted a hand before the exchange could become louder. He asked Lenora to stop changing the arrangement of the food and not to discard any packaging. She agreed with a sigh and returned her phone to her lap. For a moment she looked less like a celebrity guest and more like somebody waiting to learn whether a small mistake had grown too large to manage.
Nessa sat quietly beside Zire while the adults compared records. Her aunt, Miriam Row, was traveling in economy and had not been told about the dispute yet. Nessa had wanted to visit her father in California and had saved money from tutoring a younger student to contribute to the ticket. She was excited about the journey, but her food allergy made airports difficult. She had eaten only an apple at the gate, trusting the special meal she had ordered to cover the longest part of the trip.
"Do you think they'll let us fly?" she asked Zire under her breath.
"I think they have to settle the report first."
"My aunt is going to be upset."
"Because of what happened to you?"
"Because she'll think she should have made sure I sat with her. She already worries about everything."
Zire remembered his mother's eyes at the boarding desk. "Mine does too. It doesn't mean she did anything wrong."
Nessa considered him for a moment. "You're pretty calm for someone whose food just disappeared."
"I'm not really calm."
"You look calm."
"Grandpa taught me to keep looking at the facts. It's easier than thinking about all the adults watching."
Nessa glanced around the cabin. Several passengers were pretending to read while paying close attention. "I noticed that," she said. "The part about the adults."
They fell quiet while Orla finished checking the handoff quantities. Zire wanted to ask Nessa more about her trip, but he sensed she needed a few minutes in which nobody required an explanation from her. He had needed the same thing after Bria threatened him with a conduct report. The difference between help and another demand could sometimes be as small as allowing someone to sit without questioning them.