“Well, at least Rose might be more understanding about the Tommy thing given her father’s situation.”
At that, Xander laughed out loud. “Oh, no. She is not happy with Billy. Not at all. I don’t even know if she goes to visit him. She has no sympathy for him or any other criminals.”
“Do you really think of us as criminals?” Heath asked.
Xander shook his head. “No, but that doesn’t mean that isn’t how other people will think of us. Especially Rose. No, I definitely don’t want any of our problems to get back to her. I’ll deal with issues as they arise, but I’d be just as happy for her to never even hear the name Tommy Wilder.”
Heath finished off his beer and set it aside. “I know it sounds stupid after all of this, but try to enjoy your time there. Get to know your son.... Man, it’s weird just to say that. I’m an uncle!” he declared, as though he’d just made that connection. “Uncle Heath. Ugh. That sounds wrong. We’ll have to work out something better. Anyway, spend time with him, visit with our folks. Make the most of your vacation. Don’t let all the drama ruin it.”
“I’ll try,” Xander said. It would be hard, but he would try.
“Well, I’d better wrap this up, so let me leave you with this one last thought. Maybe it will make up for the homicidal-mom thing,” Heath added with a grin. “If and when you become a political hotshot, it will be in like twenty years. Twenty years from now, your secret love child will be our age. Your jailbird father-in-law will be paroled and in a nursing home. Even this crap about Tommy will be a distant memory.”
It was hard to imagine, but he was right. Twenty years ago, he was a happy, normal kid living the average American life. How many things had changed since then that he’d never even dreamed of? That many more would change in the next twenty years. When he thought of it that way, it felt like a lifetime away.
“Don’t plan your whole life around things that might not matter to anyone down the road,” Heath said. “You might miss out on the good things happening now.”
Six
Xander was having flashbacks of Molly’s test recipes. Even with only a bite or two of each dish, he was overdosing on the red fruit. In the past two hours, he had tasted countless strawberry pies and strawberry cakes. Then came the strawberry-dessert open category, where he sampled strawberry cobblers, strawberry cookies, strawberry ice cream, strawberry gelatin molds and strawberry pretzel salad. His only reprieve was the jams-and-preserves category, the last group, where he could finally have some crackers to kill the cloying sweetness coating his tongue. If he ever got roped into this again, he was going to demand a savory strawberry category to break up the sugar. He had a sweet tooth, but even he had his limits.
There was still some scoring and tallying to do, but when he got out of here, he was marching to the nearest food booth and shoving a mustard-coated corn dog down his throat. He might follow it with some popcorn. Or a soft pretzel. Anything without strawberries.
Xander marked his score on the last jelly and the group took a half-hour break while the scores were being tallied. After that they would choose the best in show from the four category winners.
Now was his chance to drink some black coffee, stretch his legs and perhaps go in search of some salty potato chips in a nearby vending machine.
Aside from the sugar high, it hadn’t been too bad. A couple pies were excellent. Rose’s cloud cake got his highest score in that group, but only because it really was the best cake he tasted. His favorite jelly had been a spicy strawberry-jalapeño combination he’d never had before, although he wasn’t sure if it was really that good, or if he liked it just because it wasn’t that sweet.
He had no idea what Molly entered this year, and that was fine by him. He didn’t want to know. He’d either feel obligated to give her a good score because she was his mother or obligated to give her a bad score because she was his mother and he didn’t want to seem biased. Each dish had been assigned a number, so that was all he knew.
It was nearly seven on Friday night when he was finally cut loose from his judging duties. The winners would be announced tomorrow and would be featured in the parade, but for now, he was a free man.
He texted Rose and met up with them on the far side of the fairgrounds. She and Joey were sitting at one of the picnic tables eating a funnel cake with strawberry topping and whipped cream.
Rose was looking casual but beautiful tonight. She wore a fitted pair of dark denim jeans and a silky off-the-shoulder top in swirls of blue and green. Her long dark hair was braided and wrapped around into a bun. It showcased the long, graceful line of her neck, like a swan reaching up into the moonlight. The blinking carnival lights gave her skin a peachy glow and her lips looked as sweet and juicy as the berry they were celebrating. That was one dish he would gladly overindulge in.