“When is it?”
“It starts on Monday. With his arm, even if I could afford it, they probably wouldn’t take him.”
Xander could specifically recall seeing a boy with a broken arm when he went to camp. If Troy Williams was still the local scoutmaster, maybe Joey could go. Troy had contributed heavily to Xander’s campaign. He could give him a call. Joey would have a good time. And given that the sketch just went public, it might be the best solution. Xander wouldn’t be torn between spending time with his son and fielding the press. “They might. We should ask. It might make up for missing out on baseball.”
Rose frowned. “Xander, I told you that I can’t af—”
“And I told you I was going to help,” he interrupted. “And he wants to go. If I can get the scoutmaster to agree to let him go, will you let me take care of it?”
Her lips twisted with thought but she didn’t answer.
“Seven full days,” Xander added, “without a child underfoot. We could each do what we needed to during the day, then I could come over here after work. Imagine how much trouble we could get into. Imagine how loud you could be,” he said with emphasis.
Rose’s dark eyes met his, the bright flame of desire burning in their depths again. He hated that it would be an eternity before he could touch her again. It would be a welcome distraction with everything that was about to happen. She didn’t respond, but she didn’t need to.
“I’ll call Troy on my way home and see what he has to say. If we can’t, we can’t. But if Joey can go, I want to take care of it.”
* * *
Rose kept her distance from Xander at the bake-off celebration. The dishes were anonymous, but if she seemed too friendly with Xander, she had no doubt someone would call foul. She’d never won any of the categories before, so she’d hate to sully it, and Daisy’s reputation, by getting embroiled in a small-town baking scandal.
Despite that, she could just picture the look on Lois Walters’s face if she did win. Scandal or no, it would be worth it.
She currently sat in the back row with a very bored Joey. He was more interested in the parade and food vendors outside since she’d forced him to leave his handheld game system at home. Fortunately, it was going pretty quickly. Edith Andrews took best-dessert open for her strawberry pretzel salad. A beaming Molly Eden defeated her competitors in the jams-and-preserves category for her spicy strawberry-jalapeño jelly. Then Lois Walters won first place for her strawberry pie, surprise, surprise. Rose had to admit it was a very good pie, but she was over the smug, pudgy woman’s face gloating about it all the time.
Last was cakes, Rose’s category. She had gotten second and third place before, but when her name wasn’t called for either, she felt the twinge of disappointment. Sleeping with a judge hadn’t helped at all, she thought with a wry grin just touching her lips and lifting her spirits.
“First place goes to the strawberry cloud cake by Rose Pierce.”
At first she didn’t react. Had she heard that right? Then Joey nudged her and she leaped up from her seat. The crowd applauded as she made her way up to the stage and was presented with a ribbon by the contest coordinator, Mrs. Shipley.
“Please stay on stage, dear. We’re bringing up all the winners for the best-in-show presentation.”
Rose nodded and stepped to the side. On the table behind them was a trophy for best strawberry dish of the year. She heard Lois had to have a cabinet built for all her trophies, so she didn’t hold her breath. Lois, Edith and Molly joined her on stage for the announcement.
“And the winner of best in show is...Lois Walters and her Berrilicious Strawberry Pie!”
Rose laughed and shook her head. She couldn’t be mad about it. At least she got first place in her category, and the owners of Daisy’s would be thrilled enough about that. She left the stage after the hoopla and she and Joey slipped out to find some real estate for the parade. They found a shady spot on the route and settled onto the grassy slope with some sodas and a container of popcorn.
“I’m sorry you didn’t win, Mom,” Joey said.
“That’s okay,” she said, hugging him to her side. “If I won, it wouldn’t be any fun. I’d have to ride in the parade and I couldn’t watch it with you.”
“And Xander?” he added.
Rose turned to look at her son. He didn’t just have his father’s soulful eyes. He also had his smarts. Nothing got past him. “I think he will be coming, yes, but you’re more important than some silly boy I’m dating. Always.”
She didn’t date much, but she wanted it to be clear that her son was always the most important thing in the world to her. Her father had always seemed to have other priorities—his grief, his business, his criminal proclivities—and she wouldn’t do that to Joey. Even in the worst of her mother’s illness, she’d always made Rose feel as though she was the center of her universe, and that was the standard she kept to.