With an open bottle, he returned to the couch and found that Heath, too, had an adult beverage. “I figured if you needed a drink to tell me, I needed a drink to hear it.”

“Fair enough.” Xander took a large sip and relayed everything Ken had told him about Billy’s brush with the law. When he was finished, Heath just shook his head.

“You’re a good person, so I just have to conclude that you’re being punished for evil deeds in your past life. There’s no other explanation for it.”

“Tell me about it. I’ve spent my whole life trying to keep my nose clean. I’ve always said that the best way to avoid a tabloid scandal is to not do anything scandalous. It’s worked so far, but now it’s like a pitcher is lobbing fastballs at me quicker than I can hit them.”

“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.

“Hey, everyone,” he said, coming up behind them.

Rose turned to him and smiled brightly. He leaned in to give her a brief hug, forcing himself to pull away although he didn’t want to. He’d prefer to press her soft body against his own and give her a hello kiss that would leave them both panting, but he wasn’t ready for the town busybodies to start speculating on what was going on. That meant it was friendly in public and nothing more.

“Hi, Xander!” Joey said brightly with red goo in the corners of his mouth. He was dressed similar to Xander, with a pair of worn jeans and a T-shirt, although Joey’s had Angry Birds on it and Xander’s was a plain dark green that Gucci had featured heavily this season. “You want some funnel cake?”

He tried not to groan outwardly. Not even if it were slathered all over Rose’s naked body. Well, maybe then.

“No thanks, kiddo.” He said the words realizing his father had called him that when he was little. He’d forgotten until he heard himself say it. That made his chest tighten with a wave of emotions he didn’t expect. “I’ve had my fill of sweets for the year. Seen anywhere a guy can get a hot dog?”

“That stand over there has them,” Rose said as she pointed to a booth a few yards away.

“Great. I’m going to grab one. Either of you want something? A corn dog? Chili dog? A drink?”

“We could probably use something that isn’t sweet, too. You want a hot dog?” she asked their son. “Or would a corn dog be easier with one arm?”

“A corn dog and a lemon-lime soda,” Joey said, his mouth still stuffed with funnel cake.

“The same is fine for me. Do you need any help?”

Xander shook his head. “I got this. I’ll be right back.”

A short line had formed at the booth, so Xander queued up and waited patiently for his turn. He didn’t pay any attention to who was around him until he got his food and turned to head back to the table. That was when a blonde woman in line reached out to touch his arm.

“Xander Langston. I didn’t know you were in town.”

It was Christie Clark. Wealthy, popular, snobby Christie Clark. Xander reacted quickly to turn on his campaign face and smiled warmly. “Christie, so good to see you.” He was glad his hands were full and he wasn’t able to shake her hand or give her the hug she probably wanted.