Christie eyed his tray of food, then let her gaze stray off into the direction he was heading. The moment she spied Rose and Joey waiting on him, a wicked smile curled her too-pink lips. “I see you and Rose have reacquainted yourselves.”

“Yes.” Xander nodded, trying not to let her read too much into it. “I saw her down at the diner the other afternoon and I asked if she and her son would be interested in going with me to the fair.”

“Her little boy is so darling,” Christie cooed. “He’s become quite the handsome fella. If I didn’t know better, I’d say Rose ran out and found your doppelgänger to date after you went away to D.C.”

She was good. Too good. Christie wasn’t about to outright state that Joey looked like him. No, she was dancing around it, but her meaning was clear. He wasn’t going to let her get to him, though. “Can you blame her?” he asked. “I’m a good-looking guy. I’d try to find another one as handsome as me, too. See you around, Christie.”

At that, he turned and headed toward the table. People like her were the reason Rose wanted to keep the truth quiet and he didn’t blame her. His jaw was flexed tight with irritation, but he tried to choke it down by the time he returned. He didn’t want Rose to see him upset. She would get upset.

“Corn dogs for everyone!” he announced cheerfully, placing the tray onto the table. Rose busied herself handing out the wrapped foods, bags of chips and cans of soda. He watched her for a moment and then let his gaze drift back toward the hot dog booth. Christie was gone, and he was glad. He didn’t want her snarky self ruining his night out with Rose and Joey.

“Let’s eat,” Rose said.

Xander sat down at the table beside Rose and tried to focus on his corn dog. They were hot and crispy, so it was easy to get distracted by the food. When he was finished, he turned toward the bright lights of the midway and noticed a booth for face painting. That might be just the thing for tonight. Joey couldn’t do a lot of rides or play many games with his newly broken arm. This would give him something he could do. And if a little embellishment helped to disguise their similarities, all the better.

“You know what?” Xander asked.

“What?” Rose replied.

“I think we should get our faces painted. I haven’t done that in years. What do you think, Joey? Should we get you done up like Spider-Man or something?”

“That would be cool. I wonder if they’ll do Star Wars characters. A Stormtrooper would be awesome.”

Xander had to laugh. He was a pretty big fan himself. He actually might have taken Rose to see one of the later prequels in the theater.

“That’s a great idea,” Rose agreed with a smile.

They gathered up their trash and made their way down the dirt-and-grass path of the midway. Each booth and game that lined the walkway was lit with bright blinking lights and blared loud arcade music. There were games where you knocked over a pyramid of milk jugs with a baseball, popped balloons with darts, threw a ring over a glass bottle or got a Ping-Pong ball into a bowl with a goldfish in it. Each game had prizes on display ranging from the actual goldfish to giant stuffed bears and inflatable electric guitars.

“Look at that!” Joey pointed to one of the booths. This one required you to flip a quarter and have it land on a series of glass plates without bouncing off. The grand prize was your choice of a huge inflatable baseball about the size of a large beach ball or a pink daisy pillow the size of a trash-can lid.

“You want the daisy pillow?” he teased.

“No!” Joey frowned, making the same pouty face Xander himself used to make. “The baseball!”

“Oh, okay. We’ll have to give that a shot after we get painted,” Xander said. He had no problem with tossing a handful of quarters away to win that for him. But he wanted the face painting done first so he could breathe easier the rest of the night. “I need to get some quarters. Maybe he’ll have some change so you can play.”

The face painter had a large wall of samples to choose from. They had a Stormtrooper, but the minute Joey saw Darth Maul, he changed his mind. It took about ten minutes to paint his whole face in the evil red-and-black mask. After that, Rose got a pink-and-purple butterfly and Xander opted for Batman’s mask. When they walked out of there, they hardly looked like themselves, much less like each other.

After that, they returned to the midway games and Xander handed Joey a couple dollars in quarters to try and win the inflatable baseball. He and Rose stood back a few feet to watch him play.

“That was very smart,” she said quietly after a few minutes. “I’d forgotten how clever you always were.”

Xander frowned and turned away from the game to look at her. The sparkling butterfly flattered her elegant cheekbones, but it couldn’t disguise the concern lining her eyes. He hated seeing that expression on her face. He wished he could kiss her until she lost her breath and forgot all about her worries. “I guess I wasn’t as subtle as I thought I was.”

“Well, I’d seen you talking to Christie Clark. I figured she said something to you since you didn’t seem as concerned the other day.”

“You know Christie,” he admitted without elaborating. “She’d be the first to point it out no matter what. I figured if she noticed the similarities and hadn’t seen us together, other folks might see the resemblance as we all walked around. I saw the booth and thought it might be something fun for him to do. And if it made it harder for people like her to piece it together, then fine.”

Rose nodded and looked down at the dirt. “We can’t paint his face every day,” she said softly.

“I know...” Xander began, but was interrupted by loud cheers and applause from the booth ahead of them.

“Mom! Xander! I did it! I won!” Joey yelled, his face bright with excitement.

They immediately ended the conversation, rushing forward to congratulate him on securing the giant baseball he’d wanted. Instead of worrying, Xander tried to take Heath’s advice and enjoy the moment. He’d always loved going to the fair with Heath and his parents before they died. It was a simple thing, but one he remembered and treasured years later.

To hell with Christie Clark. He wasn’t going to lose these moments because of her smart mouth and smug expression. They were going to have a good time, he was going to enjoy his new family, and he wasn’t going to let anyone ruin it.

Even himself.

* * *

Around ten the crowds gathered by the small pond near the fairgrounds for the fireworks show. Rose retrieved a blanket from her car and they laid it out to watch the show. The lights were beautiful—she always enjoyed fireworks displays—but it was hard to focus on them with Xander’s warm body so close to hers. A few minutes into the show, she felt his fingers seek out hers. No one could see them holding hands, so she let herself enjoy the moment and relished the tingle his touch sent up her arm.

The show ended far sooner than she wanted it to. That meant letting go and returning to reality. After a moment, she reluctantly untangled their hands, sat up and noticed her son was out cold. She ran her hand over his forehead, brushing the sandy strands from his eyes. He didn’t even flinch. “I think we wore him out.”

Xander sat up beside her. “With all the junk he ate, I’m not surprised. The higher the sugar high, the harder the crash. No problem, though. We’ll get him home.”

Rose watched him lift Joey with gentle ease. She folded up their blanket and they walked with the crowds back to the parking lots. Xander placed Joey into the back of the car and belted him in.

She’d been amazed at how he’d been with Joey tonight. At first, she’d been worried. It was just like Christie to throw a wrench in their plans. But then it was as if a switch had flipped. Xander seemed to shed his worries like a snake skin and leave them behind. He and Joey had enthusiastically played games and gone through the haunted house. They’d all gotten their pictures taken in the photo booth. He’d even talked the guy manning the swinging pirate ship into letting Joey ride it.