“I like him.”
“I’m glad,” she said, smiling. She’d always known they would get along like two peas in a pod because they were so much alike, even without ever having met before now. “I think he likes you, too.”
“Do you like him? I’ve never seen you smile the way you do when you’re with him,” Joey noted quietly. “You seem really happy together.”
At that, Rose was a little taken aback. The past days had been a change from their normal routine, but had things been that different since Xander had returned to Cornwall? “Am I not happy the rest of the time?”
Joey shrugged. “You’re tired. You work a lot. There’s not much time for you to relax and enjoy yourself. I don’t even remember you going out with anyone more than once or twice. I hope you and Xander can hang out some more.”
Rose did, too, but there was a ticking time bomb for this romantic interlude. Joey needed to know that. Xander would always be a part of his life, but not necessarily in hers the way it was now. “Well, Joey, you know he doesn’t live around here. He’s visiting family. Pretty soon he’ll go back to Washington, D.C., and work. I don’t think much will come of this.”
“You could visit him there.”
She wouldn’t even allow herself those fantasies. If she did go to D.C., it would be to take Joey for a visit. She would be the awkward third wheel. “I don’t know, Joey. We both have different lives. We’re not thinking that far ahead. Xander and I are just enjoying being together again after all this time. Did you know he was my prom date?”
Joey wrinkled his nose. “No. Really? Did he buy you one of those flower things?”
“A corsage? Yes. He got one for my wrist in red roses that matched my dress.”
“She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen in my life,” Xander said, appearing from the crowd to join them on the lawn. “When she opened the door in that red dress, I thought I might pass out on the doorstep. The only thing that kept me upright was knowing that your uncle Craig would dump me in the pond if I did.”
Rose laughed. Craig would’ve done something like that, she was certain. He’d been scowling at her the whole evening as she got ready. “Welcome, Xander. I’m surprised they didn’t corral you into the parade.”
He shrugged, settling down on the grass beside her. “I told them I had plans. I didn’t want to ride with Lois Walters anyway.”
“That’s your own fault,” Rose pointed out.
“It was good pie!” he said in his own defense. “I wish it hadn’t been hers, but damned if it wasn’t the best strawberry pie I’ve ever tasted.”
“At least Molly finally got a ribbon.”
“She’s still beaming over that. She wanted to beat Lois, of course, but a ribbon is a ribbon. Hey,” Xander added, lowering his voice a touch. “By the way, I spoke with Troy earlier.”
“Anything interesting come from that?”
Xander smiled, his dimples coming out in full force. “We are all set. The scout camp has a nurse on-site that will check in with Joey and give him pain medication if he needs it. He’ll have to skip some of the more active sports and water activities, but he’s welcome to go. I already wrote the check. All he needs aside from clothes and toiletries are a sleeping bag and a few forms filled out.”
Rose was thrilled for Joey, yet she couldn’t help wincing and shaking her head as he finished speaking. “We don’t have a sleeping bag.”
“We’ll get one this weekend. We have to drive him to the campsite and drop him off by nine a.m. on Monday morning. Pickup is Sunday evening.”
He had handled all the details. There was no way Rose could complain. She’d wanted her son to be able to go to this and now he could. “Do you want to tell him?”
“Can I?” Xander said, his expression brightening. When Rose nodded, he shouted to Joey over the oncoming marching band music. The parade would reach them any minute now. “Hey, Joey? Guess where you’re going next week.”
Their son narrowed his eyes and frowned. “To Uncle Craig’s house?”
“Nope,” Xander said. “You’re going to scout camp for the week.”
“What?” Joey said, excitement lighting his eyes. “Really? They’ll let me go with the cast and everything?”
“It’s all taken care of,” Xander replied. “We’re going to get you a sleeping bag and some first-class scouting supplies when the parade is over.”
After a moment, Joey’s enthusiasm waned a touch and his brow knit together in thought. “But wait, Mom, you said you couldn’t afford for me to go.”