here overnight.”
“You’ll come back home, though. Because I definitely don’t want to be alone tonight.” Bailey stared Anderson down. “Especially after what happened at the store today.”
Jericho looked from one to the other. “What? What happened?”
“Oh, it was nothing. It got out, who I was, and there was a bit of a kerfuffle.”
“What’s a ker-luff?” Amanda asked around another roll.
“Not with your mouth full,” Bailey said automatically.
“Someone yelled at you because they knew who you were?” Travis went pale as a sheet, and Jericho saw Bailey’s face fall when she realized what might have happened.
Oh goddamn it.
“Ah.” Anderson turned to Travis, and Jericho started to puff up to defend his little boy, but he didn’t have to. “No one yelled at me, Trav, and if they had, it was because of who I used to be, not who I am now.”
“I told my friends in science class you were going to help me with my robot,” Trav blurted out. “I’m sorry.”
“Well, I am going to help you. It’s not a lie. In fact, I’m going to be speaking to the robotics class at the high school. I talked to one of my teachers this afternoon.”
Shit. “Travis’s teacher asked me about you too. I’m sorry, man. I know you wanted to keep under the radar.” Jericho felt about an inch tall. He certainly didn’t want more trouble for the Whitehead clan. “Who got on you?”
Anderson snorted. “Quint Bellamy. He still wears those sh—those boots.”
“Once a bully, always a bully,” Bailey muttered. “He’s a mean little man.”
“Not all that little.” Anderson puffed up, making Jericho smother a laugh.
“Well, he’s a small-minded fool, anyway.” He caught Anderson’s eye, silently apologizing.
“He’s an as—donkey. A smelly donkey.” Okay, Anderson was a good guy.
Travis was looking at his plate, though, obviously still upset.
“Donkeys are loud too!” Ellie wrinkled her nose. “Goats are better.”
“Did you forgive Weezer?” Bailey got them off donkeys in a hurry.
“Weezer is epic.”
Anderson looked at Travis, then tilted his head. “Trav, man. Can you help me with dessert?”
“Sure. I mean, yessir.” Travis got up, shoulders slumped. Poor kid looked defeated, thinking he’d betrayed his hero.
Anderson squeezed his shoulder as he walked by.
Bailey sighed softly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was him.”
“It might have been me. Hell, it could have been Dave.” Jericho glanced at the other kids, who looked subdued. “Hey, let’s all stack dishes so we can get dessert when they bring it, huh?”
“That’s a good plan. Come on, Uncle Logic worked hard on dessert for us.” Bailey got them all moving, gathering dishes.
When Anderson came back out with an arm around Travis’s shoulders, his kid was grinning ear to ear, looking relaxed and relieved. Oh, man, he owed Anderson one and he knew it.
“Help me serve, Trav.” Anderson winked.
There was a platter of big meringues and little meringues, a bowl of lemon pudding, a huge bowl of berries and whipped cream, and then Travis carried bowls and ice cream.
“Tableside service, right, Trav?”
“Right. Like at those fancy restaurants in Dallas.”
Oh fuck, that was the cutest thing ever.
“Madame Bailey, would you prefer pavlova or sundae?” Travis asked with a bow and a dramatic accent.
“Oh, I’ll try the pavlova. It looks so crispy.”
Anderson served Darcy a pavlova when she asked, and then Ellie and Amanda got sundaes.
“Mon-see-ewer Yaeger, would you prefer sundae or pavlova?”
He was dying of cute.
“I’ll take both, please. I got a sweet tooth.”
Travis beamed at him, and he got a pavlova the size of his head and a huge sundae. Good Lord. He’d have to eat some of each and save a lot of the pavlova for later. It all smelled so good, the tartness of the lemon making his mouth water.
“Can I have a little of each, Momma?” Dougie was trying to be so grown-up. If Anderson was Trav’s hero, Travis was Dougie’s.
“A little, then. I won’t stuff you full of sugar and leave you for Mr. Koko.”
“Trav, would you like both?”
“Please, sir. I want to try everything.”
“Good deal. And one for le chef.” Anderson made himself and Travis identical plates. Oh God.
Jericho thought he fell in love a little right there.
They all dug in, the tang of the lemon and the crisp of the berries making the pavlova just the perfect balance of sweet and sour.
The ice cream on the other side cooled all that off, and he loved how it made the meringue sort of melt into nothing. Damn, that was fine.
He had something he could put down for posterity. Pavlova. Who’d have thunk?
“Okay, guys.” The coffee