“Oh, Daxy Boo!” I heard behind me, and the enjoyment we’d been sharing transformed into anxiety as I turned to see Serena standing amid the crowd, dressed in a blouse and skirt nice enough to convince me she somehow got wind of the press and made her waydown.
“Oh, Jesus,” I groaned. “I’ll be rightback.”
“It’s all good, Dax.” Jace was trying to console me, but I found myself growing increasingly agitated the closer I got to her. She was all smiles, the cameras turned on her as she made herself the mainattraction.
“Mom.” I hooked an arm around her, and as I pulled away, I shook my head enough to cast some of the water on my bangs on her. She blinked, my assault effectively focusing her attention on me. “Glad you could make it,” I said, drawing her away from heraudience.
“I’ll be right back, everyone!” sheannounced.
As we got out of earshot of the crowd, I asked, “How did you know this was evenhappening?”
“Nance mentioned it last night when you guys went out on the back deck. She said how glad she was that you guys were doing this, so I justfigured—”
“That you would use the opportunity to get yourself a little spotlight action. Is this what you came down here for? To get some photo ops with us? Is this all just a publicity shoot toyou?”
“Well, I did hope to maybe turn a few heads, but I didn’t come to Fever Falls for that. I genuinely wanted to see you andJace.”
I eyed hersuspiciously.
“Dax!” she said, her mouth gaping. “You are my son, and I care about your life. Do you expect me to just be invisible now that you’re getting publicity again? That’s not how familyworks.”
“I don’t think you get to be the one to tell me how familyworks.”
But…she had a point. I couldn’t ask her to be in my life and at the same time to totally avoid the spectacle it hadbecome.
“Just let your mother enjoy a few selfies for the day,” she begged. “Please.”
Despite my irritation, I could see her genuine desire to have just that…and knowing her past, knowing how far she fell, I had toconcede.
Regardless of all the times she hadn’t been there for me, she had worked hard to bridge that gap. Besides, maybe she deserved a day of being the center of attention. Hell, it might get some of the attention off Jace andme.
“Okay,” I said. “You can stay, but be on your bestbehavior.”
“When am I not on my best behavior?” she asked with a wink. “Don’t answerthat.”
She hugged me before returning to her new amateur paparazzientourage.
I shook my head as I returned to Jace, who was spraying Zed, which seemed to be the theme of theday.
Zed and Jace shared a laugh before Jace caught me in his periphery and turned, his expression shifting to worry. “You guysokay?”
“I’m less annoyed than I was before, but I think that’s about as far as we’re going toget.”
I watched Serena put on her show, posing for pictures, flashing her signature smile, reminding me of her golden days in the limelight. I was glad I let her have that, if only because it was her at her mostnatural.
And only a cruel universe could have led us both to where we were now—me in front of the camera, the place I wanted to be least, and her always trying to get in front of it, continuing to chase the ever-elusivedream.
* * *
“Wow,looks like Serena worked up her angle,” Carter said as I chatted with him on the phone on the way back to Jace’splace.
“You’ve already seenit?”
“Yeah, she’s trending on Instagram along with Jace and the other hottie firefighters of Fever Falls. Elliott would have been pissed if you hadn’t worked this car wash to your advantage, but clearly, youdid.”
“Veryunintentionally.”
“Keep being as unintentional as possible, then, Iguess.”
