“Tell him I’ll meet him at Forey’s booth at eight p.m.”

“Anything else? Emojis with hearts? Something exploding? I heard the poop emoji is the one most used. Or—”

“Just that. And don’t add anything.”

As he typed in exactly what she’d told him, he managed to keep his smile under control. He returned her phone. “Back to Vera. What did she say? Anything useful? Like maybe, ‘I’d love to help Griff with a bio of me. He can stay in our guest bedroom for as long as it takes.’ Something like that?”

Mike pulled into the parking lot, turned off the engine and opened the door. “Your imagination exceeds your abilities to persuade. Get out. We have work to do.”

Grinning, Griff followed her.

An hour later, Mike was exhausted. It had been a very long day. It had been Hayes, then Griff, her father, Griff, Vera, then...Griff.

Kelly had underplayed the chaos at the elementary school float. There were no teachers there, those brilliant people who could calm down a gym full of frantic kids with just their voices. Instead, it was only parents, all of whom had arrived with cupcakes, cake pops and boxes of high-fructose juice.

When Mike saw the chaos of kids screaming and running, some crying at a pitch that could match a tornado siren, she took a step back. Griff pushed her forward. “Don’t chicken out now,” he said, and they entered.

There were three mothers who had given up. They had flopped down in chairs and were talking with great affection about margaritas. Griff had them put away what was left of the sugary foods, then gave them instructions on which kids to go after. The climbers were top of the list.

He got the kids to run around in a circle, trying to burn off their sugar highs. He sent the crying kids to Mike to distract them with some crafts.

Within twenty minutes, Griff had the place under control.

“Thank you,” the mothers were saying. “We didn’t know what to do. They—” Griff didn’t let them finish. He sent them to Mike to start work on the float.

It was close to finished at 7:45. Most of the kids had been picked up and carried out to cars. They were worn out and mostly asleep.

“You better go,” Griff told Mike. They’d hardly spoken since they got there. Herding young children took precedence over adult talk.

“If you mean go to a hot shower and a bed, I’m ready.” When he was quiet, she looked at him, confused.

“Hayes,” he said. “The boyfriend, remember? Meet at eight at Forey’s, and he has something important to give you.”

“Oh!” She had completely forgotten about that.