“Yes, please. Medium rare.”
The attendant put his piece on a plate. “Name?”
“Cody Schroeder.”
He wroteCody Son a small card and stuck it under the plate. “It’ll be ready in a minute or two.”
“Thank you, sir. I’m going to pick my sides.” He practically skipped away, leaving me to pick my cut. I chose a T-bone, then followed after Cody.
We sat at a table with a bunch of our friends, including Vince, Crow, Skyler, and, of course, Joey. I cut Cody’s meat into chunks and poured the steak sauce he liked onto his plate. He stabbed a piece of meat and dunked it in the sauce. “Dippy-dip steaky-steak.” Then he shoved it in his mouth. “Mmm…iz goo’.” I loved how he now jumped right into little headspace, despite this being a somewhat public setting, and even with Jax’s staff around. I hoped that was another good sign.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full.” I still had to be the daddy.
“Sau-wee…”
I glared at him since he did exactly what he was apologizing for. He closed his mouth, chewing and grinning. “I can never stay mad at you.”
He swallowed. “Good. I don’t like it when you’re mad.”
I winked at him. “Good thing I can’t be mad.”
He rolled his eyes but got busy eating. He had filled the rest of his plate with French fries, broccoli covered in a cheese sauce, and fried mushrooms. We had a big basket of rolls on the table as well. I chose a baked potato with sour cream and bacon bits, along with the same cheesy broccoli. It was all very good.
After we ate and cleaned up, we headed to the other side of the room, where there was an ice cream bar with brownies inbowls that we could scoop ice cream on top of. “Jax has the best cruises.” Joey poured chocolate syrup over the two scoops of chocolate ice cream on his brownie. “Triple choco-licious!”
Cody laughed at his friend. “I did vanilla in the middle.” Somehow, he madevanillaandmiddlenearly rhyme, which made Joey snort a laugh at the same time.
We took our ice cream out on the deck. The early evening air was fresh and salty. It would be perfect for the outdoor party. Whatever Jax, Royce, and their crew were planning, it was sure to be as great as everything else had been.
The pool deck looked like a rainbow explosion, with colorful streamers draped from the bar's ceiling and out into the outdoor area, rainbow-shaped pillows thrown over the lounge chairs, and confetti flying everywhere. Inside the bar area, more rainbows and streamers and fruity drinks added more pops of color and brightened up the space.
Maybe it was over the top, but Cody was ecstatic. He bounced on the balls of his feet and clapped his hands together. “This is so cool. Let’s get drinkies, Daddy.”
“Sure. Come on.” Our Sunshine pup, Todd, was not behind the bar. Two other bartenders were making the drinks. They weren’t frozen either, but they were bright and tasty. I hadthe Passionfruit Pleaser and Cody tried the Whatamelon-Watermelon Vodka.
He practically stuck his nose into his pink concoction. “Mm…smells good. Fruity, minty, and flowery.” He took a sip and his eyes grew wide. “Ooh…so good.”
“Want to try mine?”
“Nope. I like mine just fine.” He giggled. “I rhymed.”
“Yes, you did. Come on, let's walk around and find some of our friends.”
After mingling and meeting others, Jax announced that karaoke was starting. They had a small deck set up on the side of the pool, and a couple of his staff were organizing the activity.
“What? No drag queen? I think the planners are slipping.” Skyler sat on Crow's lap, looking through the book of songs they had. “Are you two going to sing again?” He pointed between me and Crow, who gave me a questioning eyebrow.
I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”
“Oh, come on, Daddy.” Cody squeezed my leg. “I didn’t get to see that but heard all about it. You have to do it. For me?” He batted his eyelashes.
“Goofball. Whatever. Crow? You up for it?”
“What if we did a different song instead?” Crow asked.
“Like what?” Skyler flipped another page in the book. “Oh, how about ‘Toxic’ from Brittany?”
“How about not?” I wasn’t singing anything from her, not that she wasn’t wonderful and the song great, but it didn’t fit my voice or my style.
