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Before I could decide whether that was encouragement, another boy appeared behind him. He studied me for a moment. “You’re shorter than I expected.”

“Jason,” Patty warned.

Ahh. This was Jason.

He was younger, leaner, and carried himself with the easy confidence of someone who’d never doubted his ability to win an argument or physical altercation.

A small boy stood several feet behind them, watching quietly. He held a sketchbook against his chest and stayed close enough to Julie that his shoulder touched her arm when she passed.

Caldwell.

I smiled at him. “Hi, Caldwell.”

He didn’t answer, but his gaze moved to the shirt in my hand.

“Patty made it,” I said.

He nodded slowly.

“Do you like Nocturnal Hearts?”

Another nod.

Patty looked surprised. “You’ve never told me that.”

Caldwell shrugged one shoulder.

“Traitor,” she said with a grin.

He smiled.

The interaction lasted only a few seconds before the room shifted around us and someone called Julie into the kitchen. Caldwell moved with her without hesitation.

Patty touched my arm. “He gets overwhelmed, especially in big crowds.”

“I understand how he feels,” I said.

Her gaze moved to mine. A brief, analytical calculation passed behind her eyes, gone so quickly I almost missed it before she grinned. “Come meet Trevor before he sets something on fire.”

We found him near the pavilion, wearing a utility belt filled with craft tools.

“You came,” Trevor said.

“I did.”

He held up a handmade name tag covered in tiny gears. “I made this for you.”

It read SLOANE/LOANY.

I laughed. “Are you sure you couldn’t fit more names on there?”

“I figured having both names would help people who don’t know you. Identity is complicated.”

I swallowed hard. “You have no idea.”

Trevor attached the name tag to my shirt with great care. “There. Official.”

“That’s all it takes?”