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Thankfully, Leo was distracted by the frosting, however, when Leo smashed icing all over the first cupcake, Decker realized that his four-year-old assistant wasn't going to get the job done. "Hang on," he said. "Let's make that cupcake your cupcake. You can eat it while I frost the others, and then you can do the sprinkles."
"Okay," Leo said happily.
He moved the remaining cupcakes out of Leo's reach and then picked one up to frost. He couldn't remember ever frosting cupcakes. One problem with growing up with his dad and living on the road for so much of the time was that they ate out a lot. While his dad cooked enough to keep them alive, they had never ever baked together. Hopefully, he wouldn't do worse than Leo.
A half-hour later, he wasn't sure that was true. His icing was messy, and with Leo's heavy-handed dash of sprinkles, the frosting was lopsided and appeared very sugary. He might need to run to a bakery in the morning and buy some cupcakes for Chloe to take to school.
With the cupcakes done, he played a few more games with Leo. Chloe sent him another text that she was very sorry, but she would be a while longer. He hoped everything was okay with her neighbor.
As bedtime neared, he got Leo into his pajamas and awkwardly helped him brush his teeth, figuring that one bad night of brushing probably wasn't the end of the world. He'd be losing those baby teeth, anyway. Then they read books in Leo's bed and after the third story, Leo was getting very drowsy.
"Time to sleep," he said.
"Will you tuck me in?" Leo asked.
He got up, set the book aside, and tucked the Spiderman comforter closely around Leo's small body.
"Can you come to my show tomorrow?" Leo asked. "I want you to see me dance."
He had an incredibly packed day tomorrow, but it was hard to dash the hope in Leo's eyes. "I'll try, but I might have to work."
"My dad always has to work," Leo said, looking suddenly sad. "But it's okay, because he's a hero. Are you a hero, Decker?"
"Nope, but I still have to work. I'll try to come, but I can't promise."
"Decker?"
"Yes?" he asked warily, not liking the look in Leo's eyes.
"I think you should be my mom's boyfriend. Then you could live here with us. We could play all the time."
"That would be fun." His heart twisted at the hope and love in Leo's eyes. "Goodnight, Leo."
He turned on the nightlight, then flipped off the overhead light. As he reached the door, he took one last look at Leo. The kid was already asleep, his arms wrapped around a stuffed horse. He smiled to himself, then left.
As he entered the living room, the front door opened, and Chloe came in, looking stressed.
"I'm so sorry," she said. "The caregiver was tied up with another patient, and I couldn't leave Denise. She had some female issues, and she's very private, and she didn't want her husband to help her."
He held up a hand. "You don't need to apologize. Someone needed help, and you were there." He suddenly realized how often Chloe probably did that. Whisper Lake was a tight community. She knew her neighbors. She cared about them, and they cared about her.
"How's Leo?" she asked.
"He's asleep."
"Seriously?" Surprise ran through her eyes. "He let you put him to bed?"
"Yep. I did a lousy job on the teeth brushing, and I'm not sure he's wearing his pajamas as they looked more like clothes to me, but he swore that's what he wore to bed."
"Let me guess, it was a shirt with a horse on it and some shorts," she said with a smile.
"Yes. I didn't think it was worth an argument."
"Definitely not." She paused, her gaze widening as it moved to the dining room table. "You frosted the cupcakes, too. I can't believe you did everything for me."
"You do everything for everyone else. Why shouldn't I do what I can to help you? But I'm not sure about the cupcakes. Leo helped decorate, and I'm not completely innocent in how they came out."
She walked to the table to take a closer look. "They're not bad."
