Family Camp (Daddy Dearest, #1)(61)

He picked at his burger and finally asked. “Do you think Travis will come visit us? Like, could we bring him to the zoo?”

“Maybe. Someday,” Geo said, because he’d decided he’d protect Jayden as long as he could.

On Sunday night, Geo was making spaghetti in the kitchen when Jayden hollered, his voice crazy excited. “Geo. Geo!”

“What?” Geo ran out wiping his hands on a dishtowel and hoping to God there was no blood.

“Look!” Jayden pointed to the TV.

There was an adult diaper ad playing.

Geo huffed a laugh. “Jay, are you trying to tell me something? We have a few years before I’m that old, buddy.”

“No, they just showed Travis!” Jayden rolled his eyes exorbitantly. “They showed Travis’s face and they said he’s gonna be on some TV show, like, an interview, and talking about the gay rumors and shit!”

“What?” Geo felt faint.

“He’s being interviewed by some lady! On some old lady’s TV show!”

Geo grabbed his phone and Googled it. There it was. Travis Mayhew was scheduled to appear on Teresa Sinclair’s show on Monday morning. Geo had never watched it, but he knew it was a popular talk show.

“When’s it on? When? When? Is it on now?” Jayden jumped up and down excitedly.

“Jayden, that’s a fine imitation of a Mexican jumping bean you’ve got going on there. But no, it’s tomorrow.”

“Can we watch it? Can we, can we, can we, puh-leease?”

“Um….”

Jesus Christ. Travis was doing an interview on a morning talk show. A national show. About gay photos of them.

Whoa. This suddenly felt like he was trapped in a Lifetime movie.

What was Travis going to say? Would he try to blow it all off as a nothing-burger?

If he did that, would it crush Jayden’s feelings? His own feelings, yeah, Geo figured the chances of those not being crushed was close to zero. He didn’t even want to watch the show.

He would probably puke.

But his first concern was Jayden. The kid could still hope, still latch on to someone with something like love. And Geo would be damned if he took that away from him. Only how could he keep Jayden away from the TV?

Thanks for the heads-up, Travis, Geo thought sourly. Though he knew Travis already had enough on his plate without worrying about them.

“I don’t know, Jayden. We’ll see.”

“But—”

“I said we’ll see! Now have you ever seen burnt spaghetti? Because it’s not a pretty sight, let me tell you.”

That night, Geo hardly slept. He laid awake for hours worrying. He had Travis’s number, but he knew the guy had to be slammed with everything he was dealing with, and he didn’t want to bother him. To be honest, Geo was afraid of what he’d hear if he tried. But he longed to tell Travis he was sorry it had ended like that. He wanted to say he hoped he was all right, that he wouldn’t get fired from the Padres or be ostracized or have his head stuck in a toilet. Whatever his teammates might do.

He wanted to ask what Travis wanted him to say in case the press found him. They hadn’t yet, thank God. But they might.

He wanted to tell him to, please, just be kind to Jay or about Jay. Not to say something that would hurt his feelings. That was all. He wouldn’t ask for more.

He finally sent Travis a text, but it showed as “undelivered.” Right. Probably Travis was being bombarded, and he’d turned off his phone. But that left Geo with no clue as to what was going on.

The Teresa Sinclair Show was at eight o’clock the next morning. Geo hoped the kids would sleep in, and he planned to DVR the show for Jayden in case it was okay. But Jayden sunk those plans when he slipped into the living room and sat beside Geo just as the show was coming on.

They looked at each other. They didn’t speak. Geo put his coffee cup down on the table and held Jayden’s hand. Hard.

“It’s okay,” Jayden said confidently. “If you’re scared, I’ll take care of you. Don’t worry.”

“Thanks, Jayden. I just might have to take you up on that.”

They had to wait through an interview with some perky actress who had a new movie. And then, before Geo was ready for it, Travis walked onto the set. He looked different in real clothes instead of camp wear. He had on nice-fitting jeans, brown boots, a blue button-down that perfectly matched his eyes, and a brown suede jacket. He looked gorgeous.

It was so weird. He was familiar and, at the same time, he seemed like a stranger, someone Geo could hardly believe he’d met, much less…. Yeah.

There were appreciative hoots and hollers from the audience. Travis waved, but Geo thought he looked nervous.

“Ow,” said Jayden, tugging his hand.

“Sorry.” Geo let go, but Jayden just put his hand back over Geo’s.

Damn. This was a good kid.

Teresa introduced Travis and they showed a short clip of him playing baseball in a big stadium, headshots of him when he’d been in the minors. He looked so young.

“So you’ve been with the San Diego Padres for how long?” Teresa asked him.

“This is my eighth season with them.”

The audience applauded.

“Now every year, you spend a week at a summer camp your adoptive family owns. Is that correct?” Teresa asked.