Page 21 of Freak Show

“My dad made a stipulation in his will when he died,” I finished explaining. “We all had to stick with the circus, every single one of us, for two years. If we didn’t, then the circus, capital, and every single penny went to charity. Whereas I couldn’t care less, the rest of them didn’t want to let that kind of money go to waste. I’m doing it for them.”

“Huh.” He nodded. “That sounds like a good enough reason to stick with it. How long has it been?”

“Nine months,” I answered. “Dad passed away from a heart attack. Then it took a while for Keene to get home. He had to finish his time in the Marines before he could. Our countdown clock didn’t start until he joined us.”

“That’s…unfortunate,” he murmured, his eyes going to the side to the Dairy Queen we’d just passed.

I looked where he was looking to see the truck from earlier—Titus’s—in the parking lot.

“Looks like they’re getting ice cream,” I murmured.

“You want to go?” he asked.

I thought about it for all of half a breath before saying, “Absolutely. I’m on vacation and don’t have to watch my weight starting now.”

CHAPTER 4

I’m humble. But I’ll smack a hoe.

-Ari to Slone

SLONE

“You don’t have to watch your weight?” I raised an eyebrow at her with skepticism and a little bit of indignation. I had a young, influenced easily, girl.

If Ari thought she was fat, what hope did my kid have? Briley was huge for her age. She looked like she would be taller than most women shortly, and there was no way in hell she would be known as the petite one.

She’d struggle with body image for the rest of her life already. Just to think that someone like Ari did when she was so small was quite honestly terrifying for what I had in store for me later in life as Briley grew into her body.

“I have to fit in all the cute, way too revealing costumes. Another stipulation of my father’s will.” She rolled her eyes. “No joke, he has a list of what we are and are not allowed to do, wear, say, and execute when it comes to Singh Circus. You would not believe the kind of stipulations we have.”

I didn’t like the sound of that at all.

“Which is?” I asked curiously as we pulled into the Dairy Queen and parked.

“Well,” she said as she unbuckled and reached for the door.

By the time I rounded the hood of the truck I’d rented, she was out and standing beside the front door that was closer to her than it was to me.

“For starters.” She looked at the door handle that was really just a massive spoon. “I’m not allowed to be over a certain body fat percentage. That’s something that is nonnegotiable to him—he abhorred anything out of shape when it came to his circus—and we’ve fought tooth and nail with the lawyer. But apparently, the rules and regulations were set in stone, and we haven’t been able to get around them yet. But we will.”

“What else?” I asked as I opened the door for her.

She walked inside as she answered. “I can’t dye my hair weird colors. I have to wear makeup on stage. All uniforms have to be bought through a certain company. That company has first and only say in the designs of said uniforms—though I don’t know why. We haven’t figured out the connection yet. We’re working on it.”

“Wow,” I grumbled. “That’s no fun.”

“Daddy!” Briley called and waved frantically. “How’d you find us?”

I rolled my eyes at my daughter. “Well, there are only a few places in town that Titus would take y’all to before dinner, and since he’s such a pushover, I knew it’d be here.”

“I resemble that comment,” Titus grinned around a mouthful of ice cream.

I jerked my chin at him and moved to the counter where Ari was already standing studying the board.

“Whatcha’ getting’?” I wondered.

She looked at me with sparkly blue eyes filled with mirth. “Wow, that sounded really Southern.”

---