Page 97 of Freak Show

“I’d have to say, man, she’s definitely there right now,” I pointed out.

He was already nodding. “We have someone coming to fill in for Tony as we speak. An old worker that said she needs some time away from her current boyfriend. She’ll be there for a month.”

Giving me a month to convince Ari that she loved me and that she wanted to marry me.

Easy.

And, in the meantime, Ari could help try to convince me that she needed to come back.

Because right now, my head was firmly set on the “staying away forever so I can support you” side.

“You will take this time to figure out what the fuck is wrong with her and get her back under control?” I asked.

“This is usually when she goes to a retreat to help rebuild her defenses and get her meds changed, and then the rest of us work our asses off to make sure that we can cover both of them being gone.” He sighed. “We weren’t ready for her to go, though, so we had no backup in place for Hades. Then Simi got sick and we couldn’t hang.”

I should probably feel bad, but I didn’t.

“You could also shut the circus down for a few weeks,” I pointed out.

He frowned. “We have two sold-out shows.”

I looked at him then. “You have three sick sisters.”

He rolled his neck. “I didn’t even want this job.”

“Then why are you doing it?” I asked.

Why were any of them doing it? From what Ari told me, a lot of them were only doing it for each other.

He opened his mouth and closed it, preparing to form an answer. But one wasn’t forthcoming.

“We’re back,” the doctor said, looking haggard as he walked in ahead of Ari’s gurney. Seconds later, he was pulling some images up on the screen. “Everything was mostly unremarkable. No broken neck or anything life threatening. Just sore. I would give yourself about three to four days to calm that neck down, then you’re free to go back to light work.”

My eyes were solely focused on Ari the moment he said she would be okay.

She looked tired and relieved. But also…broken.

I hated that look.

Walking over to the bed, I pulled her hand into mine and held it while the doctor talked about discharge paperwork.

Within ten minutes I was carrying her outside because they didn’t have any wheelchairs to spare and placing her in the front seat of my rental truck.

“I’ll see you back there,” Keene said as he walked to the big ass circus bus and get inside.

The moment the doors closed us into the quiet, I said, “Do you want to go back?”

I’d rather not have to take her, but at this point, I’d do just about anything to see a smile on her face. Even take her back to her jerk face of a sister.

“I need to go to get my bag,” she muttered, rubbing her neck. “My head feels weird.”

Keene took off in a cloud of dust.

“He’s mad,” she murmured.

I was fuckin’ happy that he was mad.

Even more, I was happy that he was actually realizing that one sister’s mental health wasn’t something that trumped another sister’s mental health.

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