Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Had I, I might’ve been able to prevent walking in to find Folsom fifty feet in the air and my minor heart attack.
I found them in the biggest tent in the middle of the circus, practicing.
Or, one of the Singh Sisters and a man were practicing. Then there was Folsom, hanging from a long piece of fabric so high up that I couldn’t even see her eyes.
I walked up to where JP was sitting and took the spot next to her.
JP looked over and smiled. “Look, I saw you coming.”
I blinked and looked over at what appeared to be some sort of map. On it was a red dot that clearly hovered over where we were currently sitting.
“Your mom put a tracker on me?” I questioned.
She smiled. “Actually, this one was me. I did it. I wanted to know where you were. But Mom has her own tracker. She doesn’t know you’re here, though. There was a girl that was supposed to perform with Caristonia, but something happened. Appendicitis, I think they said. She’s scared of heights, but all they really need her up there for is to look pretty and sparkly. So she’s doing it.”
I looked up.
She did look pretty and sparkly in her outfit. Her hair was down, and her dress was flowing.
I could definitely see how the circus enticed people to come watch with a vision like that.
That didn’t stop my freakin’ heart from pounding a mile a minute seeing her up there.
“She looks pretty,” I agreed. “Is this act happening tonight?”
“Yeah,” JP nodded. “Do you want some fake Skittles?”
“Fake Skittles?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she showed me the bag. They were boring ol’ white.
“No red dye?” I asked curiously.
“No red dye,” she confirmed. “Mom has been practicing on those for a while now,” she indicated the long sheets. “Though, she’s usually not more than ten feet off the floor. I asked her if I could do it, and she said no. The bruising was too bad for someone as small as me. She’s gonna be black and blue in the morning from that fabric wrapped around her thighs.”
I looked at the fabric again. It was wrapped rather tight.
And from the information I’d been able to procure on her and JP’s disease, they bruised very easily.
I wondered how easily, though. Would a simple bump into a corner bruise? Would holding them too tightly result in trauma?
I took three of her fake Skittles and popped them into my mouth.
They tasted like cardboard.
Poor kid.
“Do you like them?” she asked curiously.
I continued to chew, wishing I had some water to wash the cardboard slash fake Skittles down with.
“Ummm,” I hesitated.
“I know,” she nodded. “They tried. I guess that’s all I can ask for, right?”
I looked down at her with a wink. “Have any water?”
Giggling and making my heart feel like it was ten times lighter, she handed me her bottle of water that looked to be barely touched. I took a drink and handed it back.
She eyed it. “Mama told me never to drink after anyone because boys have bad stuff.”
My brows rose. “I don’t have any bad stuff.”
“That’s good because I gave you Mama’s water bottle.” She eyed me speculatively. “I don’t share stuff with boys.”
“You just shared your Skittles with one,” I pointed out.
“I didn’t share them. I was trying to get rid of them. There’s a big difference,” she countered.
She was so smart it was scary.
“When’s your next birthday?” I asked her, just to give us something to talk about, even though I knew when it was. It was kind of hard to forget something like that.
She looked at her watch, then said, “In seven weeks and ten days.”
I turned my gaze back to Folsom. She was back at the top again, hanging upside down, looking for all the world as if she was only a few feet from the ground and not thirty.
We watched the rest of the routine in silence, the only words muttered were “no thanks” when she tried to hand me more fake Skittles.
I wasn’t surprised when Folsom finally hit the ground and her eyes came directly to us.
She didn’t look surprised in the least to find me sitting there.
I stood up while JP stayed where she was, her gaze now on a book she was reading and not the woman in front of her.
“You made it,” she smiled. “And you forgot to tell me that you were coming so I could stalk you the whole way.”
“I forgot,” I admitted as she came closer and closer. The moment she was close enough to grab, I did, pulling her into my body. She came willingly and then looked up at me. “I was too excited to see you.”
Then I was kissing her in front of everyone.
“Get a room,” I heard someone say from across the room. “There are little children here.”