by Sarah Ready
“You’ll have to sit on a stool,” she says, then glares at me, like she’s challenging me to complain.
“Thank you,” I say.
She sighs and then looks at the flowers in Ginny’s hand.
“Those’ll need a vase,” she says.
Ginny follows her into the kitchen. I stare at the swinging door and everyone left in the room stares at me.
Then the grandma starts talking and we can all hear her loud and clear through the door.
“Why in tarnation did he give you weeds?”
“He gave me flowers,” says Ginny.
“That man isn’t right in the head. Those are cowpoke roadside weeds, clear as day.”
“It’s the thought, Enid.”
“You’re on the road to hell and tarnation. Heather warned you he’s not fit to be around decent folk, much less Bean. Now he’s here, sniffing around like a stray dog begging for a bone.”
“Heather doesn’t know squat.”
At that, Finick snorts approvingly. “That’s enough,” Heather hisses at him.
“How’s school?” asks Grandpa Clark.
“Grandpa, it’s summer. We don’t have school,” says Bean.
“Oh, right, silly me.”
But he’s not really listening because Enid has started in on Ginny again.
“Heather is the daughter of my heart.”
I can’t make out what Ginny says. Instead, I move to the table and have a seat. The others move to it as well. The door to the kitchen swings open and Enid and Ginny come out smiling. Enid’s smile is a little more forced than Ginny’s. She sets the vase down in the center of the table with a flourish.
“And here are the lovely flowers for our centerpiece.”
Clark says grace and then we pass around the pot pie. There’s wine and Enid pours Joel and Heather a glass.
“I expect you’re trying to cut down,” Enid says to me.
Ginny looks over at me, her eyes wide.
“Sure enough,” I say. I wink at Ginny and she blushes bright red.
“Liam,” says Bean. She’s bouncing in her chair, too excited to notice the undercurrents amongst the adults. “Are we gonna fly tonight?”
“Laud sakes,” mutters Enid.
“You’ll find out,” I say.
“Or maybe we’re gonna trace a villain to his hideout?”
A pea flies through the air and hits Bean in the face. “Hey,” she says. She looks at Redge—he’s using his spoon as a catapult.
“Ha ha,” says Joel. “Now that’s a clever boy. Future mayor there.”
I can’t believe that no one is reprimanding this boy. They are doing his future a terrible disservice.
“You need to apologize to Bean,” I say.
Bean grins at me, and Ginny gives me a sweet smile.
Redge tightens his mouth mulishly.
“Go on, Redge,” says Enid. “That was poor form.”
I’m surprised, but apparently Redge knows who serves the dessert around here, because he blows out a breath in defeat. “Sorry,” he mumbles. He glares at me and Bean. She doesn’t care though. She gives me a toothy smile.
I take a bite of the pot pie. It’s steaming hot and gamey. Finick has avoided eating anything by strategically moving piles of it around his plate.
“So, what’ve you been doing with our Ginny and Bean?” Joel asks.
Everyone at the table turns to look at me, except Ginny, she looks down at the napkin in her lap.
“He’s been training,” says Bean. “And we’ve been shooting and climbing and we’re gonna go flying.”
“I’m surprised you’ve been able to stay upright for all that,” says Heather.
“Ha,” laughs Joel.
“He’s been amazing,” Ginny says in a tight voice.
Heather turns to Ginny and I see something petty spark in her eyes. “You do seem to get men to do all sorts of things for you. I wonder.”
Enid’s reaching for her glass, but at Heather’s words her hand shakes and she knocks the wine to the table. The red spills across the cloth. Her face goes white and for a moment no one moves. Then she jumps back.
“So sorry,” she says.
“I’ll get a towel,” says Ginny. She jumps up and runs to the kitchen. When she’s back she sops up the spill.
“I’m sorry,” says Ginny.
“You didn’t do it,” says Finick. He gives Heather a disgusted look.
“Know anything about modeling?” asks Clark. He glances at his wife, but Enid is still dabbing at the red stain.
“No, sir,” I say.
He launches into a discussion about accurately modeling the Battle of Trafalgar. I try to listen attentively, but I keep glancing at Ginny. Her face is white and she’s not looking up from her plate.
Heather leans toward her and I catch her whisper. “Looks like you’ve caught another one dead on the line.”
Ginny flinches.
I can’t let it pass. It’s too much. “Excuse me,” I say.
Clark stops talking and everyone looks at me in surprise. Ginny gives me a wary look, like she’s not sure she wants to know what I’m about to say.
“Thank you for the lovely meal. And thank you for your concern about Ginny and Bean. I think you love them very much.”
“Of course we do,” cries Enid.
Redge snorts.
“I just have to say, you’re lucky to have them. Because they’re special. I’ve only known them two weeks and I can see that.”
“Thanks, Liam,” says Bean. She beams at me.
Ginny looks down at her plate.
“Of course we know they’re special,” says Joel. “That’s why we look out for them. Don’t want them making wrongheaded choices.”
“They haven’t,” I say. I give everyone at the table a hard stare. “Ginny’s the smartest, most determined, most caring person I’ve ever met. And Bean’s the greatest kid I know. They wouldn’t know how to make a bad choice.”
No one says anything for a moment. Under the table, Ginny reaches over and lightly places her hand on top of mine. A load of tension falls out of me. She gives my hand a short squeeze.
“How about dessert?” asks Enid.
We eat apple crumble pie and talk about the Battle of Waterloo.
12
Ginny
Liam knocks down all the bottles in one throw.
“And we have a winner, folks,” yells the carnival worker. “Winner, winner.” Bright bulbs flare and a horn sounds.
Liam looks over to me and grins. I shake my head, mostly because of the cocky look on his face, but I can’t help returning the smile.
“Yeah,” shouts Bean. “Can I get the big bear? The big pink one?” She jumps up and down and points at a teddy bear that’s bigger than she is.
“The little lady wants the bear,” says the carnival worker with a sly look in his eyes. He holds out a fist-sized squirrel to Bean. “Here’s the small prize. You need three wins for the big one.”
“Ohh,” says Bean. Her voice drops from high to low. “Erm, it’s…hmm.”
I start to laugh and Liam waves the prize away and hands over twenty dollars.
The worker grins and raises his microphone. “Player, player. We’ve got a big player.”
Liam lightly tosses a ball in his hand.
“You can do it,” says Bean. “’Cause you’re—”
“Shhh,” I say. I cut her off before she outs Liam.
“Oh yeah,” she whispers.
I smile and tap her on her nose. Liam’s surprise was bringing us to the county fair. Except, we’re not here just to play carnival games, he and Bean are working on going incognito in alter egos. The rules are that no one can suspect they’re a superhero and protégé.
He gave Bean a pink wig, a sequin hat, heart sunglasses and a shirt that says “superhero.” I’m biased, since I’m her mom, but she looks so stinking cute I can barely stand it.
Liam raises the first ball and aims at the bottles. He pulls back and
throws. He hits them, but only three fall.
“Tarnation. Those bottles are slippery as a mare in heat,” he says. Then he turns and winks at me.
I hold back a laugh. He’s fully in character. If I didn’t know he was Liam Stone, I’d never recognize him. He has on a black cowboy hat, a fake mustache, cowboy boots, sunglasses and a shirt that says “I’m with stupid” with an arrow pointing at his face. Okay, fine, I start to laugh. He looks back at me and shakes his head. Then he tosses another ball at the bottles.
“Got ’er,” he shouts and he pumps his fist in the air.
“So ridiculous,” I say.
Bean jumps up and down and cheers. We’re up to the medium prize, a stuffed taco with googly eyes and legs. Liam has two more balls to throw. The worker sets up the bottles and motions for Liam to take another throw.
“Player, player,” the worker shouts into his microphone, “We’ve got a big player.”
The midway is crowded. People mill about, try their hand at carnival games, eat cheesy chili fries, cotton candy or mysterious fried snacks on sticks. I take in the nostalgic smell of sugar, fried grease, and kicked up dust—those summertime fair smells. Of the hundreds of people passing by, not a one pays any attention to the movie star, aka down home cowboy, in their midst.
Bean grabs my hand. “You think he’ll do it?” she asks. She’s nearly bursting from excitement.
“Sure thing, honey,” I say in a heavy twang. “He can hit a squirrel with a BB gun from a hundred paces. He can climb a tree, wrestle a bear, and jump off a cliff all in a single day. Ain’t nuthin’ he can’t do.”
Liam stops mid-throw and looks over at me. I wave him on. He shakes his head and looks at my outfit. I’m incognito too. Miniskirt, cowgirl boots, a red wig with a camo hat, sunglasses and a low-cut tank top that says “I get my kicks on Route 511B.”
So ridiculous.
“Go on,” I call. “Get ’er done.”
He does. The ball hits the bottles and they collapse in a pile.
“Yeah,” shouts Bean. She jumps up and down and claps and cheers.
“Boom,” says Liam. “That, folks, is how it’s done.”
“Winner, winner, big winner,” shouts the midway worker. The lights flash and the horn blares. The worker uses a long metal pole to grab the gigantic pink teddy, lasso it, and hand it down to Bean. She can’t even wrap her arms around it, the teddy’s so big.
“Here, I’ll hold her for you,” says Liam.
“Can we go on the Ferris wheel now?” asks Bean.
We absolutely can. It’s nearing eight. The sky turns a dusty orange and blue and the midway lights wink on. The Ferris wheel sits at the end of the midway, next to the rocking Viking ship and the flying swings. We meander through the crowds and slowly make our way down.
“Thank you for the bear,” I say.
Liam tips his cowboy hat. “Nuthin’ to it.”
Bean slips her hand into mine and my heart squeezes. I haven’t had this much fun in…years. Who knew that dressing up in crazy outfits, and pretending to be someone else at the county fair could be so ridiculously fun? Not me.
“Am I doing good on my disguise?” asks Bean.
“Brilliantly,” I say.
“The trick to being a superhero,” Liam says, “is never letting people suspect what you are. You gotta keep all the good stuff hidden behind your alter ego.” He looks Bean over. “You’re doing good, kid.”
“I thought so,” she says and gives a satisfied smile. “You did good too.”
“Thank you,” he says. “I figured cowboy is a good disguise.”
“No,” Bean says. “I mean before. In your trailer, with your bathrobe and stuff. That was real good incognito.”
I look over at the food trailers and pretend not to see Liam’s dumbstruck look.
Finally, he nods. “Guess it was.”
The line to the Ferris wheel is nearly fifty people long, but there’s a cotton candy stand next to the line that’s calling my name.
“You guys stand in line,” I say. “I’m gonna get us some cotton candy.”
“Purple please,” says Bean.
She’s in for a treat. I don’t usually let her have much sugar, especially not this late at night. When she was first diagnosed I cut out sugar completely, but I loosened up a bit as time went by. It’s hard not letting yourself have any sweetness.
After I grab the bag of cotton candy I make my way back. Bean and Liam have moved forward a bit and I make my way toward their spot in the line.
When I reach them they’re in the middle of a conversation and don’t notice me. I stand behind them and wait for them to finish up talking.
“—never got to do that before. That’s why I like you lots. Because we get to do fun things,” Bean says. “’Cause Mama says I gotta save my energy, but Grandma says it’s ’cause I’ll break. So no more ball, or running, or rolling on the ground, and no more cartwheels especially, or sports. Redge says that makes me a baby, but Finick tells him to shut up. But I wish I could run still, cause my friends stopped wanting to play with me.”
“That’s too bad,” says Liam. He looks down at Bean with a serious expression. “Sorry to hear that.”
She gives a big nod. “Yeah. I don’t have friends no more. I used to have friends but then they didn’t like me not playing, ’cause I’m always tired. Then all my hair fell out and some kids made fun of me. Except Mira and Glen, but Mira moved to California and Glen’s mom said he couldn’t play with me anymore. And Mama tried to let me wear a hat to school but the principal said it’s against the rules, so I didn’t get to.”
Liam looks down at Bean and I can tell he’s struck by how much she can say in twenty seconds and how she doesn’t seem to ever need to take a breath.
“Sorry, kid,” he says.
“That’s okay. I got my mama. She’s real sad sometimes. She doesn’t think I know, but I do. ’Cause I’m sick. She doesn’t want me to die.” Bean nods at Liam and her face is serious.
I lift my hand to my mouth. I didn’t realize that Bean knew…
“Your mama loves you a lot,” Liam says.
“That’s why I got her you.”
“What do you mean?” asks Liam.
“I figured, the only person that could make my mama happy was you. ’Cause you’re a hero, like my daddy. Can I hold my bear now?”
“Sure,” says Liam. He hands the bear over and Bean squeezes it to her chest. Then he lifts up his sunglasses and wipes at his eyes.
I step forward and say in a bright voice, “Who wants purple cotton candy?”
“Me, me, me,” says Bean.
“There you are,” says Liam.
Neither of them say anything at all about the conversation they were having. When we make it to the front of the line we climb into the metal cage. Bean squeals as the cage rocks and we swing higher and higher up the Ferris wheel. When we reach the top, the wheel stops and we rock back and forth.
I can see so far. The lights of the fair beneath us, the animal barns and the midway, the expo, and the food stalls, then the valley and the hills and the town, and over the trees, the sun slips below the horizon.
Bean nuzzles between Liam and I, with her bear between her legs. I look over at Liam to see if he’s watching the sunset. Instead, I realize that he’s watching me. There’s a funny expression on his face. It’s like he’s only just seen me, and he’s not sure what to make of me. Or of anything.
I give him a hesitant smile. “You okay?”
His eyes flicker, then he gives me the world-famous Liam Stone smile. “Of course I am,” he says.
The Ferris wheel starts up again and the moment passes. We descend back to the ground and then make our way home.
13
Liam
“Thanks for tonight,” says Ginny.
“No worries.”
Bean’s asleep in the backseat, the bear in her arms and her face covered in purple cotton candy stain. Ginny lifts her out of her car se
at. Bean makes a sleepy noise and then drops her head on Ginny’s shoulder.
“I’ll get the bear,” I say quietly.
Ginny opens the door to her garage apartment. I stand at the threshold, not sure if I should drop the bear at the entrance or come in.
“Come on in,” says Ginny. “Make yourself at home. I’ll be out in a second.”
While she washes up Bean and tucks her in bed, I go and sit on the living room couch. It’s comfortable and there’s a load of pillows and a quilt. I lean forward and look at the books on the coffee table. Ginny has a few physiology and sports medicine textbooks and there’s a big pile of Liam Stone comic books. I flip through an issue and then lean back. Something pokes my leg and I pull out an action figure from the couch cushion.
“I recognize you,” I say. It’s the figure I pulled down from the tree. I toss it into a toy basket next to the couch.
I pick up the sound of Ginny singing a lullaby. Her voice is low and throaty, and she sings with quiet sweetness. I feel like an intruder. I shouldn’t be here for this, it’s not my place. There are pictures on the wall of Bean as a baby and as a toddler. It’s a home, full of comfort and love, and I’m an imposter here.
I run my hand down the back of my neck and sigh. Then realize I’m still wearing my costume. I pull the mustache off my lip and tuck it in my pocket.
I should go.
I stand up and head toward the door. The kitchen’s near the door on the back wall of the apartment. There’s a single counter with a stove, a small refrigerator and a sink. The flowers I gave Ginny are the only thing on the counter. They’re even more wilted than earlier. I stare at them and wonder what the heck I’m doing.
I flipped out this morning and made an ass of myself. I thought Ginny was going to get too attached, but it’s not her I need to be worried about. It’s me. I’m getting in too deep.
When she said she wasn’t looking for a husband or a substitute father, I thought I’d be relieved, but I wasn’t. It felt wrong, her saying that.
And then I kissed her. I wasn’t thinking, I just knew I had to touch her, taste her. I’m starting to feel again and she’s the reason behind it. I have to be careful. I’m leaving town. If I get too close, I won’t leave a hero, I’ll leave with a broken heart.