The Circus Rose by Betsy Cornwell

Author:Betsy Cornwell
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780358164432
Publisher: HMH Books
Published: 2020-06-16T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Three days after the blaze, Ciaran and I were pushing wheelbarrows of sooty rubble toward the fast-growing pile at the edge of the park. Most of the dancing boys had been outside the tent when the fire started, resting and stretching in their long wait until the finale, so they were the least injured of any of us.

They’d done more than their share to step in for the injured crew. The dancing boys were strong, and Ciaran had marshaled them quickly.

“I’ve always admired the way you lead them,” I told him. “It was one of the first things I liked about you.”

He glanced at me, a grin lighting up his handsome face. “And here I thought it was my sex appeal!”

I rolled my eyes. “That too.”

It was, of course, and we both knew it—just as well as we knew that there was no longer any shred of chemistry or tension between us. That was part of what made Ciaran one of my favorite people to spend time with, even though we were both so busy on our opposite sides of the Circus Rose coin that we rarely had the chance. We’d had a sweet-natured romance that had mellowed out quite naturally into an even sweeter and mellower sense of mutual, platonic support and caring. I knew I could talk to Ciaran about things that were bothering me and he would offer a warm but clear-eyed perspective.

We dumped our wheelbarrows and stood catching our breath for a moment. I pulled my flask from its place at my hip and took a long drink of cool water.

Ciaran reached out for the flask and drank too, then poured a little water on his face and wiped off the soot that streaked his dark brown skin. “I hope you appreciate the sacrifices we’re making, Ivory, doing work that messes up our makeup.”

“I do.” I said it lightly, but as I accepted the flask back from him, I looked into his eyes. “Truly, Ciaran, I am grateful for everything you and the boys are doing. It’s amazing how you’ve all rallied. You shouldn’t have had to do this, none of you. I am sorry you have to.”

“Lord, Ivory, what else would we do? Of course we want to help. We’re part of this family too.”

I didn’t quite know what to say to that. The dancing boys were only ever supposed to be with the Rose for a short-term contract. Every time they renewed it, they said that they’d move on when the next renewal came up, but they just loved us too much to leave quite yet—even though they could surely make more money headlining their own show.

Ciaran continued: “And why are you sorry? It’s not as if you lit the fire.”

I suddenly felt hot, soot-gritty tears start running down my face. “I might as well have. I was negligent. I was supposed to do the safety checks and I rushed through them because—because I was thinking about Tam.”

Ciaran knew all about Tam; he was the only person besides Rosie in whom I’d confided about my crush.

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