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Ares falls into step with me. “I should warn you,” he says. “Vero has been banned from two of these stalls before.”

“Banned, but why?” I ask, needing to know the story.

“The way he wins is not in the spirit of the game.”

“It’s not my fault I understand physics,” Vero shouts, obviously having heard us.

He steps up to the ring toss and pays for his rings, then proceeds to get every single one over an object. It makes everyone around him cheer, which feeds his ego and is amusing to watch. Vero collects an enormous stuffed animal, turns around, and spots a little girl in a witch hat. He hands her the teddy, and her toothless smile is contagious.

He turns back to me. “See? Physics,” is all he says before moving on to the next stall. I drift along beside him, while Clay goes off toward a shooting game two stalls down with water pistols and moving targets. He puts his money down and picks up the pistol, then hits every target without even trying. Once he puts the pistol back down and collects his prize, Clay walks over to me and hands me a stuffed black cat, but he says nothing and keeps walking.

I look at Ares. “Did he just win me a prize?”

Ares nods. “He sure did, and in such a Clay way too. I wouldn’t be expecting hearts and roses from him anytime soon.”

Further down the alley, Brawley is at the strength tester, where a small crowd has gathered around him. He lifts the mallet and swings it. The puck goes up, and of course, he hits the top. The children go crazy. Brawley crouches down to the boy next to him and says something, and the boy points to a prize. The guy manning the stall hands it to the child, and Brawley just stands up and walks toward us like nothing happened.

I lick my lips and my heart swells in my chest.

That’s my man—or mine and Vero’s, but still.

“You’re staring,” Ares says with a chuckle.

“Just appreciating the view,” I reply, to which Ares shakes his head.

I wander over to the basketball stall, sit my cat down, and pay. Bouncing the ball first to get a feel for it, I line up my shot. The first goes in, and then the second. I start to think maybe these games are not as hard as regular sideshow games when the third shot goes in too. Once I collect my prize and my stuffed cat, I turn around to find all four of my men watching me in stunned silence. I hold up my prize, a small foam crown, and put it on my head.

Vero bounces over to me and links his arm with mine as we continue down the alley, steering us through the rest of the stalls with the energy of a crazy man with a plan.

We spend another twenty minutes working our way through the chaos.

Vero gets banned from a stall, which he gracefully accepts and moves on.

Ares loses at the duck pond game. I never knew someone could lose at that one, but there is a first for everything.

Clay wins a second prize and slips it into his pocket, but says nothing.

By the time we reach the end of Sideshow Alley, my stomach rumbles, so Vero steers us left to where I can see food carts are set up.

Ares leans in and whispers in my ear. “It’s way too busy for the bar to feed everyone, so we get in vendors for the week.”

Vero orders potatoes on a stick that are massive and hands one to me, and we follow the string lights as we eat, slowly heading toward the carnival area.

The Ferris wheel is at the far end of the carnival space, and Vero says he is going on by himself to collect his thoughts. No one argues with him, and Clay and Brawley get onto the next one, leaving Ares and me to get into the last carriage.

As we near the top, I gaze down at the island, noting how beautiful it looks. All the lights can be seen from up here. I can also see Vero swinging his gondola and waving at everyone below.

“You look happy,” Ares says.

“I am happy.”

“It looks good on you.”

Turning to face him, I see him looking at me in a way I haven’t before. “I didn’t think I was allowed to be happy like this. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“You’re allowed to feel however you want here.”

I smile at him. “I know that now.”