“You’re welcome. How about we get something to eat? I could go for some blue cotton candy.” Erin’s eyes sparkled at her son.
“Me too.” Ronan pulled away from his mother and spun around, intent on heading toward the lobby. What he saw nearly stopped his heart. Towering over him was the black and white clown. Gone was his friendly nature. In its place was something between a grimace and a snarl. Ying Yang looked like he wanted to rip Ronan apart.
The clown bent toward Ronan’s ear. “Stay away from my daughter. Touch her again and I’ll cut off your arm and beat you with it before I feed it to the tiger.”
As the clown spoke, Ronan could feel Ying Yang’s sour, fish-smelling breath ghost over his face. It took all his self-control not to throw up all over the clown. He remembered his science teacher, Mr. Fredrickson’s lesson about the fight or flight instinct, but hadn’t believed it was real until this moment. Part of Ronan wanted to punch the clown in the mouth, while the other wanted to run the entire fifteen miles back the safety of his house in Quincy.
“Got it, boy?” Ying Yang asked.
Ronan nodded. He absolutely got it. “Yup.”
Ying Yang gave him a shove, sending him stumbling into Erin, who looked as scared as Ronan felt. A tiny bit of pee soaked into his briefs. His vision started to grey out. Much more of this and he was going to faint, as if he were some kind of damsel in distress.
The clown bared his teeth again and shuffled off toward the tiger cage.
“Let’s go.” Erin ushered Ronan toward the lobby.
“Stupid motherfucker,” Ronan muttered under his breath, sounding just like his grandfather. He knew that was the worst thing he could ever call someone, but in this situation, no other word would do.
“You’re telling me, Ro. I wanted to kick that asshole right in his safe deposit box.” Erin giggled.
His mother always knew how to make him feel better. Ronan burst out laughing and turned his mind away from the asshole clown and toward all of the junk food he was going to eat. Hot dogs. Popcorn. Cotton candy. Fried dough.
Walking into the lobby, Ronan saw the clowns laughing and making balloon animals for the kids. A shiver slid down his spine. He didn’t see them as light hearted jesters anymore. They were more like nightmares come to life.
One thing was for certain, Ronan didnotwant to join the circus and he sure as hell never wanted to be up close and personal with another clown as long as he lived.
1
Ronan
February, present day…
“Pizza’s here!” Ronan called out, when the doorbell rang. He hurried toward the front door, where Everly stood gawking up at the pizza delivery driver and the six boxes he held in his arms. Taking the boxes from the driver, Ronan handed the man cash. “Thanks for coming out, Kyle!”
“You got it, Mr. O’Mara! See you next week!” Kyle headed down the stairs toward his running car with a Greek Life sign on the roof.
“Who wants what?” Ronan asked, weaving his way through the kids and into the kitchen.
“Pepperoni!” Little voices shouted at him.
Ronan set the pizza’s on the island and started opening the boxes. Pepperoni was on the top. He grabbed plates and started dishing out hot slices. Ten and Cope set the food at the kids’ spots at the table, while everyone got settled in. Jace grabbed juice pouches from the fridge and helped Aurora stick the straw into hers.
Ten chaotic minutes later, everyone was munching happily on their slices. “What’s this big announcement you want to tell us about?” Ten asked, his eyes on Jace.
“Well,” Jace began, reaching for a napkin and dabbing at the pepperoni grease on his lips, “my team has finalized our plans for the winter charity gala.”
“Ohh,” Everly cooed. “Last year we got to wear beautiful dresses for the Snow Ball! Remember?”
Aurora nodded. “My dress was so sparkly.”
Ronan remembered the day well. The light shining off Aurora’s beaded dress had nearly blinded him. He’d shot video of Aurora standing on Fitzgibbon and Jace’s feet while she danced with them. Everly’s gown had been equally impressive. Bubble gum pink, it would have given Glinda a run for her money.
“Are we gonna have another ball, Daddy?” Aurora asked.
“Yeah,” Ronan muttered, “we’ll call it Blue Balls.”
Fitzgibbon sputtered, nearly choking on his pizza.
