The children are already swarming around him. Kimmy is screaming at a frequency that could shatter windows. “It’s him! It’s Captain Giggles! Mommy, he’s really here!”
“That’sright! I’m Captain Giggles, and I have traveled all the way from London, England, to be here for a very special birthday girl. Where is the birthday girl?”
Kimmy’s hand shoots up so fast she nearly takes out the kid next to her.
“Ah ha! You must be Kimmy. Happy birthday, Kimmy!” He drops to one knee and shakes her hand with theatrical solemnity. “Now, Kimmy, I need to be honest with you about something.”
Kimmy’s eyes go wide.
“Captain Giggles has a secret. A very important secret. Do you want to know what it is?”
Ten children lean forward as one.
“Captain Giggles tries hard, but he just isn’t very good without his sidekick.”
He stares straight at me. Behind the performer smile, behind the cape and the top hat and the showmanship, those hazel eyes meet mine.
I can’t move. I’m standing in my sister’s living room holding pieces of a balloon, and the man I’m in love with is crouched six feet away from me, dressed as a children’s entertainer, and I have no idea how to process what is happening.
“So I need a volunteer to be my special sidekick,” he says as he straightens up. “It needs to be a grown-up,” he quickly adds when a dozen children’s hands fly up.
“It needs to be someone brave and trustworthy. Someone who’s very, very good at following instructions, even silly ones. And someone who knows that the most important magic isn’t pulling rabbits out of hats.” He locks eyes with me. “It’s what happens when you really get to know someone.”
My throat is tight. My eyes are burning. I’m in real danger of falling apart in front of a bunch of eight-year-olds.
“Any volunteers?” Archie asks. But he’s still only staring at me.
I have to clear my throat twice before I can speak.
“I volunteer,” I say.
Every face whips around to stare at me.
Archie’s face splits into a wide grin. It devastates me because it’s the grin I’ve been seeing every time I close my eyes for the past three weeks. The one that makes his whole face rearrange itself.
“I’m so glad to have such a competent-looking sidekick,” he says shakily. “Now we just have to get you dressed properly for the job.”
He reaches into his bag and pulls out a folded bundle of pink and white fabric.
Sparkle McHornface’s costume.
He brought it from London. He brought it across an ocean.
I raise an eyebrow. “Seriously?”
“Being my special sidekick will always involve costumes,” he says solemnly.
No matter how hard I try to rearrange my face into a scowl, there’s no way I’m wiping the smile off my face right now.
I step forward and take the costume from his hands.
It takes every fiber of will inside me not to close the distance between us and kiss him.
But instead, I take the unicorn onesie and stagger toward my sister’s bathroom.
My hands are shaking as I unfold the costume.
I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror.
