Yep, apparently I still can’t wipe the large smile off my face.
Archie’s here. What does that mean? How the hell did he track me down? The fact that he’s flown all the way over the Atlantic to find me has to mean something, right?
Did Vaughn say something to him? Has he worked out the whole story—QuantumTech, the recording, the deal? Does he know that I walked away from him, not because I don’t love him, but because I love him too much to be the reason he never got his brother back?
And if he knows all of that, why is hehere?
I want to grab him and talk to him and get answers. I want to kiss him even more.
But it appears I’ve got an appearance as Sparkle McHornface to get through first.
I look at myself in the mirror after I’ve finished dressing. Pink unicorn onesie. Glitter horn. Rainbow tail.
Last time I wore this, I was in London with Archie beside me, and I hadn’t realized yet how in love with him I was.
I know now.
I walk back out.
Caitlin’s hands fly to her mouth, and she starts to laugh.
“Sparkle McHornface, everyone!” Archie announces.
The kids’ cheers are deafening. Kimmy looks like she might actually ascend.
“Uncle Leo, you’re a unicorn!” Kimmy says.
“I know I am,” I say neutrally.
“Sparkle McHornface has been on a very long journey,” Archie tells the children, his voice dropping to a stage whisper. “He went away for a while. Can anyone guess why?”
“Why?” the children chorus.
“Because he made a mistake. He thought Captain Giggles didn’t need him anymore. He thought Captain Giggles would be better off with a different sidekick.” Archie pauses. “But the thing about Captain Giggles is that he’s very particular about hissidekicks. He doesn’t want just anyone. He wants someone who—” His voice catches so briefly that only I notice. “Someone who makes terrible balloon animals but tries really hard anyway.”
The children laugh. I am not laughing. I am standing in a unicorn onesie, tears threatening to spill from my eyes.
“So Sparkle McHornface came back,” Archie says. “And Captain Giggles is very happy about that.”
He looks at me when he says it. The performer mask slips for half a second, and underneath it is just a man who flew four thousand miles to stand in a living room in Detroit and tell me something he couldn’t say over the phone.
I swallow. Hard.
“Now,” Archie says, switching back to full Captain Giggles energy, “who wants to see somemagic?”
And then we’re performing together. The way we’ve done a dozen times before in living rooms and event venues all over London. His chaos, my steadiness. He throws, I catch. He sets up the joke, I’m the punchline.
It shouldn’t work as well as it does. It shouldn’t feel like breathing.
But it does.
We do a magic show. We play Sparkle Says, and the kids lose their minds. Kimmy tells everyone that Captain Giggles came all the way from London just for her party, and Archie doesn’t correct her.
When he makes me do the Chicken Dance, I do the Chicken Dance. When he makes me say I am a pretty, pretty unicorn and I believe in magic, I say it. Louder than I’ve ever said it. Loud enough that Caitlin completely loses it and falls apart in hysterics.
I don’t care.
Because Archie’s here.
