Home > Fun House (Welcome to the Circus #1)(14)

Fun House (Welcome to the Circus #1)(14)
Author: Lani Lynn Vale

Sienna’s mouth fell open. “You are not.”

“I am,” I said. “And I need to let her know a few things.”

“Like what?” she asked.

“Like, I’m selling my house, and she needs to have her ass out of it by the time I get ready to leave.”

“You’re what?” Sienna shrieked.

“I’m leaving,” I said. “I found a job with a traveling circus. They need a new chef that cooks for all the entertainers and staff. I’m in the market for a job.”

“I thought that you would be using your money to open a food truck or a restaurant or something. Not leave!” She raised her voice. “You can’t leave!”

“I can,” I said. “I’m not married anymore, so there’s nothing tying me down. I have no family besides you, and you have Bob. I haven’t been happy with my job in a while and it’s going nowhere. There are even fewer prospects in this town. It makes sense for me to leave. I need to find a new place where I want to actually own a business. Heartsway is just not big enough to support a restaurant like I want to open.”

My sister looked stricken. “But I need you.”

I pulled her into my arms, dropping a kiss on her forehead. “You need Bob, sis. Not me.”

She laughed. “I will miss you if you go.”

“I’ll come back,” I said.

“Are you serious about a circus?” she asked.

I nodded against her forehead and rumbled out a “yeah.”

“It’s because of that girl that crashed Dad’s funeral, isn’t it?” she asked.

I didn’t see a point in lying to her.

“Yes,” I answered. “Partially. But Heartsway only holds bad memories for me now. Dad only stayed because this was the last place he was happy. But Dad’s not here. You’re planning on following Bob the moment that he gets his duty station. So yeah…I have nothing here anymore…and truthfully, neither do you.”

She scoffed. “I didn’t think you’d leave until I left.”

“I’ll wait until you leave,” I offered. “Want to go to Subway?”

Sienna scoffed. “Of course I’m going to fucking Subway.”

I got on my bike and led the way, pulling right up to the front door in the closest parking spot to where she could see out.

I knew she saw me the moment I got off the bike, too.

Her head whipped around, and she was staring at the window like a snake was outside that she didn’t want to get anywhere near.

Funny enough, that was what she’d called me when we’d divorced.

A snake.

Not because I actually was one, but because she felt like I had turned into one when she’d wanted things that I didn’t.

Sienna pulled up next to me and got out, nearly whacking me with her door in her haste.

“You can get me my regular,” she said.

Her regular was a ham and cheese sandwich on white. So adventurous.

“What are you going to do?” I asked as we walked toward the door.

“I’m going to get to a place where I can record this. Bob would kill me if he missed it,” she answered, then went straight to the table where she’d have the best view.

I walked up to the counter just as Carron said, “You do realize, right, that you hate Subway, and the only reason you’re here right now is because of me.”

“I’m here to grab a sandwich and let you know I’m moving, so I’m selling the house,” I said.

Her eyes widened. “But I’m living in the house!”

I shrugged. “I’ll have two footlongs on white.”

She angrily got the meals ready when her boss moved into her line of sight, quickly hacking away at the bread as if she had no care in the world.

“Careful not to cut it too far,” I suggested. “The sandwich will break apart.”

She gritted her teeth but started to regain control, angrily opening it to start constructing the sandwich before I’d told her what I wanted.

“I want to change it up today,” I said just as she reached for the roast beef.

Her eyes narrowed as she placed it back. “Okay, what would you like?”

“I’d like a chicken bacon ranch,” I said. “She wants a plain Jane. White bread, ham, American cheese.”

She angrily started to put it on there, and I noticed she started to gyp us some meat, which I called her on.

The manager came out and observed, which only made Carron stumble more.

In the end, she made two terrible sandwiches and rang me up, the manager gave me a discount for Carron’s terrible job.

I took the food over to Sienna’s table as she was smiling huge and tapping away on her phone.

“That was gold,” she said when I took my seat.

“That was pure petty revenge,” Carron said as she appeared at our table. “Why are you selling the house?”

“I’m moving,” I said as I took my sandwich out. If I hadn’t seen her make it, there’d be no way that I would eat it. “And I need no reminders or ties here. As of two weeks from now, you need to be gone so I can put it on the market. A realtor might be showing up soon to start taking photos or telling me what I need to do. I’ll allow her entry if you’re not there.”

Carron gritted her teeth. “Can I buy it from you?”

“Sure,” I said, then listed my price.

Her eyes were wide open as she said, “I can’t afford that.”

The times of me feeling sorry for Carron were over. Maybe, had she ended things amicably between us, I would’ve considered allowing her to rent to own or something. But the sad fact was, she didn’t end things amicably. Not even close.

She’d taken me to the cleaners, and the only reason I’d gotten the house was that my dad had helped me by cosigning for it and was, in all technicalities, half owner of it right until after our divorce.

“Sorry, Carron,” I murmured. “But this time, your sob story isn’t going to work. You have—had at this point—plenty of my money. There’s no way that you should’ve gone through what I was forced to pay you, but it’s also not my problem anymore.”

Carron’s eyes were pleading, but I gestured to the door while holding Sienna’s eyes. “Want to head to the park?”

Sienna grabbed her sandwich, but not before she left Carron with a parting comment.

“You know, he showed you a lot of leeway over y’all’s marriage. Then still while y’all were going through the divorce. Where was your compassion when you were leaving him with barely enough money to cover rent on a house that he could no longer afford to pay because he was forced to pay you alimony until you felt like getting on your own two feet? That’s right, you didn’t have any compassion for him. If he’d caved today, I would’ve gone out of my way to make sure that he changed his mind. Because there are two people in this world that I despise. And one of them is standing right in front of me, thinking that her fake tears are going to work to convince us that she’s the victim here.”

Carron shot forward, ready to defend herself, but I stepped between them as the manager barked sharply at Carron that there were customers waiting.

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