Jack arched a brow. “Like a double date?”

He was teasing me now, and it made me grin. I didn’t realise Jack had it in him to tease. I placed a hand on my hip. “Yeah, like a double date.”

His lips twitched. “I think we can manage that. When’s the concert?”

“Next Saturday. Will you have a show?”

“Yes, but I can fix to have the night off.”

“Great. That’s great. Thank you so much. This means a lot.”

Jack’s eyes wandered to the camper. “I’ll do whatever I can to help you, Alexis. I’m sorry if I was rude before, but I’ve spent years watching that man suffer. It’d be nice to see his suffering come to an end.”

His words made me slightly emotional, so all I could do was nod and turn to walk away.

The following day at the office, I couldn’t help checking my phone every five minutes. I sent Lille a message, asking if she’d let me know how things went at the doctor’s with King. It was almost the end of the day, and I still hadn’t heard a peep. It caused me to worry. What made matters worse was when I called Elaine to tell her I’d be home late again, and she asked questions. She was starting to become suspicious, especially since I told her I’d be home by nine yesterday and didn’t get back until after midnight. I hated lying to her.

In the end, Lille met me when I arrived at the circus. I’d worried myself sick, thinking something might be terribly wrong with King. She sat me down in her and Jack’s camper to give me the details. It turned out that he did have quite a few ailments, but nothing that couldn’t be dealt with. He had acute bronchitis, which accounted for the coughing. He also had a few patches of eczema. They’d done some tests on his liver but wouldn’t get the results back for a couple of days. It was also looking likely that he had a stomach ulcer. The doctor had prescribed antibiotics for the bronchitis and the ulcer, some specialist creams for his skin and a drug called Disulfiram to help him stop drinking. As regards his liver, the fact that he was making an effort to quit was a big help.

Even though all this wasn’t exactly news that he was healthy, I was incredibly relieved to hear that he didn’t have anything incurable. I could see light at the end of the tunnel. When the door to the camper opened and Jack walked in with King following behind, I gasped. He’d shaved off his beard.

Standing, I walked over to him and instinctively brought my hand to his cheek.

“You shaved,” I whispered.

His eyes, dull and bloodshot only a couple of days ago, had regained some of their colour. They look clearer, bluer. “I thought it was high time.”

“I can see your face now,” I smiled, noticing the lines that weren’t there before. They gave him character. He also had a small scar on one of his cheeks. “How did this happen?”

“Honestly, love, I can’t remember,” he replied, and I shivered at his term of endearment. He always used to call me “love” when we had sex, and several goose bump–inducing memories swept through my mind all at once.

“Drink will do that to you,” said Jack, giving King a firm pat on the shoulder. “It’s the elixir of memory loss.”

King shot his friend something of a smile while Lille widened her eyes at her boyfriend. “Jack.”

“We need to be able to joke about it. Takes away its power,” Jack explained, and I thought he made a lot of sense.

I looked back to King. “Come for a walk with me?”

Without a word he moved to the side and gestured for me to lead the way. I said goodbye to Lille and Jack before exiting the camper. When we got outside, I gently slid my arm through King’s so that we were linking. He glanced down at me, his eyes lingering on our linked arms.

“Where did you go last night?” he asked tensely. I was still trying to get used to the sight of him without the beard. Plus, his question made me strangely shy as I remembered his hands on me, his tender, worshipful touches. I looked at my toes as we walked.

“I had to get home and didn’t want to wake you.”

“You could have stayed,” he said quietly, and I didn’t know how to respond.

A silence ensued as we made our way past the front of the tent. A couple of the circus workers went by, and I noticed some of them doing double takes when they saw King. He’d cleaned up a lot in the last few days. I reached up and playfully tugged at a strand of his hair.

“I hope you don’t plan on getting rid of this like you got rid of your beard,” I said.

His eyes practically twinkled. “You like my hair long?”

“I already told you I do.”

“Then maybe I’ll keep it.”

I shot him an amused scowl. “Only maybe?”

He laughed, low and deep, before shrugging. “If you like the hair, I’ll keep the hair.”

“Good,” I said, satisfied. We chatted as we continued our walk. I asked him how he was feeling, and he told me he was still in pain but not as much as the day before. We entered a busy shopping district, buses and cars clogging the roads since it was rush hour. The streets were crowded with people, all scurrying by on their way home from work.

“Are you hungry?” I asked as I felt my stomach rumble. I’d been in such a hurry to leave the office today that I’d completely forgotten about dinner.

King looked away uncomfortably. “I don’t have any money.”

I didn’t point out the fact that he did have money. He had a bank account full of it, not to mention a gigantic apartment that had been left unlived in for the last six years. He hadn’t considered any of that his for a really long time. Perhaps he thought all his property had been seized by the authorities. After all, he never knew that his name had been cleared. Still, I had no intention of pushing the matter right then. I just wanted to eat with him and enjoy his company. I’d always loved the lunches we shared together in his office, the conversation.