"So what are you gonna do after tomorrow?" Roger asked.
"I don't know. Ivan wants me to do a couple more gigs with him and some guys he knows from Vazquez. It's an indoor horse-show kind of thing. I don't really want to do it, but the experience would be good for my act."
"You're an amazing rider."
Cara smiled sadly.
"What are you gonna do?"
"I don't really know yet. I have some friends down in New Orleans I thought I'd visit."

 

The waitress brought over their food. Cara dug in. Roger watched the way she ate. She took big mouthfuls, big country bites, and then chewed demurely with her lips pressed tight shut. He wasn't hungry anymore. He couldn't hardly think straight being that close to her. She looked up chewing and nodded her chin at his food to say dig in.

 

"Cara," he said. "Would you come with me to New Orleans?"
She screwed her face up and gave him an ‘are you fuckin' crazy' look.
"Where'd that come from," she said, wiping her chin with a white paper napkin.
"I don't know," he said. "I just really like being around you. Maybe we could work on an act together."
She laughed and shook her head.
"Boys are fuckin crazy," she said. "Have you been thinking about it for a while?"
"I don't know," he said. "If you're still with Ivan..."
"It's not about Ivan," she said. "Not at all."
Roger could hear the anger in her voice. He didn't want to pressure her.
"I just like you and wanted to ask, that's all," he said.
"Alright," she said. "I'm glad you asked."
On the walk back to the park Cara took Roger's hand and held it. She talked about the new dismount she was trying out for the first time that night, a back flip in a layout position, and how she'd been scared of flips her whole life.
"I think I might try something new too," Roger said. "I want to go higher on the ladder."
"Don't do it unless you're ready."
"I won't."

 

When they came in sight of the trailers she dropped Roger's hand. He got a tight feeling in his throat thinking he was about to hear an answer.

 

"Thanks for lunch," she said.
"Thanks," Roger said, his throat a little choked.
"I'm gonna take a nap before we get ready."
"Yeah, I gotta help Chris with popcorn."

 

Roger stared at Cara's face, the freckles and stray pockmarks were constellations. How did it happen that faces turned that way, grew into your imagination and tugged at your guts until you were helpless and afraid as first man, standing naked on an unforgiving plain?
Cara turned and walked away.