Page 67 of The Five Year Lie

She pulls out a... Actually, I have no idea what that thing on the hanger is. “I’mnotwearing a leather corset, Tara. Absolutely not.”

Larri laughs from the bed where she’s reclining. “I would give all the cash in my wallet to see Ariel in a leather corset. Not that five dollars would be sufficiently motivating.”

“Do you have maybe just a cape? I’d put it over regular clothes and call it good. Where did you even find... that?”

Tara puts the corset back into the closet. “At another fair, during my wild years. My asshole ex was a big fan. Some of the renfaire crew really like their substances.”

“So I’m taking my child to a drug den?” I ask in a voice pitched low enough to escape Buzz, who’s in the living room. “Is this a bad idea?”

“You’ll be fine,” Tara assures me. “Most of it is family friendly. That’s probably why your date suggested it.”

“It’s not a date,” I remind her. “It’s just an outing. There’s a guy who will be there who used to work with Drew. We want to ask him some questions.”

“Couldn’t it also be a date?” Larri presses. “Any guy who’s willing to take your kid on an outing can’t be all bad.”

“He’s not my type.” And, lord, Ireallyhope Zain doesn’t see this as a date. “And a man is the last thing I need. Especially with Buzz in the picture. He’s already been abandoned once.”

Larri sits up and squints at me. “Not really. That guy didn’t even know he was abandoning you both.”

“But he would have,” I point out.

“You don’t know that,” Tara says, pulling a midnight blue cloak out of her closet. “Did you even tell what’s-his-name that you loved him? That you wanted him to stay?”

I try to imagine saying that to Drew, and find that I can’t. I’m not into saying pointless things. And he’d already saidI’m not the kind of guy who sticks around. Those may have been the only true words he ever spoke to me.

“You know she didn’t,” Larri says softly. “Some of us are just excellent at self sabotage, aren’t we?”

Those sound like fighting words to me. But Tara turns to her girlfriend with soft eyes. “One hundred percent,” she says. “But I’m trying.”

“Baby, I know it.” Larri sits up and opens her arms, and Tara steps into them.

I slip the cape around my shoulders while they whisper to each other. I hope those two can make it.

And I admire them for trying.

A few hours later I’m standing beside Zain in the waning light of evening. A bonfire rages on our left, and a battle rages on our right. Two “knights” are engaged in a fierce exhibit of swordsmanship, while a couple hundred people look on.

“Okay, this is kind of cool,” I admit. “But also weird.”

“Which is the best kind of cool,” Zain says with obvious glee. He’s wearing slim-fitting black pants and a white linen shirt that laces at the neckline.

And he looks surprisingly dignified in that getup. Who knew?

“Want some more popcorn?” Zain asks Buzz, who’s wearing a wool vest and a felted helmet that we borrowed from Miss Betty’s dress-up box.

My son doesn’t answer. He’s too busy staring wide-eyed at the two men—in full body armor—who are circling each other with swords on the lawn in front of us.

In many ways, the Renaissance fair is like any other. There’s a pony ride, deep-fried Oreos, cotton candy and vendors. But some of the costumes are wild. Tara’s leather corset has friends here. I’ve also seen chain mail and leather jerkins.

I notice that men between the ages of eighteen and thirty areverywell represented. If I had a kink for nerdy guys who usually stay home to play video games and D&D, I’d be in heaven.

One of the fighters parries and then lunges. Their swords clash, and Buzzy jumps. “Are they gonna die?” he asks me with real fear in his voice.

“No,” Zain and I say in unison.

“They’re actors,” Zain adds. “They’re good at this.”

“We can watch something else, though,” I offer. “If this makes you nervous, we could go on to the pony ride.”