Lara inhaled sharply. “God, that was amazing.”

“We have the almond room next.” The clown pointed. “This way,” said the dummy, leading her through the doors as the sweet smell of almonds and sugar engulfed her. “We call this hallway the Grand Promenade.” While she’d entered the building at night, outside the windows the sun was streaming down on elaborate hedges and mazes in the lawns outdoors.

At the fourth room, they stopped at an old carousel. With its double-decker platform, it was the grandest carousel that Lara had ever seen.

He motioned for her to get on.

“You’re kidding?” She cocked her head. This carousel looked familiar. When the dummy didn’t reply, she reluctantly grabbed the pole. There was a carousel horse in front of her, and its tail began to swish. Surely it didn’t move? As if to answer her, the tail flicked again. The dummy said, “Get on.”

Lara took a moment to think. She was in what appeared to be another dimension, talking to a clown’s dummy, who was trying to get her onto a carousel with what might be live animals. “What the fuck. This can’t get any weirder.” She shrugged and placed her foot in the stirrup, sliding over the horse’s back. Lara felt the animal move under her, as though it were breathing. Its neck began to move up and down of its own accord like it was waking up from a long sleep. On cue, the organ music started and Lara began to feel dizzy as she lost sight of the clown and matching dummy.

She definitely felt a little fuzzy—as if she’d had two glasses of champagne. Then something unexpected happened. The carousel began to move backward. The first image struck her hard. The carousel lights became brighter until all she could see were images of Ben Archer’s face. She was sitting on the stool at the bar in Delilah’s listening to him telling her about the widow hitting on him. Gripping the edges of the chair, she felt the bar’s cushion squeeze beneath her fingers even as she realized that this image could not be real. Still, she felt the sensation of jealousy wash over her again as he vaguely glossed over the details of what had happened with the widow.