Eventually, her assistant stepped forward. “What is it?” Snoopy asked, putting a hand to Daphne’s forehead. “Do you feel okay?”
Daphne shook her head. “No, I don’t. I’m not okay at all.”
Alarmed looks were exchanged. “What is it?” Snoopy asked.
“I’m just really tired,” Daphne sobbed. She clung to Snoopy’s hand. “I need some headache medicine. Can you get it for me?” She gave her assistant a plaintive look.
The assistant hesitated and exchanged a look with another person hovering nearbysomeone that Cade assumed was the tour manager. He didn’t like that look, either.
“Yeah, I’ll go get your . . . headache meds,” Snoopy said after a moment. “Be right back.”
“Double dose,” Daphne called after her, sniffling.
Quietly, Kylie handed her a face cloth and Daphne began to wipe makeup free from her sweaty face. Kylie shot him a worried look and tilted her head as if to say See? See? This is why we don’t say anything.
“Are you all right, Daphne?” Cade asked, approaching his old friend again. He moved forward and put a hand on her shoulder, noticing that she was thin under the padding of her costume, and that when she removed her makeup, her face looked hollow and pale, with a fresh breakout of acne on her forehead.
She didn’t lookor actlike someone who was getting clean. And that made him worry all over again.
Daphne waved an irritated hand at him. “Quit hovering, damn it. I’m just tired. Being tired makes me moody.”
“Can I get you anything?” he asked politely. “Maybe a bottle of water or some cigarettes?”
“Snoopy’s got what I need,” Daphne retorted. “You’re being a mother hen.”
And that was more like the regular Daphne. He relaxed, stuffed his hand in his pocket . . . and froze when he touched the damp material there. He’d forgotten about Kylie’s panties, and now he didn’t want to take his hand out.
He noticed that Kylie stiffened, too. It was clear she was watching his movements.
“So,” he said to Daphne. “Tell me about the show. Two ovations, huh?”
Daphne gave him a tired smile, tugging one of her legs up in her chair and unlacing her platform boot. “You should have seen it, Cade. It’s like all of Vegas was out there tonight.”
He chuckled. “They probably were.”
They’re just friends, Kylie told herself as she reapplied Daphne’s makeup. Friends being friendly and hanging out together. That’s all it was. Cade had told Kylie that he was interested in just Kylie, and not Daphne. There was no reason to be jealous.
But no matter how many times she repeated this to herself, Kylie got a funny tightness in her stomach when she saw Daphne had pulled a second director’s chair next to hers for Cade to sit in. And that tightness returned every time the two of them bent their heads together and shared a joke or a laugh. And the tightness remained when Daphne insisted on dragging Cade around the room with her as she did meet and greets. He wanted to be with Kylie, didn’t he?
But . . . he sure didn’t look unhappy to be Daphne’s property all night, Kylie thought miserably.
She was relieved when the press thinned out and the staff started to head out. The dancersall party animalswere hitting the open bar and getting their postshow party on. The rest of the crewDaphne’s personnel, chef, assistant, wardrobe, etc.usually headed back to the hotel if they weren’t sticking around for the party. When the first few people started to trickle out, Kylie was relieved.
She was tired, she was getting progressively crankier, and she just wanted to go home and curl up in a pair of pajamas and nurse her wounded feelings.
Except she wasn’t home, she was in Vegas.
And she couldn’t go home, because she had a husband.
And that husband was insisting she go home with him.
One thing was for sure, thoughwhatever Snoopy had given Daphne for her “headache” had cured Daphne’s erratic mood. She was at her best tonight: charming and funny, the life of the party. Everyone was laughing at Daphne’s jokes and she teased her favorite dancers, and erupted in giggles now and then. Snoopy wasn’t happy, though, but Snoopy was discreet, and if she didn’t like something Daphne was doing, she didn’t say a thing.
Kylie tried to watch Daphne as the night wore on. She tried to see if Daphne went out to smoke cigarettes repeatedly, like Cade said she would do when she was finished with drugs. But she didn’t see Daphne leave the room. She didn’t see her light up. She didn’t see her throwing up or clutching her stomach, or even looking the slightest bit sick.