"Hey," Lucy said.

"Hey yourself." Daisy topped up her glass and then pushed the bottle over to Lucy. "Did you get the van back?"

"Stephanie crashed it into a bridge. She's on her way to the hospital. The van…" Lucy realized what they'd done and started to laugh without much humor. "Nash is stuck on a back road with a crumpled-up van and no cell phone, explaining to the cops what happened. Now that's funny." She dropped into one of the chairs and picked up the bottle. "God, what a day. Hell, what a night."

"Why the hell did she take the van?" Daisy said, her voice harsh.

"Trying to stop the shoot,' Lucy said, suddenly aware that Daisy was looking grim again. "Look, don't let this make you crazy-"

"Too late." Daisy took a drink. "She going to be all right?"

"I don't know. She was talking." Lucy bit her lip. "She didn't want me anywhere near her."

"Well, you are her chief rival for Connor. Not that she has a chance, but-"

"She can have him," Lucy said, remembering the way Nash had looked at her. "God, he was a bastard to her."

"Well, she has nobody to blame but herself." Daisy sat back, holding her glass to her chest. "He was sleeping with Karen when we started the shoot. Stephanie didn't give a damn about that."

"I think he's been with Althea, too," Lucy said, remembering the actress's nervous denial. "I'm amazed he never hit on you."

"I'm like his little sister," Daisy said flatly. "He takes care of me." She drank again and then sighed. "Well, he gave me fifty thousand. I don't think he realized he was screwing me over. When I couldn't sleep, he got me the pills. And when I asked for you, he told Finnegan and then called you himself." She shrugged. "He does take care of me. And I kept telling myself this would be good for you. I wanted this to be your big break."

"I've had my big break," Lucy said, exasperated. "That's why I'm in New York. It's the capital city of Big Breaks." She leaned forward. "Look, forget Nash. Let me take care of you. Bring Pepper and move in with me. I have a loft. There's plenty of room and-"

"Yes," Daisy said, her voice tired in surrender.

"Or not." Lucy put her glass down. "I mean, I want you there, but not if it makes you miserable."

Daisy shrugged again. "It's just, New York is your place."

"I really hate L.A.," Lucy said, feeling guilty. "And it's not like New York is a small town. Many people there do not know me."

"So maybe we compromise." Daisy leaned forward. "We could stay down here. Pepper loves it down here. It's warmer and everything moves slower. We could start over together. Brand-new place for both of us. Fresh starts for everybody and we're a family again."

Susanna sang softly behind them, as Lucy thought, I don't need a fresh start.

Daisy must have read it in her face. "Or maybe not." She sat back. "Look, I'm sorry if I jumped the gun, telling everybody this was your big break. I was just sort of hoping that you and Connor… He really has been good to us, Lucy, great to Pepper. And he really does love you."

Lucy sighed and drank some of her scotch. "I know. He was always so much of what I wanted, strong and tough and brave, but he's a liar and a cheat, too. Gloom was right. He hasn't changed, he's just gotten more subtle about being a selfish bastard." And now he's out in the cold.

She looked at Daisy. "I just screwed up your last fifty thousand, babe. I told Finnegan I was canceling the shoot."

Daisy's eyes widened. "And he's letting you?"

"He doesn't have any choice. I hung up on him. And threw Nash's phone in the swamp." She shook her head. "I don't know how much that's going to stop them, but at least I can slow them down long enough to send the crew home."

Daisy sighed. "That last fifty thousand was probably too good to be true anyway." She nodded. "Thanks for saving me again."

Lucy waved her away. "You know, I can't believe I ever thought Nash could be what I needed."

"You needed Will Kane," Daisy said, nodding sympathetically.

Lucy smacked her glass down. "Is there anybody who hasn't seen that damn movie?"

"Just you." Daisy smiled at her. "Even Pepper's seen it. Which reminds me, thank you for the best night of my daughter's life."

Lucy relaxed into the plush chair as Susanna sang on, her soft voice slowing Lucy's pulse. "She was really happy, wasn't she?"

"I owe you, Luce," Daisy said.

"No, you don't. She's my niece, I get to do stuff for her because I'm her aunt."

"And because I owe you, I'm going to give you some really good advice."

"Oh, good." Lucy lost her smile. "Okay. Why not?"

"I think you should go jump that Green Beret."

Lucy sat up. "Excuse me?"

Daisy nodded calmly. "I said-"

"I know what you said. You said I should go find a man who hasn't shown any interest in me and ask him for sex. Let me think. No."

"Oh, please." Daisy leaned back, more relaxed now. "He can't take his eyes off you."

"That would be the Wonder Wear."

"He fell out of a helicopter for you, L.uce, what more do you want?"

"I don't know." Lucy drank some scotch while she thought about it. "A pass would be good. You know, some indication of interest." He liked my hair down.

"He didn't like it when you were outside with Nash during the party."

"I didn't like it when I was outside with Nash. Look, that's just J.T. He saves people."

"It's J.T. now, is it?" Daisy said, grinning. Behind her, Susanna began to sing "Someone To Watch Over Me," and her smile faded. "I love this song."

"It's a good one."

"That's what you always were." Daisy looked sadly into her drink. "For as long as I can remember, you were there, watching over me. You still are." She bit her lip. "Thank you for canceling the shoot."

"Well, you know, big sister," Lucy said.

"Who watches over you, Luce?" Daisy looked at her over her scotch. "All those years when we were growing up and you took care of me, who was watching over you?"

"Hey," Lucy said, sitting up.

"And then you married Nash, but he didn't do a very good job, did he? J.T. would watch over you."

"Listen-"

"And you could watch over him because he needs it, too, Luce. You'd be good for each other."

Lucy shook her head. "If you'd come back to New York with me, we could watch over each other." She leaned forward. "Really, Daize. There's work for you and schools for Pepper and colleges for you and I miss you both so much-"

"All those things are down here, too," Daisy said, and looked strained again. "Plus, you know, warmth."

"Alligators," Lucy said.

"The ocean."

"Hurricanes."

"J.T."

Lucy sucked in her breath. "Uh, big hurricanes."

Daisy shook her head. "You really happy in New York?"

"Well…" Lucy frowned into her drink. "I like what I do. And New York is the greatest city in the world. 'Happy' may be pushing it."

"Because J.T.'s down here permanently, not just for this shoot. He teaches at Fort Bragg."

"He teaches?" Lucy said, taken aback.

"Yeah. Bryce told me. He teaches at some Special Forces school. You could see him all the time. Pepper could see him all the time. She keeps saying she's his egg. She wants a family. She wants him in the family."

"That I can't deliver. I don't think he's a family kind of guy." Lucy tried to relax into the music, taking the edge off her lousy day. "This really is a great song." She closed her eyes and listened to the liquid notes. "Funny how the really great stuff has a few years on it. Eighteen-year-old scotch, seventy-year-old music-"

"Thirty-something Army captains," Daisy said.

"Daize-"

"I'm not teasing, Lucy," Daisy said. "I mean it. He's a good guy. Close your eyes and think about him. About him, not the shoot or whatever the mess is, just about him. Because you care a lot, Lucy. It shows."

Behind Daisy's voice, Susanna sang, "There's a somebody I'm longing to see," and Lucy remembered J.T. close to her in the swamp, catching her as she fell, his hands strong on her. J.T. coming to get her when Nash had been threatening, J.T. beside her in the Jeep, J.T. falling out of a helicopter for her, J.T. just standing there, every inch a hero. She gave up pretending to be responsible and memorized the planes of his face and the way his smile came slowly, and the light in his eyes…

Oh, God, she thought, don't let me fall in love with him. Lust I can handle but-

"Don't screw this up, Luce," Daisy said.

"You're not helping."

"Yes, I am." Daisy pushed her glass away. "I've had too much to drink to drive, and I'm so tired I'm going to fall off this chair. So I'm going to crawl in bed in the back with Pepper. If you decide to drive to the hotel, wake me up when we get there, and I'll go pack so we can leave. But I hope you don't. I hope you go find the guy who needs you like you need him."

"Such a romantic," Lucy said, trying to keep her voice light.

Daisy shook her head and started down the short passage to the bed where her daughter slept, dreaming of Wonder Woman.

"Wait," Lucy said, and Daisy stopped. "I want us to be together. I don't want to lose this again."

Daisy nodded. "Me either."

"So we'll work something out," Lucy said. "New York or here, we'll work something out. But we'll be together. Okay?"

Daisy's eyes filled with tears. "Okay," she said, her voice breaking.

"And we'll take care of each other," Lucy said, nodding.

Daisy nodded back, and sniffed.

"Good night," Lucy said, fighting her own tears.

Daisy came back and hugged her, strangling her just like Pepper had. "I love you, Luce," she whispered.

"I love you, too, babe," Lucy said, putting her cheek against Daisy's hair as she hugged her back. "So much. From now on, we're together."

Daisy nodded and then pulled away, sniffing. "But we need a man around, too, to like, hook up the stereo. Go get the Green Beret. He'd be good."

"I don't know if he does stereos," Lucy said, and Daisy gave a watery laugh and went back to bed.

Lucy wiped away her tears as Susanna sang on. A man in her life would be good. She rolled her eyes at herself. So antifeminist of her to sigh for a man to watch over her. "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle." Well, that was wrong. A woman needed a man the way a woman needed a man. Which in her case was badly. Susanna sang about need, and Lucy swallowed scotch and lost herself in the music until she realized there were tears in her eyes again. Then she straightened and thought, Pathetic. Needy and pathetic. A little scotch and I liquefy. Well, that's wrong. I'm tough. I don't need no man to love me, no how. Nope. Sure don't.

It didn't help. By the time Susanna started the next song, singing, "There were chills up my spine," Lucy was lost. I want that, she thought. I want to look at somebody and feel that. I want to touch somebody and feel that. Susanna sang on, smoothing out the refrain again, and Lucy thought, Not somebody. Him. She'd been focusing on Daisy, on Pepper, on the movie, but underneath all of it, he'd hummed in her blood, making her breathe faster when he was close, making her look for him when he wasn't.

Lust, she told herself. Perfectly understandable. Perfectly healthy.

And really a good deal for J.T., too, and not just for the sex. He was so reserved, it was probably hard for him to connect with people- real connection, not Althea connection. I could give him real warmth. I could rescue him… She let herself fantasize his mouth hard on hers, hot on her body, and everything faded away as the heat spread until Susanna finished her last slow verse. Then Lucy thought, Enough waiting. Nothing wrong with going after a good healthy boink with a good healthy guy after a very tough day. Get rid of some tension, share some warmth.

Make love with J.T. until her brain melted.

Okay, I want him, she thought, relieved to acknowledge it.

And I want him now.

Then she put down her scotch, turned off the iPod, found her flashlight, and went out into the woods to get him.

Chapter 14

The thing about the woods at night, Lucy thought as she walked along the side of the road, was that it was dark. Really dark with the trees branching over the road, shutting out the moon, dark enough that the miniflashlight from her purse was fairly ridiculous. Gator dark, one might say. Sufferin' Sappho, it's dark. She thought about going back and then thought, No, and kept going, shining her flash on the ground ahead. She was not going to spend another night trying not to think about what she wanted when she could have him.