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"Her clothes don't come off," Pepper said, frowning at the comic book.
"Like your Aunt Lucy," Daisy said, picking up a cheese stick.
"Hey." Lucy stared at the endpapers in the hardcover book where Wonder Woman was fighting with some guy in a black suit while a large fish watched. Sort of like my day. "I've been dating. Don't rush me." She smiled across the book at Daisy, trying to think of the most tactful, supportive way to say, What are you on?
"I'm just saying," Daisy said. "It's been twelve years. Co
The next page in the book had Wonder Woman laying down the law to some guy in uniform. I like her, Lucy thought.
"I know Co
Lucy stared at the book and thought, Uh oh. Gloom would say it was a sure bet that trusting Co
Daisy picked up the action figure. "At least her body is sort of probable. Those Barbies are awful."
"What?" Pepper said, looking up from her book.
"Barbies are too ski
"I know," Pepper said and went back to her book.
So now Daisy didn't want to talk about Co
"Probably." Daisy held up the action figure. "Look at this outfit."
"She has an invisible plane," Lucy said, looking at the next page.
"And she's wearing a skirt," Daisy said. "Definitely a guy wrote it."
Lucy kept an eye on Pepper as she turned the next page. "So what's wrong?"
"With the skirt?"
"No," Lucy said, giving up on subtlety. "With you."
"I'm fine," Daisy said, staring at the action figure.
"Pepper, why don't you take your book and your stash back to the bed?" Lucy nodded toward the end of the camper that was filled with the sideways double bed. "Curl up, get cozy." She smiled at Daisy, her jaw set. "And your mama and I can talk about… things."
Daisy looked at the door and started to get up.
"Nope," Lucy said. "Don't even think about it. We're going to talk."
Chapter 5
Pepper looked from Lucy to her mother and back again. "Okay," she said and picked up the comic, her root beer, four cheese sticks, and two Hershey bars, which she neatly slid into the comic before Daisy noticed. Then she staggered down the three-foot passage to the bed, balancing everything, and climbed up onto the mattress.
"Good picture," Daisy said, nodding at the book, and Lucy looked down to see Wonder Woman gazing soulfully into the eyes of the guy in uniform.
Betrayed by an icon, Lucy thought and shut the book. "So I have some questions."
Daisy leaned back in her chair and drank from her root beer bottle, the combination of the bottle and her hat blocking her face. "Me too. Like what about this Green Beret who's bringing you presents?"
"So I get to the set today," Lucy said, pushing the book away, "and I don't have the full script, I'm missing three-quarters of my perso
"It is." Daisy leaned forward clumsily, almost knocking over her root beer bottle. "This will get people's attention. No more dog food commercials. Maybe you and Co
Lucy moved the bottle out of her way. "Okay, first, shooting four days of stunts is not going to get anybody's attention. This is just cleanup work, which I am doing for the money. Second, I do a lot of different kinds of commercials, not just dog food." Lucy picked up her root beer, trying not to sound a
"It's real," Daisy said, her face flushed. "It's-"
"And it's particularly not real for a five-year-old," Lucy said, dropping her voice so Pepper couldn't hear. "I know you're doing a great job of homeschooling her, she's smart as a whip, but she needs to be with other kids. She's lonely. Come back to New York with me, get a steady job, put her in kindergarten there, and we'll both take care of her. Dragging her with you was fine when she was a baby, but she's five now-"
Daisy's chin went up. "She's fine. The shoot is fine. Everything's fine. I can take care of myself and her."
"No," Lucy said, in too far to stop. "Pepper's unhappy and you're dull and miserable and you're making mistakes-you who never missed a detail." She waited for Daisy to say, Oh, that's the allergy meds I'm taking, but Daisy just slid her eyes away. "And it's not just you, this set is a mess. There's something bad going on here, and I'm betting you know what it is. And I'm betting it's the same thing that's making you miserable."
Daisy chugged the rest of her root beer, still not meeting Lucy's eyes.
"You think I'm not going to find out what's going on?" Lucy said, holding on to her temper. "I know we haven't seen each other much in the past couple of years, but you can't have forgotten me that much."
"I haven't forgotten you at all," Daisy said, and Lucy couldn't read her voice.
"I'm going to be here another three days, I've got Gloom with me, how long do you think it's going to be before we know everything? Do you want me to find out from somebody else?"
Daisy shifted in her chair. "It's not a big deal. They were ru
"That wouldn't make you sick and miserable." Lucy leaned forward. "That wouldn't put you on drugs." Daisy jerked her eyes up.
"I'm not… I don't do that stuff, Lucy."
"What stuff? You're on something, I can see it in your eyes, in the way you move."
"It's not coke or anything," Daisy said, her voice tired.
"Prescription meds count," Lucy said, exasperated. "Who are you kidding? Come on, Daisy, let me help you. You know I can. I always have. I can get you out of whatever trouble you're in, off whatever stuff you're on. Tell me."
Daisy shook her head. "I'm fi-"
"Stop saying that,"Lucy snapped. "This isn't just about you; you've got Pepper so worried she's crying to me on the phone."
Daisy shook her head, her eyes blurring with tears.
"Wonder Woman is in love with Captain Steve Trevor," Pepper said from behind Lucy's shoulder, and Lucy jumped.
"Hey, baby," she said, and Daisy straightened, too, pasting on a smile. "Did you finish the comic book?"
"I looked through it." Pepper put the comic on the table. "There was some good stuff. But she always gets tied up. She gets tied up a lot."
"She does?" Daisy reached for the book.