Josie Day Is Coming Home Read Free Page A

sixty-seven
years. She’d done a lot of things, too. Crazy things, wild things, happy and
sad things…including losing her beloved Ernest. But somehow, watching the
redheaded duplicate of herself who strode backstage toward Tallulah’s chair
right now, none of that mattered quite as much as it had a few hours ago.
Because she’d found a way to do it all over again. By proxy, of course. But
what the hell. A woman had to take what she could get.
    Or at least to maneuver things the way she wanted them.
    Patiently, Tallulah waited for the redhead to reach her.
Dancers streamed through the dressing room, trailing short sequined capes and
shedding parts of their costumes. There was only an hour-long break between
shows, Tallulah had discovered. Then all the dancers would go back onstage for
almost two more hours, until midnight.
    “Omigod, Josie! You’re like, a hero, or
something!” a nearby showgirl said, grabbing the redhead’s arm in
excitement. “Can you believe it?”
    “Yeah, you were amazing,” another dancer added,
crowding into the group. “You really saved that old lady.”
    Still unnoticed, Tallulah stiffened. Old lady, my ass .
She’d been sitting backstage pretty happily until now. But if this kind of
nonsense was going to continue….
    “When you leaped offstage like that, I thought
Jacqueline was going to have a cow.” This from a statuesque blond carrying
a Dietrich-style black top hat. She slung her arm over the redhead’s shoulders.
“Way to go, Josie.”
    “Settle down, Parker. I didn’t do it just to aggravate
Jacqueline.”
    “Sure , you didn’t.”
    “I’m serious.” Josie widened her eyes.
“Aggravating Jacqueline was just a happy side benefit.”
    They exchanged a mischievous look—borne of long-standing
camaraderie, Tallulah would’ve bet—then went on chattering. The dancers neared
the long row of makeup mirrors where Tallulah sat, unpinning headdresses as
they came. Then, from amid her cohorts, the redhead spotted Tallulah.
    To her surprise, the girl broke into a grin. It was a gaudy
grin, brightened with stage makeup on a face streaked with sweat, but it looked
authentic. That was good enough.
    “You’re all right!” The girl hurried closer. She
peered at Tallulah as though checking her condition, then straightened with
crossed arms. Her expression turned suspicious. “Hmmm. That’s weird. You
look almost happy. What’d you do, terrify a few slot machines into paying
out?”
    She was cheeky. Tallulah liked that. She liked her name,
too. Josie. It suited her. She’d thought so from the minute she’d learned
it—along with the showgirls’ dressing room location—from the producer. It was
amazing what throwing her weight around—not to mention her true identity—could
do.
    “No,” Tallulah said. “I came to talk to
you.”
    Wariness leaped into the girl’s eyes. As though hiding it,
Josie angled herself sideways. She didn’t look at Tallulah as she dropped her
spangled prop umbrella on the vanity, then set to work dragging pins from her
rainbow headpiece. For a tall girl, she moved with surprising grace.
    She carried herself with surprising nerve, too. She set down
her headpiece. Then, rather than wait for Tallulah to take the lead, Josie
swiveled suddenly to confront her.
    “Look, about what happened out there. If you’re
thinking of siccing your lawyer on me, you’d better think again.”
    At that, Tallulah felt more encouraged than ever. The girl
was tough, despite her loopy smile. Probably smarter than those tarted-up looks
of hers would suggest, too.
    “Because I only wanted to help you. If you can’t handle
that, then—”
    “Is that your real hair color?” Tallulah
interrupted. “Or a wig? If it’s a dye job, it’s a good one.”
    Obviously confused by the abrupt change of topic, Josie
touched her hair. Her mouth opened slightly. Then, as though realizing she’d
let herself be distracted, she shook her head.
    “None of your