1 Sunshine Hunter (12 page)

They entire audience enjoyed th
e unexpected show and gave a big round of applause as the seven of them turned and took their bows.

Darby stood up, and Johnny rushed over to give him a big hug with air kisses on both cheeks. “Darby, it’s sooo good to see you again. You remember my friends from your hotel pool,” he
said as he waved around the table at the girls. “And this must be Susan.” He came around behind Darby to my chair and clasped both of my hands in his. “Honey, you are divine!” he said as he leaned down to air kiss me on both cheeks.

“It’s nice to meet you, Johnny,” I said as I air kissed him back. I was still laughing from the conga dance. “That was quite an entrance.”

“Dahling,” he drawled, “it’s all about the entrance!” He waved his hands theatrically in the air. “I don’t usually eat dinner on the nights I’m dancing, but tonight is a special occasion. All of my new friends are here, and we’re going to celebrate.” He snapped his fingers to garner the attention of our waiter. “Rum juleps all around. We’re celebrating new friends tonight!”

Johnny took his seat next to Darby and addressed the table, “I can’t thank you all enough for coming tonight. I meet a lot of people here at the restaurant, but the group of friends at this table is very special.” He addressed the showgirls, “Ladies, I have enjoyed your company immensely these past two days. The Hilton
Hotel has called and said poor Mr. McMasters will make a full recovery after the synchronized swimming accident yesterday,” he paused as the girls golf-clapped their relief, “and Busch Gardens has notified the police the flamingo has been returned to Jambo Junction, and they won’t be pressing charges against any of us.” He fanned himself in a gesture of relief, and the girls followed suit.

I gave Darby a puzzled look, and he looked back at me with a huge smile
and a slight shake of his head as if to say, “
don’t ask
.”

The waiter arrived with the drinks. Johnny held up his glass and said, “And especially I want to thank Darby for coming to see me. It has
been a pleasure, and I hope we will become very good friends indeed.” He raised his glass higher, “A toast to you all!” We all raised our glasses; the rum juleps were delicious.

Johnny leaned in front of Darby, reached
over to touch me on the arm, and asked, “Are you enjoying Florida, Susan? I hear you are having some man troubles.” He furrowed his brow. “If you need any advice, I can help you straightened that man right out.”

I kicked Darby under the table for obviously telling Johnny about my man troubles, but I laughed at his earnestness, “I’m having a very goo
d time, and I’m pretty sure my man troubles are over.”

“Oh, and I almost forgot,” he appeared to be shocked, “I hear you
’re both being stalked by Marlon Brando!” he practically whispered the name.

I kicked Darby under the table again. “Well, I’ve named him Skinny Guy, but his face does kind of remind me of a young Marlon Brando.”

“Then Marlon Brando it is!” he exclaimed. “Oh!” he put his hand up to his mouth and looked even more shocked. He turned to Darby, “You don’t suppose he’s one of your past lovers do you?”

Darby laughed. He was obviously enjoying Johnny’s very effective drama queen.

I leaned over and told Johnny with my eyes wide, “That’s what I said.”

Darby laughed but put his hands out, one toward me and one toward Johnny, and said, “Look
, both of you. I’m positive I’ve never dated a skinny guy or Marlon Brando.” He was effective at putting an end to the topic.

We all settled back into our seats and allowed the evening to unfold. Dinner was fantastic. The sherry and Dijon mustard in the herb sauce for my lobster was excellent. Everyone appeared to be delighted with their dinner choices, and there would be no leftovers fro
m this group. I could tell Johnny and Darby were enjoying their conversation. I struck up my own conversation with Vera, the girl seated next to me.

“How did you girls ever end up with a showgirl routine?” I asked her.

Vera smiled and said, “All six of us were enrolled in cosmetology school in Minnesota. Most people don’t know how expensive a good cosmetology school can be, and I needed some extra money. There was a local dance contest sponsored by a radio station in Minneapolis, so I put an ad on the school bulletin board for girls who wanted to help put together a routine and enter the contest with me. The prize was $15,000. These are the girls I chose,” she said as she waved her hand to the table of girls.

“That’s so cool,” I told her. I was truly impressed. “Did you win?”

“No, we didn’t,” she said laughing. “But we were good. A talent scout was in the audience and approached us afterward to represent us.”

“So you signed with him?” I asked.

“No.” Vera laughed again. “We didn’t. We were in school and didn’t think it was a good idea to become beauty school dropouts. But we did enjoy dancing together, and having the scout want to represent us gave us the confidence we needed to put more routines together. Sasha there,” she pointed two seats down to a stunning brunette, “put together the showgirl routine. Bunny over there,” she pointed across the table to a petite blonde who gave us a little wave, “booked us for a dental convention with the Vegas routine. They paid us $5,000.”

“You’re kidding!” I exclaimed, doubly impressed.

“We were shocked,” Vera said. “We started making more money on the weekends than what we were expecting to make in a week of working in a salon after graduating from beauty school. So,” she shrugged her shoulders, “we became beauty school dropouts after all.”

“Vera, that’s a wonderful story,” I told her. “You were all so brave to take a risk and venture out into a new career.”

“We make a good living, we travel all over the country, and we meet a lot of really nice people,” she said looking Johnny’s way.

“That’s what Darby says,
” I told her. “He likes to
travel and meet new people
.” I picked up my purse and said, “Vera, please excuse me. The show is going to start soon, and I want to make a quick trip to the restroom.”

I stood up and turned around to make my way between the tables and back to the main foyer where the restrooms were located. I was near to the doorway when I froze in my tracks. Skinny Guy was standing in the doorway. He appeared to be scanning the room and would soon see me. I quickly turned around, and in a slightly hunched over manner, made my way back to our table.

“Darby! Darby!” I sat down and started pulling at his arm to get his attention. “Skinny Guy is here!”

“What?” Johnny yelped, “Marlon Brando is here? Oh dear,” he waved his hands excitedly in front of his face and started looking around the room.

“Are you sure?” Darby asked frowning.

“Yes, I’m positive,” I said. “
Don’t turn around, but I saw him standing in the doorway. He was acting like he was looking for somebody.”

“We have
to get you guys out of here,” said Johnny. “Let’s come up with a plan. Girls!” he snapped his fingers and addressed the table. “We must escort Darby and Susan out of here. Shall we revisit the conga line back to the dressing room? Darby and Susan can duck walk beside us so Marlon Brando can’t see them.”

I could see the girls looking at each other with puzzled looks, and some were asking, “Marlon Brando?”

“We have a stalker,” I told them. I looked at Darby and said, “I’m not duck walking.”

He laughed. “You don’t have to. We’ll work it out.”

He held my arm as we half stood up and walked around the table in a hunched position. The girls stood to block us from the view of the doorway. Johnny stood up and announced in a loud voice, “Ladies and gentlemen … I hope you have enjoyed your dinner this evening. The show will be starting soon. These lovely ladies are going to escort me to my dressing room, and I will be dancing with fire for you shortly.” He waved his hands in the air to all sections of the dining room and took his place behind Vera with his hands on her waist.

The room erupted into applause, the conga line was once again moving, and I was practically duck wal
king beside them! We were halfway to the door when my heel caught on the hem of my dress, and I pitched forward. Darby had a solid grip on my arm and kept me from pitching to the floor. He steadied me, and we kept moving forward. “I hate duck walking,” I hissed at him behind me.

“We’re almost there,” he managed to say. He could barely talk he was laughing so hard. “Just a couple more steps.”

Bunny was at the head of the line. As soon as she opened the door, Darby and I bolted through it and around the corner. Johnny was throwing kisses to the crowd as the girls headed back to the table to watch the show.

He came through the doorway and shut the door behind him.
“I think I saw Marlon Brando!” he said excitedly. “He has long, curly hair!”

“Yes, he does!” I said
mimicking his excitement. “Where did you see him?”

“He was watching from the
opposite side of the room,” Johnny said stepping in front of us. “Come with me. You can hide out in our dressing room.”

We hurried to the end of the hallway and into
the small dressing room. To the left was a wall of mirrors with bright round lights around them. Several director’s chairs were facing the mirrors. Opposite the mirrors were two sofas and two clothing racks. One rack was full of street clothes from the other dancers while the second rack had one lone costume hanging on it. At the end of the room was a closet overflowing with colorful costumes adorned with grasses and feathers. The floor of the closet was littered with numerous pairs of shoes.

Johnny looked
out the door then turned to us and said, “You can wait here until we’re sure he’s gone. I have the girls watching the dining room for any suspicious activity.” He was now talking in his normal voice that I’d only caught bits of earlier when he was chatting with Darby at dinner. His voice was slightly deep, even sexy. He had short, jet black hair, and he was tanned, but he seemed a little soft around the middle for a dancer. Maybe he enjoyed eating as much as he enjoyed dancing. He was attractive, but most of his attraction was in his big personality.

“Make yoursel
ves comfortable,” he said as he pointed to one of the sofas. “I have to get ready for the show. Everyone else is already dressed and waiting in the staging area. I’ll keep looking out the door for Marlon Brando.” He opened the door a crack to take another peek.

Darby and I sat down
. I checked over my dress and saw my heel had ripped the hem at the back of the dress. Crap! My favorite sundress, and it had cost a week of working at the racquetball club. Further inspection showed the heel had only pulled the stitching, and the material itself wasn’t torn. It could be repaired, so I was relieved, but I still hated duck walking!

I didn’t realize it, but while I was checking my dress, Johnny was undressing. He was in the process of taking off his trousers when I looked up from my hem. I felt myself turn beet red and turned my head away so he could have some pri
vacy, but not before I saw he was wearing a chartreuse thong.

“Oh, I’m sorry, honey,” he said when he saw me turned away from him. “We’re so used to rushing and changing in front of everyone and anyone,
I never gave it a thought you might be uncomfortable.”

Darby was chuckling at my unease. I wanted to kick him again.

Johnny finished putting on his grass leggings and peeked out the door again. Suddenly, he was back in full drama queen mode, “Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!” he started wailing. He was half jumping, half flailing with his grasses and feathers flying around with him, “It’s Marlon Brando, and he’s coming this way. Quick, hide!”

Darby and I both jumped up
at the same time. Johnny practically tackled Darby as he shoved him into me with the forward momentum propelling us into the closet. Johnny slammed the doors shut behind us.

I was face-first in the closet with Darby behind me. He had his hands on my waist attempting to steady me as I tried to find my footing around the jumbled pairs of shoes. “Why are these shoes in here anyway?” I whispered. “They don’t even look like they belong to any of the costumes.”

“Shhh,” Darby cautioned me.

I managed to get turned around and on sound footing. Darby and I were nose to nose. The closet
’s wooden doors met and closed in the center. There were wood slats for ventilation, and a few were off kilter. We could just barely see some of the dressing room without putting our faces close to the doors, but we did see Skinny Guy walk into the room. I couldn’t hold back a small gasp, and a feather was partially sucked into my mouth. Darby instantly clapped his hand over my mouth so I wouldn’t make a sound. My eyes went wide. I had a feather in my mouth, and I wanted to bite Darby’s hand so he would let go, but fear kept me perfectly still and quiet.

Johnny was applying his makeup, but kept his drama queen act going strong, “Hi there,” he said to Skinny Guy. “Who are you? You know, you shouldn’t be back here. Are you looking for Jacqueline? She said some new talent might be coming in.”

“Yeah,” Skinny Guy said pausing to look around. “Yeah, I’m looking for Jacqueline.”