She returned to the living room and watched Daphne, snoring, on her couch. Makeup was smeared across Daphne’s delicate features, and her mouth hung open, slack, as she slept.
Audrey would get her twin back. No ifs, ands, or buts. Daphne would be furious and threaten her, but it didn’t matter.
Audrey had to do this once and for all, because it felt as if she’d already lost Daphne.
Chapter Two
Daphne was still seething with outrage, even twenty-four hours after she’d woken up and found that Audrey had gone through her things and rid them of any whiff of drugs.
That was just fine with Audrey. She didn’t care if Daphne was mad. She suspected Daphne was going to get a lot madder before they returned from their mini-vacation. A month in the family lake house? With no one around but the two of them? No drugs and no alcohol? They were bound to butt heads, and that was fine with Audrey. She expected it.
What she hadn’t expected was that, several hours into their drive upstate, Daphne would turn down an unfamiliar highway.
Audrey frowned and reached for the map in the glove compartment of Daphne’s tiny roadster. “I think you missed the turn.”
“Nope,” Daphne said, staring straight ahead at the road.
“I’m pretty sure this isn’t the way to the cabin.”
“That’s because we’re not going to the cabin.”
A sinking feeling moved into the pit of Audrey’s stomach. Her twin was giving up already? This was just like every other time. “Daphne, you promised.”
“Correction. I promised I’d go away for a month with you to try and start over,” Daphne said, her eyes shielded by enormous designer sunglasses. Audrey couldn’t read her expression. “But my manager expects me to be at the lake house, which means the label’s going to put pressure on him. And do you know what that means? It means the paparazzi are going to show up at some point when I’m looking my scuzziest and attempt to get something they can sell to the tabloids to drum up some publicity. And I don’t want that.”
Audrey couldn’t blame her twin, though she was still a bit leery of any change in plans. Daphne needed to be in a controlled environment. “So where are we going?”
Daphne glanced over and gave Audrey a sneaky smile she recognized all too well.
“Oh, no,” Audrey moaned. “What did you do?”
“Something that should make you pretty happy, if you’re still carrying a torch for a certain someone.”
Audrey wanted to throw up and throttle Daphne at the same time. “Please don’t tell me we’re going to Cade Archer’s house.”
“We’re not,” Daphne said.
Relief set in.
“We’re going to his lodge in the mountains.”
There went the relief, right back out again. “Seriously, Daphne? You called Cade and arranged this?”
“I did. He said he’d always be there for me,” she said stubbornly. “I’m cashing in that chip. I thought it’d be fun to be just you and me and Cade for a few weeks. He’s so busy all the time he could use a vacation, too. And I thought if he was there, maybe I could help you lock him down.”
Audrey put her head in her hands and stifled the moan that threatened to escape all over again. “Daphne, we’re not doing this so you can try to hook me up with our childhood friend. We’re doing this to get you clean and get your life back on track.”
“I know that,” Daphne said irritably, reaching for her pack of cigarettes. She’d already gone through them, and she sighed at the empty packet and pitched it out the open window. “Gimme a new pack of smokes out of my purse, will you?”