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determined to prove Roscoe wrong. He put on a new blue dress with a sexy swipe of sequins along the open leg. He took special ENCORE! ENCORE! 31
    care with his makeup and donned a new wig that gave him curly blond hair down past his ass. He was determined not to mind the extra padding to give him breasts and hips, and he vowed not to curse the stiletto heels that he’d fi nally learned to manage. It lasted through his fi rst set but he was struggling by the second.
    The act that had become routine now just seemed awful, and he knew he was off because of it.
    He blamed Roscoe.
    “How’d it go with Mr. Director Man?” Ms. Tyken asked him after his second set. She was almost sedately dressed tonight in a simple black sheathe and a long Cher wig. The makeup was caked on, of course, but the colors were more subdued than usual.
    “Oh him? Fine.” Shawn hung his gown up on the rack. Unlike most of the others, he kept his costumes in the dressing room.
    The others were paranoid that their precious gowns could get swiped. Shawn saw now that his ambivalence about that should have been a sign to him earlier.
    “I hear you got in a cab with him when you left.”
    “How’d you hear that?”
    Ms. Tyken eased herself into the straight-backed chair in front of the makeup mirror then reached down to pull off a high heeled pump. “You know I know everything that happens in or around my club.”
    True, that. “He wanted to talk some more.”
    “Just talk?” She rubbed the arch of her foot.
    Shawn shrugged, pulling padding from the hips of his nylons.
    “I also heard that you were offered a part in a play?” He tossed the pads into his duffel bag. “Yep.”
    “You were going to tell me this, when?” He slipped hands into the waistband of his nylons to start easing them off. “I’m not taking the part.”
    “What?”

    32 Mykles ~ Much Ado
    He dropped onto the springy, lumpy couch that took up most of one wall so he could lift his feet to fi nish removing the nylons.
    “I’m not going to do it.”
    “Did I hear right that it’s playing Beatrice in Much Ado at the Bard’s Festival upstate?”
    “Yep.”
    “And you’re not taking it why?”
    Shawn stood, now dressed only in the gaff that tucked his junk away. Surprisingly, he didn’t mind that so much, but then he’d liked dressing up in skirts before the drag thing. “I’m not interested in his charity.”
    Ms. Tyken was quiet as Shawn got naked, quiet until he’d donned his boxer briefs.
    “How is it charity, exactly?”
    Shawn stepped into his jeans. “He hates what I’m doing now.
    He thinks it’s beneath me.”
    “So he offers you a starring role in an Equity show to get you away from here?” She waved a beringed hand to indicate the bar as a whole.
    Shawn dropped into the chair beside her, and opened his makeup case. “Yes.”
    “Mmmm.” She propped her chin on her palm, elbow on the table beside Shawn and watched as Shawn started to slather cold cream on his face. “I still don’t see how this is a bad thing.” Shawn froze. “Huh?”
    She waited until Shawn twisted his neck to face her. Smiled.
    “Shawn, honey, I adore you, but you and I know you don’t belong here.”
    “What?”
    “Princess, you’re gorgeous, but you’re heart isn’t in this. I know it. You know it, even if you may not want to admit it.” Shawn scowled, turning back to his cold cream. “That’s not true.”

    ENCORE! ENCORE! 33
    “It is true. I haven’t said anything, because I like having you here. You’re popular and you’re responsible and you’re a sweetheart to boot. But I knew it wouldn’t last. Cute little things like you never stick around.”
    Shawn’s fi ngers slowed in their task. It was too much. Ms.
    Tyken thought so too?
    A sympathetic hand patted his shoulder. “There’s more to it than that, isn’t there sweetie?”
    Shawn nodded, staring into the tub of cold cream.
    “Wanna tell me?”
    No. He grimaced. “I think I’m still in love with