“I’m fine,” he said. He spoke through gritted teeth, and Lindsey realized the jostling Lola was giving him was causing him severe pain.

“How about the lights?” Violet turned and yelled up toward the balcony. “Ian, any luck?”

Another beam of light shone down from the balcony for a second before it vanished again.

“I’m working on it,” Ian yelled. There was the sound of banging and some cursing.

“Here, let me help you up,” Lola said. Her long, brown hair was tied back and she wore a low-cut blouse, which gave Lindsey an eyeful of cleavage when she bent over to lift Robbie up by the underarms.

Robbie let out a hiss when Lola tried to drag him to his feet. Lindsey moved with them to keep the pressure on his arm. She looked at the wadded-up shirtsleeve and noted it was saturated in blood.

“Lola, get off of him,” Violet snapped. “In fact, back up and move away. Everyone else sit ti—”

In a flash, light filled the theater again. Lindsey blinked and glanced around the stage. She caught a glimpse of Milton and Ms. Cole holding hands just before Ms. Cole snatched her hand away. Beth was huddled in a corner with Dylan, Perry and Heather, while several crew members were stranded on the piece of set they’d been painting at the back.

“Robbie, your arm. Oh, my god, you’ve been cut!” Lola said. She looked closely at the blood-soaked rag and then slumped on top of him in a dead faint.

“Oh, good grief,” Violet said. “Someone check her, please.”

Sully wound his way back to Lindsey and handed her the first aid kit. Without a word, he rolled Lola off of Robbie’s chest. Her face was pale, but she was breathing.

“Fainted,” Sully said. “Luckily, Vine broke her fall.”

“Can you take her to get some air?” Violet asked. “In fact, everyone go out front for a few minutes and get some fresh air. We’ll call you when we’re ready to rehearse again.”

The voices of the cast and crew rose and fell as they scattered from the stage. Lindsey watched as Sully lifted Lola up into his arms as if she weighed no more than a child and carried her out front with the others. She felt a twinge of what she suspected was jealousy but she refused to acknowledge it. Sully was just helping the woman; besides, whatever Sully did was no business of hers.

She turned back to Robbie. “Can you sit up?”

“Sure,” he said. She and Violet spotted him while he pushed himself up into a sitting position. Gently, they shifted him so that he was leaning against a piece of the set designed to look like a cave.

“I’m going to get some rags for that blood,” Violet said. “Be right back.”

“Hold this,” Lindsey said to Robbie. He put his hand over the shirtsleeve still pressed to his cut.