A Slice of Heaven (19 page)

Two minutes later, she was back, looking shaken.

“What?” he asked. “Is Annie okay?”

“She was in the bathroom,” Dana Sue said, her voice catching. “Ronnie, she was throwing up. I heard her. She’d eaten every bite of her breakfast. I sat right here with her to make sure. Then she went upstairs and threw up.” There was panic in Dana Sue’s eyes when she met his gaze. “What are we going to do?”

He wrapped his arms around her and held her close, feeling as helpless as he had the first time he’d seen Annie in the hospital. “Whatever it takes,” he said grimly. “Did you confront her?”

Against his chest, he felt Dana Sue’s quick head shake. “No,” she whispered.

“Probably just as well. We’ll deal with it with Dr. McDaniels. You stay here. I’ll go up and get her, make sure she’s okay.”

He took the stairs two at a time. A part of him was angry, so angry he wanted to punch something, but overshadowing that by far was the terror that they were heading into a whole new territory with Annie. Was she about to replace one eating disorder with another? Did kids do that?

Before he could make himself crazy with more unanswerable questions, he spotted Annie coming out of the bathroom. She gave him a halfhearted smile.

“Hi, Daddy.”

His heart flipped over in his chest at her woebegone expression. “Hey, baby. You okay?”

She gave him a knowing look. “Mom heard me, didn’t she? I know she came upstairs a few minutes ago.”

He nodded.

“I wasn’t throwing up on purpose,” she said, leveling a gaze into his eyes that begged him to believe her. “I wasn’t! I just got scared all of a sudden and then I felt sick.”

“It’s okay,” he soothed. “You feeling better now?”

“I guess.”

“We’ll talk about this some more when we see Dr. McDaniels.”

She seemed to wilt a little. “You don’t believe me, do you?”

He tucked a hand under her chin and looked into her eyes. “I want to, baby. I really do.”

“It’s the truth. I swear it. I couldn’t make myself do that,” she said with a shudder. “I just couldn’t.”

Ronnie had no response for that.

Annie regarded him with regret. “I know I have to earn your trust again, yours and Mom’s, but it’s hard, you know?”

“I know. Something tells me this is like a lot of other things that just take a while to sort out. We’ll have to take it one step at a time.”

“Like you and Mom?” she asked.

Ronnie smiled. “Yes, just like me and your mother.”

Suddenly Annie grinned, and all of his heartache vanished at the beauty of it.

“I saw you kiss her last night,” she told him. “Way to go, Dad!”

He winked at her. “Like I said, one step at a time.”

“I don’t know,” she replied, an impish glint in her eyes. “A kiss like that oughtta be a giant leap, at least.”

“Your mother’s a stubborn woman and my mistake was a whopper,” he reminded her. “It wouldn’t be smart to take anything for granted.”

“Just don’t give up, okay?” she said.

“Never,” he assured her. “Not on her and not on you. Not in a million years.”

Annie was starting to feel sick to her stomach again. Everyone was staring at her so expectantly, like they wanted her to say something profound that would make everything okay. But nothing was okay. Nothing had been okay since her dad left.

Could she say that? Wouldn’t it just make things worse if she said food was all mixed up in her head with the way she’d felt when he’d told her he was leaving that day at Wharton’s? What if she said she’d stopped eating so she wouldn’t gain weight like her mom had? That was part of it, too. At least she thought it was.

But if she blurted any of that out, wouldn’t they just feel worse? Would it really solve anything? This was her problem, not theirs.

“Annie,” Dr. McDaniels said, giving her an encouraging nod. “It’s okay to say whatever you’re thinking. That’s the only way to put the past behind you and move on.”

“Maybe we could talk about this morning instead,” Annie said hesitantly.

Dr. McDaniels looked surprised, but nodded. “If that’s what you want. What happened this morning?”

“My mom heard me throw up and I know she freaked about it, because she sent my dad upstairs. He looked all worried and scared.”

“Can you blame him?” the shrink asked.

Annie shook her head. “But I didn’t do it on purpose,” she said, looking directly at her mom. “I was just nervous about coming here, and I got sick. I don’t want you guys to go crazy every time I get sick to my stomach. If I ever get the flu, you’ll probably send me straight to some treatment facility.”

“Did you get sick to your stomach a lot before you developed an eating disorder?” Dr. McDaniels asked.

Annie nodded. “Whenever I had to stand up in school and give a report, I’d throw up in the morning. Remember, Mom?”

Her mother nodded slowly, a faint hint of relief in her expression. “That’s true,” she said.

Dr. McDaniels nodded, too. “Then let’s assume for the moment that this was more about nervousness than food. Maybe next time you feel that way, Annie, you can ask for some ginger ale or crackers or something that might help to settle your stomach, okay? Not only might that make you feel better, but it might reassure your parents.”

Annie suddenly had an image of the way her mom ate when she felt bad. She stuffed herself with whatever she could get her hands on. “No!” she protested sharply, before she could stop herself. “I won’t do that!”

“Do what?” Dr. McDaniels inquired, her voice calm despite Annie’s obvious agitation.

“It’ll be like Mom,” Annie blurted.

She saw the color rise in her mother’s cheeks and knew she’d said exactly the wrong thing, even if it was the way she felt.

“What does that mean, Annie?” the shrink asked, waving off Dana Sue when she would have responded.

“When she’s upset, she eats. She gained a lot of weight, probably twenty pounds, even before my dad left. More since then.”

“Your mother looks fine to me,” the psychologist said. “Why is her weight gain so upsetting to you?”

Annie knew she’d started something that she couldn’t stop if she wanted to. She had to say it all. “Because if she hadn’t gained it, my dad wouldn’t have slept with another woman and my mom wouldn’t have kicked him out,” she lashed out, despite the stricken expression on her mom’s face. “I hate that you did that! I hate it!”

“Hold it,” Ronnie commanded, his voice harsher than Annie had ever heard it. “I did not sleep with another woman because your mom had gained a few pounds.”

“Then why did you?” Annie retorted. “It must have been
something
she did.”

Her dad looked from her to her mom, then shook his head. “I honestly can’t explain why I did what I did, but I do know it had nothing to do with your mom’s weight. I think she looks incredible.”

Annie wasn’t buying it, but then she thought about the kiss she’d witnessed just last night. He’d definitely been into it. He’d certainly acted as if he thought her mom was pretty hot then. “Really?” she asked uncertainly. “It wasn’t about that?”

“Absolutely not,” he said firmly. “It’s the one thing I’m one hundred percent sure of.”

“Annie, do you think this had something to do with your decision to stop eating?” Dr. McDaniels asked. “Or maybe you were punishing your mom for what you saw as a failure to take care of herself?”

Annie considered both possibilities. “I don’t know,” she said eventually. “Maybe.”

“Doesn’t that sound pretty self-destructive?” the psychologist prodded gently. “Who got hurt the most?”

“Me,” Annie admitted.

“Exactly,” Dr. McDaniels said. “Think about that between now and tomorrow. We’ll pick up where we left off.”

“Do you want us here again?” her mom asked.

“No, I think the next couple of sessions will be just Annie and me. Why don’t we schedule another family session for two weeks from now?”

Her mom and dad both looked relieved. Annie couldn’t blame them. She knew she’d made them feel bad today. She had a suspicion the ride home was going to be pretty tense.

“By the way,” Dr. McDaniels began as they were about to go out the door, “for now let’s keep what’s said in here in this room.”

“You don’t want us to talk about it?” her mom asked incredulously. “Won’t that be like having an elephant in the room that everybody pretends not to notice?”

Dr. McDaniels smiled. “More than likely, but better that than reacting in the heat of the moment and saying something you might regret. Let’s deal with all the issues in here for now.”

Annie regarded her with gratitude. “Thanks.”

“Don’t get too excited,” Dr. McDaniels warned. “I want you to be able to say whatever’s on your mind in here, no matter how hurtful it might be, but your folks will get their turn to respond, too. The goal is to get everything out in the open without censorship or retaliation, so we can figure out a healthier way to handle issues when they come up. We need to undo the whole tangle of emotions and food, and I think that’s best done in a structured setting, okay?”

She gave Annie a stern look. “And remember, you have an appointment with Lacy tomorrow right after we meet. She’s going to want to see your food notebook—don’t forget that your mom or dad needs to initial every page, okay?”

Annie rolled her eyes. “Jeez, do I have to have
two
people ganging up on me?” she said, only partly in jest. “It hardly seems fair.”

“Two?” her mom said, smiling again. “Add in your dad, me, Maddie, Helen, Ty and Erik, and you don’t stand a chance, kid. Get used to it.”

To her surprise, Annie didn’t feel resentful, at least not much. In fact, it was kinda nice knowing there were so many people on her side. She just hoped she wouldn’t let them down, because something told her the hardest part was yet to come.

W
hen Ronnie offered to take Annie home and stick around to spend the day with her, Dana Sue agreed. She needed time to herself to absorb what Annie had said during the session. She’d known all along that on some level Annie blamed her for Ronnie’s cheating and for his leaving, but hearing her actually make the accusation aloud had shaken her.

Rather than going to the restaurant, Dana Sue headed for The Corner Spa. For once, though, she didn’t go to Maddie’s office for solace. Instead, she went straight to the locker room and changed into the workout clothes she kept there, but all too seldom wore. Grimly determined to start making some of the changes on her list of goals once she’d finally made it, she headed for the hated treadmill, turned it on and started walking.

She’d been at it for fifteen minutes, her pace slow but steady, when the tranquil view of the woods and stream out back began to work its magic. Her legs and joints were starting to ache, but she felt infinitely calmer than she had when she’d arrived. She pushed herself to walk a little longer.

She’d actually walked two miles when Maddie found her there. Dana Sue stopped the machine, feeling triumphant. “Look,” she said, pointing to the computerized controls that kept track of everything from distance to calories burned and pulse rate. “Two miles. That must be some kind of record for me.”

“Congratulations!” Maddie said. “Usually I can’t get you anywhere near these machines. What’s different about today? Are you thinking about winning that convertible all of a sudden? Maybe Helen was right about those prizes being good motivation, although she still hasn’t been in here the way she’s supposed to be.”

“The list was only part of it,” Dana Sue responded.

“What was the rest?” Maddie pressed. “Did you have a sudden urge to come in here to ogle Elliott? If I weren’t married to the sexiest guy in town, I’d spend a lot more time staring at our personal trainer’s hot bod myself.”

Dana Sue mopped her brow and rolled her eyes. “Nope, this isn’t about Elliott, hot though he is,” she said, sneaking a peek in his direction just the same. “The truth is my daughter announced at her session today that I’m fat and that’s why Ronnie cheated on me.”

Maddie regarded her with sympathy. “That must have hurt.”

Dana Sue shrugged. “It’s not like she hasn’t said it before, the part about my weight, anyway. Hearing her actually say aloud that she thought it was the reason Ronnie cheated really ripped me apart, though. If she really believes that, I’m astonished she doesn’t hate me.”

“You know Annie could never hate you,” Maddie objected. “What did Ronnie have to say to all this?”

“He was pretty great, actually. He told her that what he did had nothing to do with that, that he thinks I look incredible. He sounded pretty convincing today, and he’s told me the same thing before.”

“So have I,” Maddie reminded her. She patted her rounded stomach, which still hadn’t gone away since her pregnancy. “At our age there aren’t too many of us who couldn’t lose a few pounds to be healthier, but we’re not obese or unattractive by any means. I certainly haven’t lost the extra weight from my pregnancy as quickly this time as I did with my first three kids.”

Dana Sue regarded her curiously. “And you’re not worried about that?”

“If Cal thought I was beautiful at nine months pregnant, with crow’s-feet around my eyes and a belly the size of a whale, he’s not going to be put off by some extra pounds that settle on my hips,” Maddie said confidently, her expression serene. “That doesn’t mean I want them there, but I’m not going to obsess about it. I made that list of goals for me.” She grinned. “And because I’d really, really like to go to Hawaii with my husband.”

“I wish I had your body image and self-image,” Dana Sue lamented. “I’m afraid a part of me agrees with Annie.”

“Even though Ronnie told you otherwise?” Maddie asked.

She waved off the question. “He has no idea why he slept with that woman, so how am I supposed to believe that subconsciously it didn’t have something to do with my being overweight and less attractive?”

“Because it’s the one thing he does know,” Maddie suggested. “Why would he lie?”

“Because he’s trying to win me over,” Dana Sue said readily. “He’d hardly admit something like that now, would he?”

Maddie regarded her thoughtfully. “You know, listening to you has given me an idea.”

“Oh?”

“I’m going to call that psychologist you guys are seeing and ask if she’d be interested in teaching some classes here on body image and self-image.”

Dana Sue was skeptical. “You think anyone would take them?”

Maddie grinned. “You would, because I’m not going to give you a choice.”

“Ah, bossy Maddie is back,” Dana Sue said, laughing. “Nice to see you again. I was afraid marriage was turning you all mellow and sweet.”

Maddie gave her a sour look. “Not much chance of that, especially when I still have swollen ankles at the end of the day and an endless craving for nachos with jalapeños that hasn’t gone away just because the baby’s here.”

“You’re kidding! You ate nachos and jalapeños while you were pregnant? I never saw you do that. And that could explain the swollen ankles, by the way. All that salt.”

“Believe me, I know it. And you never saw me because I forced Cal to make them for me in the middle of the night.” Maddie shrugged. “I hesitate to think what that might say about Jessica Lynn’s personality. Cal still shudders every time he makes them for me.”

“But he does make them?”

Maddie smiled smugly. “What can I say? He’s a very devoted husband. If I said I wanted pizza at 3:00 a.m…well, did you ever see that airline commercial with the husband who flies all the way to Chicago to get a pizza for his pregnant wife? That’s Cal. He seems to view catering to my whims as his obligation, given his role in creating this baby.”

“You could really take advantage of a man who thinks like that,” Dana Sue said. “So is there anything you’ve been dying to have, any need that’s unsatisfied?”

Maddie’s expression was gleefully wicked. “Believe me, my needs are very satisfied these days. He considers
that
his responsibility, too, and he embraces it pretty eagerly, I might add. And he’s so cute with the baby. Every time he holds her, the most amazed expression crosses his face. I was hesitant when he first suggested we have a baby together, but now I’m so glad we did.”

Dana Sue sighed. “I envy you.”

Maddie’s expression sobered. “Because of the baby?”

“No, because you have a man in your life who adores you. It’s Helen who’s envious of the baby.”

Maddie frowned. “She is? She’s never said anything.”

“She wouldn’t want to put any sort of damper on your happiness, but I think she’s starting to realize what she’s missed out on,” Dana Sue said. “To be honest, I think that’s what’s really behind these goals of hers. She wants to get healthy so she can have a baby. Not that she’s ready to admit it, but I can see it in her eyes when she looks at Jessica Lynn.”

“Amazing,” Maddie said. “How’d I miss that?”

Dana Sue grinned. “You’ve been too busy to worry about how envious your friends are of your happiness.”

“Well, you certainly have no reason to be. You could have a man in your life, if you wanted one,” Maddie reminded her. “All you have to do is open your heart to the possibilities.”

“Easier said than done,” Dana Sue responded. She wondered if she’d ever get to a point where she trusted Ronnie enough to let him back into her heart and into her life.

By Friday morning, Ronnie was anxious to get his meeting with Butch Thompson over with. He’d run numbers until he was seeing them in his sleep. He’d sketched out a business plan, then used Annie’s computer to put it down on paper. He was sure it lacked the kind of expertise Butch was used to seeing, but Ronnie had tried hard to balance reality against what he envisioned.

He was nervously awaiting Butch’s arrival at Wharton’s when Mary Vaughn came in. She spotted him and immediately headed for his table.

“I thought I’d hear from you by now,” she said. “You haven’t answered any of my calls.”

“Patience, Mary Vaughn,” he chided. “I’ll call when things have fallen into place, hopefully before the end of today.”

Her expression brightened. “Oh? Shall I call you later?”

He grinned at her eagerness. “No, I’ll call
you.
Either way. I promise. Now scoot on out of here. I have a business meeting, and the gentleman just walked through the door.”

Mary Vaughn turned to look and a huge smile immediately spread across her face. “Hey, Uncle Butch, what are you doing in Serenity?”

Ronnie stared as she threw her arms around Butch and pressed an enthusiastic kiss to his cheek. “You two know each other?” he asked.

Butch grinned. “This little gal is my favorite niece.”

“I’m your
only
niece,” she corrected.

“Still my favorite,” Butch said. “Her mama’s my big sister.”

Ronnie shook his head. “Small world, isn’t it?”

When Butch sat down, Mary Vaughn dragged a chair over to the end of the booth without waiting for an invitation. “Okay, spill it. What kind of business are you two doing together? I’m asking as family.”

Butch gave her a chiding look. “And I’m telling you, as family, to get lost and let us menfolk do our thing.”

“If I didn’t know there’s not a sexist bone in your body, I’d be offended by that,” she grumbled, but she stood up. Turning to Ronnie, she said, “We’ll talk later, you hear?”

“I’m sure we will,” he said, grinning.

After she’d gone, Butch regarded him curiously. “How does my niece fit in with this idea of yours?”

“She’s the Realtor for the property I want to buy here in town,” Ronnie explained.

“Ah, so she’s hot on the trail of a big deal,” Butch said approvingly. “That girl always was a go-getter. I’m surprised she walked away just now.”

“So am I, to be honest,” Ronnie replied. “But I think we can count on the fact that she won’t let this drop.”

Just then Grace Wharton walked up to take their order. “Coffee for you, I imagine,” she said to Ronnie, then smiled at Butch. “What about you? You in the mood for breakfast? We make a mighty fine omelet here.”

“I ate breakfast hours ago,” Butch told her. “Coffee’s fine.”

Grace continued to hover. “You and Dana Sue going to the fall festival this weekend?” she asked Ronnie.

He stared at her blankly. “I hadn’t even thought about it, to tell you the truth. Since Annie’s been sick, I’ve lost track of everything.”

“Well, the three of you should go,” Grace said. “You remember how Annie used to talk you all into buying her something from just about every vendor there because she felt sorry for them if it looked like they weren’t doing much business?”

Ronnie grinned. “That child ended up with a lot of junk that way. Half of it always wound up in our next garage sale,” he recalled. “You’re right, Grace. I’ll talk to Dana Sue and Annie about going.”

Grace beamed at him. “I’ll get your coffees right now,” she said, bustling away.

After she’d brought the coffee, Butch settled back in the booth. “You have some facts and figures for me?” he asked.

Ronnie took the folder from the seat beside him and handed it across the table. Nerves on edge, he sat silently while Butch went through the paperwork.

At one point, the older man’s eyes widened. “There’s this much development in the area?”

Ronnie nodded. “If anything, that’s a conservative number. Those are just the projects that have already gotten governmental approval and permits. I got the list at city hall. There are at least one or two more with proposals before the planning commission.”

“Impressive,” Butch said. “And you think you can make deals with them?”

“Some of them, anyway,” Ronnie said. “I’ll know more when I speak to some of the developers directly, but I didn’t want to do that yet, not until my idea is a go.”

Butch nodded. He reached the last piece of paper in the file. “This your bottom line, then?”

Ronnie nodded. He’d tried to keep the figure conservative, too, but even so, it was a lot of money—though maybe not to a man like Butch.

The older man lifted his gaze and studied him. “You kept this low so I wouldn’t turn tail and run, didn’t you?”

“I tried to be realistic about what I could get by with for start-up costs,” Ronnie corrected.

“You’d be out of business in six months,” Butch said flatly. “Start-up never goes as smoothly as anticipated. Clients never pay exactly when you expect them to. You need a cushion in here, so you don’t go bankrupt before you’ve had a chance to prove yourself. Worst mistake a start-up company can make is to be undercapitalized.”

“I didn’t want to—”

Butch cut him off. “You didn’t want to presume on our friendship,” he said. “But this is business, Ronnie. If my investment’s going to pay off for both of us, we have to approach it that way. No shortcuts. No attempt to get by on less than you’ll need.”

He took out a pen and wrote on the bottom of the page, then pushed it across the table. “I’d say that’s a more realistic figure, wouldn’t you?”

Ronnie gaped. It was forty percent above his own estimate and more than he’d ever dreamed of asking for. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure that’s what it’ll take if you want to do this right,” Butch said. “That’ll give you enough cushion for a couple of years so you can get yourself on solid ground.”

“You have that much confidence in this idea?” Ronnie asked, hardly daring to believe that Butch would provide so much backing.

“And in you,” he confirmed. “Now where’s this building you want to buy? Is it close enough we can take a look at it?”

“Down a block and across the street,” Ronnie told him, his head spinning. “I’ll pay for the coffee and we can take a look. Of course, we can’t see inside without Mary Vaughn.”

“Then call her,” Butch said. “Might as well satisfy her curiosity. She’ll be able to get started on the paperwork that much sooner.”

The next two hours were a blur to Ronnie. Butch moved fast when he was on a mission. Inside the hardware store, he barked out comments about immediate changes Ronnie ought to consider, then gave Mary Vaughn a figure to take to the owners that was well below the asking price.