A Slice of Heaven (7 page)

“I guess this will do,” he conceded, paying the cashier. Then he led the way to a table just being vacated near a window. After all those hours in which time had seemed to drag, he was surprised to see the sun well up in the morning sky.

The cafeteria was bustling with visiting families and staff. It was a far cry from the few exhausted customers who’d been here when he and Maddie had come down for coffee earlier.

Ronnie put all the dishes on the table, then placed the empty tray on a neighboring one. He divided the eggs and pancakes between them, put a plate in front of Dana Sue and began to eat. When she continued to sit perfectly still, her food untouched, he grinned at her.

“You’re going to need fortification to fight with me,” he commented. “Eat. The pancakes are good. The eggs are edible. They won’t be once they get cold.”

“Now there’s a reason to dive in,” she retorted, but she picked up her fork and tasted the pancakes.

“Well?” he asked.

“Not as good as the ones I do for Sunday brunch at Sullivan’s.”

He bit back a smile. Even under these circumstances, her competitive streak kicked in.

“Once Annie’s well, I’ll have to come by and try yours,” he said, taking a sip of orange juice. “I seem to recall they were pretty spectacular when you made them for us on holiday mornings.”

“Don’t start dredging up ancient history, Ronnie,” she said. “I have no desire to stroll down memory lane with you.”

“Okay, then, let’s talk about something more recent,” he said, looking directly into her eyes and removing the kid gloves with which he’d been treating her. “How the hell did Annie get into the shape she’s in?”

“A lot of teenage girls have eating disorders,” Dana Sue said defensively.

“I only care about
our
teenage daughter. How did things get this bad without your taking some kind of action?”

Dana Sue dropped her fork and burst into tears. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “I honestly don’t know. I thought I was on top of it. I fixed good food for her. She swore to me she was eating it. I guess I just didn’t want to believe she would lie to me about something so important.”

Ronnie was too angry to allow himself to feel even a moment’s pity for her obvious anguish. “You were here. You had to know there was something wrong. Good God, she can’t even weigh ninety pounds.”

Eyes blazing, Dana Sue glared right back at him. “Don’t you think I know that? Don’t you think I’ve asked myself a thousand times why I didn’t force the issue sooner? I did the best I could, Ronnie. I talked to her. The whole sleepover was supposed to give me some idea if she was doing this on her own or if her friends were just as obsessed with dieting as she was.”

“Too little, too damn late!”

“Don’t you dare blame all this on me!” she said. “Where were you?”

He dismissed a momentary pang of guilt and retaliated with a barb of his own. “I was where you wanted me to be—gone.”

“Because you cheated on me!” she said furiously. “And that’s what started this whole mess.”

He stared at her incredulously. “You’re blaming Annie’s anorexia on me because I cheated on you?”

“Yes, I am,” she said fiercely. “She convinced herself that if I’d been thin enough, you wouldn’t have cheated, so she decided to starve herself so she wouldn’t wind up alone like me.”

“That’s absurd,” Ronnie declared. “Did she tell you that?”

“Not in so many words, but it was right there every time she got on my case about my weight. She hated you for cheating on me, Ronnie, but she hated me just as much because she thought it was my fault.”

Ronnie sank back in his chair and raked a hand over his head. It was an automatic gesture he hadn’t stopped even after he’d shaved his balding head. Some habits die hard.

As Dana Sue watched him, her stark despair faded for just an instant. “I like the new look,” she said. “You still getting used to it?”

Ronnie nodded. “I saw little point in pretending I wasn’t going bald, so I figured what the hell.”

“It suits you. On you bald is very sexy.”

“Really? That’s quite a compliment coming from you.”

Her expression promptly closed down. “Don’t let it go to your bald head,” she said.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he assured her.

“Maybe we should limit our conversation to Annie,” Dana Sue suggested.

“It would be safer turf,” he agreed. “Although you never used to take the safe route, sugar.”

“I’ve changed,” she said tersely. “Let’s stick to what Annie needs.”

Despite his desire to continue to spar with Dana Sue, if only to put some color in her cheeks, he sighed. “That poor kid,” he murmured. “I honestly thought she was doing okay. She sounded fine when we talked.” He glanced warily at Dana Sue. “You knew we’d been talking, right?”

“I just found out a few days ago,” she admitted. “How long has it been going on?”

“I started calling from the beginning.” He shrugged. “She hung up. A while back, maybe six months ago, she finally started talking. To be honest, I don’t think she wanted you to know.”

“Then it wasn’t your idea that she keep it from me?”

“No, of course not. I figured she’d know the best way to handle it.”

“You left it up to a sixteen-year-old to decide whether to lie to her mother?”

“Omit the truth,” he contradicted. “I wasn’t violating our agreement, Dana Sue. I’d had the right to talk to her and see her all along. If she didn’t say anything to you, it’s probably because she didn’t want to upset you.”

Dana Sue regarded him with surprise, as if she hadn’t expected him to understand that. “You’re right,” she conceded with obvious reluctance. “I suppose on some level I needed to believe you didn’t give a damn about either of us anymore.”

“Well, you were wrong,” he said flatly.

To buy himself a couple of minutes to think about the mess they’d made of things, he stabbed a fork into a chunk of cantaloupe, then offered it to Dana Sue. She shook her head. He popped it into his mouth and chewed.

“Not bad,” he said, then stabbed another piece. “Try it.”

“Ronnie!” she protested.

He continued holding out the fork until she finally took it and tasted the cantaloupe.

“You’re right. It
is
good.”

He grinned at the admission. “Told you so,” he said, then fell silent. Finally he lifted his gaze to hers. “What do we do now?”

“About?”

“Annie, of course.”

She regarded him with a bewildered expression. “I honestly don’t know. I suppose we’ll have to let the doctors guide us through the next couple of weeks.”

“You’re willing to relinquish control to the doctors?” His tone was skeptical.

“When I’m at a loss, I am,” she said.

“You
have
changed.”

“Mostly for the better, I think.”

“I’d like to hear about what’s going on in your life,” Ronnie said, knowing he was pushing the limits they’d agreed to. “I can’t wait to see the restaurant. Annie says it’s awesome. She sent me a review from the Charleston paper.”

Dana Sue looked startled. “She did?”

“I was real proud of you, not just for getting a rave review, but for making a real success of yourself doing something you love.”

“Thanks,” she said, clearly uncomfortable with the praise. “We’d better get back upstairs. It’s almost time for us to see Annie again.”

“You go ahead,” he told her. “Have a couple of minutes alone with her. I’ll finish my coffee, clear this stuff away and join you.”

“Are you sure?”

“Go on, Dana Sue.”

“Thanks,” she said again, and set off eagerly.

He sighed and took one last sip of his coffee just in time to hear Maddie comment, “That was very gracious of you.”

He gazed up into her knowing eyes. “To be honest, I don’t know if I’m ready to see her again,” he admitted. “Looking at Annie lying there like that makes me want to hit something.”

“You gonna take off?”

He frowned at the question. “Of course not. Why would you ask that?”

“Do you really need to ask? The last time things got tough around here, you ran.”

“I was chased off,” he corrected, but Maddie merely smiled.

“Matter of interpretation, I suppose.”

“Well, I’m staying this time,” he said.

“Just for Annie?”

He grinned. “Do you really need to ask?”

Maddie reached across the table and squeezed his hand. “She’ll tell you to go,” she warned.

“I’m sure of it,” he agreed. “But this time I’m going to listen to what she’s
not
saying, instead of
reacting
to what she says.”

“Good plan.”

“Do me a favor, okay?”

“Anything.”

“When Dana Sue comes out of Annie’s room, talk her into going home to get some sleep. She’s wiped out. If I try to convince her to take a break, she’ll just think I’m trying to get the upper hand with Annie or something.”

“I’ll try,” Maddie promised. “But unless Annie’s completely out of the woods, you know Dana Sue won’t go anywhere.”

Ronnie nodded, knowing she was right. “Then I’ll see if there’s an available room nearby that she can use to catch a nap.”

“What about you? You look pretty beat yourself.”

“I’m used to getting by without much sleep. I’ll manage. I can nap sitting up in the waiting room between visits. The minute they let us stay longer with Annie, I’ll be by her bed night and day till she’s back on her feet.” He gave Maddie a long look, fighting tears. “I love that girl. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to her.”

“
Nothing
is going to happen to her,” Maddie said fiercely.

“You have an in with the guy upstairs?” he inquired.

“I have faith, yes,” she said. “So should you.”

“I’m trying to,” he told her. “But I’m barely hanging on.”

“Then hang on to me,” she said. “I have enough for both of us.”

“You know, Madelyn, I think I missed you almost as much as I’ve missed my family,” he said quietly. “Even if you
were
mad as a hornet last time I saw you. You said a lot of things that night that cut right through me, but I deserved every word.”

“You did,” she agreed somberly, then grinned. “But I’m glad you’re back. I can’t wait for you to meet Cal.”

“Your new husband,” he said. “Annie told me. I saw him coach a couple of games before I left. You rob the cradle, Madelyn?”

She laughed. “So they say. The good part is, when I’m old and hobbling around, he’ll still be able to tote my walker.”

“Something tells me you’ll have a lot of good years before that happens. I’m glad you’re happy. I really am.” Ronnie smiled at her. “I hear you have a new baby, too.”

“I do,” she said, her expression glowing. “And my having a baby at my age should prove to you that miracles are definitely possible.”

“You think it’s going to take a miracle for me to get my family back?” he asked.

“A miracle would be the easy way,” she teased. “I think you’re going to be on your own, but the Ronnie I knew could sweet-talk just about any woman into giving him whatever he wanted. I don’t think Dana Sue’s immune, despite how much she wants to be.” Maddie stood up. “Come on, pal. You’ve postponed the inevitable long enough. You need to go back to see your daughter. Trust me, it’ll get easier every time.”

Ronnie rose and followed her, but at the door to Annie’s room, he hesitated and looked Maddie in the eye. “You’re wrong, you know. As long as Annie’s in bad shape, there’s no way it will get easier.”

In fact, he was pretty sure now that it was possible for a heart to break more than once.

D
ana Sue walked outside to use her cell phone after her too-brief visit with Annie, who was still sleeping most of the time. Her lack of responsiveness had been hard for Dana Sue to see, so she’d been almost relieved when the nurse had told her that her time was up.

Besides, she needed to check in with Erik and Karen to make sure they could handle things at the restaurant. She knew they’d want an update on Annie’s condition, as well.

Exhausted, she sat down on a concrete bench in a garden filled with the last summery blossoms of well-tended rose bushes. A local garden club maintained the so-called serenity garden outside the main entrance, hoping the tranquility of the setting would provide comfort to the families of patients.

Closing her eyes and turning her face up to the sun, Dana Sue let the warmth soak into her. It was hot and humid, but the heat felt good after so many hours inside the air-conditioned waiting room. After the antiseptic atmosphere of the hospital, the garden’s cheerful, fragrant flowers and small pond were soothing. If she hadn’t been so keyed up and worried, she could have fallen asleep sitting up.

“You okay?”

Dana Sue jerked and opened her eyes at the sound of Erik’s voice. Her first instinct was to look at her watch before asking, “What are you doing here? It’s almost time for the restaurant to open. You know how busy we are on Saturday.”

“No need to worry,” he assured her, sitting down beside her. “I went in as soon as I got your call. All the prep work’s done. The waitstaff and busboys came in early to pitch in and help. Karen can hold the fort till I get back. I came to see how Annie’s doing and to bring you something to eat.”

“I grabbed something in the cafeteria earlier,” she said.

Erik rolled his eyes. “And lived to tell the story?” He handed her a take-out box. “A wild mushroom risotto, a little pear-and-walnut salad and a slice of one of the sugar-free cakes I’ve been working on.”

Despite her recent meal and her claim that she wasn’t hungry, Dana Sue couldn’t resist a peek inside the box. The aromas that drifted out were tantalizing.

“Chocolate cake?” she inquired, sniffing reverently.

“With amaretto and almonds,” he confirmed. “It’s moist and decadent, if I do say so myself. But you can’t touch it till you’ve eaten the rest.”

“Who’s going to stop me?”

He regarded her solemnly. “No one. I’m trusting in your good judgment.”

She took the fork, grinned, then took a huge bite of the cake. “Oh, sweet heaven,” she murmured as the flavors burst on her tongue. “Maybe we should just turn into a bakery. You’d make us all rich.”

“A decadent dessert is just the icing on a fine meal,” he insisted, but he was beaming with pleasure at her praise. “Try the risotto,” he urged. “I think Karen’s picked up your skill with seasonings.”

Dana Sue tasted the risotto and sighed. “Perfect.” She took another bite of that, then sampled the pear salad with its light raspberry vinaigrette dressing. Before she realized it, she’d finished every bite of food Erik had brought.

“I guess I was hungrier than I realized,” she admitted. “Or else your cooking is just too fabulous to resist.”

“When you’re under a lot of stress, you need decent food to sustain you,” he told her, his gray eyes filled with concern. “No more hospital meals. One of the perks of owning a restaurant ought to be delivery to your doorstep in a crisis, okay? Karen and I will see to it that you get breakfast, lunch and dinner. As soon as Annie’s able to eat something, we’ll work on tempting her, too.”

At the sympathetic expression on his face, Dana Sue’s eyes filled with tears. “You know why she’s in here, don’t you?”

Erik draped a comforting arm around her shoulders. “I’ve got eyes, don’t I? It wasn’t hard to figure out.”

Relaxing into his solid embrace, she whispered, “I must be a terrible mother. I had no idea it was this bad.”

“You’re not a terrible mother,” he said, giving her a little shake. “Come on. No kid has ever been luckier in the mom department.”

More tears spilled down Dana Sue’s cheeks. “You’re being too nice. It’s making me cry.”

He laughed. “Sweetheart, you cry at most anything, so don’t blame me for those tears. You were just due for a good cry. You’ve probably been holding it together all night long.”

“You know, for a guy who’s never had kids, you’re pretty wise,” she told him. “Some woman’s going to be lucky to have you.”

She thought she saw a shadow pass over his face, but then he rallied and met her gaze with a grin. “Maybe I already have a thing for somebody a little older. Could be I’m like Cal. He seems to be pretty happy with Maddie. Maybe you and I should…”

Dana Sue frowned at him before he could complete the ridiculous thought. Erik was the best male friend she’d ever had. She didn’t want that complicated by romance. “Don’t even think about it. Our relationship is perfect the way it is.”

“It is,” he agreed. “Still, you might not want to rule it out. How many women can honestly say their husbands are just as good in the kitchen as they are?”

Dana Sue laughed. “You wish. Now go back to work before Karen has to handle the entire lunch crowd on her own. She’s getting better every day, but she’s not up to that.”

Erik cupped her face in his hands and studied her intently, then nodded. “Yep, color’s back in your cheeks. My job here is done. One of us will bring you dinner later, okay? You let me know if you want it here or plan to be at home.” He gave her a knowing look. “If you need dinner for two, let us know that, too.”

She frowned at him. Was word already around town that Ronnie was back? More than likely. This was Serenity, after all. “The day I start letting you feed my ex-husband will be a cold day in hell,” she muttered.

“You sure about that?” he asked. “You get this little glint in your eyes whenever his name comes up….”

“Anger,” she assured him.

“Anger, passion. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference,” Erik commented.

“I know the difference,” she said.

“If you say so,” he said, his skepticism plain. “Anyway, you need anything, I’m just a phone call away.”

“Thank you, darlin’,” Dana Sue said, her eyes welling up again. “I don’t know what I’d do without you. I mean that.”

“Serve your customers cake from a mix most likely,” he said with an exaggerated shudder. “Give Annie a hug from me, okay?”

Dana Sue nodded and watched him jog off toward the parking lot. She noted, not for the first time, that he had a very fine derriere. Far more important than his sexy body, though, was his wonderfully generous spirit. Though she knew very little about Erik’s personal life before coming to Serenity, she did know he was one of the good guys, the kind of man who looked out for his friends and stood by them.

How had she ever gotten so lucky? She had two of the best friends in the universe in Maddie and Helen. Now Erik and Karen were quickly becoming like family. Ironically, she might never have met the two if it hadn’t been for the breakup with Ronnie, which had forced her to think about her future and to start Sullivan’s. It was astounding that something so good could have come from something so bad.

Once more she turned her face up to the sun and said a silent prayer of thanks for all she had. Then added a heartfelt plea that her daughter would recover and one day realize that she was just as blessed.

Ronnie took his turn sitting beside Annie, and tried not to weep at the condition she was in. A part of him wanted to go outside, drive to someplace in the country where he could be alone and scream at the top of his lungs at the injustice of what was happening to his little girl. Another part wanted to tear Dana Sue limb from limb for allowing it to happen, but he knew rationally that she bore only some of the blame. The rest was his. He hadn’t been here to stop any of this before it got out of hand. Not that he would have been able to do any more than Dana Sue had. But if she was right about what had triggered Annie’s eating disorder, maybe his presence would have made some kind of difference.

“Mr. Sullivan?”

He glanced away from Annie’s pale face and saw a woman in her early forties, about his age, wearing a white lab coat over a simple pale pink blouse and hot-pink skirt. Her untamed riot of brown curls and the bright color of her skirt seemed to contradict her otherwise cool, professional appearance.

“I’m Ronnie Sullivan,” he told her.

“Could I speak to you outside for a minute?” she asked, casting a pointed look in Annie’s direction.

“Sure.”

He followed her into the corridor.

“I’m Linda McDaniels,” she said. “Annie’s cardiologist asked me to look over her case and see if I could help.”

Ronnie felt his heart begin to thud with dread. “Is she worse? Are there complications?”

She touched his arm gently, her expression filled with compassion. “No, nothing like that. I’m sorry. I should have explained. I’m a psychologist. I deal with a lot of girls like Annie who have eating disorders.”

Ronnie still couldn’t get used to hearing those words associated with his daughter. Annie had always been so levelheaded. She’d always had a perfectly normal appetite for pizza, ice cream, hamburgers, fries, all the things kids her age ate. Most probably weren’t good for her, but Dana Sue had always counterbalanced that with healthy meals. She’d even managed to convince Annie that carrot sticks or grapes were a good snack. And with all of her activities, Annie had never gained an extra ounce. Why she’d become obsessed with dieting was beyond him.

When he didn’t respond, Dr. McDaniels regarded him sympathetically. “Do you know much about anorexia?” she asked.

“The basics, I guess. Someone develops an aversion to food, more or less. It seems to affect teenage girls most of all.”

“Something like that, though the age of patients seems to be getting younger and younger, which is a worrisome trend. Most of the time it starts out as plain old dieting, either because their body image is poor or there’s a lot of peer pressure to be ultrathin or even because they could stand to lose a few pounds. Then something goes awry and it becomes an obsession. Maybe something in their life goes out of whack and food intake is the one thing they can still control, so they do, to an extreme. Any idea what might have been going on in Annie’s case?”

That was easy enough, Ronnie thought guiltily. “Her mom and I got a divorce a couple of years back and I left town,” he said, then suddenly remembered something else. “On the day I went, when I told her I was going, she got up from the table, ran into the restroom at the restaurant and threw up. Could it have started then?”

“Possibly, at least in the sense that a major trauma in her life became associated with food. At least that gives me a starting point. If you and your ex-wife agree, I’d like to spend a little time with Annie while she’s still here in the hospital. It’s important to start dealing with this right away, in a controlled environment.”

“The cardiologist mentioned she might need to go into a treatment facility,” Ronnie said. “Is that likely?”

“I’d rather wait and see where we are after the nutritionist and I have had a few sessions with her. We don’t have the kind of program here that they have at a major medical center, but we do have people who know what they’re doing. If Annie’s cooperative and we see some progress, perhaps get her caloric intake up and see her putting on a few pounds, then it may be possible to avoid an inpatient program. Sometimes, though, that is the best option if we’re to avoid a repeat of the extreme behavior. It’s just too soon to tell with Annie. Will you and your ex-wife be comfortable with sending her elsewhere, if that’s what we think would be best?”

“We’ll do whatever’s best for Annie,” Ronnie assured her. If he had to twist Dana Sue’s arm to get her to agree, he’d do so. Of course, his considerable powers of persuasion might be considered suspect these days.

Dr. McDaniels gave him a knowing look. “Let’s talk about you for a minute. You said you’ve been gone since the divorce.”

He nodded.

“I imagine you’re feeling pretty guilty about now,” she said.

“Of course I am. If I’d been here in town…”

“Things might have turned out exactly the same way, unless your staying might have prevented the divorce.”

When he was about to respond, she held up a hand. “Doesn’t matter,” she said. “What-ifs are a waste of time, Mr. Sullivan. Let’s deal with what is and move on from here, okay? Will you be willing to participate in some sessions if I need you to? I know your presence will be a help to the nutritionist, too. We both like plenty of parental involvement in this process. Are you staying in town long enough for that?”

“I’ll be here indefinitely,” he said. “And I’ll do whatever it takes.”

“And your ex-wife?”

“She’ll be there, too.” Whatever reservations Dana Sue might have about being in the same room with him would just have to be put on hold until Annie was healthy again. Dana Sue was too good a mother not to go along with that.

“Fine. Then as soon as Annie’s stable and alert, I’ll start spending a little time with her, and I’ll let you know where we go from there.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet. We haven’t even started the hard stuff,” she warned. “I suspect you’ll all have reason to hate me before we’re through. Some of the emotions we’re likely to touch on will be pretty raw and painful. And there are going to be times when I’ll have to be tough with Annie. Prepare yourself for that.” She gave him a warm smile that took the edge off her warning. “I’ll be in touch soon.”

He watched her walk away, then turned and saw Dana Sue staring at him, anger in her eyes. When she would have brushed right past him in an obvious snit, he grabbed her arm.

“Okay, what are you thinking?” he asked.

“That you’re not wasting any time finding someone to flirt with,” she snapped. “Let me go. I want to see Annie.”

“Don’t you want to hear what Dr. McDaniels said first?”

Her expression faltered. “She’s a doctor?”

“A psychologist,” he confirmed. “She’s going to be working with Annie as soon as she’s well enough. McDaniels also wants us to participate in some of the sessions. She says a nutritionist will want our cooperation, as well. The conversation wasn’t personal, Dana Sue. It was strictly about our daughter.”