“Sorry, baby. I know you’d like that, but it’s not going to happen,” she said. “When you’re a little older and have fallen in love, maybe you’ll understand why some things are simply unforgivable.”
Before Annie could press her on it, she stood up. “You need to get some sleep, young lady. So do I.”
She brushed a kiss across Annie’s forehead. “Lights out, okay?”
To her surprise, her daughter’s arms came around her waist. “I love you, Mom.”
“Oh, sweetie, I love you, too,” Dana Sue whispered, tears in her eyes. “And wherever he is, I know your dad loves you, as well. More than anything.”
“I know,” Annie said with a sniff. “Sometimes, I just wish he was here, you know?”
Dana Sue bit back a sigh. “Yeah,” she admitted. “I do know.”
There were times when she felt as if someone had carved out her heart and left her aching and empty inside. But that feeling paled compared to the anger she’d felt when she’d found out about his fling with some woman whose name he didn’t even remember. Weighing the two emotions and adding in a healthy dose of pride, she’d had only one choice. Maybe someday she would even get used to living with it.
* * *
The phone rang, waking Dana Sue from a sound sleep. She slapped at the alarm, blaming it for the offending noise. When the shrill ringing continued, she fumbled for the phone.
“Where are you?” Helen demanded. “It’s eight-thirty. Maddie and I have been waiting for half an hour.”
Dana Sue sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. “Why?” she mumbled.
“Our challenge,” Helen reminded her. “Our goals.”
“I don’t have any, except to go back to sleep,” Dana Sue muttered, and hung up.
Of course, the phone immediately rang again. “Get up. We’re on our way over,” Helen said crisply. “You have ten minutes to get the coffee brewing. You might want to squeeze in a shower, too. You sound like you could use a cold one to kick-start your brain.”
This time when Dana Sue slammed the phone back in its cradle, she resigned herself to getting up. Helen had a key and wasn’t afraid to use it. Nor would she hesitate to toss Dana Sue into that icy shower herself. Bossy woman!
She didn’t bother with putting a robe on over her oversize Carolina Panthers T-shirt, one of the few things of Ronnie’s she’d kept. She’d told herself she’d simply forgotten to add it to the pile of his clothing she’d stuffed haphazardly into suitcases and tossed onto the front lawn, but the truth was she’d slept in it for a long time after he’d gone because his scent had clung to it. Many washings later that was no longer the case, but some sentiment she didn’t care to identify kept her wearing it every night.
She padded into the kitchen and put on the coffee, then went into the bathroom and brushed her teeth and splashed water on her face. She’d barely made it back to the kitchen when the back door opened and Helen and Maddie strolled in.
“Shouldn’t you both be working?” Dana Sue inquired testily.
“We should be,” Helen agreed. “But we had an important appointment with our third partner at eight o’clock this morning. We thought finding out why you didn’t show up took precedence over work.” She wrinkled her nose. “And why does it smell like smoke in here?”
Dana Sue winced. “Actually, that’s me. We had a little grease fire in the kitchen at the restaurant. No big deal, but I was there late, cleaning up the mess. I haven’t had a chance to take a shower and wash my hair.”
“You had a fire?” Maddie looked dismayed. “Why didn’t you call us?”
“Before or after we called the fire department?” Dana Sue said. “Or perhaps you two have become volunteer firefighters without telling me.”
“Why didn’t you call us later?” Maddie asked. “We could have helped you clean up.”
“My staff did that,” Dana Sue said. “And before you ask, I have not even had time to think about my goals or my action plan.”
“Not a problem,” Helen said briskly. She got out cups and poured coffee for all of them. “We’ll help.”
“But this is supposed to be my goal and my action plan,” Dana Sue protested.
Helen gave her a chiding look. “Surely you don’t mind a little input from the two people who know you best.”
“Do I get to critique your plans?” Dana Sue asked suspiciously.
“Absolutely.” Maddie nodded.
At the exact same moment, Helen said, “No.”
Dana Sue grinned. “I thought so. In that case, Maddie, you can help with mine. Helen, keep your mouth shut.”
Maddie laughed. “You are such a dreamer. Don’t you remember? Helen is the biggest control freak of us all.”
“Which is exactly why I want her to butt out,” Dana Sue said.
“This whole challenge was my idea,” Helen reminded them. “That gives me the right to butt in.” She whipped a legal pad out of her briefcase. “Now tell me what your primary goal is, Dana Sue. Losing weight? Keeping your blood sugar in check?”
“Getting you out of my kitchen so I can get ready to go to work,” she countered. “As you noted when you called here, I’m running late. I can’t send all my customers to McDonald’s just because you’ve set some deadline for getting this challenge of ours under way. Why are you in such a rush, anyway? It’s not as if we haven’t needed health goals for ourselves for months now.”
Helen flushed guiltily. “I promised Doc Marshall I would give him a concrete plan by next week with proof I’m sticking to it, so he wouldn’t insist on starting me on medication to bring down my blood pressure.
