“Mom, I thought you were going on a diet,” she said accusingly.
“I am on a diet, but at my age it’s harder to lose weight,” her mom said, immediately on the defensive, which was where Annie liked her to be.
“I thought that’s why you guys opened that gym, so you could exercise and kick your metabolism back into gear. I’ll bet you don’t even spend ten minutes a day on the treadmill there, do you?”
“I do when I can,” she responded, her expression tense.
“Well, if you don’t lose it, you’re going to get sick and die like Grandma,” Annie said. “And I will not go and live with Dad.” She said it matter-of-factly, but the truth was the possibility terrified her—not of getting to be with her dad, but of her mom dying.
“I don’t think you need to worry about that,” she answered. “I have no intention of dying anytime soon, and we don’t even know where your father is.”
“I know,” Annie blurted without thinking. “He’s working down in Beaufort and living in some dump.”
Her mom looked stunned. “How do you know that? He sends his support checks through his attorney.”
Seeing the dismay on her mother’s face, Annie immediately felt guilty for keeping her dad’s calls a secret. “He’s phoned once or twice,” she admitted, unwilling to say it had been that many times just in the past couple of weeks. It wasn’t like her mom had ever said she couldn’t talk to him, or even see him if she wanted to. But initially Annie had made such a big deal about not taking his calls or visiting him that she hadn’t wanted to admit it when she’d finally started talking to him. It would have felt as if she were betraying her mom.
“When?”
“While you’re at work. He calls me on my cell phone, mostly.”
“I see,” her mother said, looking suddenly weary.
Annie could tell she wanted to say more, but she just turned and left the room...probably to get something to eat, if Annie knew anything about her. That was exactly why Annie had kept the calls a secret.
* * *
“I swear to God, if I could have gotten my hands on Ronnie right that second, I would have strangled him on the spot,” Dana Sue declared to Maddie the next morning in the gym. “I know I’m being ridiculous, that Annie has a right to talk to her dad, but I know he talked her into keeping it a secret.”
“Are you sure about that?” Maddie asked. “Maybe Annie was afraid it would hurt you to know they were talking again.”
Dana Sue scowled. “So now my own daughter’s afraid to be honest with me? Isn’t that great. Just one more giant gap between us. And before you ask, no, I have not set my goals. I was too furious to sit down and think about it last night, and I came straight here first thing this morning. You might as well call Helen and tell her, because I’m not up to her bullying me about it.”
“You need to work off some of that anger,” Maddie said, her tone soothing. “Why don’t you tell me the rest while we walk on the treadmills?”
“I hate the damn treadmill!” Dana Sue snapped. “I’m getting a blueberry muffin. I’ll be out on the patio when you finish being noble.”
Maddie merely sighed. “I’ll come with you.”
After they were seated, Dana Sue picked the blueberries out of the muffin and ate them, managing to leave most of the muffin on the plate. “I know I have no business eating this stuff, so don’t even say it,” she muttered.
“Not saying a word,” Maddie responded mildly.
Dana Sue pushed the plate away. “It’s been two damn years,” she said heatedly. “How can the mere mention of that man still get me so worked up?”
“Do you want an honest answer or was that a rhetorical question?” Maddie asked.
“An honest answer, please.”
“You’re still in love with him.”
“Don’t be absurd!”
Maddie shrugged. “You asked for honesty. Try being honest with yourself. And to be brutally honest, I’d say your reaction last night was just plain jealousy.”
Dana Sue stared at her friend incredulously. “You think I was jealous that my daughter has been talking to Ronnie?”
“Weren’t you?”
She bit back her inclination to snap out a denial, then frowned at Maddie. “You know me too damn well.”
Maddie grinned. “Yes, I do.” She studied Dana Sue for a moment. “What are you going to do about it?”
“Nothing. Are you nuts? The man cheated on me. I wouldn’t let him back into my life if he crawled on his knees.”
“Yeah, right,” Maddie murmured, her skepticism plain.
“I have my pride,” Dana Sue added.
“In spades,” she concurred.
“Well, then, you know I mean what I say.”
“I know you want to mean it,” Maddie said. “But if Ronnie Sullivan walked through that door right now, looking all sexy and sassy the way he always did, I wouldn’t want to bet against him.”
Unfortunately, if she was being totally honest, neither would Dana Sue. Fortunately, she doubted she’d ever be put to that test. If Ronnie had even half a grain of sense left in that handsome head of his, he’d never set foot in Serenity again.
Of course, if he’d loved her the way he’d claimed to, he never would have cheated on her. And—this was the kicker she always came back to—he would have stayed and fought for her. Sure, she’d made it plain she didn’t want him here. She’d even had Helen lay down all sorts of ground rules about his having only limited contact with Annie, which the idiot had actually agreed to. He should have known she was reacting in the heat of the moment, making outrageous demands because she was hurt. He knew her better than anyone, even better than Maddie or Helen, which was saying something. He knew she blew sky-high when her temper kicked in, then simmered for a while, then cooled down. But he’d gone anyway. He hadn’t waited around to see if she’d
