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
