Dana Sue regarded her incredulously. “What was there to explain? The man cheated. End of story.”
“With some mature relationships,” Maddie said, “that would be the beginning of the hard work, not the end of the story.”
“I don’t recall you being all that eager to take Bill back when you found out he’d been cheating on you,” Dana Sue retorted, referring to Maddie’s ex-husband. Even as the words crossed her lips, she regretted opening an old wound. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“It’s okay.” Maddie didn’t look half as upset as she might have a few months ago. “His girlfriend was pregnant, remember? He wanted to marry her. It was a little too late to think about working things out.”
“And if Noreen hadn’t been pregnant, would you have fought to keep Bill after you found out about the affair?”
“Yes,” Maddie said without hesitation. “He’s the father of my children and we had a twenty-year marriage on the line. A part of me will always regret that we couldn’t make it work. But am I happy now? Am I glad that things turned out the way they did, that Bill left and I found Cal? Of course. Cal’s incredible.” A smile lit her face. “We have a new baby, something I never would have contemplated in a million years if Bill and I had stayed together. If it had been up to him we would have stopped after Kyle was born. Katie was a surprise to both of us. She turned out to be a blessing, but he was adamant about not having any more children, and I thought I was too old to consider it, anyway. Thank heaven Cal doesn’t think I’m too old to do anything I want to do.”
Dana Sue didn’t believe her friend was being entirely honest. “You seem to have forgotten one thing.”
“Oh?”
“Bill and Noreen never got married. He decided he wanted you back. You chose Cal.”
Maddie’s cheeks colored. “True, but there was a lot of water under the bridge by then. Even so, I hesitated for about two seconds and thought about whether I should go back to Bill because of the kids. Then I faced the fact that I was happier with Cal than I had been in a long time.”
“Maybe I’m happier without Ronnie,” Dana Sue suggested.
“Really?” Maddie asked.
She found the skepticism annoying. “I have Annie. I have the restaurant. I’m busier than I’ve ever been.”
“And you’ve never gone out with the same man more than twice,” Maddie said. “The one man who might actually be a good match for you, you keep at arm’s length.”
Dana Sue frowned. “Who’s that?” she asked, though she already knew.
“Erik.”
“I suppose you have a theory about that?”
“Of course,” Maddie said. “Your heart still belongs to someone else.”
“Gee, I thought it was because most of the men were jerks,” Dana Sue retorted, then amended, “and because Annie freaked out over my having any dates at all.”
“Not all of them were jerks,” Maddie countered. “Helen introduced you to a couple of guys who were solid, intelligent men with successful careers.”
“True,” Dana Sue admitted.
“You found flaws in them, too,” Maddie said. “Mostly because they weren’t Ronnie.”
“No, that was a plus,” Dana Sue insisted.
Maddie rolled her eyes. “Whatever. How about Erik? What are his flaws?”
“He doesn’t have any that I’ve noticed,” Dana Sue admitted. “He’s a wonderful man. I just don’t feel that way about him. I would never take a chance on spoiling the friendship and the working relationship we have.”
“Is it that, or is it because Ronnie was and is your soul mate, and you know it?”
Dana Sue gave Maddie a perplexed look. “I don’t get it. I thought you were as furious about Ronnie’s betrayal as I was.”
“I was,” she agreed.
“But I’ve seen you with him the last few days. You’ve given him a pass. The two of you are all buddy-buddy again, just the way you were years ago.”
“Because at his core, Ronnie Sullivan is a decent guy. He made a stupid mistake, but one that a lot of men make at one time or another. He wasn’t some serial cheater who chased anything in shorts and a tank top. I’m not saying he deserves a pass, just a chance to make it right.”
“Helen would disagree,” Dana Sue said.
“Helen’s a divorce attorney. She’s a lot more jaded than I am,” Maddie responded. “Bottom line, it’s your life, your decision. I’m just saying maybe you could keep an open mind. Whatever you decide, you know I’ll back you a hundred percent.”
“Even if I chase him off?”
“Even if you try to chase him off.”
“You don’t think I can?”
Maddie held up her hands. “Hey, don’t you dare turn this into a challenge just to prove me wrong. It’s your happiness that’s on the line.”
Yeah, that was the rub, Dana Sue admitted to herself. On some level she knew there wasn’t another man on earth who could make her happier than Ronnie Sullivan. What flat-out terrified her, though, was that no man could make her as miserable, either.
* * *
Annie was starting to feel as if her mom was staying away on purpose. Oh, she’d breezed in and out of the ICU, told her she loved her, but she’d avoided the kind of heart-to-heart Annie had been expecting. Either that was because her dad was around or because her mom was so furious with her she didn’t want to risk a fight while Annie was still lying in a hospital bed.
She hoped it wasn’t because her dad was back. If it was, and her mom created some kind of ruckus with him, she was afraid her dad would
