The door to her room inched open just then and her mom peered in.
“You awake?” she called softly.
“Awake and bored,” Annie said.
Her mom came into the room, brushed a kiss across her forehead and pulled a chair up beside the bed. “How are you feeling?”
“Lousy,” Annie replied.
Alarm flared in her mom’s eyes and she was on her feet in an instant. “What’s wrong? Should I get the nurse in here? The doctor? Is it your heart?”
Annie stared at her. “Mom, chill. I just meant I was tired of all these people coming in here to poke around in my psyche and tell me what to do.”
Her mom’s shoulders sagged with relief. “Oh.” She looked as if she wanted to say a lot more, but instead she sat back down, appearing uncomfortable.
Annie lost patience with all this tiptoeing around what was on both their minds. “Mom, why don’t you just say it?”
“Say what?”
Annie’s eyes welled with tears. “That I screwed up and you’re mad at me.”
“I’m not...”
Annie regarded her with a watery, disbelieving stare. “Come on,” she said, swiping at her tears. “You know you want to yell at me. You believe what everyone around here is saying, that I was deliberately starving myself. Why not admit it? You’ve thought all along that I was anorexic. Now you have backup. You can say ‘I told you so’ for the next hundred years.”
Her mom gave her a weary look. “I’d rather it weren’t true, sweetie. And I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at myself for not facing it sooner and getting you some help.” Her eyes filled with tears, as well. “I can’t believe I was so stupid. I thought I was handling it. I thought you were smart enough to see what you were doing to yourself after you passed out at Maddie’s wedding. I thought a lot of things that just weren’t true. This isn’t something that gets fixed by wishful thinking.”
Annie was shaken by the tears spilling down her mom’s cheeks. She’d never seen her cry before, not even when her dad had left. Oh, sure, she cried when they watched certain movies, but that wasn’t the same. This was real. And the tears were all Annie’s fault.
She reached for her hand. “I’m sorry, Mom. Please don’t cry.”
Her mom lifted her face, her expression filled with anguish. “We could have lost you, Annie. If Raylene and Sarah hadn’t been there...”
Annie shuddered. The gravity of what had nearly happened was finally starting to sink in. Worse, if Dr. McDaniels was telling her the truth, there were no certainties that it wouldn’t happen again.
“Mom, I’m scared,” she whispered. “Really scared.”
Her mom moved to the side of the bed and pulled her into her arms. “Me, too, baby. But we’re going to fix this. All of us together.”
“Dad, too?” she asked hesitantly.
She thought she felt her mom sigh against her cheek.
“Yes, sweetie, Dad, too.”
* * *
Ronnie found a motel room about halfway between the hospital and the home he’d once shared with Dana Sue. Even as he pulled into the parking lot, he knew what lay ahead. The owners of the Serenity Inn, Maybelle and Frank Hawkins, had lived in town all their lives. They knew every person who came and went, including those who only passed through for a day or two. They’d known Ronnie’s parents and Dana Sue’s entire family, including her black-sheep uncle and his no-account sons who lived outside of town and caused more trouble with their illegal still and gambling than the Sweet Magnolias had ever dreamed of. Maybelle and Frank went to every high school football game, every basketball and baseball game. And they were regulars at Wharton’s, where town gossip spread faster than a winter cold.
Still, the Serenity Inn, with its whitewashed exterior and big pots filled with geraniums, was clean, inexpensive and comfortable. And it held a few very fond memories, too....
Even though he knew this was the best of Serenity’s limited options, Ronnie approached the office with a sense of dread. He plastered a smile on his face and opened the door, relieved to see that there was no one behind the desk. The sound of the bell over the door, however, brought Maybelle bustling in from the back room.
A smile lifted all the wrinkles on her round, motherly face when she recognized him. “Ronnie Sullivan, as I live and breathe. I never thought to see you in these parts again.”
Before he could respond to the surprisingly warm greeting, her expression sobered and her gaze turned chilly. “I’m surprised you dared to show your face after what you did to Dana Sue. Then again, I imagine you came back because of Annie.” Concern chased away her icy demeanor. “How is she doing? Is she better today?”
Almost dizzy from the rapid change in Maybelle’s manner, he nodded. “She’s going to be fine. It’s good to see you, Mrs. Hawkins. Do you have a room available?”
She studied him with the kind of considering look a mother might give a wayward child. “For how long?”
“Until I can find a place of my own,” he said.
His words seemed to catch her by surprise. “You’re staying?”
“That’s the plan.”
“How does Dana Sue feel about that?”
He grinned, thinking back on the kiss. “She’s still adjusting to the idea.”
Maybelle studied him a moment longer, then finally nodded and brought out a registration form. “Fill that out. I’ll give you a weekly rate for now.” She wagged a finger at him. “But if I hear one word about you upsetting that girl, I will not hesitate to toss you out on your behind. Understood?”
Ronnie nodded. “Yes, ma’am,” he said meekly.
She smiled at last. “Just wait till I tell Frank you’re back. He still talks about that ninety-eight-yard touchdown run you made your senior year to win the homecoming game. Glory be, that was something. We all thought you’d
