“Type A, through and through,” Maddie agreed.
Helen glowered at them. “Which is why I need these goals even worse than the two of you. Help me out here, instead of making fun of me.”
Dana Sue sighed. “She has a point. We’re not being helpful.” She picked up her pen and tried to formulate her own health goals and a timetable for achieving them. Unfortunately, she couldn’t seem to focus on the state of her own health, not when her daughter was in such trouble and seemed determined to fight every step of the way on her recovery.
Instead, she wrote, “Get Annie Well” over and over, as if the words had been assigned by a teacher to drill in an important lesson.
In precisely ten minutes, Helen glanced at her watch and said, “Time’s up. What have you got?”
Dana Sue blinked, then looked at the paper in front of her and felt tears well up in her eyes.
Helen immediately reached for her hand. “What?” she demanded. “What’s wrong, sweetie?”
Dana Sue shook her head, unable to speak. Maddie took the legal pad and looked at it, then came around the table and hunkered down beside her. “Annie will get through this,” she said confidently. “She has us. She has her dad. She has Dr. McDaniels and the nutritionist.”
“What if that’s not enough?” Dana Sue whispered, swiping impatiently at the tears on her cheeks.
She saw Maddie and Helen exchange a worried look before Helen squeezed her hand and said in a no-nonsense tone, “It will be enough. We’ll see to that.”
Dana Sue gave her a watery smile and prayed that know-it-all Helen had gotten it right this time, too.
* * *
Two hours later Dana Sue and Ronnie were summoned to Dr. McDaniels’s office.
“Any idea what this is about?” Ronnie asked as they waited outside for her to arrive.
Dana Sue nodded. “She called me this morning. Annie’s not cooperating in their sessions. For the most part, she’s refused to say anything at all. Dr. McDaniels told me it’s not unusual, but it is troubling.”
Ronnie looked stunned. “I thought she was better. She was laughing last night, almost like her old self.”
“That’s denial,” Dana Sue said wearily. “Not a sign she’s cured. She wants us to believe everything’s okay.”
“She needs to get with the program,” Ronnie said heatedly.
“So...what? You want to go to her room and yell at her?” Dana Sue inquired sarcastically. “I’m sure that will accomplish something.”
Ronnie regarded her with dismay. “I never said that. I know that yelling won’t accomplish anything. It’s just so damn frustrating, you know?”
“Believe me, I know,” she said, thinking of her own meltdown earlier.
Dr. McDaniels arrived just then. “Sorry I’m late,” she said as she unlocked the door and gestured them inside. “An unexpected crisis with one of my patients.”
Dana Sue studied the psychologist’s drawn face and decided she looked exhausted. Were all of her patients like Annie? she wondered. Dealing with teens in trouble was bound to take a terrible toll.
Instead of sitting behind her desk, Dr. McDaniels pulled a chair up beside them. “Okay, here’s where we are. After you and I spoke this morning, Dana Sue, I visited with Annie again and got absolutely nowhere. She’s still denying that there’s anything wrong, though I gather she’s been a bit more cooperative with Lacy. Then again, Lacy is able to give her very specific goals and watch to see that she follows through. It’s more difficult to get her to talk if she’s not inclined to. I think she’s afraid if she admits what she’s been doing, she’ll have to deal with it, and she doesn’t think she can.”
Ronnie nodded. “She actually said as much to me the other day.”
Dr. McDaniels looked surprised. “Really? I wish you’d told me that.”
He squirmed. “Sorry. It never occurred to me.”
“At this point, anything about Annie’s state of mind is important. I need to hear it,” Dr. McDaniels said.
Ronnie nodded, then said, “In that case, there’s something else you ought to know. She told me she’d wanted to flush her meal down the toilet. The only thing that stopped her was that Lacy was watching her eat.”
“What?” Dana Sue said, staring at him incredulously. “And you didn’t think that was important?”
“She knew her attitude was wrong,” he said. “I honestly think she knows better. I’m convinced she won’t act on that impulse.”
“Then you still don’t get the fact that she lies about food,” Dana Sue snapped.
Dr. McDaniels held up her hands. “Okay, that’s enough. We won’t get anywhere by attacking each other.”
“I’m sorry,” Dana Sue said. “What can we do?”
“Each of you has a unique relationship with Annie because of the divorce,” the psychologist said. “She looks to each of you for emotional support. I don’t know the dynamics of your relationship since your divorce, but from this moment on, I want you to present a united front.”
Dana Sue felt her heart climb into her throat. “You’re not saying...” she began, but she couldn’t even voice the absurd idea.
The psychologist regarded her in confusion. “Saying what?”
“That Ronnie and I...” She hesitated, swallowed hard, then blurted, “That we should get back together.”
Ronnie looked at her steadily, as if the idea wasn’t totally insane or unappealing. Dr. McDaniels kept her expression completely neutral.
“I wouldn’t presume to tell you what to do about that,” Dr. McDaniels assured her. “I’m only talking about how you interact with Annie. If we agree on a plan, you both need to support it. There’s no room for a good cop–bad cop approach, not between the two of you or between both of you and me. We’re all on the same page. Can we agree to that?”
“Of course,” she said at once.
Ronnie nodded, though his gaze was directed at Dana Sue. She could read the speculation in his eyes.
“Okay, then,” Dr. McDaniels said briskly. “I’ve talked to Dr. Lane and he and I are agreed on this. Even though he says Annie is physically improved enough to go home, tomorrow I’m spelling out a few cold,
