“Checking on things,” she corrected.
“Call it what you want, as long as you know I’m not going anywhere.”
She rolled her eyes. “I know. I’m beginning to think you’re like a fungus. Once it comes back, it’s even harder to get rid of the second time.”
“Is that any way to talk about the man you promised to love for all eternity?” He was amused, despite her attempt to be insulting.
“That man’s dead and buried to me,” she claimed.
Maybe it was just one more thing Ronnie was wearing blinders to avoid seeing clearly, but he didn’t think so. He winked at her. “We’ll see, darlin’. We’ll see.”
* * *
Dana Sue couldn’t escape into the restaurant kitchen fast enough. Despite her very best attempts to keep Ronnie at arm’s length, to make him feel her disdain, he was getting to her. His genuine concern for Annie was part of it, but she’d always known he loved being a dad, that Annie was the joy of his life. It was his persistence that was beginning to undermine her defenses. Some traitorous brain cell was actually beginning to believe he’d changed, that he wanted to make amends for the past, that he wanted her back and wouldn’t stop until he got her.
Of course, there were still fifty billion cells or so that weren’t buying it, but that one susceptible cell seemed as if it might start dividing and eventually catch up. She had to prevent that. She needed a couple of hours with Helen’s cynicism to accomplish it, but that clearly wasn’t in the cards for tonight. Erik’s innate protective streak would have to do.
“Did I see that ex-husband of yours come in with you?” he inquired when Dana Sue walked into the kitchen.
She nodded.
“You brought him here? Voluntarily?”
“To be accurate, he drove, but basically, yes,” she said, already feeling better now that Erik was holding her feet to the fire. He might not have been around at the time of her divorce, but he knew enough of the details to make sure she didn’t cut Ronnie any slack.
Erik regarded her with typical male bemusement when confronted with a female’s contradictory actions. “Why? I thought you hated his guts.”
Dana Sue sank onto a stool out of the way of the busboys, who were coming in with trays piled high with dirty dishes. She considered denial, but it hadn’t worked with Annie. It wouldn’t accomplish a thing now, either. She gave Erik a resigned look. “Apparently not so much.”
He looked stunned, or maybe that was just disappointment she saw darkening his eyes. She could relate. She was pretty disappointed in her weakness, too.
“You’re falling for him again?” Erik asked, as if he didn’t want to believe she’d do anything so foolish.
“Maybe.” She held thumb and forefinger a quarter inch apart. “Just a little bit.”
“Dear God in heaven. What should I do? Sign you up for an exorcism?”
Dana Sue laughed. “Now that’s an approach I’ve never considered. I wonder if it would work.” If she thought it would, she might give it a try. But how was a woman supposed to rid herself of the feelings she’d had for a man for most of her adult life? If having him cheat on her and humiliate her hadn’t done it, what would?
“I vote for telling him to get lost, and meaning it,” Erik said flatly.
“Not as long as Annie’s sick.”
Erik’s expression changed at once. “No, of course you can’t do it right now. How’s she doing?”
“She’s being stubborn and uncooperative.”
“That sounds like Annie.” He grinned. “And her mother.”
“Ha-ha,” Dana Sue responded humorlessly. “That’s why Ronnie and I are here. We’re trying to come up with a way to get through to her. And he wants to hear every single detail of how she got into this shape in the first place. He’s not going to be happy when I tell him I don’t have all the answers.”
“Then you’re not here so you can get all cozy in a dark booth in the back?” Erik joked. “That’s a relief.”
She frowned. “I may be wavering, but I haven’t jumped off the ledge yet.”
“Then, since Helen and Maddie aren’t here to do it, let me help drag you back from the edge of a very slippery slope,” he offered. “The man cheated on you. Isn’t that pretty much the scoop on Ronnie Sullivan?”
Dana Sue nodded. “For a very long time, it’s been the only part that mattered.”
“So, why would you even consider taking him back? I just don’t get it. You’re better than that, Dana Sue. You deserve a helluva lot more from the man in your life.”
“You don’t really know him,” she began.
“I know enough,” he said tightly. “I know he hurt you and Annie.”
“I can’t deny that,” Dana Sue admitted. “But I’m just starting to remember that there’s a lot more to him.”
And that scared her almost as badly as what was going on with Annie.
* * *
Ronnie was chatting with the waitress about the night’s specials, and awaiting Dana Sue’s return, when he spotted Mary Vaughn Lewis coming in the door. When he’d left town, she’d been married to the mayor’s son, the top real estate agent in the region. Knowing her driven personality, which was only one degree less driven than Helen’s, he imagined she still was.
“Excuse me,” he said to the waitress, a perky teenager who’d introduced herself as Brenda. “I think I’ll wait till Dana Sue is free before I order. I see someone I need to speak to.”
“Sure,” Brenda told him. “I’ll let Dana Sue know.”
“Thanks.” Ronnie slid from the booth and headed to the table where Mary Vaughn was already seated, her cell phone plastered to her ear. The instant she recognized him, she said something to whomever was on the phone, then snapped it shut. She stood up and threw her arms around his neck. “Ronnie Sullivan, if you aren’t a sight for sore eyes,” she said, giving him a smacking kiss on the lips. She lowered her voice. “You do
