The Realtor looked vaguely disappointed, but made a note in her day planner. “I’ll call you if I haven’t heard from you by then.”
“Of course you will,” he teased, then brushed a quick kiss across her cheek. “You didn’t get to be queen of real estate around here without trying to make things happen.”
He was about to walk away when he remembered her other meeting this morning. The fact that he’d forgotten something so important was testament to how distracted he was by Annie’s rebellious attitude.
“Would you do me a favor?” he asked Mary Vaughn.
“Of course.”
“When you’re talking to your developer friend this morning, mention my name, okay?”
“Mind if I ask why?”
“Let’s just say it’s all part of this plan I have in the back of my mind.”
As if sensing that it might help her to close the deal for the property, she said, “You could come along with me now. I’m sure he wouldn’t object. He’s a pretty laid-back guy.”
Ronnie debated with himself, then decided against it. “I need to get my ducks in a row first,” he told her. “Just speak kindly of me if the opportunity arises.”
“Done,” she said at once. “Now I’d better run. Being late never makes a good impression.”
Ronnie watched her climb into her cream-colored Lexus and drive off. He cast one last look back at the hardware store and once again felt that burst of excitement deep inside. He shoved the papers Mary Vaughn had given him into his pocket and headed straight back to his motel. It was time to start running some numbers to see if this dream of his had a chance in hell of succeeding.
* * *
Annie scowled at Dr. McDaniels, trying to hold back her anger. She knew the woman had ratted her out to her parents, and now they were going to be all over her until she cooperated. The whole thing sucked, big-time.
Annie remained stoically silent, even though the shrink was regarding her with an expectant expression, just waiting for her to open up and spill her guts. So what if her parents had been telling her the truth, that she couldn’t get out of the hospital till she started talking. The truth was, she was scared. What if she blabbed every one of her deepest, darkest secrets and the doctor decided she was a basket case? Nope, she couldn’t take that chance.
“I’ve got nothing for you,” she told the shrink eventually. “I don’t eat because I’m not hungry.”
“Never?” Dr. McDaniels asked skeptically.
“Nope, never.”
“And yet you know the human body has to be fed in order to survive,” Linda McDaniels said. “You know it’s important to drink plenty of fluids, so you won’t get dehydrated. I imagine they taught you all that in school.”
“Sure,” Annie said. She didn’t add that Lacy and Dr. McDaniels themselves had been over the same information a zillion times in the last week or so. It was getting really old.
“Then not eating or drinking is a conscious choice on your part. You must be making a decision to starve yourself to death. Why?”
Annie shrugged. “I dunno.”
“I think you do,” the shrink chided.
“Then maybe you should tell me,” she said. The woman might as well work for her seventy-five bucks an hour!
As if she’d guessed Annie’s unspoken challenge, Dr. McDaniels merely smiled. “I think I’ll let you come up with your own answers, Annie. Think it over and we’ll discuss it further tomorrow. Same time.”
“I thought I was going home tomorrow,” she said, even though she’d been told it wouldn’t happen as long as she wasn’t talking to the shrink.
Dr. McDaniels shook her head. “Not unless I feel you’re giving me your full cooperation. Lacy says you’re still trying to fool the nurses about how much you’re eating, as well. I heard all about that turkey sandwich you managed to hide in the trash can, Annie. That you would do something like that when you’re in the hospital tells me you still don’t grasp the seriousness of this.”
“Did my mom and dad blab about that?” Annie demanded.
Dr. McDaniels regarded her evenly. “They didn’t have to. There’s not much we don’t find out about around here. Think of this as a tiny microcosm of Serenity. News travels very fast on the hospital grapevine.”
“That sucks,” Annie said sullenly.
“No, it just means there are a lot of people around here who are dedicated to seeing to it that you get well. But you have to want that, too, Annie. You have to acknowledge that you have a problem before we’ll ever be able to deal with it.”
“What happens if I don’t talk?” she asked. “You going to keep me locked up here forever?”
“Your parents didn’t explain the alternative to you?”
Annie shook her head. “No.”
“Okay, here’s what I told them,” she said, leveling a look at Annie that made her squirm. “If you don’t address this in a meaningful way, I’ll have no choice but to recommend that you go to an inpatient treatment facility.”
“No way!” Annie cried.
“Yes, way,” the shrink responded. “So here are your choices, Annie. We start to make some progress here, and you eat everything on the menus that you and Lacy plan, then I’ll release you, and we’ll continue to have sessions every day after school. Or you go to a treatment facility that specializes in eating disorders. There are a couple in the state that I recommend.”
“I’d have to go away from Serenity and leave all my friends?” Annie asked incredulously. “For how long?”
“As long as it takes.”
Annie shook her head. “My parents will never agree to me being sent away.”
“They already have,” Dr. McDaniels said. “So what’s it going to be?”
Annie stared at her in dismay. “I’d have to keep these stupid appointments every day after school?”
“Until you get a grasp on why you’re doing this, yes. We can’t fix the problem until you acknowledge and understand it, and we come up with a plan for getting you healthy again. The sooner we get started, the
