Ty shook his head.
“Then I’ll call your mom and see if she and your stepdad can meet us for a milk shake at Wharton’s. Sound good?” he asked, heading for the exit.
“Sure,” Ty said. He looked away, then gave Ronnie a shy glance. “I don’t know everything that happened when you left town, but I’m glad you’re back. You and Dana Sue were always cool together. To me, you were like another set of parents, you know?”
Ronnie felt the warm sting of tears at the comment. “Thanks. I always felt like that, too.” Before he could embarrass himself or Ty by actually shedding a tear, he pulled out his cell phone, then realized he had no idea what the number was at The Corner Spa. He held the phone out. “Why don’t you give your mom a call?”
Ty regarded it as if it were contaminated. “No way. School’s not out for another ten minutes.”
“Ah,” Ronnie said. “Then tell me the number.”
“A much better idea,” Ty said.
When Maddie answered, Ronnie chuckled at the impatience in her voice. She was obviously swamped with whatever it was she did over there. “Sounds to me like I called in the nick of time,” he told her.
“Ronnie?”
“Yep.”
“This place has been crazy all afternoon. Sorry if I sounded snarly.”
“Not a problem. Have you got time to play hooky?” he asked, grinning conspiratorially at Ty as he did so.
“Do I sound like I do?” she said.
“No, which is precisely the reason you should take a break. Everything will seem much less stressful when you get back to it.”
“I don’t know,” she protested. “My desk is piled high.”
“Will that change if you’re gone for an hour?”
“Probably not,” she admitted.
“Then meet me at Wharton’s. I’ve been craving a chocolate milk shake. So has your son.”
There was a long silence on the other end, before she said cautiously, “Excuse me?”
“Meet you at Wharton’s in ten minutes, Madelyn,” he said. “Invite your new husband to come along.”
“You want me to include Cal when my son has apparently skipped school this afternoon? Are you crazy?”
“I don’t think so. See you in ten minutes.” Ronnie hung up before she could pester him with a lot more questions.
Ty regarded him worriedly. “You really think you can pull this off? Keeping me out of trouble, I mean?”
“Not to worry. By the time I’ve finished spinning this story, you’ll sound like a cross between Mother Teresa and Dr. Phil.”
Ty stared at him for a long time, then grinned. “Cool.”
* * *
Ronnie nudged Ty into the booth at Wharton’s, then slid in beside him so the kid couldn’t bolt. He concluded it had been a good move when Maddie came flying in, looking part Mother Hen and part Terminator.
“Cal coming?” he asked cheerfully as she sat down opposite them. Next to him Ty squirmed and avoided his mother’s fierce gaze.
“Somebody had better explain what’s going on,” Maddie said tightly. “The sooner the better.”
Ronnie was glad he’d ordered the second he and Ty had gotten there. He shoved Maddie’s milk shake a little closer. “Have a sip. You’ll feel better.”
“Plying me with ice cream is not going to work,” she groused, but took a sip just the same. She’d never been able to resist milk shakes or hot-fudge sundaes. In fact, as Ronnie recalled, they were her drugs of choice when she was upset. Odds were she’d be calmer any minute now.
A few moments later, after she’d stared hard at Ronnie, then at Ty, as if trying to decide which of them to strangle first, her expression brightened slightly.
“Hey, darlin’,” the man she’d married in Ronnie’s absence said, dropping a kiss on her cheek, then turning to Ty with a far more dangerous expression. “Tyler.”
“Uh-oh,” Ty murmured beside Ronnie.
“Maddie, are you going to introduce me to your husband?” Ronnie asked hurriedly.
“Ronnie Sullivan, Cal Maddox,” she said tersely. “Now start talking. Why wasn’t my son in school this afternoon and why is he with you?”
Ronnie gave Ty an encouraging glance, then met Maddie’s gaze. “Actually, he was with Annie.”
Maddie looked startled. “At the hospital?” She turned her gaze to Ty. “You’ve been going by at night. Why would you cut class to go?”
“Because at night there are too many people around,” Ty said. “I thought maybe if I could really talk to her—you know, get in her face—maybe I could make her see how screwed up she is.”
Maddie sat back, clearly stunned. Beside her, Cal looked as if he was torn between exasperation and pride. He finally broke the silence.
“And?” he said. “How did it go?”
Ty looked toward Ronnie for support. “Pretty good, I guess. I think she really heard me.”
“He was amazing,” Ronnie said. “I was in the hallway and overheard some of it. You should be very proud of him, Maddie. He didn’t cut Annie an inch of slack. He said stuff to her that I’ve been scared to say.” He looked at Cal. “He quoted a lot of stuff from school about anorexia.”
Cal nodded slowly. “I’m relieved to know that one lesson sank in, but—”
Ronnie cut him off. “Look, Cal, I know Ty was wrong to cut class, but this one time I think he did it for all the right reasons. Couldn’t you maybe give him a break?”
Cal was clearly torn between the rules and his understanding of the good Ty had done.
Apparently, he reached a decision, because he smiled at Ty. “I am not condoning what you did...” he told him.
“Me, neither,” Maddie added sternly.
“...but I’m really proud of you,” Cal continued. “And since, technically, it isn’t baseball season for several more months, I don’t suppose I need to suspend you from a game for violating the rules.”
Maddie’s expression softened. “And I will give you a note for your teacher explaining that you had permission to cut because of a family matter, and that it was my fault for not giving you the note in advance.”
Ty’s
