Ronnie nodded, appreciating his candor. “I’d better get these meals out there before the owner takes exception to the service. Then again, she’s probably well aware that she’s likely to get what she pays for and I came dirt cheap.”
Erik chuckled. “Make sure Dana Sue doesn’t come back in here to clean up. I’ve got that under control.”
“I’ll be back to help you.”
“No need. You could join her and Helen.”
“Something tells me it would be smarter to hide out in here till Helen leaves,” Ronnie said. “She’s not my biggest fan.”
“And you don’t think you can win her over?” Erik asked, clearly amused.
“Not in one night,” Ronnie told him. “I had years when I was around and on good behavior, and she wasn’t all that thrilled with me then.”
And even though he’d made progress with winning over Dana Sue, in the end he had a hunch she was going to be an even harder sell than her best friend, at least when it came to taking that final leap of faith.
* * *
Annie wasn’t exactly eager to see Dr. McDaniels in the morning, but for the first time her stomach wasn’t twisted into knots at the prospect of a session with the shrink. Maybe she could tell her a few things, and if the doctor didn’t get all weird on her, then maybe she could tell her the rest. It wasn’t like not admitting she was anorexic was getting her anywhere. Everyone knew it, even Ty. Having him confront her without acting like she was a freak had finally given her the courage to say it out loud. She’d actually practiced getting the words out when no one was around. After a couple of times, she’d been able to say it without feeling sick to her stomach.
When the door to her room opened, she half hoped it would be her mom, but it was the shrink, right on time.
“Good morning, Annie,” Dr. McDaniels said in the same cheerful tone that always grated on Annie’s nerves. “You look better this morning.”
Annie regarded her with a shy smile. “The nurse helped me wash my hair and blow it dry.”
“It looks good. You have some color back in your cheeks, too.”
“Blush,” she admitted.
“Nothing wrong with a little makeup,” Dr. McDaniels said. “And it shows me you’re starting to take an interest in your appearance again. Any particular reason?”
“Ty—he’s my friend—was here yesterday and he made me start looking at some things in a different way,” Annie told her.
“How so?”
“He kinda yelled at me for being so dumb and not caring enough about myself.”
Dr. McDaniels tried to hold back a grin. Annie could see her struggle with it, but the corners of her mouth turned up.
“He yelled, huh? Maybe I should have tried that.”
Annie shook her head. “I think I had to hear it from him. Ty’s, like, this really great guy. He’s the star of the baseball team. We’ve known each other forever. When he told me how scared he was for me, it made me look at everything from his perspective, not just mine. I mean, I’d heard that from my folks and Sarah and Raylene—they’re my best friends—but this time I really got it.”
“Ty made you realize that your actions affect all the people who care about you,” Dr. McDaniels suggested.
Annie nodded. “He did something else, too. He held up a mirror and made me look in it.”
“And?”
“I didn’t like what I saw, because I saw myself through his eyes. He didn’t see the fat person I do. He made me realize I don’t look so good.”
“Sounds like you had quite a breakthrough,” Dr. McDaniels said, obviously pleased. “You ready to get to work to change the behavior that brought you here?”
Annie knew exactly what the woman wanted to hear. She wanted more than an agreement to change. She wanted an admission that Annie recognized she had a problem.
She forced herself to look the psychologist in the eye. “You mean my being anorexic?”
Dr. McDaniels beamed. “That is exactly what I mean.”
Annie swallowed hard. “What if I can’t change it?”
“You can,” she said emphatically. “I believe that. So should you. The biggest step is admitting the problem. I’m not saying it won’t be hard and there won’t be days when you hate me and Lacy and every nurse monitoring your food intake. There will be times when you’ll think it would be easier just to bag the sessions, or days when you look at food and the idea of putting one single bite in your mouth makes you sick. But you can do this, Annie. I’m here to help you. Lacy’s on your side, too. Your folks will do anything in the world to support you. And it sounds as if your friends Ty, Sarah and Raylene will help you, as well.”
Annie grinned. “Ty said he was going to stick to me like white on rice to make sure I eat.”
“Good for him. Now here’s what I want you to think about for tomorrow,” Dr. McDaniels said. “The only way to be sure you don’t go back to your old pattern is to figure out how you ended up there in the first place. I want you to think back to how all of this started. Maybe you wanted to lose a couple of pounds before a big dance. Maybe it was something bigger than that. Think really hard and see if you can isolate the turning point when food suddenly became the enemy. Can you do that?”
Annie nodded. She could have answered the question right now, but she didn’t feel like talking about it. She didn’t even like thinking about it.
Dr. McDaniels regarded her intently. “Annie, do you already know the answer to that? Do you want to get into this now? I can stay longer.”
“No,” she said hurriedly. “I don’t.”
The shrink looked vaguely disappointed, but she didn’t press her.
