“I just decided it was time,” she said eventually.
“I heard about that contest you have going with Maddie and Helen. I know regular exercise was on your list of goals. Maddie let me sneak a peak. Have you decided you want to win?”
Dana Sue thought of the convertible she could claim if she did, then shook her head. “Actually, that’s the least of it.”
“I see.” Elliott gave her a knowing look. “New man in your life?”
“Old one, if you must know,” she said, knowing the news would be all over town in no time, anyway.
“One motivation is as good as another, as long as you don’t give up,” he said. “It would be better, though, if you were doing this for yourself, to make you healthier and more fit.”
“Maybe I’d better focus on Ronnie for the time being,” she retorted candidly. “Because if it were up to me right this second, you’d never see me again.”
“Okay, then,” he said briskly. “It’s all about Ronnie. I can live with that. See you on Monday, same time?”
A thousand excuses came to mind, but she shoved them all back down. “Sure,” she said grudgingly. “Is it okay if I hate you, though?”
“You won’t be the first,” he assured her. “Just know that I live for the day when that attitude changes, and it will, Dana Sue. It will.”
“In this lifetime?” she asked doubtfully.
“Give it two months,” he said. “By Christmas you’re going to think I’m the best thing to happen in your life since Annie was born. And I’ve seen you with your daughter. I know how you dote on her.”
“Right now, I have to tell you that the pain you’ve inflicted on me is more comparable to childbirth.”
“Two months,” he repeated. “I’ll take you shopping for a slinky new dress myself.”
Dana Sue’s skepticism didn’t fade, but once again she thought of the bet she had going with Helen and Maddie. If Elliott was right, maybe that convertible wasn’t as far out of reach as she’d thought. An image of her skinny new self driving around town with the top down and Ronnie by her side came to mind. Yeah. Maybe she could do this, after all.
Chapter Twenty-One
With Annie much improved and about to go back to school after taking six weeks off, the kitchen at Sullivan’s became Dana Sue’s safe haven. Grateful to be back in a familiar routine, she was spending more and more time there, when she wasn’t at the gym working with Elliott, or meeting with Helen and Maddie. The three friends got together for coffee or tea, and an update on the progress each was making toward their goals, at least three mornings a week. Sometimes Maddie’s new baby came along on the days when she couldn’t bear to leave Jessica Lynn with a sitter.
So far, all of them were doing better with meeting their exercise goals. Dana Sue had lost five pounds and Maddie had toned up her abs.
On this late-October morning the focus was on Helen, who’d just announced she had turned down a client in Charleston because the case would have taken too much of her time.
Maddie and Dana Sue stared at her in astonishment before toasting her achievement with tall glasses of unsweetened, caffeine-free iced tea.
“Way to go, Helen!” they chorused.
“How did it feel to say no?” Maddie asked.
“It made my stomach hurt,” she admitted. “What if word gets out that I’m not taking new cases, and I wind up with no clients at all?”
“What if it enhances your reputation that you are now taking on only a select few clients?” Dana Sue retorted. “People in need of the best will be clamoring to see you. You’ll be able to charge a fortune.”
“I already charge a fortune,” Helen said, the corners of her mouth twitching upward.
“Still, this is very, very good,” Maddie told her. “We’ll help you come up with exactly the right marketing spin to use.”
Then, before Dana Sue could get too comfortable being out of the spotlight, Maddie turned to her. “And you—how many pounds have you lost?”
“None since last time,” Dana Sue confessed, trying to hide her disappointment at the scale’s refusal to budge beyond the five pounds she’d lost fairly quickly. “But speaking of spin, I am toning up. Elliott keeps reminding me that muscle weighs more than fat and inches are what count. My chef jackets are getting looser. Pretty soon, they’ll be too big. I’m going to have to take up sewing.”
“Just buy new ones when you need them,” Maddie said. “I remember the disaster you made of that skirt in home ec back in high school. I recommend you not even pick up a needle and thread.”
Dana Sue laughed. “Mrs. Watkins said she’d never seen a more crooked hem, and I never could get the zipper aligned so it would close.”
“My point exactly,” Maddie said. “You need a professional jacket to impress your clientele. You look great, by the way! I imagine Ronnie’s very excited about the new you.”
Dana Sue blushed. “He seemed to like me well enough before.”
“Any talk about what happens next with you two?” Maddie asked, then looked away when Jessica Lynn whimpered in her carrier. Maddie picked the baby up and patted her on the back.
Dana Sue shook her head. “It’s like a twelve-step program in reverse. We’re taking it one day at a time, but instead of trying to live without something, we’re trying to see if we can live with each other.”
Helen gave her a penetrating look. “If it’s going all that smoothly, why are you hiding out at Sullivan’s all the time?”
“I own it. I’m not hiding out there,” Dana Sue said, immediately defensive. “I relied on Erik and Karen too much for too long. Now that Annie’s a little better, I need to get back on the job. Besides, Karen seems to keep having little crises with her kids. I know that’s the risk of having
