occasions when family get-togethers couldn’t be avoided, they’d tried to deal with the awkwardness with carefully orchestrated polite indifference. They’d both understood how a bitter split could potentially damage the lifelong friendship between their mothers, and they’d wanted to avoid inflicting that kind of collateral damage. At least they’d agreed on that much.
Of course, all of that was before the real damage had been done, before Ty’s infidelity had become public knowledge in the worst possible way. After that, all bets had been off. There’d been no more pretense that things had ended amicably.
Fortunately, neither her mom nor Ty’s had asked too many questions once the facts were out there. It went beyond sensitivity. Annie suspected Dana Sue and Maddie had made a pact years earlier to leave the two of them alone. Goodness knew, the Sweet Magnolias, as Dana Sue and Maddie and Helen had been known since high school, meddled in everyone else’s lives, but over the years they’d barely mentioned Ty in Annie’s presence or her to him. More recently, the silence had been deafening.
Annie supposed their current avoidance of the subject was part of the same old pattern, though she was in no mood to cut them any slack this time. Didn’t they think she’d care that Ty had sustained a serious injury? Didn’t they know what it would do to her for him to be right back here, in her face every single day? Couldn’t they at least have warned her?
As she started out the door, Erik tried once more to stop her.
“Wait!” he commanded. “Come on, Annie. If you won’t talk to your mother, talk to me. I swear I’ll just listen. You can rant and rave all you want.”
She regarded him with a bleak expression. “There’s nothing to say.” Ty had as much right to come home to Serenity as she did, even if it would turn her life upside down.
“Where are you going?”
She shook her head. She honestly didn’t know. Not to work, that was for sure. She worked at The Corner Spa, owned by her mom, Helen and Ty’s mom. Maddie, in fact, ran it. Annie didn’t want to face her right now, either. Though they both tried, it had been awkward between them ever since the breakup. Now it would be a thousand times worse. She wasn’t sure she could bear another of Maddie’s pitying looks.
Ironically, Annie worked at the spa as a sports injury therapist and personal trainer. Armed with her degree as a physical therapist and two years of experience at a sports injury facility in Charleston, she’d had the idea to add a physical therapy component to the spa’s services.
And while the spa was open only to women, there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that Ty intended to do his rehab there in the off-hours when no one else was around. He could be counting on his stepfather and former coach, Cal Maddox, to oversee his rehab, or even the spa’s other personal fitness instructor, Elliott Cruz, but Annie suspected that sooner or later someone was going to suggest she get involved. She was the one with the expertise in sports injuries, after all.
Just the thought of seeing Ty again was enough to make her want to throw up. It had been years since she’d won her battle with anorexia, and though she’d never been bulimic, right this second any thought of food made her nauseous. The little bit she’d already eaten churned in her stomach.
Even as the dark thoughts registered, Annie gasped. No way! she thought fiercely. She was not going to let Ty’s return send her back into the kind of self-destructive eating pattern that had nearly killed her. She was stronger than that. And he was a pig. In fact, that might have to become her mantra, one she repeated at least a dozen times a day.
“I am strong, and Tyler Townsend is a pig!” she said aloud, testing it.
Yes, indeed, that ought to keep her from backsliding. And if she felt herself slipping on either front, well, she could always take an extended vacation somewhere far away from Serenity until Ty’s shoulder had healed and he was back to his glamorous, self-indulgent lifestyle, the lifestyle he’d chosen over her.
Satisfied with her plan, she considered going to work, after all, but concluded it might be a bit too soon to test herself. Instead, she called the spa and asked Elliott to take any of her appointments he had time for and to cancel the rest.
“I’m taking a mental health day,” she informed him, falling back on an excuse she hadn’t used since high school.
“Ah, you heard about Ty,” he said, sounding sympathetic. “Anything I can do?”
“Has he been sneaking in there after hours?” she asked, hating the fact that there were virtually no secrets in this town except those kept from her.
“Just a couple of times,” he admitted. He hesitated, then added, “I’ve started working with him, but he’d do better with you.”
“Hell will freeze over before that happens,” she said heatedly.
“Think about it, Annie,” Elliott urged. “His career’s on the line, and he was once your friend.”
“He was more than a friend and he blew it,” she retorted, unyielding. “Will you deal with my appointments today or not?”
“Of course I will,” he said. “I’m sorry you’re hurting.”
Annie sighed. “I just wish I knew if I’m more hurt because Ty’s back or because everyone apparently conspired to keep it from me.”
“A little of both, I suspect,” Elliott said. “Do something totally spontaneous today, something a little crazy. Blow off some steam. You’ll feel better.”
Annie considered the suggestion, then dismissed it. The only thing that might make her feel marginally better would be having Elliott—or anyone else—agree to punch Ty’s face in. She smiled at the thought and suddenly knew exactly where she needed to go—to the one person who might actually do that for her.
Ten minutes later, she was sitting on a stool behind the counter at her dad’s hardware store on Main Street, while he waited on a customer. Ronnie Sullivan had a history of being quick-tempered and protective. This might work to her advantage today.
As soon as they were alone, her father surveyed her intently. “You don’t look so good, kid.”
“You could make me feel better,” she suggested.
“By punching Ty’s lights out?” he guessed, proving he, too, had been in on the town’s worst-kept secret. “I don’t think so.”
She sighed. “Why not? He deserves it.”
Ronnie laughed. “No question about it, but can you imagine the ruckus that would stir up between your mom and Maddie? They’d be forced to take sides, and so would Cal and I. Then Helen and Erik would be drawn into it, and eventually the entire town would likely follow suit. Pretty soon, everybody would have to wear buttons or ribbons to declare which side they’re on. Sorry, sweetie, it just wouldn’t be good for business, and in the end, you’d be consumed by guilt for stirring it all up.”
Despite herself, Annie chuckled at her dad’s logic. It was true: Serenity did have a tendency to take sides, and there was no way this feud between her and Ty would stay quiet for long, even without her dad beating Ty up for her. And, damn her soft heart, she would feel guilty about it.
“I guess I’ll just have to deal with this,” she said morosely.
Her
