since she’d arrived in Chicago. “I feel good, emotionally, when I don’t eat. Like I’m doing myself a great favor, you know? I’m strong enough to beat base appetites. I’m in control—”
She sounded like the pamphlets and books she’d read.
But she wasn’t speaking from them. Not eating truly gave her a sense of strength. Of control. Of power.
“There’s been no weight fluctuation outside of a fivepound range,” she offered softly. She’d been watching—weighing herself in the hotel workout facility. She cared.
And was determined to remain in control.
Of course, weighing yourself all the time was a symptom, too.
“What’s got you so down this time, Soph? You have a home you love, in a town you love and are incredibly successful in a career you love—” Annie broke off, eyeing her steadily. “It’s a man, isn’t it?”
Duane’s face came clearly into view, transposed upon Annie’s sweet, concerned features. “Maybe.”
“So is there someone serious? You haven’t mentioned anyone in years, other than that Duane guy who helped you with your LLC articles of incorporation. You said you two were just friends.”
Sophie had forgotten she’d told Annie anything about Duane.
And Annie had it right. She and Duane were just friends. All they ever could be. Friends who happened to sleep together. Several nights a week. But that was their business.
“No, there’s no one serious.” Serious meant a future. It meant a life together. And that definitely was not what she had with Duane.
Annie’s face, naked as it always was when not caked with stage makeup, struck a familiar chord—reminding Sophie of a day when she’d poured out her heart.
She’d been such a pathetically weak little thing back then. It hurt to even think of that girl. Hurt more to think of the things she’d done.
“What’s wrong then?” Annie asked. “Surely you aren’t feeling bad about yourself for being unattached. My gosh, you’re only twenty-eight, Soph. You have your whole life ahead of you. And you and I both know you could have had any number of guys if you wanted to settle down to a family right away.”
Sophie shook her head. She’d changed a lot since Annie had known her. Gained confidence over the years, making choices she could be proud of.
So why did she feel like that lost twenty-year-old kid again?
“I’m in love with Duane.” She couldn’t believe she’d said that. Her feelings for him were her business. And his.
“Oh!” If Annie was hurt by the fact that Sophie hadn’t confessed about her love life, she didn’t let it show. “And he just wants to be friends? Did you tell him how you feel? I’d find it hard to believe that he doesn’t love you back.” As though everyone would have to love Sophie.
“He says he loves me.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“Problems,” Sophie said. “Plural.” She hesitated. Speaking about Duane felt wrong. Maybe even disloyal. Duane and Annie occupied two completely separate parts of her life.
“Soph?”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“You’re in danger of falling back into a huge psychological health risk.” Annie’s voice was brisk. Firm. “Talk or you could die.”
Sophie couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face. And grew larger as Annie grinned, as well.
“I never claimed to be undramatic,” she said.
“And exaggerative.”
“That, too. But the point is—”
“I got the point. I already had it. And you’re right. I’m apparently not handling things as successfully as I thought I was.”
Or maybe they’d escalated to the stage that something had to be done. Which might be what was scaring her. If she and Duane couldn’t continue as they had, where did that leave them?
Annie’s smile faded and she leaned across the cleared table. “Tell me what’s going on.”
Taking a deep breath, Sophie glanced up. “Duane’s forty-six.”
“Oh,” Annie said again. A little less enthusiastically this time.
“That’s almost twenty years older than us.”
“I might have a degree in dance, but I do know how to add.”
“He’s old enough to be my father.”
“I get that. How’s that working out for you?”
Sophie hadn’t given a hoot about his age, hadn’t ever felt the difference in their ages. Until recently. “It hasn’t been a problem.”
“I’m not surprised about that,” Annie said. “You aren’t one to get caught up in the status quo. You’ve lived your whole life outside the stereotypical box. So, do you two ever struggle to find things to talk about? Or to find common ground in how you feel about issues?”
“Never.” If anything, the opposite was true. They seemed to view the world as one. They often talked long into the night, leaving them both struggling to get through work the next day. They talked about life and the world. About society and family. And faith. About anything except their other relationships.
Duane had never even heard of Annie.
“How do you feel when you’re with him?”
Sophie pictured Duane sitting on the edge of her bed, putting on his shoes. “Comfortable,” she said. Then, seeing him at her front door, smiling as he said hello, she added, “And energized at the same time. It’s weird, really. It’s like excited peace. If that makes any sense.”
“It sounds like love to me.” Annie pushed her glass aside. “Sophie, you know more than most that sometimes life creates its own definitions,” she said, her voice intense. “Not too many girls celebrate each birthday with a different father.”
Stepfather, Sophie clarified silently. And it hadn’t been every year—sometimes the divorces took longer than expected. Still, it had been often enough.
Duane didn’t know about that, either.
“Nor do they have to be savvy enough to ward off advances from the father in residence by the time they’re thirteen.”
Though she shuddered, Sophie couldn’t let herself dwell on the past. She’d forgiven her mother for her weaknesses a long time ago. And moved on.
Now her father—the real one, the man who’d left before she’d even been old enough to remember him—was another story. Forgiving him was harder. Only a jerk would abandon
