see that as a mixed blessing in no time at all,” he responded.
“Probably,” she admitted, then added, “But it would be worth it, Daddy. I miss you.”
“I miss you, too, angel. Now, go send those boys packing. Then you and your girlfriends can talk about them all night long, the way you did when you were a few years younger.”
“Did you and Mom actually listen to us?” Annie asked indignantly.
“Never,” he said piously. “We just interpreted the giggles coming from your room. Those were a dead giveaway, at least to your mom. Don’t forget, she was your age once. There’s not much you could do or think that she didn’t do before you, including breaking the rules.”
“That’s what you think,” Annie muttered.
“What?” he said sharply, not liking her tone.
“I love you, Daddy.”
He sighed and let it go. Long-distance parenting pretty much sucked. “Love you, too, baby. Take care of yourself and give your mom a hug. Just don’t tell her it’s from me.”
“I wish things were different,” Annie said wistfully. “I wish they could go back to the way they were.”
“Me, too. Now, go shoo those boys out before your mom catches them there and we both end up in hot water.”
“’Night, Daddy.”
“’Night, angel.”
Ronnie clung to the phone for a long time after Annie had hung up. She was growing up so fast and he was missing it. Maybe it was his own fault. Maybe he even deserved to be shut out of Annie’s life. According to Helen, Dana Sue had wanted him gone completely from both their lives, but he’d balked at that. He’d demanded visitation rights. What he hadn’t guessed was how hard it would be to get Annie to go along with them. His teenage daughter was every bit as stubborn as her mom, but she, at least, was mellowing.
He realized now what he should have seen two years ago. He didn’t have to let things be that way forever. Dana Sue might not be happy about him moving back to town, but she’d just have to get over it if he and Annie wanted to reestablish their relationship. And while he might not know that much about teenage girls, he knew a whole lot about teenage boys. Annie could use a dad around to keep her from making the kind of mistakes that could ruin her life.
Once again, he resolved to figure out some way to go back to Serenity before he missed out on even more memories.
Dana Sue was ninety percent certain that the car pulling away from her house as she drove up was filled with teenage boys. Cursing under her breath, she turned into the driveway. It was a good thing she’d decided to leave the restaurant half an hour earlier than usual. She was sure Annie must have calculated the boys’ departure based on her usual time for getting home.
When she walked into the kitchen, Sarah regarded her with a startled expression that bore a trace of guilt. With her basic honesty and pale, freckled complexion, she lied poorly and blushed easily. Her cheeks were a telltale rosy pink right now.
“Hi, Mrs. Sullivan,” she said with obviously forced cheer. “Great party. Thanks for letting us stay over.”
“Anytime,” Dana Sue said. “I’m glad Annie decided to make it a big party, instead of just asking you and Raylene. Everyone having fun?”
“Absolutely. We all brought over some CDs and we’ve been dancing. We’ll probably watch a DVD after a while. Annie says you guys have a whole bunch of chick flicks.”
“Our favorites,” Dana Sue confirmed. “Is there enough food?”
“Plenty,” Sarah confirmed. “I can’t remember the last time I stuffed myself with pizza, and those brownies you brought home from the restaurant are fabulous. I’ve had two.”
Dana Sue fought the urge to ask whether Annie had indulged in either the pizza or the brownies. Sarah took it out of her hands.
“You want to know if Annie’s had any, don’t you?” she asked.
Dana Sue nodded. “You know why it matters, don’t you, Sarah? If it weren’t so important, I would never ask you to rat on her. I’m afraid she’s in real trouble.”
“I know. I worry about her, too,” Sarah admitted in a low voice. “I think she’s—”
“Sarah, what’s taking so long?” Annie called out, walking into the kitchen. When she spotted the two of them together, her eyes immediately narrowed in suspicion. “Hi, Mom. You’re early. How come?”
“Erik said he could handle things, so I decided to make an early night of it,” Dana Sue said, disappointed that Annie’s untimely interruption had kept Sarah from answering her question. She forced a smile. “Having fun, baby?”
“We’re having a great time, aren’t we, Sarah?”
“The best,” she confirmed, avoiding Dana Sue’s eyes.
“You’re not going to hang out with us, are you?” Annie demanded.
“Of course not,” Dana Sue said, noting her daughter’s flushed cheeks and wondering if that was due to excitement or guilt about the boys who’d been there. “I’m heading upstairs to bed.”
Annie nodded. “Okay, then. Sarah, I’ll help you grab those sodas. Everybody’s hot from dancing.”
Dana Sue waited while the girls took half a dozen cans of diet soda and bottled water from the refrigerator. As they left the room, Sarah glanced back and gave a subtle shake of her head to say that Annie hadn’t been eating along with everyone else. Dana Sue felt like sitting down at the kitchen table and crying.
She’d wanted so badly to believe that all her instincts were wrong, that Annie wasn’t anorexic, after all. She’d watched her so closely for the past year, redoubling her efforts after that fainting spell at Maddie’s reception. But obviously Annie was more clever at hiding her eating disorder than Dana Sue was at detecting it. She could blame it on her schedule, being away from home for too many meals, but she’d tried to supervise Annie’s diet, she really had. She’d insisted she come by the restaurant for dinner. She’d packed nutritious lunches. But the honest-to-God truth was she hadn’t been there to see that every bite went into her daughter’s mouth. As for the obvious signs that Annie was in crisis, she’d obviously been in deep denial.
No more, though. They were going to have to confront this head-on. It was time. Past time. Add in the fact that Annie had apparently had boys over in direct defiance of Dana Sue’s instructions, and tomorrow was going to be a tough day. She and her daughter were going to have a heart-to-heart, and Annie wasn’t going to like the outcome—a visit to Doc Marshall’s office and then being grounded for a month—one bit.
With the music downstairs playing at a deafening volume, Dana Sue finally managed to fall into a restless, troubled sleep around two in the morning. She’d barely closed her eyes, it seemed, when someone started frantically shaking her.
“Mrs. Sullivan, wake up!” Sarah commanded, sounding panicked.
Dana Sue’s
