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  “Not a problem,” Ronnie told her.

  “You didn’t have any trouble with Walter, did you?”

  “None I couldn’t handle,” Ronnie said. “But he’s on the warpath, Sarah. Make sure you get to Helen first thing in the morning, okay?”

  “Already planning on it,” Sarah assured him. She turned to Ty. “You going to beat me there?”

  “Meaning?”

  “Until you settle this mess with Trevor’s mother once and for all, maybe you should give Annie some space,” Sarah told him. “Drawing her into all that drama isn’t fair. The way it stands now, she doesn’t know what she has to deal with from one minute to the next.”

  “I’m not always so clear on that myself,” Ty said, “But I want Annie to know she comes first with me.”

  “Does she really?” Sarah inquired, her skepticism plain. “Seems to me, Trevor needs to be your top priority right now, and that’s as it should be. He is your son, after all.”

  “I hear what you’re saying,” Ty told her. “But Annie needs to know she has a place in my life. I didn’t make that clear when this mess started three years ago. I can’t make the same mistake again.”

  Sarah didn’t look entirely convinced, but she shrugged. “Your choice, of course.”

  Ronnie, however, gave him a hard look. “Be sure, Ty. Because if you’re not in this for the long haul, Sarah’s right, you need to let Annie go now.”

  Ty stared down both of them. “How many times do I have to say it? Annie’s the only woman I’ve ever loved. I’m going to find a way to make this work.”

  Unfortunately, right this second, he had no idea what that strategy was going to be. He had a feeling he was long since past the point when a bouquet of daisies would do the trick.

  Helen was enjoying a rare moment of alone time with her husband over morning coffee when she heard the thump of her mother’s cane approaching the kitchen. She barely resisted the desire to groan. Erik gave her a commiserating look.

  “Be nice,” he said quietly. “Imagine what being cooped up here all this time has been like for her. Flo’s a social creature. The only real company she’s had has been Barb and our friends.”

  “I know,” Helen said. “But is a half hour alone with you too much to ask?”

  “It won’t be much longer now,” he consoled her. “You’ve seen how much better she’s getting around. I’m sure she’s just as impatient to be on her own as you are to have her settled in her own place. Talk to her about that. It’ll give you both something to look forward to.”

  “I don’t want her to feel like I’m anxious to shove her out the door,” Helen said, though that was exactly how she felt, especially on the days when Flo spent an hour telling her how she was mismanaging her household.

  Just as Flo reached the doorway to the kitchen, Erik stood and gave Helen a kiss. “I’m going to catch a little more sleep. I don’t have prep duty at the restaurant this morning.”

  Flo walked into the kitchen clutching the morning paper in one hand. She beamed at Erik, but the look she reserved for Helen was more tentative. “Good morning,” she said. “Is there coffee made?”

  “I’ll pour you a cup before I go,” Erik said, getting a cup from the cabinet and setting it in front of her. “There are freshly baked cinnamon rolls, if you’re interested.”

  Flo immediately shook her head. “Not for me. I have to start watching my girlish figure. After going without exercise for so long and your excellent cooking, I’ve put on a few pounds. My clothes are starting to get tight. Now that I’m moving better, it’s time to get serious about taking the weight off.”

  Helen regarded her with surprise. “Mom, you look great. In fact, you look even healthier than you did when I came to get you in Florida. You don’t have anything to worry about.”

  Erik slipped off as Flo countered with a litany of all the things she thought were wrong with her appearance. Helen finally lost patience.

  “Mom, you’re seventy-two. You’re never again going to look like you did at fifty.”

  “Maybe not, but I can try,” Flo said. “You’d be wise to take care of yourself, too. Years ago, when I was your age, I thought my looks would last forever, but of course they never do.”

  Helen refused to admit that she’d already started to worry about the fine lines at the corners of her eyes and around her mouth. The latter, she was sure, had deepened because she so often pursed her lips to keep from saying the wrong thing to her mother.

  When Helen remained silent, her mother tapped the paper on the table. “I thought maybe we could check the classifieds for apartments or houses for rent.”

  Though she was delighted Flo had raised the subject, Helen had reservations about her plan. “I don’t want you wasting money on rent,” she told her. “Once we’ve sold the condo in Florida, you’ll be able to buy whatever you want. I spoke to the Realtor yesterday and she tells me she’s just about certain she’s going to have a contract on the condo by the end of the week. It won’t be quite what we were hoping for, given the slow turnaround in the real estate market, but it will even give you some money to put into savings after you buy something here.”

  Flo’s eyes lit up. “Really? What perfect timing! Then we definitely have to start looking. Shall we call that nice young woman, the one who was in school with you? She’s in real estate now, as I recall.”

  “You mean Mary Vaughn Lewis?”

  “That’s the one. I’d forgotten that she was married to Sonny Lewis.” She frowned. “Or did they get divorced?”

  “They did, but they’re remarried now,” Helen told her.

  Flo shook her head. “I don’t understand these on-again, off-again, on-again marriages. I swear I don’t. People need to fight harder to stay married in the first place.”

  “Amen to that,” Helen said in a rare moment of agreement with her mother. “Unfortunately, that’s not the advice most people want to hear from their divorce lawyer.”

  Flo chuckled. “No, I suppose not. So, shall I call Mary Vaughn or will you?”

  “I’ll call her,” Helen said with some reluctance. Mary Vaughn’s determined attempts to get her claws into Ronnie on a few occasions had made her less than a favorite with the Sweet Magnolias, but Jeanette had coaxed them all into giving her a second chance. And now that she was happily remarried to Sonny, the concerns about her going after Ronnie were pretty much averted. Still, Helen was cautious. Once burned, twice shy. Even though Mary Vaughn had never done anything to her, if something affected one of the Sweet Magnolias, it affected them all.

  “Would you rather speak to someone else?” Flo asked, picking up on her lack of enthusiasm.

  “No, Mary Vaughn is the best. I’ll have her start looking around for some possibilities and we can schedule an evening next week to meet her. By then we should know more about whether the condo’s sold.”

  Flo regarded her with excitement. “I can’t tell you how I’m looking forward to this,” she said. “It’ll be fantastic to have my own space again. Not that you and Erik haven’t been wonderful, because you have been, but you two need your privacy and so do I.”

  In a typically perverse way, Helen took offense at Flo’s eagerness to be gone. What, Helen reflected, did it say about her that one second she couldn’t wait to get her mother out from underfoot, and the next she was upset because Flo wanted the same thing?

  It said her conflicted feelings about her mom ran as deep as ever, she realized with dismay. All these weeks under one roof and they’d only rarely found any common ground. How was that possible?

  Maybe some mothers and daughters just weren’t meant to outgrow the old parent-child relationship and find a deeper connection as adults. Then, again, she thought, maybe some just had to work a little harder at it. She resolved then and there to do just that…before it was too late. These days, seventy-two wasn’t old, but it was an age when no one should take anything for granted.

  22

  Annie had successfully dodged eve
ry one of Ty’s attempts to reach her during the day on Monday. He’d thought they ought to have at least some kind of conversation to start the peace process before his therapy session that night, assuming she even planned to show up for that. He’d made it clear in all of his messages that he intended to be there on time, so hopefully she wouldn’t blow that off, too. He could only keep his fingers crossed that her professionalism would win over her temper.

  When he arrived at The Corner Spa, the lights were on and the door was unlocked. Ty considered those good signs.

  But when he walked inside, he was greeted by Elliott, not Annie. His heart sank.

  “Where’s Annie?” he asked at once.

  “In the office, actually.”

  “So, she’s determined to avoid me?”

  Elliott shrugged. “No idea. I’m on my way out.”

  Ty’s spirits immediately brightened. It appeared she hadn’t ditched him, after all.

  “Good luck,” Elliott said, regarding him with a man-to-man, commiserating look. “She’s not in a particularly good mood. I’m pretty sure that has something to do with you.”

  “Yeah, I’m prepared for that,” Ty told him.

  He walked into the hallway leading to his mother’s office, Jeanette’s and the one shared by the personal trainers. There was a light burning only under the door at the end of the hall. He knocked and walked in without waiting for a response.

  Annie was behind her desk making notes in a client folder. She glanced up and regarded him warily, holding tight to the pen in her hand.

  “I wasn’t sure you were coming,” she said.

  “Not even after the half-dozen messages I left for you today?”

  “Things with you have a way of changing without notice.”

  “Fair enough,” he said. “I’m trying to reform.”

  “Well, good luck with that,” she said, her expression still forbidding.

  Ty had had years to get used to the way Annie closed in on herself when she was hurt, like a turtle retreating into its shell. He knew patience and persistence were the only ways to coax her back out. Reverse psychology might help, as well, especially under these circumstances.

  “I guess I could work out on my own tonight, if you’re too busy to coach me,” he said casually. “It’ll give me a chance to bump up those reps the way I’ve been wanting to.” He turned and headed out the door.

  He took several steps down the hall before he heard her mutter a curse under her breath and shove back her chair.

  “Don’t even think about it,” she said, catching up with him. “I’m in charge here.”

  “Hard to be in charge if you won’t speak to me,” he commented.

  “I’ll speak, but strictly on a professional basis, are we clear about that?”

  He hid a smile. “If you say so.”

  “I say so,” she confirmed, pointing toward the first piece of equipment. “That came today. Have you ever used one like it before?”

  He nodded.

  “I’ll set the weights, then let me see ten reps.”

  “Ten?” he scoffed. “How about thirty, and bump up the weight by at least ten pounds?”

  “Did I or did I not say ten reps and that I’d set the weights?”

  This time he did grin. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Oh, don’t you dare yes, ma’am me,” she groused. “I’m not your mother.”

  “No, but you are the boss, am I right?”

  “As a matter of fact, I am,” she said, looking pleased that he’d accepted it.

  They were a half hour into an increasingly strenuous workout, with her giving orders and Ty dutifully following them, before she finally turned a plaintive look on him and asked, “Why’d you do it, Ty? Why’d you blow me off for Dee-Dee?”

  “That’s not the way it happened,” he told her. He met her gaze. “Will you actually listen, let me explain from start to finish without interrupting?”

  She sat down on the bench across from his. “Talk.”

  He explained about everything that had happened the week before, from Dee-Dee’s unexpected announcement to her decision to stay in town and his very reluctant agreement to let her take Trevor to Cincinnati for a few days.

  He’d spoken to Trevor half a dozen times since they’d left, and the little boy seemed to be loving every minute of his time with Dee-Dee. Ty was grateful for that, but it still gave him a pang to know his son was now sharing his affections with his mother and prospective stepdad. He had no idea what to do with all these conflicting emotions. It would be nice to share them with Annie. First, though, he had to make peace with her.

  “I should have called you immediately,” he admitted. “I should have filled you in, but things started happening so fast, she was so emotional and Helen was so skeptical of her story, I felt like I was being pulled in different directions. I never meant to shut you out. First thing yesterday morning I came looking for you to explain everything, but your dad said you were gone for the day. I even tried to catch up with you again at Sarah’s last night.”

  Annie met his gaze. “If you and I are going to be together, we have to start facing things like this as a team, Ty. At the very least I can listen, even if you don’t want to hear my opinion.”

  He shook his head. “You have a right to do more than listen. You do have a stake in how all this turns out. At least that’s what I want.”

  He hesitated, then added, “I suppose I keep remembering how it was before. Once I told you about Dee-Dee, about her being pregnant, you closed down. You didn’t want to hear anything. You said you were done with me, that it was none of your business what we decided. I guess some of that is still in my head. As if things weren’t awful enough, I was cut off from my best friend, the person I counted on to be straight with me.”

  Annie regarded him with sorrow. “I guess we’re going to have to work at learning to communicate better, especially when it comes to Trevor and Dee-Dee.”

  “And I’ll do that,” Ty promised. “Will you?”

  “I’ll do my best,” she agreed.

  “So, how about going to Wharton’s for a burger?” Ty suggested, seizing on their newfound rapport. “I missed dinner and I’m starved. We can really talk all this through. I’d like to know what you think.”

  Despite her very recent vow to be more open and improve communications, she hesitated.

  “I don’t know if Wharton’s is a good idea,” she said.

  “Too many onlookers?” he guessed at once.

  She nodded. “It adds to the pressure. It’s going to be difficult enough for us to finally get this right without everyone in town watching every move we make.”

  “Then we’ll take a drive, get dinner somewhere else. You choose.”

  “How about my house?” she suggested, surprising him. “My dad’s playing basketball with Cal, Erik and Jeanette’s husband, Tom. They always go out for pizza and beer after. Mom’s at the restaurant. No one will be home for hours.”

  Ty held her gaze, saw the flush that rose to tint her cheeks pink. “You and me alone in an empty house?” he said slowly. “Suddenly food’s the last thing on my mind.”

  “Nutrition is as important as exercise in your recovery,” she reminded him, though she sounded a little breathless.

  “I know, but maybe we could get a different kind of exercise before we worry about that burger.”

  “How about we discuss that after we get to my house?” she suggested. “Who knows how annoyed I might get with you between here and there?”

  Ty grinned at the response. “Not to worry. I’m suddenly highly motivated to stay on your good side.”

  Annie laughed, the first genuine laugh he’d heard from her in ages.

  “Yes,” she taunted. “I imagine you are.”

  Suddenly, Ty realized something he should have learned about Annie years ago. When she had the upper hand, she was in her element. Her self-confidence soared. It was a good reminder to him that he should never again let her suffer a
ny doubts about how amazing she was, how important she was to him.

  Satisfied that they were finally on the same page and moving forward, Ty hid a triumphant smile and held the door for her, then waited while she locked up. “It’s a nice night. Want to walk?”

  “Sure.”

  It was only a few blocks, but it seemed to take an eternity to get to Annie’s. Her sudden silence disconcerted him. He was at a loss for a safely neutral topic. This didn’t bode well for how things were likely to go once they reached Annie’s.

  Inside the door, though, Ty decided to go for broke. As soon as it closed behind them, he stopped her and backed her against the wall.

  “Have I mentioned how beautiful you are?” he asked, his mouth hovering over hers. “And how it drives me crazy being so close to you and keeping my hands to myself? The other day at the beach I wanted to rip off your bathing suit and have my way with you right there on the beach, the way we used to do.”

  “We were stupid kids back then, Ty,” she said, a hitch in her voice. “And it would have been totally inappropriate for you to make a pass at me with Trevor, Jessie and Cole right there with us.”

  “Really?” he said with feigned surprise. “I had no idea you were so straitlaced.”

  She frowned at the accusation. “I’m mature, not straitlaced,” she informed him, her voice huffy.

  “There aren’t any kids around now,” he noted, running a finger along her cheek. “No other adults, either. In fact, there’s not a soul around to stop us from doing whatever we want to do.” He held her gaze. “Except you, of course. You can stop this.”

  She shivered. “I don’t want to. I should, because I’m still mad at you, but I don’t want to.”

  He smiled at her obvious frustration with herself. “Do you need to wrestle with yourself a little longer over this?”

  “No, I need you to get me into my room before I have time to come to my senses,” she told him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs around his hips, and held his gaze. “Step on it, Ty. Prove to me all those workouts are paying off.”