A Slice of Heaven (24 page)

Ronnie had made an appointment with Helen two weeks earlier. He had a hunch if he’d spoken to her directly, he’d never have made it onto her calendar, but her secretary seemed oblivious to any issues between them.

When he was finally admitted to her office, he wasn’t sure what sort of welcome to expect, but it wasn’t the feverish, distracted look on the lawyer’s face as she waved him to a chair.

“I just have to finish this search,” she murmured, her gaze immediately returning to the computer on her desk.

Ronnie sat down and waited. And waited.

“Um, Helen, would it be better if I came back another time?” he asked, after fifteen minutes of hearing nothing but the click of her fingers on the keyboard.

She blinked and looked at him with surprise. “Ronnie? What are you doing here?”

That wasn’t what he’d expected, either. “We have an appointment, remember?”

She blinked again. “Why? I’m Dana Sue’s attorney. I can’t represent you.”

“Not even on this business deal I’m doing?” he asked.

“Why would you want me to?” she said. “You’re not exactly my favorite person.”

“I’d say that’s an understatement, but I was hoping that might be starting to change. Besides, you’re the best attorney in the area and that’s what I need.”

The compliment seemed to catch her attention. “Okay, talk to me. I’m not saying yes, just that I’ll listen. You have ten minutes. I have another appointment at three-thirty.”

“Since you wasted fifteen minutes of my appointment doing whatever you were doing on the computer, I’m sure you won’t mind if we run over,” he retorted.

She gave him a startled look, then grinned. “You’ve changed. You’re tougher.”

“I prefer to think of it as more businesslike, something you should appreciate.”

“I do, actually. Okay, start talking.”

He explained his arrangement with Butch Thompson, then handed over a file. “Here are the contracts his attorney drew up. I trust Butch implicitly, but I also know enough not to sign anything until it’s been looked over by someone representing my interests.”

“Absolutely,” she said.

“And so you know, this isn’t a one-shot deal. If everything goes the way I’m hoping, there will be contracts with developers throughout the region that will need to be drawn up. I’d like you to do that, as well.”

Helen nodded and turned her attention to the contract, jotting notes to herself as she read. “It’s a fair deal,” she said at last. “At least on the surface. I’d like to go through it again tonight. Can I bring it by the hardware store tomorrow? I’d like to see what you’re doing there, anyway.”

“Of course,” he said, relieved she hadn’t shown him the door. “By the way, can I ask what you were doing when I got here? You seemed awfully absorbed in your Internet search. Big case?”

To his astonishment, color bloomed in her cheeks. The ever-confident, often arrogant Helen actually looked embarrassed. Was she trying Internet dating, perhaps?

“Just a personal project,” she admitted, which made the whole computer dating thing seem even more likely, if unexpected.

“Okay,” he said, not pushing it. He wondered if Dana Sue knew anything about whatever Helen was up to.

As if she’d read his mind, she gave him a hard look. “Don’t try prying it out of Dana Sue, either. It’s personal.”

“Got it,” he said, and grinned. “Whatever it is has put a real sparkle in your eyes. I hope it works out.”

She regarded him with surprise. “You almost sound as if you mean that.”

“I do. Why wouldn’t I?”

“I was pretty hard on you during the divorce and since you’ve been back in town,” she said.

“You were protecting Dana Sue,” he countered. “I can appreciate that. And by the way, I don’t intend to hurt her again.”

Helen sat back and studied him, then asked, “Okay, assuming I give you the benefit of the doubt about that, where does Mary Vaughn fit in?”

“She doesn’t,” he said without hesitation.

“Really? I hear she’s spending a lot of time at the hardware store.”

“She volunteered to give me a hand. If I’m going to open before Christmas, I need all the help I can get. Should I have turned her down?”

“That depends on how serious you are about not hurting Dana Sue again. Just a word of advice? If Mary Vaughn really isn’t an issue, you might want to work a little harder to make sure Dana Sue knows that,” Helen said. “Mary Vaughn, too. Otherwise I’m afraid I might have to defend your ex-wife on an assault and battery charge.”

“Really?” he asked, taken aback. “She’s that jealous?”

“You never heard it from me,” Helen told him. “And if I were you, I’d wipe that smug expression off your face before you say anything to her about it.”

“Duly noted,” he said. “I’ll take care of that tonight.”

“It might bear repeating. This is Dana Sue, after all.”

He laughed. “From now till doomsday, if that’s what it takes.”

She actually smiled. “There must be something wrong with me,” she said. “I’m starting to like you, Ronnie Sullivan.”

“Ditto, Helen Decatur.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she promised. “Now tell my secretary to send in my next client. Otherwise I’ll wind up being here till midnight, and I’ve made a vow to stop doing that.”

“Who’s holding you to that?” he asked curiously.

“Your ex-wife, for one. Maddie, for another.”

“Take it from a man who’s learned a little something about vows,” he said. “It’ll go better when you start holding your own feet to the fire.”

Annie felt like an idiot. She was going back to school today, and her mom was hovering as if she was going off on a trip to Mars.

“Mom, it’s not like it’s my first day of kindergarten,” she protested. “I’ve been to school before. I know the kids. I know the teachers. I’ve done my homework. So chill, okay?”

“It’s a big deal,” her mom protested. “You haven’t been there in six weeks.”

“Summer vacation’s longer than that and you don’t go all weird when I go back in September.”

“This is different,” she insisted.

“The doctors all tell me I’m ready,” Annie said in exasperation. “Even Dr. McDaniels, and you know she doesn’t cut me any slack. You’re the only one who’s not ready for this.”

“Your dad’s a little nervous, too,” her mom told her. “He’ll be here any minute.”

Annie regarded her with dismay. “And then what? Are you two going to hold my hands and walk me to school?”

Her mom grinned. “Don’t give me any attitude or we might decide that’s a wonderful idea.”

“Mom!”

“We just thought it would be nice if we had a family breakfast before you left.”

Annie felt her stomach clench. “I don’t need you to watch me to make sure I eat,” she said irritably. “We are so past that.”

“This isn’t about your anorexia. It’s about the three of us being together on an important day,” her mother responded. “You know we always made a big deal about this kind of thing.”

Annie regarded her suspiciously. “And that’s all this is?”

“I swear it,” she said, sketching a cross over her heart. “You look nice, by the way. That blue is a great color on you. It matches your eyes.”

“You don’t think it’s too tight?” Annie asked worriedly. “I’ve gained some weight since I bought it.”

“No, it’s a perfect fit now. Very flattering.”

Annie spun around in front of the full-length mirror on the back of her bedroom door, something she wouldn’t have done a few months ago. She felt a momentary pang of uncertainty, a faint flicker of the old fear of being too fat, but then she looked—really looked—at herself, the way Ty had made her look in the mirror at the hospital. There was no question that she looked healthier now. If anything, she was still a little on the thin side, but her color was better and her hair had more shine and bounce since her mom had sprung for the works at a salon in Charleston Helen recommended. The three of them had gone together. Her mom had even gotten a few highlights in her own hair. They made her look younger.

Impulsively, Annie turned and gave her mother a fierce hug. “I know I get mad when you and Dad are on my case, but don’t stop, okay?”

“We will never stop looking out for you,” her mother promised, returning her hug.

Annie stepped back and surveyed her with interest. “You’ve lost weight.”

“More inches than weight,” her mom corrected, then held up her arm and flexed her bicep. “Look, a real muscle.”

Annie laughed. “Awesome. Are you working out at the spa?”

“Every day except Sunday,” her mom confessed. “Treadmill three days, weights the other three. Elliott’s pushing me hard.”

“The personal trainer?”

“Yes.”

“Whoa!” Annie said. “Has Dad gotten a look at that guy?” Her mom looked puzzled by the question. “No, why?”

“Because he’s seriously hot. I don’t know if Dad would want you hanging out with him.”

“It’s not your dad’s decision,” she retorted.

Annie reconsidered the situation. “You know, it could be a good thing. If Dad got a look at Elliott, he might hurry up and ask you to marry him again.”

“Hold on,” her mom protested. “Your dad and I are not even close to discussing getting married again.”

“You should be,” Annie declared. “Everyone knows you belong together. You’re just wasting time.”

“We’re being cautious,” her mom countered. “It might have been a good idea if we’d taken things slower way back when.”

“But then you might not have had me, or I’d be, like, twelve or something.”

“True,” her mom said. “But things turned out exactly the way they were supposed to turn out. And,” she added pointedly, “they will this time, too.”

“I still think you ought to make sure Dad gets a look at Elliott,” Annie said. “It could speed things along.”

In fact, since her mom seemed so reluctant to stir things up, maybe it was something
she
could handle. When people got as old as her mom and dad, they didn’t have time to waste.

A
ll thoughts of matchmaking for her mom and dad fled the instant Annie set foot inside her school. On some level, she felt the way she had on her first day of kindergarten, and she almost wished her parents had insisted on coming with her, after all. Everything seemed kind of surreal and unfamiliar, as if she’d never met any of these people or attended a single class. Even the smells seemed different, though floor wax and chalk dust still permeated the air.

Worse, she felt as though everyone was staring and whispering. In fact, she
knew
they were, because of the silence that fell as she passed by. She told herself it shouldn’t matter, that the kids who knew her and cared about her had already been around to show their support. The rest were simply eager to have something to talk about—the girl who’d nearly died from not eating. She just happened to be
today’s
news; it was scarier than most because it could have happened to any of them.

Still, even though she understood, there was a huge temptation to bolt just to get away from the speculative stares. The second she considered doing exactly that, Sarah and Raylene materialized beside her.

“You ready for the history test?” Sarah asked, as if this was any other day and not a whole six weeks since the last time Annie had been in class.

“Not me,” Raylene responded, moaning. “I hate history. Who can remember all those dates? And why should we care, anyway?”

Annie grinned at Sarah and together they recited the teacher’s favorite saying, “Those who don’t understand history are doomed to repeat it.”

Raylene merely rolled her eyes. “As if I’m going to be in a position to declare war on anybody.”

“You could be in Congress some day,” Annie said. “You’re smart enough.”

“Puh-leeze,” Raylene said with a toss of her hair, then grinned. “Of course, I could be
married
to a congressman.”

“You just set women’s lib back by twenty years,” Sarah said with a groan. “Don’t you have any ambition for yourself?”

“To marry well,” Raylene said. “Ask my mother. It’s the only thing that counts, which is why I am going to have to go through with this whole stupid debutante thing.” She stuck her finger in her mouth. “Gag me.”

Annie regarded her with surprise. “You’re going to have a ball and all that kind of stuff?”

“That’s what they tell me. My grandparents in Charleston have it all arranged. I even have to take some stupid classes in the ‘social graces,’ whatever those are.”

Sarah giggled. “Do they have any idea what a challenge it’s going to be to turn you into a lady?”

Raylene scowled at her. “Bite me.”

“It could be fun,” Annie said thoughtfully. “I’d do it if I had the chance.”

“No way,” Sarah said.

Raylene grinned. “She just wants a chance to ask Ty to some fancy dance.”

Sarah nodded. “Now, that I can believe.”

Annie grinned back at them. “So bite
me,
” she said, suddenly feeling like a normal kid again.

“I wish we could do it together,” Raylene said wistfully. “If we did, maybe I could get through it without puking.”

Sarah grinned at her. “I imagine one of the first things they’ll teach you is to stop talking about puking in public.”

“It’s better than
doing
it in public,” Raylene countered. “Come on, guys, we’d better get to class. Mr. Grainger takes off points if we’re late, and I’m going to need all the points on this test I can get.”

Both girls linked their arms through Annie’s as they hurried down the hall. It made walking into class a thousand times easier, Annie thought, grateful to both of them.

“Welcome back,” Mr. Grainger said when Annie had taken her seat.

That was it, and then he was handing out test questions, and Annie was officially back in school. It didn’t mean there wouldn’t be times the rest of the day when she was aware of stares and whispers, but the worst was behind her. Best of all, there was the chance she would run into Ty at lunch. And her dad was back in town for good. Life was better than she’d ever imagined it could be a couple of months ago.

Dana Sue stared at Ronnie across the kitchen table. “How do you think she’s doing at school?” she asked for what had to be the tenth time.

“Probably a whole lot better than she was when you were hovering over her an hour ago,” he said.

“Of course I was hovering,” she exclaimed. “Don’t try to convince me you didn’t want to keep her right here where we could keep an eye on her.”

“Never denied it,” he said. “But now that she’s gone, you and I could use this time to do something for ourselves.”

She studied him with a narrowed gaze. “Such as?” she asked warily. “If you’re thinking about sex at nine o’clock in the morning, there must be something wrong with you.”

“I think about sex whenever I look at you,” he said. “Doesn’t matter what time it is. But actually, I was thinking we could go down to the store and you could pick out some paint for the trim on the house.”

She stared at him blankly, vaguely disappointed. Despite her comment, sex was never far from her mind lately, either. “This house? You want to paint the trim on this house?”

“It needs it, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“But painting it is not your responsibility,” she said. “I just haven’t gotten around to hiring someone.”

“Why hire a painter when I’m here and willing, and I own a hardware store where I can get the paint wholesale?”

“That’s too much logic in one sentence coming from you,” she said. “It makes me nervous.”

“Me offering to paint the house makes you nervous? Why?”

“Because something tells me it’s like the camel getting his nose under the edge of the tent. Next thing I know you’ll decide the bedroom needs paint and right after that you’ll want to test the mattress.”

Ronnie laughed. “You haven’t let me anywhere near our bedroom since I got back to town. I have no idea if it needs painting or not.”

“It does, but you’re not going to do it,” she said stubbornly. “I’ll get around to it eventually.”

“Eventually might be soon enough for the bedroom, but it’s not for the exterior. Stop getting all weird over a few cans of paint and come with me to pick it out.”

“You’re determined to do this, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am,” he said somberly. “Very determined.”

“You could pick it out yourself,” she suggested.

“And risk your wrath if I get it wrong? I don’t think so,” he countered. “Besides, maybe you should give this some thought. Be daring. Paint the trim shocking pink or something.”

Despite her reluctance to go forward with this project at all, a memory of the first time she and Ronnie had worked side by side to fix up the house came back to her and had her smiling. “As I recall, the first time you and I painted the trim, we got more paint on ourselves than we did on the house.”

“Which is why I’d paint it all by myself this time,” he teased. “You were too much of a distraction in your cute little shorts and tank top.”

Dana Sue rolled her eyes. “Okay, you can paint it, but I think shocking pink might be a little over-the-top.”

“Ah, you’re still in your stodgy, traditional phase,” he noted. “I thought you’d be past the stage when our house has to look like every other house on the block.”

“I am not stodgy,” Dana Sue said.

“Oh, please, who are you trying to kid? Annie had to plead with you before you agreed to paint the shutters bright blue instead of black.”

Dana Sue frowned. “I don’t remember that.”

“Then you’ve conveniently blocked it from your memory,” he said. “Come on, sugar, there’s a whole color palette down at the store with your name on it. Besides, you haven’t even been by to see the changes I’ve made. I want to know what you think.”

She was surprised by the hint of hurt in his voice. “Really? It’s the first time you’ve invited me.”

“Silly me,” he said. “I thought maybe you’d be interested enough to drop on by with Annie.”

“Maybe we both need to stop assuming things and just ask for what we want,” she said.

“I want you to stop dillydallying and to come with me,” he said plainly.

She grinned. “Okay, then, let’s go look at paint. And just so you know, I will try really, really hard not to tell you how to rearrange the displays once I’ve seen them.”

“Thank God,” he said with exaggerated relief. “Helen’s already offered her two cents. She would have had the whole place torn apart and reorganized, if Annie hadn’t hustled her out the door.”

“Helen’s seen it?” she asked, surprised.

“She brought by some papers the other day,” he said. “Didn’t I tell you she’s handling the legal work for the business?”

Dana Sue frowned. “You didn’t mention it and neither did she.”

“You don’t object, do you?”

“No, why would I?”

“You sound a little ticked off,” he commented.

“Because neither of you saw fit to tell me,” she said. “Is Maddie somehow involved in all of this, as well? Maybe you’re thinking of hiring her as manager?”

Ronnie leaned down and kissed her hard. “While Maddie would be an excellent manager, I can’t afford her. Stop feeling slighted. You’re the only one who’s had a personal invitation to tour the place before the grand opening, and the only one for whom the owner is going to paint a house personally.”

“That’s something, I guess.”

“Based on my usual rates for that kind of job, it’s quite a lot,” he taunted. He held the kitchen door open and waited impatiently as she hunted for her purse and followed him out. “Shake a leg, sugar. If we don’t hurry up, the window of opportunity for me to make good on the offer is going to slam shut. I have almost no time for myself now and once I open the store, my time’s not going to be my own for a while.”

“I see,” she said, feeling somehow deflated by the news and by the fact that he didn’t seem the least bit disappointed that there would be no time for the two of them.

He glanced over at her after he got behind the wheel of his pickup. “Stop fretting, Dana Sue. You and Annie will still be my number-one priority.”

“You sure about that?” she asked doubtfully.

“Oh, that’s right, I was thinking of sneaking off to Myrtle Beach with Mary Vaughn for a couple of weeks,” he said.

Dana Sue scowled at him. “You are so not funny.”

“And you so don’t have anything to worry about,” he countered. “I…love…you. Only you, okay?”

She finally allowed herself to relax. “Okay,” she said meekly. “If that changes—”

“It’s not going to change,” he said, cutting her off. “Not ever.”

Impulsively, she reached across the console and linked her fingers through his. Some of his strength and certainty seemed to seep into her then.

“You know,” she said, tracing a slow, tantalizing circle in the middle of his palm. “The paint will still be there in an hour, won’t it?”

He gave her a startled look. “You want to…?”

“Oh, yeah,” she said.

Ronnie whipped his pickup around the turn to the Serenity Inn so fast she was almost thrown from her seat.

“I guess that’s a yes,” she said, grinning as he skidded to a stop in front of his room.

A day that had started with worry and uncertainty had just taken a substantial turn for the better.

Just as he’d warned might happen, Ronnie was so caught up with staying on Annie’s case and getting his business up and running that he barely crossed paths with Dana Sue during the first two weeks of November. When they did happen to meet, he forced himself to do little more than kiss her senseless and keep on moving. The kisses were reminders of everything good between them. He figured it was going to take him opening the store and making a go of it to prove to her that he wasn’t going anywhere again. Even though their relationship had heated up considerably, he was smart enough to know that it would take more than hot sex to make her accept him back into her life for good.

Somehow he had to find a way to prove to her that everything he needed was right here in Serenity—a career he could get excited about, a daughter he was crazy about and the only woman he’d ever craved with every fiber of his being. A woman who most definitely was
not
Mary Vaughn.

By working practically around the clock himself, and with a lot of help from Annie and the ever-present Mary Vaughn, who wouldn’t take his hints discouraging her, he was actually running ahead of schedule. He was opening the business on Saturday, almost a whole week before Thanksgiving, rather than the pre-Christmas launch he’d been envisioning. Maybe after this weekend he could get serious about his pursuit of Dana Sue.

“Dad, when are you going to ask Mom to marry you again?” Annie asked as she put up the crepe-paper streamers she’d insisted on for the store’s grand opening.

“Maybe I thought I’d wait till she asks me,” he teased.

“Are you nuts?” Annie demanded, regarding him with a thoroughly disgusted expression. “Don’t you know her at all? She will never do that. It’s not romantic enough. You need to sweep her off her feet.”

He grinned at his daughter, grateful to see that she was no longer just skin and bones. She’d gained a few pounds and her cheeks had a healthy glow. The glow seemed to increase a thousandfold whenever Ty was around, which he would be any minute now. She’d apparently coerced him into helping her decorate. Ronnie would have opened the doors without fanfare, but Annie and Dana Sue had conspired on the decorations and on catering the whole thing.

“You’re wrong about what your mom needs,” he told Annie. “She doesn’t need grand gestures and romance from me. She needs to see I’m in this for the long haul. And she needs to believe I’m not going to start looking elsewhere just because she’s gained a little weight, or for any other reason.”

Annie frowned at him. “Haven’t you even noticed that she’s toning up?”

“Well, of course I have,” he said, though he wasn’t about to explain to his sixteen-year-old daughter that a man knew just about all there was to know about his wife’s body. Okay, ex-wife, but that was a technicality he’d remedy when the time was right.