Home in Carolina

by Sherryl Woods

  “It was a tough trip,” Ty admitted, then glanced around. “Where’s Mom?”

  “Still at the spa. I was in charge of dinner and cleanup. There’s pizza left if you’re interested.”

  “Maybe later,” Ty said. “Can we talk before Mom gets home?”

  Cal frowned. “Something you don’t want her to know?”

  Ty nodded. “Not yet. I don’t want her worrying.”

  “You realize she’s going to take one look at your face and know something’s up.”

  Ty laughed, though without much humor. “Yeah, I’ll have to work on that.”

  In the kitchen, Cal pulled out a couple of beers, handed one to Ty, then gestured toward the dining room, so they could sit and still keep an eye on the kids.

  “Tell me,” he said, once they were seated.

  Ty filled him in.

  “Son of a gun,” Cal said, looking shocked. “And your attorney thinks Dee-Dee has a shot at getting what she wants?”

  “At least some of it,” Ty said, hating the fact that Tom had pretty much confirmed everything Jay had told him.

  “Then talk to Helen,” Cal said at once. “See if she agrees. She’s the expert. This Wrigley, he’s a sports lawyer. He may be top-notch when it comes to your contracts, but he could be out of his element with this kind of stuff.”

  “He’s not the only one I spoke to,” Ty admitted. “The family law attorney who handled the original custody agreement said pretty much the same thing, but I will see Helen tomorrow.”

  Of course, the minute he went to see Helen, there was a good chance that he wouldn’t be able to keep any of this quiet. Not that she would ever blab confidential information, but his mom and Dana Sue could read her like a book. The mere fact that he’d seen her would spell trouble in their eyes, and the pestering would begin. Sooner or later Annie would know, too. How could he hope to win her back if this whole mess from his past was about to blow up again?

  “You worrying about Annie’s reaction if this mess is suddenly front and center in the Serenity gossip mill?” Cal guessed.

  Ty nodded. “This is just going to rub her face in the situation one more time.”

  “She’ll be on your side,” Cal said confidently.

  “I hope so,” Ty said quietly, because the truth was, he had no choice. He had to fight to make sure that whatever happened, it would be what was best for Trevor.

  11

  These days Annie only saw Dr. McDaniels, the psychologist who’d treated her for her anorexia, on rare occasions. Right after making the decision to help Ty with his rehab, she made an appointment. She wanted to be sure that putting herself into the position of seeing him on a regular basis wouldn’t precipitate a setback with her eating disorder. She needed to be sure she was strong enough for the emotional stress she’d be under.

  “You’re looking well, Annie,” Dr. McDaniels said. “It’s been a while since you’ve been in. Is everything okay?”

  Annie drew in a deep breath and blurted, “I’m afraid I’m going to stop eating. In fact, I already have a couple of times. I’ve gone whole days without eating more than a mouthful or two.”

  To her relief the older woman didn’t looked shocked or dismayed. Instead, she remained calm. “It’s been a long time. Has something happened recently to make you feel as if you’re losing control?”

  Annie nodded and explained about Ty. “I’ve decided I need to help him, but I’m not sure I’m strong enough to see him every single day.”

  “If you really believe that, then don’t do it. Recommend another therapist.”

  “There isn’t another sports injury therapist with my qualifications in Serenity,” she countered. “He’d have to go to Charleston or Columbia, more than likely. Or else he’d go back to Atlanta, which will break his mom’s heart. She loves having him and her grandson here.”

  “Don’t you imagine he can afford to bring in a skilled therapist, if staying here is what he wants to do?” Dr. McDaniels asked reasonably. “Why are you so sure it has to be you?”

  “Because everyone keeps reminding me that I owe him, and I do,” she said.

  “Has he been pressuring you to do this?”

  Annie shook her head. “No. He’s made it clear he’d like to spend time with me, even that he wants to make amends for what happened, but he hasn’t pushed me to help him at all. It’s everyone else—well, really, just his mom and Elliott, who’s been working with him.”

  “I don’t know about Elliott, but I can tell you want to please Maddie. I remember that she means a lot to you.”

  “She’s been like a second mom,” Annie confirmed. “It bothers me to have her so disappointed in me.”

  “She’s piling on the guilt?”

  “Pretty much. She won’t let me forget how Ty stuck by me.”

  “Your lives were very different then,” Dr. McDaniels reminded her. “He was a wonderful friend, no question about it, but since then, he’s broken your heart. You have to weigh that against whatever you think you owe him.”

  Annie continued to wrestle with her guilt. A part of her wanted so badly to just say no and be done with this quandary, to be done with Ty. Another part, she was forced to admit, wanted the sweet torture of being around him. What she supposed she was looking for here was absolution if she eventually decided not to help Ty.

  “Then it wouldn’t be awful of me not to do this?” she asked, hoping the psychologist would let her off the hook.

  “Not if it’s going to put your health at risk,” Dr. McDaniels told her, filling Annie with relief.

  Unfortunately, then she went and ruined it by studying Annie intently and asking, “Do you really believe it will? Think about that before you answer me. Do you really have so little faith in all the progress you’ve made? Or is it that Ty still has that much power to hurt you?”

  “Probably the latter,” Annie admitted. “I feel completely out of control when I see him or even think about seeing him. I haven’t felt that way since my dad left town. We both know how I dealt with that.”

  “But you know the dangers and the symptoms of an eating disorder now. You also know that anorexia doesn’t solve anything,” Dr. McDaniels said. “I think you’re a lot stronger and more equipped to handle this than you realize.”

  “Then you’re saying I’d be okay, even if I have to see Ty every day?”

  The psychologist regarded her with amusement. “I don’t get to make the decision. You have to do that. Let me ask you this, though. When you and Ty broke up, did you stop eating?”

  “Only for a day because I was feeling so miserable,” she confessed.

  “And I imagine you’ve known a lot of people who stop eating for a day or two when they suffer a traumatic loss or breakup,” the psychologist said. “They simply lose their appetite for a bit. You know that’s normal and acceptable, right?”

  “I suppose.”

  “Okay, then, what happened next?”

  “I realized what I was doing and made myself eat.”

  “And those couple of days recently when you didn’t eat, what happened?”

  “My mom and a friend jumped right on my case.”

  “And?”

  “At first I lied, just the way I used to do, but then I saw that they were right, that I was trying to control food because I couldn’t control the situation with Ty.”

  “Then you weren’t in denial?”

  She shook her head. “No,” she said, then amended, “Okay, maybe for a minute, but I recognized the signs and I made myself eat. I remembered everything you and the nutritionist taught me.”

  “So what’s different about this situation? What has you so worried? It sounds to me as if you’re alert to the potential for problems and that you can handle them.”

  “When Ty and I split up, he was out of my life. I hated that, but it wasn’t like I had to see him all the time. Even now, I’ve been pretty much able to keep all contact to a minimum. But if I agree to help him with his rehab, he’ll be r
ight there every day, reminding me of what we used to be to each other.”

  “Used to be?” Dr. McDaniels said, seizing on her words. “It sounds to me as if you still love him.”

  Annie moaned at the accurate assessment. “You’re right. How pathetic is that?”

  “Not pathetic. Just human. Do you remember something I told you a long time ago, that the best relationships are built on a foundation of friendship?”

  Annie nodded.

  “Maybe you should concentrate on that. See if Ty is still the kind of friend he once was. It sounds as if he wants to be. And be the kind of friend you once were. Anything else will take care of itself.”

  “Can we be friends if I can’t forgive him for what he did to me?”

  “Maybe not from day one, but it could be he deserves a chance to earn your trust again.”

  Annie was still skeptical, but she supposed it made sense. Maybe, in fact, they didn’t even need to worry about being friends. This could be a simple business arrangement. He’d be contracting for her professional services, not that she’d ever charge him, but the principle was the same. She’d always been cool and businesslike with other clients. Even with Sarah, she tried not to let their longtime friendship get in the way of making her do what she needed to do during her workouts. It shouldn’t be too much of a stretch to pull that off with Ty.

  “Thank you,” she said when she realized her time was up. “I know what I need to do.”

  “Just remember, I’m right here if you need me.”

  “I’m counting on that,” Annie told her.

  Outside, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Ty’s number. The familiar sound of his voice sent an unwelcome jolt through her, almost making her second-guess herself. She realized the odds of keeping her emotional distance were pretty much zero.

  “It’s me,” she said eventually.

  “I know. What’s up?”

  “I’ll do it,” she told him.

  “Do what?” he asked blankly.

  She realized then that he wasn’t the one who’d been pushing her to do this. “I’ll take over your rehab program. You’ll make more progress with me than you will with Elliott.”

  He didn’t try to deny it. “Annie, are you sure?” he asked, sounding genuinely concerned for her. “I don’t want this to be awkward for you.”

  “Do you want my help or not?” she asked testily, annoyed that he wasn’t seizing the opportunity, even if his hesitation was out of consideration for her.

  “Of course I do.”

  “Okay, then,” she said briskly. “This is strictly business. You do exactly what I tell you to do and we won’t have a problem.”

  He had the audacity to chuckle at that. “Wasn’t that the way it always was?”

  “Ty!”

  “Okay, I agree. When do you want to start?”

  “The spa’s open till eight tonight. Be there at five after.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “And leave the attitude at home.”

  “I’ll do my best,” he said in a meek tone she didn’t trust for a second.

  She was about to hang up, when he said, “Annie, just one thing.”

  “What?”

  “Maybe you could do the same.”

  He hung up before she could tell him what she thought of his taunt. She stood there staring at her phone. “What the hell did I just do?” she murmured.

  Despite her reservations, a little zip of anticipation raced over her. And that scared her to death.

  The unexpected call from Annie improved Ty’s outlook considerably. At least one thing was going his way. He had no idea what had finally changed her mind, but he was relieved. He’d had a tough time explaining to the trainers in Atlanta why he didn’t want to come back there and begin a tougher regimen, when his progress in Serenity was slower than anticipated. They thought he ought to be chomping at the bit to get back into the pitching rotation.

  In the meantime, though, he had to settle on a plan of action to deal with Dee-Dee. He was on the doorstep at Helen’s office when she arrived there a full hour before her office was scheduled to open. Fortunately he was familiar enough with her workaholic tendencies to anticipate the early arrival.

  “Ty! I certainly wasn’t expecting to see you here,” she said. “Do we have an appointment?”

  “No. I was hoping you could fit me in before your first client.”

  Helen paused, her key in the lock. “Are you in some kind of trouble?”

  “I’ll explain inside,” he said. “It’s not something I want to discuss where anyone can overhear.”

  She regarded him with amusement. “We don’t usually have spies lurking in the shrubbery around here.”

  “Don’t be too sure,” he said bitterly. “You’d be amazed where those tabloid photographers turn up.”

  “Okay, then, we’ll go inside.” She led the way into her office, flipping on lights en route. She plugged in her coffee machine, which was apparently already filled and ready to go, then turned it on. “That should be ready in a minute. Now, what’s on your mind?”

  He told her about his conversations with Jay Wrigley and Tom Bristol the day before. “Cal thought I ought to come to you to see if their perceptions are right. Is there a chance that Dee-Dee can take Trevor from me?”

  Her expression was so grim, he was sure she was going to confirm Jay’s assessment, but instead, she muttered a curse. “There ought to be a law against attorneys like Jay meddling in the kind of cases they don’t usually handle. I’m sure Mr. Bristol is perfectly competent, and he does have the background since he handled the original custody case.” She gave Ty the kind of smug look he’d often seen when she was heading off to court to do battle. “But he’s not me. I’m happy to work with him, if that’s what you’d prefer, or I can take over. As for Mr. Wrigley, tell him the next time Dee-Dee calls, he’s to advise her that all her dealings from here on out are to be with me. Once I’ve spoken to her, I’ll have a better sense of what she’s really after. This whole thing could just be a ploy to get some kind of payoff from you so she’ll go away. Or she could be entirely serious about wanting to exercise her rights as Trevor’s mother.”

  “Can she just do that?” Ty asked, not even trying to hide his frustration. “She signed papers, Helen. She gave me custody.” He’d brought the papers back from his safety deposit box in Atlanta and handed them now to Helen.

  “Thanks. I’ll look these over later,” Helen said, putting them into a new file folder. “What you need to know now is that she certainly has the legal right to try to reestablish her parental rights. A sympathetic judge may grant her some contact.”

  Before Ty could say what he thought about that, she regarded him with sympathy. “I know how that grates with you, but concentrate on Trevor. Does he ask about his mom?”

  “Once in a while,” Ty admitted.

  “It will probably happen more and more,” Helen advised him. “The more he’s around other kids, the more he’ll see that a key person is missing from his life. What have you told him?”

  “That she had to move away.”

  “Well, that won’t be enough to satisfy him as time goes on.”

  Ty sighed. “I suppose.”

  “Let’s concentrate on the big picture and figure out how to bring Dee-Dee back into his life in a way that works for everyone.”

  “Even if she’s still reckless and irresponsible?” Ty asked wearily.

  “We’ll make sure she’s not before we do anything else,” Helen promised him.

  “How?”

  “I’ll put an investigator on it. Do you have any idea where she is? I don’t like leaving the ball in her court. I’d like to take the initiative and contact her. I’ll send a letter reminding her of the custody agreement she signed and pointing out all the weaknesses in her case. Maybe that will be enough to get her to back down.”

  Ty was doubtful about that. “When I was seeing her, she was living in Cincinnati, but she took off from
there. When we finally tracked her down to sign the original custody papers, she was in Wyoming. She could still be there, or she could have moved on.”

  “She didn’t tell your attorney?”

  He shook his head. “She’s been contacting him.”

  Helen nodded. “Then finding her will be step one.” She glanced up from her notes. “It’s going to be okay, Ty,” she assured him. “We may have to make a concession or two, but nobody’s going to take that little boy away from you. You’ve got a nanny who’s been with Trevor from the beginning, plus family and friends, all of whom can testify to the fact that you’re a devoted father who’s been raising that boy on his own practically from day one.”

  Despite the uncertainties, Ty felt better. “Thanks, Helen. I need to ask you to keep this as quiet as possible for now, okay? I don’t want my mom or anyone else to find out about it.”

  Helen frowned. “Anyone else being Annie?”

  He nodded. “She and I, well, I feel as if we might finally be making a little bit of progress. She’s agreed to help me with my rehab. I don’t want to ruin that by rubbing her face in all this. I’m sure you know that it’s the main reason we split up. If she hears that Dee-Dee is going to be making a nuisance of herself…” He shook his head. “Annie shouldn’t have to deal with any of this.”

  “She won’t hear it from me,” Helen promised. “But I really think you need to fill her in. Sooner or later, word will get out. You said it yourself a minute ago when you were worrying about paparazzi in the bushes. You’re a high-profile guy these days, and if Dee-Dee files any papers in court, it’s going to go public. You don’t want Annie to find out that way. Or your mother, for that matter. She’ll be furious with both of us, especially when she finds out you’ve told Cal, too.”

  “I’ll deal with Mom,” he promised. “As for Annie, I hate the possibility that it’s just going to prove to her that I’m a bad risk.”

  “And what will keeping it from her prove?” Helen asked quietly. “Tell her, Ty. She might be upset, but it’s better than having her find out some other way.”

  He knew Helen was right. His relationship with Annie couldn’t take a lie or even an omission right now. If he was ever going to win her back, he had to be totally honest with her. Luckily for him, he was already scheduled to see her tonight. It would be the perfect opportunity to fill her in.