Home in Carolina (12 page)

“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.

And then pray that their first workout together didn’t turn out to be their last.

Annie picked at the chicken salad that Sarah had prepared for their dinner.

“You don’t like the recipe?” Sarah asked eventually. “I thought you loved chicken salad with walnuts and apples.”

“I do,” Annie said distractedly. “I just can’t get my mind off this session I have with Ty at eight.”

Sarah’s eyes widened. “Then you decided to do it?”

Annie nodded.

“Good for you. I think it was the right decision.”

“For him or me?”

“For both of you. He’ll get the help he needs and you’ll discover whether or not there are any of the old feelings left.”

“Oh, I know the feelings are there,” Annie said wryly. “That’s not the problem. Now I’m going to have to figure out if I’m going to do anything about them.”

“Well, speaking as a woman who has very recently set the wheels of a divorce in motion, I say you ought to grab
on to real love and hang on for dear life. I don’t care how complicated it is.”

Annie met her gaze. “I forgot you were going to sign papers today. How do you feel about it?”

“Surprisingly relieved,” Sarah admitted. “I thought it would make me feel awful, but it didn’t. I suppose I’ll feel sad when the final decree happens, but right now I actually feel a little bit excited. I can start planning my own future, think about what I really want for the rest of my life.”

“Good for you,” Annie said.

Sarah shrugged. “Not that I expect everything to go smoothly. This is Walter we’re talking about. If he doesn’t pitch a royal conniption, then his parents will.”

“You can handle them,” Annie assured her.

“Or Helen can,” Sarah corrected. “By the way, I forgot to tell you that I saw Ty at her office this morning.”

Annie’s gaze snapped up. “Ty had a meeting with Helen?”

“I guess so. He was coming out of her office when I got there. Whatever they’d been talking about, he looked upset. He walked right past me without even seeing me. I spoke to him, but I don’t think he heard me.”

“I wonder what that was about,” Annie said. He could have dropped by for a visit, but then why would he look upset on his way out?

“You’re going to see him in a half hour,” Sarah reminded her. “You can always ask him.”

“It’s none of my business,” Annie said, though it annoyed her to admit it. “I suppose he’ll mention something about it if he wants me to know. I thought he told me his lawyer was in Atlanta, though.”

“You never know what could have come up,” Sarah
said. “Maybe he wanted Helen to set up a trust fund for Trevor or something.”

“We could speculate all night and never get it right,” Annie said eventually. She glanced at her watch. “I’d better get over to the spa. Since I told him to be there promptly at five after eight, I’d better be there waiting for him.”

Sarah regarded her knowingly. “Annie, don’t let this thing with Helen bug you. Just ask him, okay? It’s probably nothing.”

Annie nodded. “We’ll see how it goes.”

After all, if she stuck to her promise to herself to keep things between them strictly professional, then his meeting with Helen really was absolutely none of her concern.

Annie was halfway down the block on her way to the spa when a big SUV went racing past her, then squealed to a stop in front of Sarah’s. In her rearview mirror she saw a man bolt from the SUV, leaving it parked so that it blocked the driveway. Walter, she concluded, had gotten the divorce papers.

At the end of the street she hesitated, then made a U-turn. Something about his bat-out-of-hell arrival alarmed her. She didn’t know much about the man. Sarah had certainly never mentioned any violent tendencies, but Annie wasn’t willing to take chances.

Even as she pulled to a stop in front of Sarah’s, she could hear raised voices coming from inside. Pausing only long enough to call Ty at the spa and her dad, Annie raced across the lawn and rang the doorbell. When no one answered, either because they were shouting too loudly to hear it or because they didn’t want visitors, Annie pushed open the door and went inside.

Keeping a determinedly cheery expression on her face, she headed directly toward the kitchen where the confrontation was going on.

“Hi there,” she said, stepping inside. “I guess you didn’t hear me ring the bell.”

Walter whirled on her, his cheeks flushed, his eyes filled with fury. “Who the hell are you?”

He was a big man, tall and muscular, though he reminded Annie a bit of a football player starting to lose his well-toned physique. He clearly was used to using his size to intimidate. She didn’t intend to allow that. Rather than backing away, she took a step closer. “I’m Annie, a friend of Sarah’s. Who are you?”

“I’m her husband. Now, get out!”

“Not just yet,” Annie said, her gaze on Sarah, who looked dazed. “Sarah, sweetie, why don’t you pour us all some sweet tea so we can sit and get acquainted?”

“This is not some damn tea party,” Walter blustered. “I asked you to leave.”

“No, you
told
me to leave, and not very politely, I might add. Since it’s not your house, I think I’ll just wait till Sarah tells me she wants me to go.” She sat down at the table to emphasize her determination to stay.

“Maybe you should…” Sarah began, sounding frantic and near tears when the kids started to cry, obviously having been awakened by all the commotion.

“Go check on Tommy and Libby,” Annie suggested gently. “Walter and I will be fine.”

Sarah looked torn.

“It’s okay,” Annie assured her. “Don’t worry about a thing. Ty and my dad will be here any second.”

With perfect timing, Ronnie strolled into the kitchen,
followed by Ty. The two men paused, clearly sizing up Sarah’s husband.

Ty glanced at Annie. “Everything okay?”

“I think it’s getting there,” she said. “Sarah, check on the kids, okay?”

“What the hell is this?” Walter demanded, though a little of the fire had gone out of his voice now that his wife and Annie weren’t the only ones on the receiving end of his bullying. He gave Annie a disgusted look. “Did you call in the cavalry? For what? To keep a man away from his own wife and kids?”

“It seemed prudent,” Annie said. She turned to her dad. “Sarah filed for divorce today. That’s what brought Walter here roaring over from Alabama.”

Ronnie managed a commiserating look. He draped an arm over Walter’s broad shoulders and guided him from the room. “Been there, done that,” Ronnie told him. “But this isn’t the way to handle it, okay? You can’t come in here and try to terrorize your wife and scare your kids half to death.”

Walter’s response was lost as Ronnie steered him straight outside.

Ty sat down across from Annie, his gaze filled with concern. “You okay? You sounded completely freaked out when you called me. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you like that.”

Annie shuddered. “It’s just that you read these stories about some guy going nuts when his wife leaves him. When I saw this car tearing down the street and realized it was Walter, I guess I did panic. Thanks for coming. You didn’t have to. I called Dad, too. He was closer. I just wanted you to know I was going to be late. I didn’t want you thinking I’d backed out of our first session.”

His lips tilted slightly. “Worrying about me in the middle of a crisis was very considerate of you,” he said. “And here I thought you wanted a hero to come to the rescue. Instead, I never even got to land a punch.”

She grinned at his exaggerated disappointment. “I’m sure you would have if it had been necessary. And I do appreciate you coming right over.” She met his gaze. “Is it okay if we postpone till tomorrow night? I think I should probably stay here with Sarah in case that idiot tries to come back.”

“I think we should all stay here, at least for a while,” Ty said. “Walter doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy with sufficient good sense to go back where he came from.”

“From what I hear, good sense doesn’t run in his family. Do you know they intended to try to get custody of Tommy from Sarah, because he’d be the heir to the family business? Not both kids, just Tommy.”

Color rose in Ty’s cheeks at the mention of a custody fight. “And what? Sarah wants both kids here with her?”

“Well, of course she does! She’s their mama. At their age, that’s who they need.”

“Not necessarily,” Ty said, his temper stirring in a way Annie hadn’t seen in years. “Sometimes it’s the dad who’s the better parent. Sometimes the mother is incapable of providing what the child really needs.”

Startled by his vehemence, Annie stared at him. “Why are you getting so angry?”

“Because whoever said the mother should automatically get preference? That’s ridiculous.” He stood up. “I have to get out of here.”

Annie regarded him with confusion. “Ty, what’s going on? You’re obviously upset, and I don’t think it has anything to do with Sarah and Walter.”

“Gee, you think?” he said. “I’ll see you tomorrow. I’m glad everything’s okay here.”

Annie started to follow him to the door, but he was gone before she could get any farther than the dining room. Her dad walked into the room, looking back over his shoulder. Walter was right behind him, his expression calmer and definitely contrite.

“I’m going to check on Sarah and the kids,” Walter said. When Annie started to object, he held up a hand. “I’m not going to yell. I just want to see my kids.”

“It’s okay,” Ronnie said. “Walter understands how important it is not to upset anybody.”

Walter nodded. “I just lost it when I got those papers,” he explained to Annie. “I swear I’m usually not like that.”

Annie trusted her dad more than she did Walter’s words, so she dropped her objections.

“Why did Ty go racing out of here?” Ronnie asked as soon as Walter had left the room.

“I have no idea,” Annie said. “Obviously something I said upset him, but I can’t imagine what it was. One minute we were talking about the situation here, and the next Ty was furious and on his way out.”

“Maybe you touched a nerve,” Ronnie suggested.

Annie didn’t get it. “About what?”

“Trevor,” her dad suggested.

“But Ty has custody of his son. That was settled a long time ago.”

Then she recalled what Sarah had said earlier about Ty being in Helen’s office this morning and looking upset as he left. Maybe his custody arrangement with Trevor’s mom wasn’t as resolved as she’d assumed it was. If something had just happened to throw their arrangement into
question, no wonder he’d reacted to her comment that Tommy and Libby belonged with their mom.

“Dad, can you hang out here with Sarah for a while? Or maybe ask Mom to come over? I think I need to track Ty down.”

“I’m happy to stay here, but from what I saw, I don’t think this is a good time for you to go after Ty. He doesn’t seem to be in a mood to talk.”

“Which is exactly why he needs to,” Annie said. “Please.”

Ronnie looked uncertain, but eventually he nodded. “I’ll be right here and I’ll get your mom to come over, too, in case Sarah needs to talk. Don’t worry about things here. I really do think Walter’s calmer now. He doesn’t seem like such a bad guy, just a man who’s scared of losing his family.”

She stood on tiptoe and gave her father a kiss. “Thank you. You’re the best.”

“Always nice to hear. Now, go. Make things right with Ty.”

“That might be a tall order, but at least maybe I can fix whatever went wrong tonight.”

E
ver since he was a kid, when Ty got upset, he headed for the ball field, whether here in Serenity or even the stadium in Atlanta. Here at home, he’d done a lot of late-night thinking sitting in the stands with moonlight filtering through the surrounding trees. It was ironic that the place that came alive during a game, that energized him with the shouts of the crowd and his teammates, could be so calming with no one around. Even this small-town ball field where he’d pitched his first games had that effect on him.

In fact, this was the place he’d come when he’d been struggling with his parents’ divorce. He didn’t miss the irony that it was where he’d chosen to come tonight with Annie’s words about a child needing its mother still ringing in his ears.

True, she hadn’t known that would be a sore subject with him these days. She’d been reacting to Sarah’s circumstances, not his, but the remark had hit a nerve just the same.

Was that how everyone was going to feel? Would the court automatically assume because Trevor was still a preschooler, he’d need his mom more than his dad? That
struck Ty as totally bogus and unfair. These circumstances weren’t typical. Shouldn’t the rule of law ride on the realities of a specific situation and not some archaic rule of thumb from the past? Trevor didn’t even know his mom. He’d been with Ty practically from birth.

Ty heard a car drive up and stop. He knew instinctively that it was Annie. He hadn’t expected her to come looking for him, but he wasn’t surprised that she had. Naturally his uncharacteristic explosion of temper had stirred her curiosity, if not her understanding.

“It didn’t take you long,” he said without turning around.

She scrambled up the bleachers and sat down sideways on the bench in front of him so she could look up at him. “Come on, Ty, get real. You’re not that good at hiding out. I can count on one hand the places you go when you’re upset. This one’s on the top of the list.”

“Why’d you come after me?”

“You were angry. I wanted to know why,” she told him, confirming his guess as her gaze held his. “Then I figured it out for myself. At least, I think I did.”

“Do tell.”

“Trevor’s mom wants back in his life.”

He regarded her with astonishment. “How’d you come up with that?”

“Your reaction when I said Sarah’s kids needed their mom, plus the fact that she saw you at Helen’s office this morning,” she said, ticking the reasons off on her fingers as she went through them. “How am I doing so far?”

“Not bad,” he conceded.

She smiled at the grudging concession. “And on the way over here, I remembered you told me that you had just come out of a meeting in Atlanta that had been a disaster,
but then you didn’t want to talk about it. I figured that had been about Trevor, too, but after you called me, you decided you couldn’t talk to me about it because of…” She shrugged and looked away. “Well, you know why.”

He shook his head. She’d leaped to a lot of conclusions, but she hadn’t missed the mark. “You know me too darn well.” He couldn’t decide if that was a blessing or a curse.

Annie sighed. “I do, don’t I?” Eventually she lifted her gaze again till it met his. “You going to fill me in?”

Ty struggled against an overwhelming desire to do just that, to pour out all of the rage and conflicting emotions warring within him right now. Annie’d opened a door and he wanted to walk through it, to use her as a sounding board as he always had in the past.

“No,” he said eventually, decency winning out over his own longing.

“Is that because you don’t need someone to talk to, or because you don’t want it to be me?”

“Neither. I’d like your perspective, but I just don’t think it’s right to dump my problems in your lap, particularly this one.”

“I appreciate the sentiment. I really do, but let’s face it—sooner or later I’ll hear it all, anyway.”

He chuckled at the truth behind her words. “There aren’t many secrets in this town, are there?”

“Never have been,” she agreed.

Ty debated trying to keep this one buried inside, at least a little longer, but she was right, as Helen had been earlier. Annie was bound to hear the whole story. It might as well be from him, especially since she’d already guessed the gist of it.

Ty stood up and moved down to sit on the bleacher next to her, then leaned back, his elbows resting on the bench above. Despite the relaxed pose, every muscle in his body was tense. Talking about Dee-Dee to Annie wasn’t going to be as easy as some of the other problems he’d poured out to her over the years.

“When I called you from Atlanta, I had just left my attorney’s office,” he began, trying to keep the fury he’d felt at that moment out of his voice.

“Not the trainer’s,” she said, reminding him of the lie he’d uttered.

“That was earlier.”

“So you lied.”

“Not about what the trainer had said, but about why I’d called.” He gave her a wry look. “I was trying to be considerate.”

“I think we’re probably way past playing polite games with each other, Ty. I’d rather just hear the truth. If I’m ever going to trust you again, there can’t be any more lies, not even little ones to protect my feelings.”

He nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Jay—that’s my attorney—had just told me that Dee-Dee, Trevor’s mom, had been in touch with him about wanting to be a part of Trevor’s life.”

Haltingly he filled her in on the arrangement he and Dee-Dee had which wasn’t quite the way it had been portrayed in the tabloids. No money had changed hands, beyond a court-approved settlement so she could start her life over. It had never been the kind of ugly deal described in the tabloids to make her go away.

He met Annie’s gaze, trying to make her understand. “I was so sure that would be the end of it with Dee-Dee,
that I could focus on my son and move on. My life had just changed dramatically. I was suddenly this single dad with big-time responsibilities, but I was determined to make it work, because nothing on earth matters more to me than that little boy. As for Dee-Dee, she had the freedom she claimed she wanted, the time she needed to grow up and get her life in order. When she surfaced a few weeks ago, I was stunned.”

“I wonder what changed?” Annie said, her expression thoughtful.

“Apparently she’s engaged and ready to settle down herself. I don’t know if it was her idea or her fiancé’s to get Trevor back in her life, but suddenly she wants to be a mom again.”

“Maybe for her part of proving that she’s matured is dealing with one very big loose end,” Annie said.

“Seeing Trevor, making peace with how she handled things, I could understand that,” Ty said. “But she’s after more, Annie. This isn’t a one-time thing.”

“How do you know that if she hasn’t actually contacted you directly?” Annie asked.

“I told you she called Jay—twice, in fact. The first time, she just asked about Trevor, how he was, that kind of thing. That was disturbing enough, but the other day she indicated she wanted more contact, maybe even custody.”

Annie regarded him skeptically. “Do you believe that she’s really settling down, that she’s no longer a baseball groupie?”

“Last I heard she was in Wyoming. There aren’t any teams real close by, unless you head down to Denver, so maybe she has settled down the way she said.” He hated admitting that she might have changed even that much.

“And she told your lawyer she’s engaged?”

Ty nodded. “To some pillar of the community, according to her.”

Annie gave him a worried look. “Did you mention that to Helen?”

“No, why?”

“I just wondered if that will help her case. If she can portray herself as happily married and settled, how would that weigh against a single dad who’s on the road all the time?”

Ty muttered a curse at the reasonable question. He should have thought of that. “I’ve been managing for three years. Anyone who knows me knows that Trevor has a stable environment with excellent care. Nobody could take better care of Trevor than Cassandra does when I’m away.”

“But she’s not his mother,” Annie said.

“And Dee-Dee’s shown no signs that she’s capable of being a good mom, so where does that leave us?” he said, thinking that if Annie had been the one asking for custody, no matter what the circumstances, he wouldn’t have hesitated. He knew with soul-deep certainty that she’d be the best mom ever, that she
should
have been the mother of his son.

“Still, I think Helen needs to know,” Annie persisted.

“I’ll tell her in the morning.” He hesitated, studying Annie. She was turned away so he couldn’t read her eyes, but her posture was rigid. She was obviously upset. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“Hitting you with all this. I knew it was a bad idea.”

“I’m only upset at the thought that someone like her is trying to take away your son,” she told him. She turned
and met his gaze, her expression filled with compassion. “It really is lousy, Ty. I wouldn’t wish something this painful on my worst enemy.”

He smiled at that. “Am I your worst enemy?”

She hesitated, then shook her head. “Not even close,” she said so softly he could barely hear her.

His eyes stung with tears. “Oh, Annie,” he whispered, his own voice ragged. He hadn’t felt this close to her since this whole mess had started. He reached out, only to touch her cheek, but alarm flared in her eyes and she inched away from him.

“Don’t,” she said. “Please, Ty, just don’t.”

He sighed. “I get it. It’s too soon.”

“I don’t know that the time will ever be right,” she said.

“It will be,” he said. “I believe that with everything in me. Just give me another chance, Annie, that’s all I ask. In all my life, the only time things made sense was when I was with you. I want that back.” There it was. He’d actually put it out there for her to accept or reject.

He had his answer when she stood up without responding and started down the bleachers. “I’ll see you tomorrow night just after eight,” she said, her tone brisk.

“I’ll be there,” he promised.

At least she hadn’t canceled the session. It might not be the opening he wanted, but it was an opening. He intended to do everything in his power not to screw it up.

Annie left the ball field with her emotions in turmoil. Sitting there with Ty in the moonlight, talking about things that really mattered instead of all the inconsequential words they’d been exchanging, had felt good. Right, in fact, just as he’d said. But she simply wasn’t ready to go there yet.

What she wanted to do most was go home, crawl into bed and savor that instant when she’d thought he might kiss her. Even though she’d backed away, her pulse had raced with anticipation. She’d known then with absolute certainty how dangerous it was going to be to spend time with Ty. She’d made a promise, though, and she intended to honor it.

Right now, however, she needed to go and check on Sarah. She trusted her dad’s judgment that Walter had himself under control, and she knew Ronnie and her mom would stick around just in case, but she didn’t feel right leaving the task of watching over Sarah to them.

When she arrived at Sarah’s, the house was still lit up, even though it was nearly eleven. Walter’s fancy SUV continued to block the driveway, and her mom’s car was parked at the curb, which meant she and Ronnie were still inside.

Rather than ring the bell and wake the kids, Annie walked around to the kitchen door and tapped lightly. She knew they’d all be gathered in there.

“It’s open,” Sarah called out.

As Annie opened the door, she saw Walter regarding his wife with dismay.

“Do you just leave the door open for any crazy person who wanders by?”

“Annie’s not any crazy person,” Sarah argued. “Who else would it be at this hour?”

Walter shook his head and turned to Ronnie for support. “Is Serenity that safe? Do you all lock your doors?”

“I do,” Dana Sue said. “Ever since that rash of burglaries a few months back, I’ve been more careful.”

“There you go,” Walter said triumphantly. “Will you listen to Dana Sue, please? I can’t be back in Alabama worrying about whether you and the kids are safe.”

Annie regarded him with surprise. It actually sounded as if he was making peace with the idea of Sarah staying here. She looked around the table. “What did I miss?”

“I’m going to stop the divorce proceedings,” Sarah told her.

Annie’s surprise turned to shock. “Really?”

“Instead, we’re going to try to figure out how things got so far off track,” Sarah said, looking amazingly content with her decision.

“And you’re going to do that with you staying on here and Walter back in Alabama?” Annie said, trying to imagine how a marriage could be mended long-distance.

“I’ll be over here on weekends,” Walter explained. “I think we can make more progress without my parents butting in every time we turn around.”

“Amen to that,” Sarah said.

Walter actually smiled, and when he did, Annie was able to see a hint of the man Sarah had fallen in love with. That dimpled smile gave him a certain roguish charm.

“Is Helen on board with all this?” Annie asked, then held up a hand. “Sorry, this really is none of my business. If you all have reached a solution you can agree on, I’m very happy for you.”

“I did speak to Helen, though,” Sarah said. “And I also spoke to Dr. McDaniels.” She studied Annie worriedly. “I hope you don’t mind. Your mom suggested it. She’s agreed to meet with us every Saturday for the next few weeks.”

“Why would I mind?” Annie said. “She’s a terrific psychologist.”

Walter regarded her curiously. “You’ve seen her?”

“She’s the one who’s helped me during my battle with anorexia. I still meet with her from time to time.”

He nodded slowly. “Oh, yeah, Sarah told me something about that a long time ago. It must have been tough.”

Annie nodded. “There are times it still is.”

Dana Sue reached over and squeezed her hand, then stood up. “It’s late, folks. I think we need to get home. Ronnie, you ready?”

He stood up at once and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, then gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I’m always ready to be alone with you, sugar.”