A Slice Of Heaven

“Especially then,” Maddie said. “This place is filled with mirrors, for one thing. People with body-image issues hate that. I’ve seen the way Annie shies away from looking in them whenever she stops by here.”

“Then what do I do?” Dana Sue demanded. “You talked to Cal and Ty, Maddie, and they both said Annie’s not eating, right? If she’s not eating at home and she’s not eating at school, then she has a problem. Am I supposed to let her starve herself before I do something?”

“Of course you can’t ignore what’s happening,” Maddie soothed. “But you have to be smart about it. You need real proof before you confront her.”

“Aside from her weight?” Dana Sue said. “I bet she doesn’t weigh ninety pounds. Her clothes just hang on her. Maybe I should take her back to Doc Marshall and let him deal with her. Maybe he could scare some sense into her.”

“Has he scared you?” Helen asked pointedly. Not waiting for an answer, she said, “No, because you’ve known him forever. All of us have known him forever. Heck, he used to give us lollipops. You don’t listen to him. I don’t listen to him.”

“Which is a whole other issue,” Maddie commented pointedly.

Helen shrugged off the warning. “Whatever. My point is that he’s a big ole teddy bear who smokes in secret and probably has high blood pressure, high cholesterol and all the other stuff he warns us about. Who’s going to take him seriously?”

Maddie frowned at her. “Just because he doesn’t intimidate you doesn’t mean he couldn’t get through to Annie. Unfortunately, though, he’d only be speculating about whether she has an eating disorder, the same way we are. We need some sort of proof so Dana Sue can confront her with real evidence Annie can’t possibly deny.”

“Such as?” Dana Sue asked, frustrated. “Isn’t the fact that she doesn’t touch any food I put in front of her evidence enough?”

“She’ll just claim she’s eating when you’re not around,” Maddie said. “She might even toss food down the garbage disposal to make you think she’s eaten it. I’m sure there are a lot of sneaky ways she can think of to reassure you, especially since you’re not always there at mealtime.”

“The scales don’t lie,” Dana Sue said. “Not that she’d let me get within ten feet of her when she’s weighing herself.”

Helen’s expression turned thoughtful. “Maybe we’re going about this all wrong. We’re focusing completely on Annie, which probably makes her feel as if she’s under a microscope.”

Maddie nodded slowly. “I think you have a point. Do you suppose Annie’s friends have eating disorders, as well?” she asked Dana Sue.

Dana Sue thought about that. She’d overheard some of them talking about dieting from time to time, but none were as painfully thin as Annie. To her they didn’t seem any more obsessed about their weight than Dana Sue or her friends were.

“Not that I’ve noticed,” she replied eventually. “Sarah Connors is around the house the most and she looks perfectly healthy. She and Annie talk about whatever fad diet is in the news, but Sarah eats the meals and snacks I fix for them. So do most of the others.”

“You’re sure of that?” Maddie asked.

“Well, I don’t stand over them every second and watch, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Maybe you should,” Helen countered.

“Are you crazy? Annie would flip out if I insisted on hanging out with her and her friends.”

“Goodness knows, we would have,” Maddie agreed. “But could you suggest a sleepover? Maybe order pizzas, have a ton of snacks available, and bake some brownies and see how they handle it? Just stick your head in from time to time to see who’s eating and who’s not?”

Dana Sue regarded her quizzically. “You want me to spy on them?”

“Okay, it sounds ridiculous,” Maddie admitted. “But it might give you some idea if this is just Annie’s problem or if she’s responding to peer pressure. And spying is a very underrated tool for parents. We need to know what’s going on with our kids. Period.”

“Okay, let’s say I buy that,” Dana Sue said. “What will I really find out? If the food’s gone, sure, then someone ate it. Or they flushed it down the toilet. Or they binged and purged. There’s more than one eating disorder, you know.”

“I agree with Maddie. I think it’s worth a shot,” Helen said. “What have you got to lose?”

Considering how little she knew about the eating habits of Annie’s friends, maybe it would give her some much-needed insight, Dana Sue decided. “I suppose it could work,” she conceded eventually. It might be a pretty flimsy lifeline, but she was desperate. She’d grab on to anything at this point.

Maddie beamed at her. “That’s the spirit. Now let’s talk about you.”

Dana Sue frowned. “No can do. I’ve got to go.”

“Not so fast,” Helen said, latching on to her arm until she sank back down in her seat. “What has Doc Marshall told you lately?”

“That I’m still borderline diabetic, that I need to exercise, watch what I eat and check my blood sugar on a regular basis,” she recited dutifully.

“And you’re doing all that?” Maddie pressed.

“Yes,” she said, though she didn’t look either of them in the eye.

“Really?” Helen’s skepticism was plain. “You must be using all this lovely, expensive exercise equipment we bought when I’m not around.” She glanced at Maddie. “Is that right? Is Dana Sue in here, say, midmorning? Midafternoon?”

“Maybe I’m sneaking in after the place is closed!” she snapped. “And I don’t know what gives you the right to question my exercise routine. Yours is no better.”

“Agreed,” Helen said at once. “Which is why I’ve come up with a suitable challenge for each of us.”

“This isn’t good,” Maddie mumbled.

Dana Sue grinned. “No kidding.”

“Okay, you two, I’m serious,” Helen said. “I think we should each write down our goals, whatever they are, and a plan for reaching them. Whichever one of us sticks to the plan and achieves the goal wins something spectacular, to be paid for by the other two.”

Maddie’s eyes immediately lit up. She’d always loved a competition. And she loved winning almost as much as Helen did. “Do we each get to pick out our own prize?”

Helen nodded. “Seems only fair, don’t you think?”

“Any price limit?” Dana Sue asked. “You’re the only one of us raking in big bucks.”

Helen grinned. “Which should be excellent motivation for each of you to want to beat me. However, I happen to know Sullivan’s is way ahead of your financial projections, and if this place continues at its current pace, your cries of ‘poor me’ won’t hold water. The Corner Spa is going to make us all rich. We deserve to splurge, and none of us is going to go bankrupt if we do. The profits from this place will see to that.” She turned to Maddie. “So, what’s your dream prize?”

“The sky’s really the limit?” she asked, looking thoughtful.

“Why not?” Helen said with a shrug. “The whole idea is to motivate ourselves to work at this. The promise of a new dress or a pair of shoes won’t cut it.”

“Then I think a trip to Hawaii for my first anniversary would be wonderful,” Maddie declared. “We probably couldn’t take it till spring break, but I’d be willing to wait for that.”

Helen made a note on her ever-present legal pad. “So, a first-class trip for two, or three counting the baby, since I can’t see your mother looking after an infant. She’s only recently adjusted to babysitting your other three and two of them are in their teens.”

“Yes, it would definitely be for three,” Maddie confirmed. “Cal would never agree to leave Jessica Lynn behind. He can barely make himself go out the door to work.”

Helen turned to Dana Sue. “How about you? Any dream vacations you’ve been denying yourself? A new car? A fancy new kitchen at home?”

“I spend all day in a fancy new kitchen at the restaurant,” Dana Sue said. “That’s enough stainless steel for me. And I think travel’s highly overrated.”

“Only because you got lost on our senior trip to Washington, D.C.,” Maddie teased. “No one’s ever let you live that down, and you haven’t left South Carolina since.”

“Okay, no kitchen, no travel,” Helen said. “What, then? Dream big.”