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“She’s been like another daughter to you, and you work together. It’s going to freak her out knowing I’m around. What if she quits just to avoid me?”
    “Annie’s more mature than that,” Maddie said with certainty. “She’s a strong young woman. She’ll cope.”
    “What if it, you know…?” He hesitated, then voiced his greatest fear, the one that had nagged at him since the day they’d parted. “What if she goes back to being anorexic?”
    Maddie regarded him with dismay. “No, Ty! She won’t do that.”
    “She could, Mom.” He shook his head. “What the hell was I thinking? The stress of Ronnie taking off is part of what triggered her eating disorder in the first place. She felt like her life was a mess, and food was the only thing she could control. Now, having me in her face could do the same thing. I’d never forgive myself if that happened.”
    “It’s not going to happen,” Maddie said emphatically.“She was just a teenager when she got so sick. She’s twenty-three now. It’s been years. Believe me, Dana Sue and Ronnie know all the signs. Annie still sees Dr. McDaniels from time to time. They’ll be all over her if there’s even a hint that her anorexia is back. Besides, she didn’t fall apart when you two split up, so there’s no reason to think she will now just because you’re here in Serenity.”
    “I suppose.” Still, he couldn’t help worrying about Annie. She’d never been half as tough as she’d wanted everyone to believe she was. He was one of the few who’d seen her vulnerability way before she’d been diagnosed with anorexia. She’d looked up to him, trusted him, talked to him…fallen in love with him.
    Then he’d betrayed her. And for what? A string of casual flings that had meant nothing. He’d wanted to prove he was hot stuff. Hanging out with groupies had been a rite of passage into the big leagues. All the guys liked to unwind after the games. There were always eager women around.
    Unfortunately, it had taken too long for him to realize just how empty and meaningless all that was. Compared to what he had with Annie—the real deal, he knew now—it was just sex and a few laughs with women who liked to brag they’d hooked up with a baseball player.
    To his very deep regret, Trevor’s mom had barely stood out from the crowd. When they’d met after a road game in Cincinnati, she’d struck him as shy, with her big brown eyes and corn silk hair. She was quieter than most of the others, less aggressive. She’d actually been able to hold up her end of a conversation. Ironically, he’d seen a vulnerability in her that had reminded him of Annie.
    The next time he’d been in Cincinnati, Ty had seenDee-Dee again, spent three nights with her. On his third trip to town, she’d told him she was pregnant.
    The news had hit him like one of his own fastballs in the gut, left him slack-jawed and sputtering. He realized he didn’t even know her last name.
    Nor could he be sure the baby was his. He wanted proof, insisted on it, which set off their first huge fight. Dee-Dee, whose last name turned out to be Mitchell, was insulted he would even ask. He was appalled that she thought he was so stupid he wouldn’t.
    Struggling with years of conditioning to take responsibility for his own actions, Ty had turned to a buddy on the team for advice.
    “You in love with her?” Jimmy Falco had asked.
    “No,” Ty admitted. “I barely know her.”
    “Then you wait. You get a paternity test. If the kid turns out to be yours, you go from there.”
    Dee-Dee had been furious when he’d told her the plan. She’d threatened to go to the tabloids if he didn’t marry her immediately. Despite all the potential for very public ugliness, Ty held firm. That was when he should have gone to Annie and confessed everything, but he’d waited. And, of course, the news had leaked out.
    By the time Trevor was born, any faint feelings he might have had for Dee-Dee were dead and buried. The