Sherryl Woods - Home in Carolina

S ettled at her usual table near the kitchen of her moms restaurant, Annie Sullivan ate the last of her omelet and opened the local paper to the sports section. Even though she and major league pitcher Tyler Townsend, a hometown boy, had been apart for a long time now, it was a habit she hadnt been able to break. She kept hoping that one day shed see his name in print and it wouldnt hurt. So far, though, that hadnt happened.

Today, with the baseball season barely started in mid-April, she was expecting nothing more than a small jolt to her system from the local weekly. Instead, her jaw dropped at the headline at the top of the page: Star Braves Pitcher Ty Townsend on Injured Reserve. The article went on to report that after pitching just three games, the baseball sensation from Serenity would be out indefinitely following surgery two weeks ago for a potentially career-ending injury to his shoulder. Hed be doing rehab, possibly for months, and hed be doing it right here in town. He was, in fact, already here.

Clutching the paper in a white-knuckled grip, Annie had to draw in several deep breaths before she could stand. Shouting for her mother, she headed straight for the restaurant kitchen, only to be intercepted by sous-chef Erik Whitney.

Regarding her with concern, Erik steadied her when she would have dashed right past him. Hey, sweetheart, wheres the fire? he asked.

I need to see my mother, she said, trying to wrench free of his grasp.

Shes in her office. Whats wrong, Annie? You look as if youve seen a ghost.

Though shed poured out her heart to Erik as a teenager, right this second she was incapable of speech. Instead, Annie simply handed him the paper.

Erik took one look at the headline and muttered a curse. I knew this was going to happen, he said.

Annie stared at him, her sense of betrayal deepening. You knew about this? You knew Ty was back in town?

Erik nodded. Since the day before yesterday.

Mom, too?

He nodded again.

Now it was Annie who uttered a curse, made a U-turn and headed back to the table to grab her purse. What had everyone been thinking, conspiring to keep something this huge from her? Especially her mom, who knew better than anyone the damage secrets, lies and betrayal could do.

Erik stuck with her. Come on, Annie, dont blame your mother for this. Go to her office. Talk to her, he urged as she stormed past him through the kitchen. She was just trying to protect you.

At the door, she turned and asked angrily, So I could be blindsided, instead? Ty had surgery two weeks ago, Erik! Hes been in town how longa couple of days? A week? Its not as if this happened yesterday.

Im sure Dana Sue thought it wouldnt make the paper here before she had a chance to tell you.

Forget the stupid newspaper. Were talking about Serenity in an age of cell phones and the Internet, Annie said incredulously. Gossip spreads in minutes, and around here Tys big news. Heck, even you knew, and youre not tapped into the grapevine. You all knew before one word of this hit the paper.

Helens tapped in and Im married to her, to say nothing of working for your mom. Not much gets past the Sweet Magnolias. And in this case, they all knew what was going on the instant Maddie found out Ty had to have surgery.

Which begs the question, Annie said bitterly. Why didnt anyone think I had a right to know? A thought suddenly struck her. Thats where Maddie went a couple of weeks ago, isnt it? She went to be with Ty when he had his surgery.

Erik nodded. Look, its not about you deserving to know, he said reasonably. Youve been pretty touchy about anything to do with Ty for quite a while now. Nobodys known quite how to handle it.

Okay, that was fair. In fact, Annie totally understood the dilemma. She and Ty had been together on a casual basis during her senior year in high school and for a couple of years after that. Since their mothers, Dana Sue and Maddie, were best friends, she and Ty had been friends forever, as well. The ties binding them had been tight on many levels.

And then it had all unraveled. Annie supposed the breakup had been as inevitable as the fact that theyd fallen in love in the first place. After all, a superstar professional athlete had beautiful women falling at his feet in every city. How was Annie, the quiet hometown girl struggling every day to beat an eating disorder, supposed to compete with that, especially when she was still in college?

The official disintegration of their relationship had dragged out over an entire year, partly because neither of them had known how to dash all those parental expectations that theyd marry and live happily ever after.

For months theyd seen the handwriting on the wall, but theyd both been in denial. When tensions had been running especially high, theyd tried to avoid coming back to Serenity at the same time. On the rare occasions when family get-togethers couldnt be avoided, theyd tried to deal with the awkwardness with carefully orchestrated polite indifference. Theyd both understood how a bitter split could potentially damage the lifelong friendship between their mothers, and theyd wanted to avoid inflicting that kind of collateral damage. At least theyd agreed on that much.