Honeysuckle Summer (The Sweet Magnolias #7)(37)

She hesitated, then blurted, “But it’s not better, it’s worse. I’m miserable. My whole life is spinning out of control. I hate school. I miss my friends. I miss Mom and Dad. I miss going to the mall and hanging out.” She regarded Raylene with watery eyes. “And I sound like a selfish brat, when I know it’s not easy for Carter or Mandy, either.”

“You’re not being selfish,” Raylene told her. “You’re just trying to adjust to something that would be very difficult for anyone. Losing a parent is never easy. I still haven’t entirely gotten over my dad’s death. I can’t begin to imagine what it would have been like to lose both parents at once, especially at your age.”

“Still, I need to suck it up,” Carrie said. “I can’t dump all this on my brother when he’s doing the best he can.”

“I think you’d be surprised by how much of this he’d understand,” Raylene told her. “He’s a pretty intuitive, compassionate man.”

Carrie looked surprised by her assessment. “Carter? He’s usually clueless.”

“Well, in my experience, he’s figured some things out without me having to say a word. I’m willing to bet he has some idea of how you’re feeling, too. Talk to him, Carrie. Give him a chance to help.”

“Maybe,” Carrie said. She hesitated, then asked, “Do you have to tell him I barged in here today?”

“Not if you don’t want me to,” Raylene said. “And you didn’t barge in. You have a standing invitation. I do think, though, that you ought to tell him yourself that you dropped by. Keeping secrets, even little ones like this, can create problems.”

“I suppose,” Carrie said, her expression doubtful. Eventually, she nodded. “Okay, I’ll tell him I stopped by to visit, but that’s all.”

“Good. That way I can send some lasagna home with you for dinner.”

Carrie gave her a knowing look. “Are you trying to win my brother by cooking for him?”

Raylene laughed. “No. I just love to cook, and I always make way too much. If you like the lasagna, let me know, and I’ll teach you how to make it yourself.”

Carrie immediately shook her head. “It’s too fattening for me, but I know Mandy and Carter will love it. They eat like pigs.”

It wasn’t the first time Raylene had gotten a nagging feeling that Carrie might have an eating disorder. At first she’d told herself that because of her experience years ago with Annie, she was overreacting, but now, especially in light of their earlier conversation about seeing a psychologist, she had to wonder. Maybe Carrie had even recognized herself that she had a problem that went beyond her dissatisfaction with her life in Serenity. The compassion Raylene had felt earlier was now tinged with a sense of urgency.

“There’s nothing wrong with having a healthy appetite,” Raylene said casually, hoping to make her point without putting Carrie on the defensive. “Too many young women start obsessing about weight when they don’t need to.”

“Yeah, Carter gets on my case about that,” Carrie admitted openly. “He just doesn’t know what it’s like for girls, though.”

“But I have some idea,” Raylene told her. “So does my friend Annie.”

“The one who’s married to the ballplayer, Ty Townsend?”

Raylene nodded. “Did you know that she had a severe problem with anorexia when she was about your age?”

Carrie looked skeptical. “Really?”

“She did,” Raylene said, then added bluntly, “It almost killed her.”

Carrie looked alarmed for just an instant, but then her expression closed down. “You’re just saying that to scare me.”

“No,” Raylene said emphatically. “You can talk to her yourself. Her heart quit, and she ended up in the hospital. It was touch-and-go for a few days. I was there the night she collapsed. It was pretty awful.”

Looking shaken, Carrie immediately stood up. “I have to go home,” she said.

“Wait. Let me get that lasagna,” Raylene said, but Carrie had already gone.

Obviously talking about Annie had upset her even more than the conversation about her dissatisfaction with her life. Raylene found the entire exchange upsetting. She didn’t want to be an alarmist, but Annie’s experience had proved that anorexia wasn’t something that could be ignored for long. She knew, though, that for Carter to believe her, she’d need more evidence, perhaps even a situation in which he could see Carrie’s behavior and judge it for himself.

School would be out soon, and the Fourth of July holiday was just a few weeks away. Usually it was Ronnie and Dana Sue, along with Annie and Ty, who hosted a barbecue after the town’s annual parade. Since Raylene couldn’t go, maybe she’d explain the situation to Annie and they could move the barbecue here. If nothing else, it would throw Carrie and Annie together. If Carrie was in trouble, Annie would pick up on it right away.

And then Annie and Raylene together would have to find a way to help Carter deal with the problem before it went spinning out of control and quite literally destroyed his sister’s life.





9




Carter’s day had gone from bad to worse. After a fairly routine morning, he’d started the afternoon dealing with a fatal crash on one of the rural roads outside of town. A teenager going too fast on his way home from school had missed a curve, hit a tree and died on the scene.