“I am ready to be analyzed,” she said.

Doris laughed. “How’s the celibacy thing been working out?”

Lucy closed her eyes and sighed deeply. “Well, since the pizza night we’ve been pretty good. A few kisses here and there. Theo rubbed my back one morning after a hard workout and it got a little out of control.”

“Oh? What happened?”

“He started rubbing my front, too.”

“I see.”

“Then he followed me into the ladies’ locker room and threw me down on the bench.”

“Oh my.”

“Yeah. Scared the cleaning lady half to death.”

“But is it motivating you?”

Lucy opened one eye. “Doris, I’m so damn motivated I can’t see straight. I’m so motivated that I’m starting to think both Andy Taylor and Barney Fife are sexy.”

As Lucy walked toward the scale, she crossed her fingers. She crossed her toes. She crossed her eyes.

She knew this was a moment of reckoning. That morning’s WakeUp Miami audience was overflowing out into the street. The TV station had to hire off-duty Miami police officers for crowd control. Lucy saw some of her steadfast fans out in the studio audience waving signs and wearing their autographed T-shirts, and she really didn’t want to let them down. She didn’t want to let Theo down. Most of all, she didn’t want to let herself down.

In the moment it took to reach the scale, the last few weeks raced by in her mind. She’d worked harder than she’d ever worked in her life-running, cycling, free weights, abs, glutes, pecs-it was a blur. Her food had been sane and healthy. Her journal was accurate and full of positive thinking-OK, most days. And Theo was back in her life. They were a team again.

“Go, Lucy! Go, Lucy!” the audience shouted.

Theo held out his hand and she took it, stepping onto the scale. She blinked and focused on the audience, then abruptly laughed-Luigi the pizza guy was in the second row! He waved and shouted and she waved back, exhaling deeply, knowing that the air in her lungs didn’t weigh much, but surely it weighed something.

At least Theo’s fingers were tapping the right way. At least she hadn’t gained again. The crowd was getting a little rowdy, and John Weaver asked for quiet.

Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap.

“You rock, Cunningham,” Theo whispered to her. Then he faced the cameras. “Lucy’s lost the six pounds she gained last month, plus an additional four. Lucy weighs one hundred and fifty-four pounds today.”

The cheering was so loud that her ears hurt. Theo helped her down and hugged her hard. She started to cry-from relief, from happiness, and because Theo had his arms around her for the world to see, and they reached just fine.

October

It was a glowing evening in suburban Fort Lauderdale, and the Cunninghams’ backyard was overflowing with guests. The reason for this get-together was Lucy’s parents’ thirty-fifth wedding anniversary, and Dan had come down from Pittsburgh and Mary Fran and the kids were there and-total shocker-Keith came, too. Lucy noted that he was laughing a lot and seemed more relaxed than she’d seen him in years. Mary Fran was working part-time and Keith had quit his sales job and started a consulting group with a former colleague. Money was tight, but Frannie said he was home at least three nights a week for dinner. There had been no dancing on bars in quite a while.

Milling around the backyard were Theo and Buddy plus Aunt Viv and Uncle Martin, whom Lucy hadn’t seen for several months. Everyone seemed to get along fine, and the party was in full swing when Dan came over to sit next to her.

He fidgeted with the sleeve of his shirt and stared down at the grass. “I don’t think I do it for Gia anymore.

I think the novelty has worn off.“ Dan raised his eyes to his sister’s. ”She hasn’t returned my calls. She doesn’t swing by Pittsburgh on the way back from New York. I guess I was deluding myself.“

Lucy didn’t know what to say. She’d never seen Dan so sad or even so serious. She herself hadn’t talked to Gia much, so she had no idea what was going on in her life. “I know she’s traveling a lot, Dan.”

He shrugged, giving her a weak smile. “Who’d a thunk in the first place, huh? I mean, how many other residents at Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital have ever dated a supermodel?”

“My guess would be zero,” Lucy said, patting his hand.

“You got that right.”

Lucy smiled at her brother. “You’re great, Dan. You’ll find somebody. It’ll happen.”

Dan wagged an eyebrow. “Word’s gotten around, though. The women back home are trying to figure out what ole Danny’s got that Gia Altamonte wanted. My stock has gone up dramatically.”

Lucy and Dan joined Theo, Buddy, and Keith in a game of volleyball. Then Lucy went to chat with Viv and Martin for awhile, then helped her mom make the salad. When Lucy carried it out, Theo said he had an announcement to make.

“Only Buddy knows about this.” Theo smiled at his brother and continued. “I thought I’d use this opportunity to tell everyone that I did get readmitted to medical school.”

Aunt Viv screamed and made her way as fast as she could to Theo and hugged him. Uncle Martin followed, slapping Theo’s back. Lucy smiled at Theo, so proud of him she could scream, too. Instead she kissed his cheek and whispered, “You rock, Redmond.”

“The downside is I have to pick up in the middle of my second year. I start classes January tenth.”

Lucy saw the disappointment in Theo’s eyes-he had to repeat a whole year-but he was smiling.

“I thought long and hard about it, but I’ve decided it’s worth it. I’m back in.”

Lucy’s dad went inside and rustled up a bottle of champagne. They were in the middle of toasting to Theo’s success when the phone rang.

“Hold that thought just a moment.” Her dad ran into the kitchen to answer it. Everyone waited for him to return, but it took several long minutes, and when he did make it back, he was frowning.

“Who was that, Bill?” Lucy’s mother stopped her conversation with Viv and Martin and waited for him to answer, but he just continued to frown. “Bill?”

His eyes found Lucy, and he began to walk toward the lawn chair where she sat. Lucy swallowed hard. Something was wrong.

The twins chose that particular moment to stop screaming and it got very quiet as everyone watched Lucy’s dad come closer. He knelt down at her feet and placed a hand on her knee.

“Pumpkin, that was a young lady from WakeUp Miami-one of their producers.”

“OK. What’s up?”

Theo had moved up behind Lucy, and she felt his hand on her shoulder.

“Well, it seems somebody’s put a bee in their bonnet to do a special show about you this month, and they want your mom and me to come on TV and be interviewed.”

Lucy’s pulse began to drum. “What kind of special show, Dad?”

“The girl said they’re calling it, This Is Your Life, Lucy Cunningham.”

Her body went stiff. She tried to remain calm. “Oh really?”

“Pumpkin, I’m so sorry to have to tell you this…” Her dad craned his neck and sought out her mother, who gasped before he could finish his sentence. “They’ve gone and tracked down Brad Zirkle and he’s coming to do the show.”

Lucy was out of the chair in a flash, running up the back steps to the kitchen. Without breathing, without thinking, she grabbed her purse and keys off the counter and stumbled through the living room and out the front door to her car. She was inside and driving before the first sob hit her.

Theo was right behind her, but Dan grabbed his arm before he made it out the front door.

“Get her to tell you what happened,” he said.

“I’ve tried!” Theo said, exasperated. “Would somebody please just tell me what the hell-”