Page 74 of Good Dirt

Ebby in the Morning

A t dawn, Ebby hears a vehicle approaching and peeks through the blinds on her bedroom window. She sees a car with a driver pull into the parking area. Henry comes out with his luggage, stops, and looks toward the main cottage. Ebby pulls back from the window and hides behind the wall until she hears the car doors slamming. First the trunk, then two more doors. As the limo drives away, Ebby feels a great sense of relief. But also sadness.

Not long after, Ebby steps outside to tend to the flower beds and is shoving a trowel into the dirt when she notices a cardigan draped over a garden chair. She thought she left that cardigan at Robert’s. She walks over to the garden chair and sits, holding the cardigan in her lap. Yes, she did leave this sweater at Robert’s. She’s sure of it. Robert must have been here.

Oh, no, she thinks. She was supposed to go out with Robert last night. She thought that Robert hadn’t bothered to show up. But he must have come by when she and Henry were arguing. Did Robert see Henry in the house with Ebby? He must have. As had Avery, probably. But how much of what happened between Ebby and Henry did they see?

There is that feeling again. The feeling that Robert elicits in her. It matters to her what he thinks. She wants to see him. But how could she go to him now, after what has just happened between her and Henry? And only one day after she was last with Robert. No, no, no, she needs to be alone. She needs to regain some sense of control over her actions. She’s already seen the consequences of letting Henry get close. Dammit, Ebby. She shouldn’t have opened that kitchen door.

The following day, Ebby tries to keep the tone of her voice even when she talks to her parents. She still hasn’t told them about seeing Henry. She is trying to forget what happened between her and Henry. What they said. What they did.