“No, I’ve kept my mouth shut long enough. I would’ve let your mother deal with this, as I always let her deal with anything that had to do with you, but she’s not here, is she?”

“No, she’s not. And can I remind you that I’m closer to fifty than forty and I’m really not something to deal with? Not a child?”

“Then stop acting like one.” His voice shook and he mustered all his emotional strength to say these things to me.

“How so?” I asked.

“Running away. You’re running away like a child.”

“Oh, Dad. Has Rusty been over there?”

“Of course he has. We only have each other now. This insanity must stop. I see how miserable he is without you.”

“Oh, Dad.”

There was silence on the line and I thought Dad had hung up, but then he spoke. “I talked to my brother yesterday. He said he’s seen you a couple times.”

“Yes. It was great to see him.”

“Well, it sure would be nice if we could see you.”

“Soon,” I said, and walked off the porch onto the lawn, wiggling my toes in the grass. “Not today.”

“Not today,” he said. “Nice.”

“I’ve got to go. Thanks so much for checking on me. I love you, Dad.”

“I love you, too, Ladybug. I just want … you to come home.”

“I know,” I said.

He hung up without saying good-bye, and I stared at the phone to make sure service hadn’t been dropped, that my dad really had hung up on me.

“Ellie,” Birdie called me from the porch.

“Yes?” I returned to her.

“Coastal Living just called, and that writer is coming over to interview me. Cotton and I are gonna take her out on the boat. You want to come?”

“Absolutely,” I said, and walked onto the porch. “Can I invite Hutch? He wants to hear these stories about the house.”

Birdie smiled at me. “Of course. Leaving in an hour, okay?”

I settled back into the guesthouse. I’d never thought of myself as someone who ignored reality or didn’t face the truth of circumstances, yet here I was pretending that my husband hadn’t walked out in the middle of the night. I dropped to the couch in the guesthouse and first dialed Rusty’s cell phone number. I closed my eyes as I waited for him to answer.

“What do you want?” he asked without a hello.

“I want to talk about all this awfulness. Please can we just talk?”

“Ellie, on that hell drive home all night, I decided that I will not talk about any of this to you or with you until you come home. I will not put up with this shit.”

“I’m sorry, Rusty. I’m sorry you drove all night. You didn’t have to leave; you could’ve stayed.”

“There?”

“Yes, here.”