I opened the top drawer in the dresser and found the scraps of things Mrs. Trent had collected since coming to stay with us. There were her letters, in blue airmail envelopes, two stamps fixed in each corner.

One by one I put the clothes from my closet and my drawers into Mrs. Trent’s dresser.

I stood before Ezra’s bed, touched my hand to his quilt, remembered Shep peeing there.

Brushing back the sides of my hair, I sighed and sat down on the bed’s edge. In every corner the room reflected Ezra. I saw him immersed in a book. Bounding after the puppy. Cross-legged on the floor. Banging on the Christmas tins.

I lay down, carefully fitting my body to the peaks and valleys Ezra had left in the mattress. I turned softly, buried my face in his pillow. I could smell Ezra’s hair.

One of his curls clung to the pillow case. I picked it up between my thumb and my finger, played it over my cheeks, over my lips, down my neck. Closing my eyes, I imagined Ezra, beside me, up on his elbow, talking, tucking my hair behind my ear. I imagined touching his face, certain of the way it would feel under my fingertips. In my mind I traced the crags around his eyes, touched the cresent scar.

I stayed there a long time, filling myself with Ezra.

Gran, Mrs. Trent, and Ezra arrived home shortly after dinner, looking tired.

“Well?” I asked, panting. I’d been in the back pasture when they pulled in.

“Mostly a runaround,” Gran said.

Mrs. Trent added. “They know where we are. They will be in touch. We reached no decision. I hope you can extend your hospitality a little longer.”

Extend our hospitality? I never wanted Ezra to leave. I didn’t want Mrs. Trent leaving either.

“We did decide one thing,” Ezra said. “We decided it was time I went back to school. To Leland and Gray, Nyle! With you.”

“That’s terrific,” I said, but I didn’t feel that terrific about it. “Are you sure you’re well enough? Did you see a doctor or anything?”

How was I going to explain him? Could I act as smooth as Gran had at the concert? How would it change things between us when he wasn’t so dependent on me anymore?

Ezra grinned. “I’m fine. Great. The question is, is that school big enough for the two of us?”

“I doubt it,” I said.

Mrs. Trent turned and placed her hand over mine. “Ezra’s recovery would not be possible without you, Nyle.”

I shook my head. “I didn’t do anything.”

Mrs. Trent continued, sandwiching my hand between her long fingers. “There are many things in this life that people do alone. But not this. This you helped Ezra to do, Nyle. And I thank you.” And then she took my face between her hands and she kissed me softly on the forehead.

Twenty-Five

The bus pulled up before Ezra and I got down to the road. Fortunately, it always took Muncie time to climb on. The driver waited for her to sit. That gave us time to run the last few yards across the bridge and up the bus steps.