“Why, Annie, it is you.”
Like Caroline so often does, Lizzy smells sweet, as if every inch of her body has been massaged with lavender-scented lotions and oils, and smelling that smell on Lizzy Morris makes Annie want to grab a handful of that glistening yellow ponytail and yank it from her head. That lavender, no matter if it’s oil or lotion or a witch hazel spray, came from the Hollerans’ lavender farm.
Caroline smiles at Lizzy, but instead of visiting the way she might usually do, she rolls her chair around, putting her back to Lizzy and her friends so she can watch the hole a half a block away. Though Annie didn’t say it, Caroline is right. Sheriff Fulkerson probably will send Jacob Riddle to do the filling. During the school year, Ryce does it, but he’ll be in the field today and every other day this summer.
“We heard, Annie,” Lizzy Morris says. “Ryce told us.”
With those few words, the memory of Annie’s embarrassment, of Ryce’s eyes looking where they ought not have looked, is once again as potent as the living of it. Maybe more so. Time hasn’t healed a thing. Lizzy Morris knows and all her friends too. Annie listens hard but hears nothing of Ryce Fulkerson among the voices rattling around her. Even if she doesn’t see Ryce again until school starts, it’ll be too soon.
“We heard about the well,” Lizzy says. “About who you saw.”
Annie holds her breath so she won’t exhale and nods at Lizzy and the two other girls. Ryce didn’t tell. He didn’t tell about Annie and her rain-soaked shirt. It’s the well. Lizzy is talking about the well. Annie lets herself exhale and draws in another breath. The one thing she cannot do, will not do, is cry, not even tears of relief. Instead she forces a smile.
“It’s foolishness, Lizzy,” she says, lifting the glass of milk and pressing it to her lips but not taking a sip. The milk is cool and fresh, but if she were to take a mouthful, she might spit it all over Lizzy Morris.
Sitting here on this stool, Caroline on one side of her and Lizzy Morris on the other, Annie realizes how alike they are. They both have freshly brushed hair no matter how windy or rainy the day. Both have clear skin. No freckles, no peeling nose from too much sun. Their skirts don’t sag at the waist, and their shirts don’t hang over flat chests. The trouble with realizing such a thing is that if they’re altogether alike in those ways, they’re likely the same in other ways too. Either Lizzy is good like Caroline, or Caroline is nasty like Lizzy.
“It’s not foolishness.” Lizzy looks at the girls standing behind her. They must be Lizzy’s cousins visiting for summer break because Annie doesn’t recognize them from school. “Not foolishness at all. I think Jacob Riddle is perfect. And here he is, back in town. Ryce told us. Told us Jacob is back for good.”
Waiting for an answer or a comment of some kind, Lizzy tips her head this way and that as she stares into Annie’s black eyes. She looks from one eye to the other and back again.
“You saw Jacob, right?” Lizzy says. “Jacob Riddle?”
Annie waits for Caroline to do something, waits for her to correct Lizzy or shout at Annie or stand up and claim Jacob Riddle for herself. But she does nothing. She doesn’t roll her stool around, doesn’t move her head or lift her fork. Annie too could be the one to make it right. She could tell Lizzy she was mistaken and that Caroline is the one who saw Jacob Riddle. Annie could admit to having seen no one, or even make up another sort of fellow, but she doesn’t because she’s too selfish. Or maybe she’s too prideful. Or maybe, most likely, her will is too weak.
One of the girls with Lizzy leans up and whispers in her ear. Lizzy nods. The two girls at Lizzy’s side lower their eyes to the floor, look left of Annie, right of Annie. They don’t look her in the eyes again. But Lizzy continues to stare. She’s looking for something magical in Annie’s black eyes, something like whatever Aunt Juna must have had. Something that frightens most folks and has certainly frightened the other two girls. Or maybe it’s not Annie’s eyes Lizzy is looking at. Maybe she’s looking at Annie’s blouse and trying to see what Ryce Fulkerson saw. Maybe he did tell what happened out there in that tobacco field. He told and they all laughed. After a long moment, Lizzy straightens and shakes her head.