Anna

12 - Video Call

The sundeck overlooking Tessa and Joe's pool became Ellie's reading sanctuary. If anyone were to ask, she would say it was because she enjoyed the view. But really, it was more like making up for lost time. In the midst of photographers that swarmed the gate out front, that one little area was a slice of paradise.

Since arriving at Tessa and Joe's house, she had not stepped foot out the front door. Paparazzi often lurked on the street, waiting for a photo of her or anyone with the last name Holland. Their efforts were futile, though, because they had not seen her since she left the hospital two weeks prior.

While Ellie read and basked in the late summer heat, Tessa tended to her garden a few feet away. The young woman sometimes seemed like an eighty-year-old trapped in a thirty-seven-year-old body. Tessa spent a majority of her time at home with Ellie, as she did in the hospital. Her garden supplied their kitchen with fresh spices that she used to cook with, and she tended to flowerbeds with the same gentle care she showed Ellie.

Not only was Tessa kind and gentle, but she also dressed like she was ready to leave the house at a moment's notice. Ellie rarely caught her in anything more casual than a pair of jeans, even as she knelt in a bed of dirt. Relaxed comfort for Tessa meant blue jeans and her textured hair tied on top of her head in a thick headband that matched her shirt. Tessa was so put together, even her hair knew how to behave, with tight ringlet curls perfectly framing her face.

Ellie, on the other hand, lived exclusively in t-shirts and sweatpants, despite the heat. Her hair either frizzed or curled upon drying after a shower—there was no inbetween, and it never dried the same way twice. Compared to Tessa, she was a walking, barely-talking troll.

The back door opened, snapping her attention back to the task at hand. Her eyes focused on her book and she realized she'd been looking at the same paragraph without actually reading it. She tensed and stared at the pages of her book.

It was just Joe. As long as she stuck close to Tessa, it was never anyone else. She did not want to react that way to him, but she could not help it. Even though his voice still sounded like comforting waves, she could not bring herself to look at him like she looked at Tessa.

"Ellie," he said, keeping his distance in the doorway. "Rosa's waiting."

Ellie's face fell further. One condition of her never leaving the house was that she still had to talk to Doctor Rosa Reyes. Even though their sessions were daily, it never failed to disappoint her that she had to be subjected to talking about things that left her too vulnerable. And they didn't even talk about the basement or Him. They definitely didn't talk about the nightmares that plagued her sleep, but that she could never remember upon waking up in a cold sweat.

Keeping her head down, Ellie followed Joe inside to where the computer waited on the kitchen island. Upon being blasted by the air conditioning, she threw on the oversized sweatshirt that she stored nearby. With sleeves that were too long and a torso that hung off her like a blanket, the hoodie was the perfect size.

The barstool scraped against the floor as she raised onto the seat and planted herself in front of the computer. She briefly acknowledged Doctor Rosa by holding her gaze through the screen, then lowered her eyes to the keyboard.

"Good morning, Ellie," Rosa's choppy image greeted.

Ellie mumbled a barely audible "good morning" back and prepared herself for a barrage of painful questioning for the next hour.

"How's everything with Joe and Tessa going," Rosa asked. Ellie slowly raised her eyes towards the window, where Joe knelt on the ground next to Tessa as he pulled a clump of weeds. When they looked at each other or brushed hands, loving smiles crossed their faces. Tessa playfully tossed a clump of dirt at Joe's chest, which earned her a kiss on the lips.