my hair, then stopped again. "And it doesn't matter anyway, because Tobias is a grown man who can do what he wants. Neither one of them owes me anything. There's nothing to feel bad about." I pulled the towel away from my head. My scalp was starting to hurt.
"Well, at any rate, you can't go to Europe now," she said carefully.
I raised my head to look at her. "Oh, no? And why is that?"
She stared at me. "The whole group is falling apart. Millie's upset and none of us know what's happened to her. You and Stacy are fighting."
"We're not fighting," I said through gritted teeth.
"Look, Millie's grandmother is dead. Your mom is dead. My parents are in Florida so they might as well be dead. And Stacy's mom is a nutcase. We're the only family we all have. You're going to just leave and let that fall apart?"
I narrowed my eyes at her. "Is that what this is about? Are you manufacturing drama to keep me here?"
"I'm getting married," Peach said, her lower lip quivering. "Are you even going to be here for my wedding?"
"Of course, I'll be here for your wedding," I said. "They have airports in Europe, you know. Have you picked a date?"
Peach straightened up and stared at me, delivering her statement like a blow. "December twentieth."
"Wow. That's fast. But ... sure. Okay. I'll be back for the wedding."
Her mouth dropped open. "Back? You can't go and come back. Who's going to help me plan?"
I ticked off my fingers. "Nick. Stacy. Millie. A thousand wedding planners in the regional phone book. And your parents are in Florida, Peach. They're not dead. You've got people."
"I need you. I can't put on a wedding without you, you're my oldest friend. You're the closest thing I have to a sister. You have to stay here until I get married, and then it's the holidays, and you can't go then. January and February are too cold, and it's even worse in Scotland in the winter. We can talk about it again in April."
"I bought my ticket," I said. "I leave in August."
"Get a refund."
"It's nonrefundable."
"I don't understand why you have to leave all of a sudden like that. It doesn't make any sense."
"I just..." I thought about explaining it to her, invoking memories of my mother, who used to sit in her garden staring into space for hours. I know he left her on October fifth only because she spent that day crying in her room every year. But I couldn't tell Peach all this because she wouldn't allow me to leave her because of a man. Peach was great in a lot of ways, but she would never understand what unrequited love did to you. No one had ever turned Peach down in her life.
"It's just something I need to do, Peach."
"Well, I don't understand why."
I huffed in frustration. "You don't have to. We're not family, Peach. We're neighbors. So just back off."
Immediately after I said it, I wanted to take it back, but I couldn't. Silence edged into the space between us as Peach stared down at the ground below, quickly swiping tears away from her cheeks before raising her head to look at me once again.
"I'm only going to get married once, Liv. Europe will always be there." And with that, she closed her window and left her bathroom.
I sat with the bag of toiletries on my lap, just staring until all the products melded together in a blurred lump in my vision. Peach would come around and apologize later. Millie would be fine, we'd all see to that, and Stacy and I would iron over whatever was tense between us. Tobias and I were already getting back to normal, kind of. The chances were good that by the time I got on that plane, Peach would accept it, too. It was about as likely as a winged unicorn flying over my house and pooping rainbows, but there was a chance.
At the moment, though, I was too tired to think about it, so I stuffed the toiletry bag under my bathroom sink and went to take a nap.
* * *
It was a little after seven at night when I woke up, although with the sun being out so late in the summer, it took me a moment to realize it was still Wednesday, my day off. I lay back in my bed and stared at the ceiling, wrist resting on my forehead. I supposed I could eat,