The concert. It hurt Kate deeply, that simple, selfish answer. She’d forgotten about the concert and Marah’s running away. The trip to Kauai had cleared her mind of all of that.

No doubt as Tully had intended. It had also gotten Johnny out of the way so he couldn’t stop the plan.

“Say something,” Marah said.

But Kate didn’t quite know what to say, how to handle this. She wanted Marah to understand how selfish she’d been and how deeply that selfishness had hurt Kate, but she didn’t want to load guilt on her. The weight of this debacle fell on Tully. “Did it occur to you when you and Tully were hatching this plan that I might be hurt and embarrassed by it?”

“Did you think that I’d be hurt or embarrassed by not getting to go to the concert? Or rockin’ midnight bowling? Or to—”

Kate held up a hand. “So it’s still about you,” she said tiredly. “If this is all you have to say, you can leave. I don’t have the strength to fight with you now. You were selfish and you hurt my feelings, and if you can’t see that and take responsibility for it, I feel sorry for you. Get out. Go.”

“Whatever.” Marah got off the bed, but she moved slowly. At the door, she paused and turned around. “When Tully comes over—”

“Tully won’t be coming over.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your idol owes me an apology. That’s not something she’s good at. I’d say it’s something else you two have in common.”

For the first time, Marah looked scared. And it was at the prospect of losing Tully.

“You better think about how you’re treating me, Marah.” Kate’s voice broke on that; she struggled to sound in control. “I love you more than the world and you’re hurting me on purpose.”

“It’s not my fault.”

Kate sighed. “How could it be, Marah? Nothing ever is.”

It was exactly the wrong thing to say. Kate knew it the second she said it, but she couldn’t take it back.

Marah yanked open the door and slammed it shut behind her.

Quiet came instantly. Somewhere outside a rooster crowed and a pair of dogs barked at each other. She heard people walking around downstairs. The floorboards of this old house creaked with the movement.

Kate looked at the phone, waiting for it to ring.

________

“I think it was Mother Teresa who said that loneliness is the worst kind of poverty,” Tully said, sipping her dirty martini.