“We’ll steal you a new pair from the Togshop,” Oliver said.

“I’m pretending I didn’t hear that,” said Phoebe.

I leaned my head against the window, watched the trees zip by in a blur. It wasn’t a huge loss. They weren’t even that nice. They were just shitty plastic sunglasses we’d bought on the way to Lovesick. Boring, tortoiseshell sunglasses that I’d tried on at the gas station and showed to Ros, and their face had lit up, and they’d said, Yes, yes, those are the ones; you have to get those.

“Where’s Ros?” I said when I got home that afternoon.

Touchstone was lying on the living room couch, reading a book that Audrey had lent him called Discovering the Clown. “Oh, hello, Celia, it’s so nice to see you, too. Yes, the Young People’s Workshop has been going rather well, if you don’t mind my saying so, and Audrey is just terribly smart, I don’t even mind that I have to stand on my tiptoes to kiss her.…”

“Touchstone. Where are they?”

“I don’t know,” he said, rolling his eyes and picking his book back up. “Out.”

They didn’t come home until after we’d eaten. My cooking skills, in spite of what I’d promised my parents, had hardly improved any since our arrival at the Lily Pad. I’d had such high aspirations for what we might be eating together—roasted chickens and rosemary potatoes, slow-roasted soups, salads topped with watermelon radishes—but I was so tired after getting home from the costume shop that most of the time I felt lucky if I could get it together to make toast (Touchstone joined me in a slice that was sure to upset his stomach, though he deemed the bread “worth it”), which is what I was eating when Ros walked through the door.

“Hey,” said Ros brightly. “Ooh—is there any more of that bread? I’m starving.”

“Big day?” I asked. Their neck looked oddly naked without their chain, and I was reminded of the fable about the girl whose head fell off when she removed the green ribbon she always wore around her neck. Only Ros seemed healthy, digging into the bread with gusto, more alive and energized than ever.

“I was alone at the shop while Jess did deliveries. Weirdly busy. You wind up walking a ton, even when you’re just in the shop,” they said, helping themselves to a slice of toast from the pile I’d made. “Damn, this bread is good.”

“It’s from the Dropped Acorn,” I said.

“What?” Touchstone yelled. “I’ve been eating secret Dropped Acorn bread this whole time? You went to the Dropped Acorn without me? I was the one who told you about that place! You knew I wanted to go there!”