“Yeah. I didn’t sleep too much last night.”

And that was it for his end of the conversation for the next four blocks. Scarlett filled in, telling him all about Lola’s toilet paper folding and lavender essences and breakfast-redesign schemes. It was impossible to tell if he was listening at all, so she shut up by the final block.

“Stop a second,” he said, slowing her down at the corner before the church. He reached for his glasses, as if he was going to take them off, and then decided against it.

“I’ve just been thinking about your question,” he said. “And you’re right, we need to figure that out.”

This was good. Very good. This made Scarlett love the sun on her skin, and the smell of detergent coming out of the laundry next to them, and the people walking by talking on their phones. The world worked. Everyone in it was happy, really. Maybe that’s what he’d been doing in his apartment—he’d been thinking. Maybe Mrs. Amberson’s plan hadn’t worked exactly as she described, but still that little bit of space had really…

“I can’t really be that right now,” he said.

…what?

“What?” she said out loud.

A pause. A terrible, terrible pause.

“A boyfriend.” More playing with the sunglasses. “And if I can’t give you that, I’m not sure we should go on like this.”

“If you’re worried about Spencer,” Scarlett said, scrambling for words, “I’ve talked to him. He’s being a little weird, but it’s not you. It’s because I didn’t tell him.”

“You don’t understand,” he said. “This is my fault. I really don’t want to lose you or Spencer as a friend and…”

Scarlett didn’t hear the rest. All she knew was that he meant it. She knew it in her bones, her blood, her heart and mind. Eric was dumping her. The smell of detergent burned her nose and the people on their phones were too loud and obnoxious and there was a glare. The ground felt like it was falling away.

She was vaguely aware that they both started walking again in the direction of the church, that a few of the cast members were just a few steps away.

“Excuse me,” she said, walking away from Eric and cutting through them.

Inside the church, it was hot enough to bake a pie. Scarlett dropped her bag to the ground with a thud, forgetting her computer was inside, and not really caring when she remembered. The actors buzzed around her, plucking their costumes from the racks. People said hi to her and tried to start conversations, but she couldn’t speak. She slipped up to the space behind the stage.

Mrs. Amberson and Trevor were conferring away, and Spencer was circling the stage on the unicycle, trying out some bounces. He was already dressed in his comic suit. All the sights were familiar, but it all felt distant and crazy. She put her head against the wall and tried to breathe deeply.