“Wait,” Hannah said, angrily snapping around to face Tom again. “I don’t need air. You do.”

She swayed as she continued, her ankles wobbling. Tom stood frozen in front of her, his eyes shifting from side to side to see who might be watching. She continued confidently, batting Tom’s arms away as he tried to help her, and pointing at him with her right index finger.

“You want to talk to me? Fine. But don’t pretend I need your help.”

The band was getting louder, but the volume wasn’t enough to prevent Bee from overhearing the arc of Hannah’s rant. The bride broke off from a dance circle she’d formed with her mother and two aunts and did a brisk sashay toward Hannah, who kicked off one of her heels as she barked at Tom. The shoe flew behind her.

“You fucking abandoner!” Hannah said loudly, as Tom tried to grab her shoulder again. “Go find your girlfriend. Go find your guidance counselor.”

Tom froze, his face flushed.

“Go find her,” Hannah continued. “I’m sure she’s looking for you.”

This time, when Tom reached out, he caught her shoulders angrily, stabilizing her.

“You have to stop this,” Tom yelled. Hannah tried to wriggle away, but Tom held on tight. She avoided eye contact like a child, shifting her head around so her eyes were on anything but his face.

“Stop this,” he repeated sternly.

Hannah obeyed and let her eyes drift to his. She stayed silent, temporarily disarmed.

“You—you’re acting like I did this,” Tom rambled, losing his composure, his voice cracking. “You call me an abandoner? Really?”

The band drifted into a draggy version of “Alone Together,” which allowed Tom to lower the volume of his voice. He let go of Hannah’s shoulders, more confident that she wasn’t going to run away. Bee now stood a step behind Tom, listening closely.

Hannah stood awkwardly, unbalanced with one shoe on and one off.

“We—we both did this,” Tom said, his voice shaky. “I left New York, but you could have come with me. I asked you to come with me. I told you for an entire year that I wanted to live closer to my family, that I needed to go back to Boston, and you never said a word. I left…I left for me, because I wanted something different, a lifestyle that was more about my needs. I didn’t leave because I wanted to leave you. I wanted to leave New York. I was in love with you. I assumed that you stayed in New York because it was the life you wanted, with or without me.”

Hannah stayed silent. She raked her palm across her forehead, pushing her wet hair out of her eyes. She shook her head as the lead singer of the band wailed about weathering the great unknown.

“You can be upset that it didn’t work out,” Tom continued, “but you can’t blame me for it. I didn’t dump you, Hannah. You chose to stay where you were.”