While flipping through the seven channels offered on her old-fashioned television set, Antonia could hear the growing thud of music from next door. She paused, remote in hand, and listened carefully as the speakers next door boomed. It was a familiar tune that she tried to place while she simmered in anger.

What is that? She drifted back toward her bedroom, where Aiden’s cottage connected. The familiar guitar riff was apparent when she stopped at the bathroom. It was The Guess Who... “American Woman.” Christ, what a jerk.

Two can play this petty game. She plugged in her laptop and scrolled through her own music library. “Ah-hah,” she cried triumphantly. She clicked on Beyoncé’s Lemonade, cranked the volume up as high as it could go, and let the album play on repeat. If war was what he wanted, she could certainly give it to him. No one could outsing Beyoncé and Antonia would prove it.

She closed the bedroom door and strode back to the living room where it was quieter. Sitting at the dinner table, she turned up the volume on the Irish news and waited for victory. When her phone rang, she swore under her breath. She was not in the mood to talk to anyone. But upon closer inspection, she saw that it was Eddie. Antonia sighed and received the call.

“Hi, Ed,” she said, turning down the news.

“How’s your trip going?” he asked, sounding enthusiastic. “Do you love it there?”

Antonia made herself close her eyes and count to five before answering. “It’s fine,” she said carefully.

“Try to sound a little more excited.”

“I’m more interested in how you’re doing?” she said. Eddie was always there when she needed to vent. In the last few weeks, that’s all she’d managed to do when they saw one another. She worried that she was quickly becoming one of those friends who only brought bad news to the table. “How are you and Megan doing?”

“Oh, we’re good,” he said. “She helped me get my CV together and now I’ve got three interviews next week. She reminded me that I’m ready for something more than editing.”

“You are,” Antonia said, her mood lightening with his good news. “I’ve always thought you were ready for management.”

“Thanks, Toni. Even though I had a feeling the ship was going down, I guess I just didn’t know what else to do. Megan calls it “Chicken Little” syndrome.”

Antonia laughed. “How much time has Megan been spending with my sister?” She hadn’t realized how much she missed her friend. Talking to him steadied her nerves.

“A fair amount of time actually. I hate to say it, but those two know how to dismantle a wedding. I’ve never seen Megan shout down a DJ before, but it kind of turned me on.”

Antonia couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh my god, did she make him cry?”

“Probably?” Eddie said. “I don’t ever want to be on the receiving end of that.”

“Aww, you just watch out.”