Rowan straightened from shoving her things back into her bag. “Have you met my family? I don’t even know half of Michael’s. If I was them, I’d be judging me. I need to go somewhere to clear my head and figure out what the hell I’m supposed to do.”
“It’s probably a good idea anyway,” Maria said. “You’re starting to trend.”
“What?”
She and Claudia crowded Maria to look at the Twitter app on the screen of the phone she held.
“Oh my god—I’m a hashtag!” She scrolled through the feed, finally finding the original tweet. “I’m going to kill my cousin Tanya!”
“You’re not a hashtag,” Claudia said.
Rowan glared at her. “Do you know anyone else who was ‘hashtag: jilted’ today? No? Me neither.”
She dragged her feet over to one of the loveseats, shoved a bag onto the floor with a satisfying thunk, and sat down with her head on her knees.
“It’s only a matter of time before I’m a meme. This is going to end up on Buzzfeed or Bored Panda or some other click-bait website.”
Claudia sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Don’t be ridiculous. At the very least you’re going to end up on TMZ. Maybe even Jimmy Fallon.”
Rowan lifted her head and glared at her best friend. “Not. Helping.”
“You can always go to the cabin,” Maria said.
She sat up straight, dislodging Claudia’s arm. “That’s perfect.”
Claudia shook her head. “No, it’s not. My dad hasn’t been up there yet. It’s not stocked with anything.”
“I don’t care. I can stop at Walmart and get food on the way.”
Claudia shifted to face her more fully. “Rowan, there’s not going to be enough fuel in the generator for more than a couple of days at the most.”
“I don’t care! I’ll buy some extra socks and a coat and a blanket. I can get gas on the way. I have to get out of here.” She grabbed Claudia’s hand. “I’m clucking, Claudia. Please.”
Claudia sighed. “All right.”
Yes! This was perfect. She could disappear from reality for a few days until the whole thing blew over and some celebrity did or said something stupid to knock her off the trending list. She already had two weeks off from work, so no one was expecting her and she could really stay at the cabin that entire time. She’d send her dad a text to let him know she was safe—he’d understand more than anyone else her need to be alone. She could throw everything in the back of her car—her shoulders sagged.
“My car’s at my house. I rode over with Adalynn this morning.”
“You can take mine,” Maria said.
For two weeks?Maria was quickly becoming her new favorite person. “Are you sure?”
“Of course. I’ll ride back with Claudia. Let me go get my keys.” She slipped out the door and closed it quietly behind her.
Rowan felt the weight of Claudia’s gaze. “Stop looking at me like that.”
“Are you sure this is what you want to do?”
“I need time to figure out what the hell I’m going to do and I can’t do that with everyone giving me their opinion of what they think I should do, which is exactly what my mom and sister will do if I stick around.”
“You don’t want to try to talk to him first? Both hims?”
Rowan shook her head. “I know Michael. Once he makes a decision, he sticks to it. And…I don’t know that I could get over him walking away.” A tear slid down her cheek, the finality of the situation hitting her at last. “He walked away, Claudia. Without a fight.”
“Oh, honey.” Claudia pulled her close and leaned her head against his. “Maybe he thinks this is what you want. What about Luke?”
“I—” She shook her head again. “I have no freaking clue.”
