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Peach giggled. “Maybe we’re Miami girls deep down. We were born in the wrong town. Now, we need to make it our lifelong mission to return to the place we belong.” She was playing, but Kiera wasn’t laughing.
“Life without Daisy has been weird,” said Kiera, kicking the sand. “Home just doesn’t feel like home anymore.”
Peach tried not to take offense at this. It’s not like she didn’t get what Kiera was saying, but she still felt a pang of jealousy when Kiera said it. Kiera had always seemed to prefer Daisy to her, and it was hard not to feel like Kiera thought Connecticut was boring with just Peach for company. Maybe it was just the fact that Peach had low self-esteem. She often read the worst into a situation.
“I’m sure when we get home we’ll be glad to be back,” said Peach, trying to sound cheerful. “Lobster rolls. Steamed cheeseburgers. Apple cider.” She handed Kiera a bucket and spade and they sat down on the sand, making sandcastles together.
Neither of them said anything for a while, but it felt obvious to Peach that they were both thinking hard about what they’d just been talking about.
“You know, I don’t think I reallyneedto go back home,“ said Kiera, finally breaking the silence.
Peach squashed the sandcastle she was making. All her sandcastles were coming out wonky, while Kiera’s were perfect. She looked at her friend. “What do you mean? Your whole life is back there. Your apartment. Your work. You can’t stay on vacation forever.”
Kiera carefully added a sandcastle on top of another sandcastle. “Thing is,” she said, “I could run my bubble bath company from anywhere. All I need is a room to make my bubble bath. And a computer to advertise it. So why not do it here? As much key lime pie as I want… for the rest of my life!” She let out an evil cackle.
Peach tried to join in with the fun, but it was hard. Shedidn’thave a job that could be done from Miami. Sure, she could apply to sweep up dog hair clippings at a different groomer’s out here, but… what about the animal shelter? She’d volunteered at that place for years. The doggies relied on her. There was Woody the three-legged German Shepherd, Billy the blind bulldog, Bandit the Jack Russell with PTSD. They weren’t easy dogs to look after, but Peach had a way with them. They trusted her. She couldn’t just move to Miami and leave them all behind.
She looked over at Teddy, happily running around them in circles. If it hadn’t been for the shelter, Teddy would never have come into her life. She couldn’t turn her back on Connecticut. Definitely not just on a whim.
“You look like you’re about to tell me you could never leave home,” Kiera said.
“The rescue home—“ Peach began.
“They don’t even pay you. And as for the grooming place, it’s slave labor! You could find a better job here. Hey, maybe you could even work for Daddies Inc?”
“For Isaac?” blurted Peach. “No way.”
“Well, you could do anything!” said Kiera, spreading her arms wide.
Peach shook her head. “You can’t just reinvent your life in the blink of an eye. I’m just not destined for this life, Kiera. Daisy got lucky. She ran away from Mr. Wrong and bumped straight into Mr. Right. But… I’m destined to clean up dog clippings forevermore. And if I let myself dream any bigger than that, it’ll just lead to disappointment.”
“I thought you seemed inspired by our tour of the Daddies Inc offices yesterday. You had this look in your eye, like anything was possible.”
“And then I got told off for bringing my pet into the building and I realized that people with big dreams are generally a-holes.” She dug a hole in the sand and buried her feet in it. Teddy ran over to her and began barking, as if alerting her to the fact that she was trapped. “It’s okay, Teddy,” she said. “See?” She pulled out her feet and wiggled her sandy toes. Teddy licked them, sand and all. “Ew!”
“I dunno,” said Kiera. “I… think I might do it. I’m my own boss, after all. I’m going to let myself dream big. I’ll extend my stay for a few days and look for someplace to live. I love you, Peach, but my life has felt so empty lately.
Peach felt the color drain from her cheeks.
“Not because of you, Peach!” Kiera said quickly. “I love you! You know that. I just… haven’t felt all that fulfilled lately. I feel like I’m stagnating. I feel like I need to try something new... You sure you don’t want in on this?”
Quietly, she said, “Kiera. Seriously. My entire life is in Connecticut. One of my best friends already left. And now you say you’re leaving too.”
“But you should come with me!” Kiera lifted her bucket to reveal yet another perfect sandcastle.
“I can’t,” Peach sniffed. “I can’t afford to quit my job. I can’t just be spontaneous like you. Plus, the rescue center brings me happiness. I have to live in reality. Not some fantasy world where I get to do whatever I want and start over. I had to do that after my parents kicked me out for being a Little. Starting from scratch. I’m not doing it again.”
Kiera looked defeated. “Fine,” she said. “I get it. You think I’m crazy. But you’ll see. I’m joining Daisy for the good life.” Kiera paused. “And obviously you can come stay with me any time you like. In fact, I insist that you do. But Iammoving here.”
With those words, Peach felt yet another friend drifting away from her. Well, not so much drifting away as running away as fast as her legs would carry her, and slamming the door in Peach’s face.
Chapter Five
ISAAC
Therewereseveralreasonsthat Isaac didn’t want to go back to his Miami compound. Number one: having been back to the ranch, nowhere else felt like home. Number two: seeing his aunt so lonely, rattling around in that big old ranch house… it made him feel strange about rattling around onhisown now too. Number three: the damn cat was still there.
He’d gotten a message from his PA, Charlotte, this morning. Animal control weren’t interested in coming to collect a stray kitten. They had too much on their hands, and they told Isaac to try to find a home for the cat himself. Isaac had asked Charlotte to take it, but she told him her greyhounds would rip it to shreds in a hot second. She’d brought over a litter tray and some food and a bed and told Isaac he was going to have to look after it until he found it somewhere to live.
