Peaches

Murphy. It was a million times better for Leeda to look at her like she was a human being and not an insect.
    “Lee, I am your friend. Rex…” She wanted to tell Leeda that her loyalty had been tested, and passed, and how much that meant. But the words got stuck in her throat. She didn’t know how to say it. She had done the right thing! She, Murphy McGowen, had done the right thing!
    She almost smiled.
    “You’re gonna end up just like her, you know, begging guys to love you, sleeping with other people’s husbands….”
    Murphy swayed on her feet. The almost-smile felt slapped away.
    She held up her hands as if to shield her face, feeling her blood come to a simmer. “Leeda, you should stop talking now. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “Oh, I do, believe me.” Leeda seemed on the verge of leaving the room, but she stopped and looked at Birdie. “Birdie and I want you to leave.”
    Now in anger, Murphy couldn’t keep her tears back. They popped out on her eyeballs and hung there, but she wouldn’t let them drop. She looked at Birdie, who had pulled her covers over her head and curled herself in a fetal position facing the other way.
    Then she looked at Leeda.
    “If I leave, you won’t get the secret.” Murphy smiled, reeling Leeda in, slippery as an eel.
    Leeda looked flustered. Her gray eyes fluttered. “What secret?”
    “The secret of what I have that you don’t.”
    Murphy pursed her full lips, put her hands on her hips.
    “I’m dying to know,” Leeda said sardonically, but Murphy could tell by the way her eyes grew big and a little soft, she really wanted to know.
    Murphy shrugged, as if the answer was obvious. “I’m just more than you. More person. More life. You’re boring and uptight. Anybody who really gets to know you…Anybody who is around long enough will find out you’re just…bleh.”
    Leeda took off down the stairs two at a time and slammed out onto the porch. Murphy stood in the doorway, dazed, hurt more by the things she’d said to Leeda than the things Leeda had said to her. Birdie sat up on the bed, watching her, in shock.
    Murphy looked at her and felt the sting of her betrayal, of them ganging up on her, and glared at her. “Thanks, Birdie. Thanks a lot. Have a nice life, wherever you end up.” Murphy knew how to twist the knife, dragging herself to the ugliest level possible.

    A few minutes later, her stuff packed into the trunk, Murphy peeled down the gravel drive, her car clunking along, the orchard passing by on either side. She didn’t look in the rearview mirror to see it fall away.

Chapter Twenty
    B irdie was lying flat on the kitchen floor. She’d never done it before, and it seemed like a good diversion. Her dad had gone out, and she couldn’t take the quiet. No workers outside, no work to do. After all the stress of rushing around trying to keep everything running, the downtime felt empty and useless. And there was no hope of Murphy or Leeda or Enrico showing up on the porch.
    The only sound was the phone ringing. It had rung like this once every ten minutes for the last hour. Caller ID announced it was her mom. Birdie was studiously trying to ignore her. She didn’t have the energy today to navigate her mom’s feelings while simultaneously protecting her dad. Or deal with the idea of moving in with her.
    The phone went silent, then rang again, and Birdie’s guilt finally got the best of her. She watched her feet as she walked and lifted the receiver blindly.
    “Hey,” she breathed.
    “Hey, Birdie, it’s Leeda.” Leeda’s voice was high and lilty, like someone trying hard to sound great. Birdie breathed a sigh of relief. She wanted to reach through the phone and hug Leeda.
    “I’m sorry I haven’t returned your calls. I’ve been so busy. Getting ready for the wedding is hell. And we had the bachelorette party last night.”
    “Oh? How was it?”
    “Danay loved it.”
    “Oh yeah?”
    “Yeah. She was completely happy. Stupid happy. She got so wasted. She puked on the marquis at the Fox Theater.”
    “What were you doing at the Fox?”
    “It’s her favorite bathroom. She wanted to puke in there.”
    Birdie laughed. “Didn’t make it, huh?”
    Leeda laughed back, but her laugh sounded forced.
    “So I guess you knew better after all,” Birdie offered.
    “No, I didn’t.” Leeda paused. “I used your ideas. I mean, I used your idea to use Danay’s ideas.”
    “Oh. That’s good.”
    “Yeah.”
    They both let