Anna’s first instinct was to apologize immediately, but before she could Beatrice placed her perfectly manicured finger over Anna’s lips to stop her. “Don’t you dare apologize. Bettys are très boring, and I know you’re not that.” Anna, pleased by the praise, spent the rest of lunch with Bea and her friends, a gaggle of popular girls whose topics of conversation hopscotched from fashion to boys to gossip with rapid-fire banter and lots of laughter. It was quite a fun change of pace for Anna, who sat with them a few more times as well. This year she had been spending her lunches getting a head start on her homework now that Alexander was in college and she no longer ate lunch with him at the Wick cafeteria.

In the car, Anna took the top off the box and stared at its contents. Inside were an envelope and two small gifts wrapped in red paper and white ribbons. Inside the larger of the two boxes, she found two gorgeous red leather dog collars. Each one had an engraved heart-shaped charm hanging from the silver ring with her dog’s names on one side and her own phone number on the other. There was a small white card at the bottom of the box that read: “Best of luck for Best in Show!” Anna didn’t even realize she was smiling until Thomas commented from the driver’s seat. “Someone seems pleased. Gifts from Alexander W.?”

At the mention of her boyfriend’s name Anna felt an immediate flood of shame. “It’s from my brother. I did him a favor recently so he’s just showing his thanks, I guess.” Anna exhaled. There it is. The first lie. She dismissed her thoughts and opened the next box, which contained a small red velvet drawstring pouch. She pulled out what looked like a dog collar charm, but this one was heavier than the others. The charm was a thick shiny heart a little bigger than a quarter. She knew enough about jewelry to recognize this charm was more than likely white gold or platinum, as there was weight to it. Anna stared at it and saw that on one side of the heart the word YOU was engraved and on the other side, the word ME. Reading the words, she gasped.

“Everything okay, Miss K.?” Thomas asked.

She nodded quickly, unable to speak, her mouth suddenly dry. Anna quickly slipped the charm into her pocket, grabbed the envelope, and then closed the box, thinking that when she arrived at Madison Square Garden she’d store it in her overnight bag in the trunk. She had planned to sleep in the city that night. When she texted Steven of her plans, he’d told her about his V-Day, mentioning that since Lolly couldn’t sleep in the hotel overnight, he planned to come home after he dropped her off.