The foursome was so busy rubbing one another the wrong way, they didn’t notice when Anna and Vronsky entered the tent with Ben and Addison, whose access to Disney’s costume department had them dressed as Chip and Dale. They hit the dance floor immediately, oblivious to the fact that many of the other partygoers had already heard about the situation playing out twenty feet away. There were many people at the party who hadn’t met Anna before, but everyone there knew the Greenwich OG on sight.

Anna and Vronsky were grinding to Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts.” They only had eyes for each other, which everyone had noticed all evening, but these were Beatrice’s and Vronsky’s friends, so no one really cared. Nearly everyone in this bunch had cheated on their bfs and gfs before, or at least seriously thought about it. Anna had lost the white trench coat an hour ago and her black silky slip was sticking to her in the most appealing way. One of the tiny straps had fallen down her shoulder, and Vronsky couldn’t help himself, punch drunk as he was. He leaned forward, took the strap between his teeth, and pulled it up and back over her shoulder. His warm breath on her bare skin made Anna shiver, even though she wasn’t cold inside the heated tent.

“Hey, Anna!” Lolly hollered. She was standing by the speaker, but from her acting classes she knew how to make her voice carry to the back of the house. Half the party craned their necks to Anna and Vronsky. Enthralled by her dance partner, she reacted to Lolly’s call a few seconds later than she should. Lolly pointed and continued, “Alexander is here. I thought he was my dad at first. They wear the same khakis!”

Anna and Vronsky stopped dancing. Anna crossed her hands over her chest and stared across the dance floor. Alexander, Eleanor, Steven, and Beatrice stared back. Lolly noted Steven’s face, and she knew he wasn’t happy with her. Oopsie, she thought to herself as she watched Anna leave the dance floor, alone. Lolly looked around and noticed many of the guests were watching, too. It was only when Alexander clasped Anna’s arm and ushered her out of the tent that Lolly had a flash of clarity. She would have hung her head in shame, but a DJ remix of Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball” distracted her. “Ooooh!” she cried, moving her feet to the beat again. “I looooooove this song!” She threw her head back and started singing along, “I came in like a wrecking ball…” oblivious to how appropriate the lyrics were to the current drama afoot. I never meant to start a war …

XXVI