Anna spent her snow day afternoon hanging out with Steven and Lolly. After Kimmie left for Bergdorf’s, Lolly asked Anna if she could use her bathroom to blow out her hair and Anna agreed. While Lolly was busy, Anna used the time to check on her brother. He was in his bedroom with an iPad on his chest, playing Fortnite. Anna flopped onto the bed next to him, careful to pull up his duvet first, and asked him whether she should bring her dogs in or not.

“Are you staying through the weekend?” he asked, keeping his eyes on the screen.

“Maybe. Tell me more about the party tomorrow night. Can you get me on the guest list?” she asked in a teasing way, knowing full well her brother had a lot of power because of his own reputation in the party circuit.

Steven paused his game and turned toward his sister. “Anna, you could ask me for anything right now and I’d do it for you. Seriously, you saved my ass. I don’t know what the hell you said to Lolly but she really came around. And around and around.” He didn’t wink at her, but he might as well have.

“Don’t gloat, Steven. It’s unbecoming,” she answered with pretend sternness. She felt delighted over her good deed, proud of the part she’d played in her brother’s happiness. And now that her brother and Lolly were doing it, perhaps they could avoid the same problem happening in the future. All the magazines she read stated men usually cheated for sexual satisfaction, while women tended to cheat for emotional connection. She kept this in mind for her own relationship, which of course explained why Alexander insisted they never go more than three weeks without seeing each other.

Anna lost her virginity to Alexander when she had traveled with his family to Bora Bora the summer before he left for college. Alexander’s father and stepmother rented them their own two-bedroom bungalow (with a private plunge pool), which they shared with Alexander’s half-sister, Eleanor. Eleanor was a freshman at Anna’s school and they were friends more out of convenience than anything else. Obviously, Anna would never dare to be catty about Eleanor in front of Alexander, but the truth of the matter was Eleanor was tedious.

On the second day of their ten-day vacation, Anna came back to their bungalow after getting a massage to find that Alexander had decorated the entire living room with candles and flowers. He had arranged for them to dine in their room catered by a private chef. Alexander was an incredibly thoughtful boyfriend, but this sort of grand gesture was not really his style. Anna was taken aback. “What about Eleanor?” she asked. Probably not the best response, but it was the first thing that popped into her head.