“These are all very good songs, but I don’t hear anything to compete with ‘Motownphilly’ coming out of your mouth,” she yelled, and with that, the house played the song for us and we went berserk.

By the time Tyler walked in, I was dancing on top of the grand piano, pouring a bottle of Ruinart directly into my mouth. Max was hopping up and down next to the window and hitting all the high notes. We’d opened the lower-level glass garage wall out into the yard, and fireflies were streaming in, electric yellows and greens.

That’s when it became a blur.

Here is exactly what I remember.

Laughing, Tyler grabs me off the piano and holds me in his arms, and I dump champagne into his mouth, and he kisses me with a mouth full of foam, and it drips down onto Max’s beautiful skirt. He slides one hand inside my top and we keep making out, momentarily oblivious to Max’s presence.

“Hey!” she yells, popping open another bottle of champagne. “Get a room!”

“Don’t tempt me,” Tyler says.

“You are just the same,” I say to him, running my fingers down his ageless face. “Are you a vampire?”

“The same as what?” he asks.

“The first time I saw you,” I tell him, and he looks confused. Then I let go of him, grab the new bottle of champagne, and run outside. Max follows me and we race down the grass, chasing an invisible finish line, until I trip and fall face-first into the soft green carpet, and I wipe my face and a chunk of dirt comes away but my skin isn’t hurt, so we laugh and laugh, and the world spins around us, and Tyler is watching us from the house, and then I am suddenly very, very sad. Max takes a pack of cigarettes from her dress and lights one and hands it to me.

“Do you think he’s still in love with her?” The words come out but I don’t remember why I thought it was okay to ask them.

“You’re so much better than her.” Max sighs, collapsing into a bubblegum pouf in the grass. “I’m so glad she’s gone,” she says, her eyes big and wide. “It was terrible when she was here. She was the unhappiest person I have ever met. Nobody got anything they wanted when she was around.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s better now. She was crazy,” Max says insistently, not answering my question. “Everybody is happier now.”

“Everybody loved her,” I tell Max, confused.