Since Tim had wandered off to I didn’t know where, and because the music had changed to something great, I stood up, and Anna followed me to the dance area. Soon Claudia, Debbie, and some other mothers joined in. Weirdly, men began to appear on the sidelines, watching. Anna was barefoot. I thought it was a mistake for her to have taken off her shoes. It made her look shorter, ordinary. But she was comfortable. Soon my shoes were off, too.

When Tim returned, he joined us on the dance floor, where he was even more focused on me. I don’t know how else to describe it: He was a human spotlight that night. I closed my eyes and began to spin. It felt as if everyone were watching me.

I stopped when I got dizzy, and Tim held me up. “Dance with Anna,” I said.

“No, thanks.”

“But she’d like to dance with you.”

“I only dance with the prettiest girl here.”

“All the more reason.”

“And I’m dancing with her now.”

Good answer.

During the next song, which was a slow song, Tim said he wanted to go home. I started to object. Then he whispered in my ear in the nicest way that he’d never been so erect. I wondered if the others noticed us leave. Anyone watching us must have known—soon there would be sex.

TIM

TIM

IT WAS THE KIND OF DRESS PERFECT FOR UNZIPPING. AND BECAUSE IT WAS tight-fitting, we both could hear the zipper as it faintly clicked down her spine, curving as her back curved . . .

“She wants me to keep it,” Kate said. “Do you think I should?”

“What?”

“Anna. The dress.”

I said nothing.

“You’re not listening.”

“Yes, I am.”

“So should I keep it?”

“My only interest in this dress is how quickly I can get you out of it.”

She seemed put off by my answer. “I really want to keep it,” she said. “But I don’t know if I should. It’s much too much, way too generous. I’ll always feel like I owe her. It’s not like I can give her anything of comparable value. So that’s it. It’s decided. I’m going to return it. Okay?”

“That’s probably best.”

“You think? But she gave it to me. Now I don’t know. I really want to keep it. Agh! I feel like I’m fifteen. Let me just say this—wearing it made me understand why, as a general rule, it’s better to be rich. Tim, are you listening?”

Later that night, during a shared bath, the room lit by a lavender-scented candle, I was giving Kate a foot rub when she said, “I didn’t say good night. Did you?”

I kept up the foot rub.

“Tell me you said good night to Anna.”