What the fuck? Gaby was in a mood, and Zanne didn’t have time for it. Was she nervous about the party or still mad about before? Was she waiting for Zanne to say the magic words and then she’d stay? She could stay or not stay—and honestly, at this point, it would be better if she didn’t—but she didn’t have to be so pissy about it. Zanne didn’t want a fight right now, and she didn’t want to be a mind reader. She had enough drama to deal with. On Set was about to figure out that Holly was missing from her own party, and behind that disaster were at least three other disasters Zanne had to clean up. She picked up her walk to a jog. She didn’t see Gaby at the bottom of the hill, where late arrivals were giving their names to the events team and opening their purses to security. Outside the gate, valets sprinted up the street from the two empty lots that the staff had rented for the night. Gaby stood out of the way on the side of the road, under a fig tree that hung over the neighbor’s fence. She was wearing the same clothes she’d worn to her interview, her shirt untucked from her skirt, hair piled in a knot on top of her head, nothing festive about her.

“What’s going on?” Zanne asked.

“Here,” Gaby said, holding out the keys.

“I don’t want them. I want you to come inside, but if you don’t want to, go ahead and drive yourself home.”

Gaby sighed peevishly. Yes. Zanne was making this difficult for her, whatever this was.

“I saw the thing you wrote,” Gaby said. “On InsideScoop. That was you, right?”

Zanne nodded, strangely proud.

“Why?” Gaby asked.

“I don’t know. I’d just had it. I found out something about Ted, and I just couldn’t smile and act like I don’t have any opinions.”

“It was so clear, watching you race around today to make everything perfect for some guy whose life is already perfect, that this place is a gilded cage. And I can’t figure out why you want me to be stuck here, too.”

“Stuck?”

“Trapped like you.”

Now it was Zanne’s turn to be peevish. She exhaled loudly. “I’m not trapped. And it’s not that deep. It’s a job that pays well, and I thought we could spend more time together. So sue me.”

“If you’re not gonna be honest with me, at least be honest with yourself.”