Holly was at a VIP table in an exclusive club, wearing a brand new dress. She’d just washed down an expensive meal with several glasses of champagne. And she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so miserable. No, wait—yes she could. This time last year, when her sister had thrown an enormous birthday party at her house in Ballantyne. Holly had scrambled to find a date for the party, and he only lasted about an hour before he snuck off to pursue one of Gina’s very beautiful and very married friends. Holly drank too much, made out with a member of the catering staff and spent the taxi ride home drunkenly weeping off all her mascara. Gina had declared ladies-only festivities this year, and as much as she’d initially been grateful for the absence of tempting party waiters, as Holly glanced around the group of giggling, glamorous women, her all-too-familiar sense of inferiority reared its ugly head. “And then I had to call the cable company again,”
