The next morning, Gerald was gone without a word. Mrs. Webb had made a generous breakfast on his instructions, but I had no appetite. I reached for the wine on the table and started drinking, hoping it might lift the gray mood that had settled over me.
Instead, with every sip, the heat in my body climbed. A burning sensation spread up my throat, and my skin prickled as though something were crawling beneath it. Only then did I realize I had absentmindedly opened the spiked wine from the night before.
My body was already spiraling out of control. I called Mrs. Calloway to cancel the party, and she told me she was already at my front door.
There was nothing to be done. I got dressed and went with her.
At the gathering, I sat with my legs pressed tightly together, fighting to keep myself
