“We had our own house -.” I continued. I figured I might as well finish, like a snowball careening down a hill. “The mortgage was high.”

“What’d you do?” Rachel asked. I knew she was dreaming up worse scenarios than I’d actually done. This both comforted and angered me.

“We tried house parties and spaghetti dinners, but they didn’t work on a monthly basis. All our friends had to pay bills too.” I swallowed a good bit of wine. “We needed something – more original to guarantee funds.”

“Prostitution?” Ann asked.

“For Halloween, we decided to wear costumes.”

“Costumes?” I was about to lose Meg’s respect.

“Sexy kitty, French maid, dominatrix -.”

“Which were you?” Rachel asked.

“Playboy bunny.” Another gasp. “We raised enough for 3 months. But, in January, we ran out of money.”

“Twice?” Rachel and Ann asked.

“Not for me. I thought it was slutty. I dropped out of the sorority, joined some feminists, which lead to the job at A Woman’s Place. My former sisters were pissed, so they named me ‘Quitter.’”