Page 57 of All These Beautiful Strangers

“Well, considering this game champions pathological liars, I’ll take that as a compliment,” Teddy said. “It’s no wonder you’re so good at it.”

Olivia stuck her tongue out at him.

Olivia and Teddy always fought when they played this game. Last time, it had ended with Olivia throwing her glass of wine in Teddy’s face—the whole glass, not just the wine.

“Each person makes three statements—two of them are true, and one of them is a lie,” Eugenia explained to Grace and Porter. Margot had played with us before. “The rest of us have to guess which one is the lie.”

“And we can ask you things to try and figure it out,” Olivia said. “And you can lie all you want to try and trick us.”

“If we guess wrong, you remain in the game,” Eugenia said. “And if we guess correctly, you’re out. Everyone takes a turn until there’s only one person left.”

“And the winner gets a prize,” Olivia said. “It’s always something good. What’s the prize this time, Eugenia?”

“The prize,” Eugenia said, “is my watch.”

She unclasped the white-gold band from around her wrist and held it up for all of us to see. It was a Rolex with a pavé-diamond dial.

“Oh, let me see,” Olivia said, reaching out her hands to take the watch. “It’s beautiful.”

“So, Grace,” Eugenia said. “You get to go first.”

“Okay, three things,” Grace said, clutching the stem of her wineglass.

“You don’t have to play, if you don’t want to,” Teddy said.

“Yes, she has to play,” Olivia said. “Why wouldn’t she have to play?”

“It’s fine,” Grace said, putting her hand on Teddy’s knee. She bit her lip for a moment, deep in thought.

“The first thing is, I used to swim competitively in high school, and I won a state champion title,” she said after a moment. “The second thing is, I never finished college. And the third thing is, I have four brothers.”

“What did you swim in high school?” Margot asked.

“Breaststroke,” Grace said.

“Funny,” Olivia said. “Teddy was also a champion of stroking breasts in high school.”

“Shut up, Liv,” Teddy said.

Margot tilted her head and considered Grace. She fingered the band of her engagement ring, as she often did when she was thinking. “Could be true,” she said. “She’s short, but she does have somewhat of a swimmer’s build.”

“Yeah, no chest,” Olivia said.

“What the hell, Olivia?” Teddy said.

Grace’s cheeks reddened.

“What are your brothers’ names?” I asked.

Grace turned her eyes on me. It took her a moment to answer. “Lonnie, Will, Phillip, and Hank,” she said.

“Jeez,” Olivia said. “Are your parents Catholic or something? Do they not believe in birth control?”

“Mother, can’t you, like, muzzle her or something?” Teddy complained. Teddy was the only one who could call Eugenia “Mother.”

“Olivia, try to be civil,” Eugenia chastised.

“Tell us something about each of your brothers,” my father said.