Lyn’s Christmas Day begins on a note of aggravation. Kara is being difficult as usual, and Maxine is fretting about the correct time to serve dinner. Lyn’s mind drifts back to a childhood Christmas when the triplets’ father decides to take them to the Gold Coast Waterslide over the holiday. Maxine sulks that he’s taking the girls away at Christmas. The girls are split in their allegiance. Dutiful Lyn wants to stay home with Maxine while the other two want to go with their father. Afterward, Lyn realizes that she gained nothing by her self-sacrifice because her mother wasn’t any less cross during the holiday with Lyn there. Lyn thinks, “She missed out on both the water slide and a gold star from Jesus. That was the Christmas Lyn discovered the horrible pleasure of martyrdom” (151).

Back in the present, Lyn greets her guests, and everything is fine until Charlie and Angela walk in. Gemma is so shocked by the sight of Angela that she drops a glass of champagne on the floor: “Lyn stared stupidly at the broken glass and tried to think calmly. This was a genuinely appalling situation. Three women in the one room who had all slept with Daniel Whitford.