The Love Wager

Content Warning: This section includes sexual content and substance use.

Hallie is bartending at a wedding reception—one of her side jobs. She finds the man ordering drinks attractive: “[E]ven though she’d sworn off dating, Hallie couldn’t help but appreciate the dimples and the Hollywood bone structure” (1). She realizes that she sold him an engagement ring that morning at the jewelry store, her second part-time job. His girlfriend, Vanessa, chides Jack for flirting with the bartender. Vanessa throws a glass of wine in Hallie’s face, and Hallie jokes that the chardonnay tastes bitter.

Hallie’s friend from high school, Allison, comes to the bar. She remarks that Hallie used to be a responsible, buttoned-up person, and now she’s a “hot mess shit show” (7). Hallie reflects that, after her breakup with Ben, she entered a period she is calling the winter of her twenties. When Jack returns, telling her boss he needs Hallie, Hallie protests, saying that Jack should talk to her and not ignore her just because she has breasts. As he pulls her aside, claiming he is the brother of the bride, Jack reveals that Vanessa also threw a drink in his face and broke up with him. He invites Hallie to have a drink with him.