Every square foot.”

A collective gasp went through the crowd, a genuine one, the sound of a hundred people’s assumptions rearranging at once.

I watched them turn to look at me — at the small older woman in the sensible coat they had, if they had noticed me at all these past years, taken for some poor relation, some embarrassing appendage of the glamorous Vance-Callahan household to be smiled at and steered away from the good seats.

They were looking at me quite differently now.