During this holiday season, Sharon has gotten into the habit of counting how many of her ex-lovers show up at any given party. Tonight, as soon as she walks into Ruth’s house, she spots three: Jonathan, the affair that caused her divorce; Jerry, with whom she’d gotten involved right afterward; and Michael, the roommate and best friend of her ex-husband, Raffi. Michael had refused to sleep with Sharon until Raffi accused him of doing it anyway and then went away for the weekend with Nancy, one of Michael’s ex-lovers. True, Michael had never been all that attached to Nancy, but when Sharon showed up that Saturday evening with Dom Perignon, he must have felt justified in letting himself be seduced. They spent one fantastic night together, and then some sense of loyalty or cowardice reasserted itself and Michael refused to see her. At Ruth’s party, Michael greets Sharon as though they had never lain side by side on his waterbed, exhausted by orgasm, their toes touching. He spends the entire party blowing up balloons. Sharon, feeling hurt and rejected, drinks too much and passes out in the dining room under a table loaded with potato pancakes, sour cream, and applesauce.