Cherry recalls being invited to her boss Baashir's Swiss fondue party for his fortieth birthday when she was twenty-two, three years into her job at National Parks and Wildlife. Despite her social anxiety—she feared not knowing anyone and embarrassing herself—her Auntie Pat encouraged her to go, while her mother cryptically predicted the party would change her destiny. Cherry amusingly mistook fondue for a type of dance, prompting prolonged laughter from her mother and Auntie Pat.

Cherry attended the party wearing a blue minidress and white knee-high boots, arriving at Baashir's eclectic Newtown apartment. Baashir seated her next to Eliza, a forty-year-old ambitious career woman working her way up in an insurance company. The two hit it off immediately, bonding over shared interests in the Bermuda Triangle and the TV series Dallas. Cherry found herself relaxed, laughing more than she had in years, buoyed by Brandy Alexanders and the atmosphere.

Eliza shared stories of workplace sexism—being passed over for promotions, expected to serve tea, and physically patronized by male colleagues—but expressed deep love for her work. Cherry confided to Eliza that she didn't think she wanted children, and Eliza reassured her she didn't have to. Cherry notes this was the only time in her life she was attracted to a woman. Eliza drunkenly sang a modified version of Loretta Lynn's "The Pill," entertaining and exasperating the party guests.

At the end of the night, Eliza gave Cherry her business card and urged her to pursue a career in insurance, envisioning them together in the boardroom. Cherry reflects that Eliza went on to become the first female CEO of her insurance company and a pioneer for women in the industry, dying only the previous year with obituaries in all the financial papers. Cherry, however, never called Eliza about the job. Instead, she married the man in the lime-green safari suit who had helped her over the bench seat at the party.