While Imogen agreed that the whole concept of a dating manual securing any woman eternal bliss in marriage was far-fetched, she did think that at least the steps were practical. “Of course you can. I think that is actually the success of the book. These are all normal dating and mating behavior patterns, but this book gives women control, whether it’s an illusion or not. Before you even meet him, you diet and exercise, check your wardrobe, etc. You learn about stock car racing, which is both his passion and his career. You learn about him. So when you do finally have the chance to meet him, it’s allowing you to put your best foot forward to secure his interest.”

“You didn’t do that with Ty?”

“Not so much,” Imogen admitted.

“Yeah, but he’s digging you.”

“I don’t think that’s my point,” Imogen said, feeling a little exasperated with her whole thesis in general, men in particular. “My point is perhaps that the success rate is higher if you go into a relationship more methodically than impulsively. So I slept with Ty. That is not going to result in marrying him. If I had done it per these directives, maybe I would be at some point.” Saying that out loud made her a little hot in weird places, and she instantly regretted those words coming out of her mouth.

But her friends didn’t seem to think it was odd. They both just looked puzzled and unsure.

“I don’t know . . .” Tamara said. “I met Elec by accident, when I was tipsy drunk on a date with another man, frantic because I’d lost my purse. Not exactly my best foot forward, and yet we had sex that first night, again not following these rules, and we’re doing just fine, thank you very much.”

“And I would argue that Ryder and I followed those rules to the letter and we’re divorced, so go figure.”

“Which all really means that my thesis just sucks,” Imogen said, feeling torn between wanting to scream and wanting to burst into tears. “It’s a big, complicated mess and I don’t know how to fix it.” She had never screwed up a paper or project so badly in her entire academic career, and to do it now, with the mother of all projects, her thesis, was inconceivable.

“Well,” Tamara said. “I think part of the problem is there is no way to accumulate enough data to prove or disprove your theory if you’re the only one attempting to follow the rules. I think you need to approach it from a different angle. You need to become the Myth Buster of Sociology and question, is this true or not true?”