Carter folded his arms and shook his head. “It’s weird, isn’t it?” he said.

“What?”

“We live right next door to each other, but in four years of college, I don’t think I’ve seen you four times.”

“I’ve seen you,” she said. Then, before he could ask when, she added, “So, how did you like college?”

“Loved every minute,” Carter sighed. “Kind of hated to leave it behind. How about you?”

“I loved it, too,” said Sheila, “but by the time this last semester came around, I was ready to move on.”

“You obviously didn’t belong to a fraternity,” Carter kidded her.

“Oh, God,” she laughed, “don’t tell me you were a frat boy.”

“Hey, what’s wrong with frat boys?” he laughed in return.

Sheila did not answer right away, but instead smiled and gazed at him for a time with an expression not unlike the ones Carter had seen so many times in the past. Somehow, though, this one was different. It radiated more self-confidence, as if she knew that she was in complete control of the situation.

“So, what are you doing here?” she said at last. “I thought you would be staying with your parents down at their beach house. My mother told me that they’ve already moved down to Charlestown for the summer.”

“Yeah, their last kid is finally out of college,” Carter replied, “so they figured they could leave me home and get an early start on their vacation. Imagine the nerve.”

“So how come you’re still hanging around in the city?”

“I’ve got things to do,” he said, a bit evasively.

“Career things?”

“Not exactly,” he answered. “I haven’t really figured that part of things out yet. How about you. Any plans?”

“I’m going to France,” she said.

“A trip to France? Nice.That a graduation gift from your parents?”

“Well, in a way, I suppose,” she said. “I’m leaving in August to go there for a year to study. It’s a graduate program in international relations.”

“No kidding,” said Carter, very much impressed. “How did you manage that? Do you speak French?”

“Minored in it.”