“And how are things with David?” Aunt Jewel asked. Her voice was light, but I saw how closely she was watching me. I loved Aunts May and Martha, but I was closest to Aunt Jewel. And while it wasn’t like I’d told her anything that was going on with me, I always had the feeling she somehow knew there was more to me and David than met the eye.

But I smiled back and gave a little shrug. “They’re good.” I thought it would be easiest to leave it at that.

Aunt Jewel nodded, taking a sip of her tea. “Well, that’s good to hear. I wondered, since you’ve looked a little out of sorts lately.”

Aunt May and Aunt Martha made humming noises of agreement, and it was all I could do not to roll my eyes. “Just busy,” I said. “Spring semester of your junior year is an important time. College applications, all of that.”

That got all three of The Aunts’ attention. “Ooh, what colleges are you looking at, honey?” Aunt May asked.

Relieved that we were on slightly safer ground, I launched into an account of the top schools on my list. They were mostly all here in the South, and I thought I’d chosen a pretty good mix of big state universities and smaller private colleges. Of course, they were all schools I’d picked out last year, and I felt a little twinge of guilt that I hadn’t done more on the college front lately.

Of course, I’d been kind of busy.

Aunts May and Martha smiled pleasantly, but Aunt Jewel asked, “And David?”

When I didn’t answer right away, she took one of Aunt Martha’s cigarettes, lighting it with a hot pink Bic. “Are y’all looking at the same places? I know you haven’t been together long, but it still seems like something you should talk about.”

The College Issue was one of those things David and I had trouble talking about. Obviously, going to the same college was a nonnegotiable, and had nothing to do with us being a couple. I couldn’t even go that far out of town alone without feeling an aching weight in my chest. But I was convinced we could find a place we both agreed on.

Unfortunately, David never wanted to talk about it, always shrugging and saying, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” Problem was, that bridge was rapidly approaching.

To Aunt Jewel, I said, “We’re talking about it.” And I certainly didn’t add that my dream college was a women’s school that was completely out of the question, and that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t help but resent that the teensiest bit. Or that Ryan probably needed to be factored into the equation now.