“Karina!” Claire squealed. “How was your summer? I need to hear all about it. Summer school was so boring. This place was a ghost town. I couldn’t wait for everyone to get back. How’s everything? How’s James?”

Karina felt the tears prickling behind her eyes. “Gone. We . . . broke up.” She began to cry again, biting down on her lower lip.

“Oh, Kar, I’m sorry. Guys can be such assholes,” Claire said, making Karina smile. “What are you doing tonight? Come out with us. Patrick and I and some friends are going out for cheap pitchers, then dancing. We can pick you up in an hour, okay?”

Karina was relieved and even a little excited as she spent the next hour washing and blow-drying her hair, applying makeup carefully and choosing her favorite pair of skinny jeans and a flowy blouse that fell over one shoulder. She could be attractive when she made the effort, she told herself as she examined her final image in the mirror. Had she stopped making an effort? Is that why James lost interest? As she put on dangly earrings, she banished all thoughts of him for the night.

When Claire arrived, she gave Karina an extended hug, then introduced her to Patrick, whom she’d begun dating over the summer. At the bar, they met up with Patrick’s friends and some of their Botany Lab group, who all greeted Karina warmly without asking where she’d been the past several months. Patrick was a life-of-the-party kind of guy, always telling funny stories and refilling everyone’s beer glass. He didn’t seem like the boyfriend type, but he was clearly enamored with Claire. Karina couldn’t be sure how many glasses of beer she consumed, due to Patrick’s constant refilling, but she soon felt lighter and happier than she had since returning to Santa Barbara a month ago, or maybe even since leaving campus the spring before. All that heartache and pining all summer! Where had that gotten her?

“So, why’d you break up with your boyfriend?” Henry, one of Patrick’s friends, leaned toward her. Henry had been relatively quiet this evening, at least compared to Patrick’s boisterous behavior. Karina turned to him: he was cute, with sandy brown hair and warm eyes. He smiled at her, a boyish, flattering smile. A smile that said he was interested in her answer.

“What?” she asked, cupping her ear to block out the din of the bar. She’d heard him but didn’t know how to answer.

“Claire said you just broke up with your boyfriend and need to have a good time tonight.” Henry’s impish smile was tickling something inside her.

“Ah,” she said, nodding. The way he’d phrased it made it sound like Karina had had a choice in the matter, as if she’d made the decision that devastated James’s life, rather than the other way around. She liked this version better. “Yeah, well.” She paused, shrugging the shoulder from which her blouse fell. “He was an asshole.”