Lisa's final year at New York University was her happiest of the four years she had spent there. She decided to pursue graduate studies in applied linguistics, and she seriously entertained the idea of teaching at the university level. She juggled her coursework, her job at Giacomo's, her relationship with Mitch, and her graduate school applications with impressive dexterity. Her life had developed a certain tone, a certain rhythm, a certain character, and she came to the conclusion that, in fact, she had reached adulthood. She had always anticipated that there would be a clear line of demarcation in her life which, once crossed, would grant her the solemn status of being an adult. She was surprised to note that life constitutes an odd journey where the landmarks are not the various chronological stages of life but the experiences that fill it. Still, she realized that she was no longer the same Lisa who had first arrived at New York University four years earlier as a timid freshman.

When Jen returned to New York to resume her studies, Lisa saw her periodically, always making sure that Mitch would not spend any length of time with Jen, just in case an inadvertent phrase slipped out about the Vancouver summer. Lisa wondered why her close friendship with Jen had so waned in less than a year, but she was reluctant to reflect much on the question, attributing the answer to their year-long separation rather than any fallout from their weekend on the Yin Yang.

Spring came with the momentous anticipation of both Lisa and Mitch receiving their respective baccalaureate degrees. Lisa was overjoyed when New York University accepted her candidacy for the doctoral program for the fall, allowing her to continue her studies in a familiar setting. Her joy was short-lived: Mitch informed her, without much tact, that he had been offered a position in San Francisco that was too good to pass up, and, therefore, he would be moving out to California in early July. Lisa was all the more devastated that Mitch's consoling words to her were that he would fly back to New York periodically to see her, and she could visit him in San Francisco from time to timeif she wanted. Did he not suggest that she move to San Francisco with him out of fear of rejection? Was it because of his desire to start a new life without her? Lisa's conjectures remained conjectures. She mustered the courage to control her resentment and her disappointment, and to appear only appropriately upset as she wished Mitch all the best in his new career.

A week later, Lisa graduated from New York University. Both her parents attended the ceremony, along with her two brothers, but Ellen and George refused to sit together or even in proximity to each other. Lisa now had a diploma, a graduate school acceptance, and, once again, a broken heart. She could not know yet that a few months later she would meet Charles, and that their lives would take a turn that neither of them could have possibly anticipated.

By the time Lisa began her graduate studies in the fall, her vestigial relationship with Mitch amounted to an occasional e-mail and a humorous belated birthday card she received from him a few days after her twenty-second birthday. In spite of his earlier promises, he never returned to New York for a visit and never invited Lisa to come out to California to visit him. Lisa suspected that he had met someone new and had little interest in maintaining a relationship with her.

Every time one of her friends extolled the virtues of a new boyfriend, Lisa pondered why her own romantic life was so littered with failures. First Tess and later Jeannie moved out of the apartment to go live with their boyfriends, leaving Laura and Lisa to seek new roommates to take their place. They soon found Melanie and Wendy, both of them working professionals who had chosen the Manhattan lifestyle to enjoy its vibrant nightlife and all its potential for meeting eligible bachelors. As Lisa completed her first year of graduate school, the apartment had its full contingent of roommates once again, a bit older, a bit wiser, and a bit more anxious about what the future would hold for each one of them.