"Sam? That's my mother's name."

Samantha Micelli rolled her eyes. That was one of the oldest lines in the book. "Yeah? And Leslie is my father's name."

"No, really, it's short for Samantha."
"So's mine," she admitted. Maybe he wasn't flirting with her. After all, it wasn't that long ago that she'd thought that a married grad student was in love with her. College men, Mason aside, were hard to read. She was almost a college student herself. In fact, she was at Admissions & Records, turning in paperwork for Ridgemont. It wasn't her first choice, but it had worked out that she was going to go to her father's college. She was not going to live at home though. The recent developments in her father's love life had really convinced her she needed some space.

"My name's Adam," said the A & R clerk, shaking her out of her thoughts.

"Oh, hi, nice to meet you." Maybe he was just friendly, and she may as well be friendly back.

"You, too." He looked down at the form again. "Micelli. Any relation to Tony Micelli?"

"His daughter."

"I thought you said his name was Leslie." He was teasing her now, so she played along.

"His middle name." He'd probably hate that even more than Morton.

"Catchy. So my shift is almost over. You wanna go out for coffee?"

He was flirting with her. But she didn't really mind. And it was only coffee. "Yeah, OK."

"Meet you at the cafeteria in about fifteen minutes?"

"Sure."

They finished up her paperwork and then said goodbye. She walked around campus, which was pretty empty, except for people doing summer classes. It was a nice campus. She thought she'd like going there. Her father definitely did, but he was almost 40 and had never thought he'd get any higher education, while it had always been his dream for her. She wasn't that ambitious, despite his example and Angela's.

She sighed, thinking of Angela. Neither her dad nor Angela had said much about her dad's new relationship, or what it meant to their relationship. Not that they officially had one but Angela had admitted that they'd talked about talking about marriage. And they'd been together in their weird way for almost six years, not a couple but like a couple.

Until "she" came along. Sam forced herself to think the name, Kathleen. It was hard not to hate that woman, although she knew it was more Dad's fault. He led Angela on, made her think that they might have a future, and then he ended up dating a classmate. In fact, Sam had the feeling he had hopped into bed with Kathleen, although no one, not even Mona admitted that. It was the only explanation that made sense, this sudden relationship, blindsiding all of them, maybe even Dad.

Sam sometimes wished she had chosen a college further away. She hated being around Dad and Kathleen, even if Dad was shy about being affectionate with his girlfriend at home. And she hated being around Angela, much as she loved her, almost like a mother. Angela was being very brave, not crying in front of anyone, but Sam was sure Angela's heart was broken. And there was nothing Sam could do or say to comfort her.

Sometimes she wondered if love was worth it. She'd thought she was in love with Jesse a couple years ago and then he'd dumped her for another girl, and he was hardly her first boyfriend to do that. Guys paid attention to Sam—it wasn't just whatshisname, Adam—but they never seemed to stick around.

Still, she looked up and smiled when Adam joined her at the cafeteria. He was cute, although a little nerdy. Tall and thin, with brown hair and brown eyes like hers, but much WASPier-looking.

"What kind of coffee do you like?" he asked.

"Black with a touch of sugar."

"OK, I'll be right back."

That was nice of him to treat her, whether or not he was hitting on her. Not that she could be bought for just coffee. Even Mona wasn't that easy.

He came back with the coffees and she thanked him.

"You're welcome."
"So, Adam, since you know all about me, why don't you tell me about you?"

"I don't know all that much, other than your name and what kind of coffee you like."
"Didn't you read my file?"

"Yeah, but that's personal information and we're trained to block it out as soon as we take it."

"Then I guess you don't know I'm jailbait."

"Only till August."

She blushed. "I thought you didn't remember my personal information."

"Well, I couldn't help noticing that. And I remembered from taking classes with him that your father is an Italian ex-jock. And probably an overprotective father. But don't worry, I'm not looking to corrupt you."

"What are you looking for?"

"To get to know you, as a person."
"Well, tell me about you as a person first."

"OK. My name is Adam Stephens. I'm 20, born in October. I grew up in Westport."

"I grew up mostly here in Fairfield."

"But your dad's from Brooklyn, right?"

"Yeah, so am I. Though I lost my accent after a year or two."

"He's still got his."
Sam smiled. "Less than he used to."

"I bet your accent was cute."

"Thanks. I think. Tell me more about you."

"OK. Um, I'm majoring in Chemistry."

She waited for him to make a flirtatious remark about whether they had chemistry, but he didn't. So she said, "I'm thinking about Communications."

"My older sister, Tabitha, did that. She's a TV weather girl, just local TV at this point, but she's just getting started."

"Oh, yeah, I think I've seen her." A very pretty blonde, maybe 24 or 25.

"And my dad is in advertising."

"Really? So's Angela!" Sam wondered if they knew each other. She'd have to find out what firm he was with.

"Who's Angela?"

She hesitated and then said, "Do you have an hour?"

"Let's synchronize our watches."

She laughed, shook her head, and set her watch by his.