Chapter 1: Stumble Into Someone's Path

April 1993

Claire Pritchett walked down the sun-kissed brick pathways of Arizona State University, blinking back tears. It was impossible to appreciate the sparkling sunlight, the warm spring air, the pollen and the little green inchworms ready to stick to your clothes when she was crying. She wasn't appreciating it as she should have been, with only a few more weeks here before graduation.

How could she appreciate anything when her college professor and secret boyfriend had just called her into her office and abruptly dumped her?

Well, at least he hadn't flunked her, Claire rationalized. He probably wouldn't - Cooke might be insensitive, but he wasn't petty. She was doing really well, in his senior seminar.

Claire took a shaky breath and tried to blink the tears back. She had been with plenty of guys before - Robbie Sullivan, her first boyfriend at 17. She had been so head-over-heels for him, she would find every excuse to sneak him into her house at 3:00 in the morning. Then there had been the much-older guy from the Cheesecake Factory when she was applying to colleges, during the year she had taken off after high school. Initially, she had started dating the guy - twice her age! - just to annoy her father, Jay.

That was what probably helped Claire realize that she much preferred dating older, more mature men, and what had therefore led her to carry on a romance with her professor.

Professor Cooke had been her freshman English professor Claire's very first semester. He was kind and supportive... and clearly interested in her. And although some part of Claire knew that carrying on with her teacher was extremely inappropriate, college was about trying new things... right?

Almost four years together - and while Claire had also been seeing some fellow students on the side - and they hadn't gotten caught. But now it was over.

Try as she might, Claire couldn't pull herself together. Couldn't hold her head up high, pull her shoulders back and give any appearances that she was not pathetically falling to pieces over a guy like some naive girl dumped by her first love.

So, staring at the ground as she was, she probably should have expected to crash into something sooner or later.

That something turned out to be another body - solid and firm, like a fleshy brick wall. If brick walls were made of skin.

"Oh!" Stumbling back, Claire's eyes darted back into focus as she heard the rustling of papers fluttering to the sidewalk. "Oh, I'm sorry. Here, let me help..." Bending down, she assisted in picking up the papers, noting the real estate logo in the top-left hand corner of most of the leaflets. She recognized the insignia that matched the sign on the building to her immediate left - she had been halted right in front of the real estate office in the center of this little college town.

"Thanks." The rumbling baritone made Claire glance up as she finished sorting the leaflets into a neat little stack.

He was wearing a grey blazer that hung nicely across his broad shoulders, and that matched the stormy grey of his eyes. Silky black hair styled in a combover that to anyone else would have looked dorky, but that Claire found... quite cute. A strong jawline.

But what struck Claire most of all was his bashful smile. She rather liked his smile. Finding herself staring, Claire gulped and delivered the stack of flyers into his hands - meaty hands, calloused and strong.

"Sorry," Claire smiled weakly, though her foggy brain took a moment to land on something to apologize for. "Wasn't watching where I was going..."

"You're preaching to the choir there. I've been known to bump into lampposts." The way he said this in a dry deadpan while still keeping that adorable smile on his face... Claire couldn't help but giggle. Those stormy grey eyes searched hers, the smile dipping just a bit. "Hey... are you OK?"

She hastily wiped at her eyes. "Oh, yeah, just... gonna miss this place."

He grinned sympathetically. "Senior year, huh? Can't believe it's been almost three years out in the world for me."

He's only 25? Claire blinked. "You look much older than 25." She clapped a hand over her unfiltered mouth as soon as she said it, mortified.

"26, actually - took a year after high school. But I'll take that as a compliment." The bashful smile was back, and Claire grinned back.

"Me too. Taking that year after high school, I mean."

He held out one of those meaty, strong hands. "Phil Dunphy."

"Claire Pritchett," she shook his hand, though her voice oddly bobbled. She finally had the presence of mind to rise up from the pavement.

"I hope to see you around before graduation, Claire," Phil smiled at her warmly. His eyes were kind... in a way that not many people's were.

"Yeah," she nodded. "... See ya." Giving an awkward wave, she continued on back to her dorm. By the time she got back to her room, the sadness over Cooke was all but forgotten.