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Boise, Idaho

I t’s nearly midnight when Karen Alandt wakes to her ringing phone.

The caller ID says it’s Xana.

Karen’s blood runs cold, as any mother’s would. Is Xana okay? Is her daughter Emily okay? She picks up, panicked.

“Mama Karen, guess what?” says Xana casually, as if the late hour were completely irrelevant.

“Xana! You scared me half to death! Do you know what time it is?” Karen asks.

Xana just laughs.

Karen relaxes in spite of herself. How distinct and rich and simply full of joy Xana’s laugh is.

“I want you to be the first to know: I’ve got a boyfriend.”

Karen giggles at the needlessness of this conversation. It’s been obvious to everyone that Xana and Ethan are on the cusp of something, but she plays the game.

“How did the talk go? Did you guys sit down and discuss it seriously?”

Xana spills the details. “No, it was easy. We didn’t need a big talk. It just happened naturally.”

Xana is a free spirit. Karen sees the relationship as a sign she’s growing up. In fact, all the Shark Tank girls are growing up, forming committed attachments. Emily has begun to date Hunter Johnson. Josie is seeing another Delt, Linden Beck.

Karen is thrilled that Xana feels able to share this moment with her. She has developed strong maternal feelings toward this exuberant, effervescent young woman who is so passionate, so resilient, so un-self-pitying, despite a difficult upbringing.

Xana doesn’t talk much about having grown up without a mother. But the signs of loneliness are there for them all to see.

Emily could sense that Xana’s home life wasn’t exactly the most orderly.

Sometimes Xana drives over to Pullman, where her older sister, Jazzmin—Jazzy—is studying marketing at Washington State.

Jazzy, petite and pretty, is the “sensible” one.

Xana idolizes her big sister and wants to follow in her footsteps.

Jazzy also has nice stuff, so when Xana and Emily visit her in her dorm room, Emily knows she’s supposed to chat with Jazzy to distract her while Xana filches a shirt or whatever she needs from her sister’s closet.

In the Pi Phi house, Xana has mismatched bedding, few clothes.

Emily teaches Xana how to do her makeup, how to use a curling iron, skills that the other girls learned years ago but that no one has ever taught Xana.

Before their first Christmas break, Emily noticed that Xana was the only one not packing.

“Xana,” she said, “where are you going for winter break?”

Xana shrugged and said she didn’t know. Her dad, Jeff, might not be home. She didn’t know his new girlfriend. And she didn’t much like her room in the basement.

That first Christmas, Emily invited her home to Boise to hang with her parents: Matt, an army veteran, and Karen, a pretty blonde who was a dead ringer for her daughter.

At first the Alandts didn’t know what to make of this free-spirited young woman their daughter had brought home. But Xana, with her expressive hand movements, her open personality, had a talent for winning people over, making everyone laugh.

Now Xana regularly stays with the Alandts during breaks. Karen looks forward to their eleven p.m. phone calls. She comes to visit the girls in the Shark Tank and goes out with them sometimes. Karen starts to consider Xana a second daughter.

After Xana hangs up with Karen, she finds Emily and gives her the news.

“You told my mom first, you bitch!” Emily says with a laugh, then gives Xana a hug.