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Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

K aylee stares at the guy on the couch incredulously.

Did he really just say that?

“Bitch, go make me a quesadilla.”

Wow!

She wishes that she weren’t at his house on this awful date.

She wishes that she hadn’t broken up with sweet Jack.

Maybe she’d been too hasty. Kaylee has erased him from nearly all her social media posts—normal protocol when couples break up.

But now she’s wondering if Jack might be the nicest guy on the planet. And if most other guys are assholes like this one in front of her.

Jack would never have used the B-word, she’ll later tell her older sister, Alivea. Never.

He couldn’t even be mean or distant after she broke up with him. If he felt any pain or animosity, he didn’t show it. He’s just kind. Sweet. Gentle. He still swings by the King Road house every few days to pick up Murphy, their goldendoodle.

She texts him about Murphy, telling him she’s coming over with the dog or she needs him to come get their pet, but she’s never sure if she’s reaching out for Murphy or for herself.

The truth of it is, Kaylee still loves Jack. She didn’t want to hurt him; she didn’t even want to part from him—she just wanted a chance to discover herself, to break ties before leaving for a new town in a new state.

Kaylee’s internship with Extreme Networks, the IT company in Austin, has turned into a full-time job that she now squeezes around her classes. In January, she’s headed to Texas to work there on-site.

She’s rightfully proud of her role as a channel manager, which means she comes in after the IT equipment has been sold to a business and explains to the customer how best to use it.

She’s particularly proud of a winning pitch she made to Coffee Box about where to install Wi-Fi in their stores so customers can easily order on their phones while standing in line.

She made a ten-minute video, and despite her lack of experience, the video was singled out by her bosses and sent companywide.

“Kaylee keeps impressing me,” Paul Semak, the head of sales for the Americas, emailed his executive team, and he included a link to the video presentation Kaylee had made—and worked her ass off to get right.

Every morning this summer, she’s had a preparatory remote session with Alivea, a project manager who lives in LA and buys real estate with an eye to renting the properties out on Airbnb.

Alivea is wicked smart and she’s talented with tech.

And after Kaylee goes back and forth with Alivea, she checks the lingo with her dad, Steve, whose entire career has been in IT support.

So now she looks at the jerk in front of her who just called her a bitch and told her to make him a quesadilla.

No one pushes Kaylee around like that.

Especially not a guy in a state she’s leaving.

Kaylee is an independent woman. She makes good money from Extreme Networks and from her tips at La Casa Lopez, a Mexican joint in Moscow.

And she spends her own money, three hundred bucks a week, on the gym and meal plans.

She knows she’s looking her best right now.

Kaylee doesn’t like this guy. She doesn’t need any guy… except maybe Jack. Who she’s gonna phone when she gets home. She’s gonna phone Alivea too and tell her that.

She looks at this dude one more time. What a prick.

“You can make your own quesadillas.”

She gets up. She grabs her purse. And she walks out.

On the drive home, she looks forward to the weekend back on campus and reenacting this scene for her new roomies. She can already see Xana roaring with laughter and Maddie wryly throwing her hands in the air.

Yes, she thinks, they will have plenty to say about it when she tells them. Kaylee, they’ll cry, pretending to be exasperated, why is there always so much drama around you?