Mary Elizabeth Nelson is the oldest child in a conservative Roman Catholic family in a wealthy suburb of San Francisco. As a sophomore at Berkeley in 1983, Mary is discovered by her mother in a "compromising position" with another woman, and she is summarily disowned.<br><br>She moves to New York and works as a waitress. While auditing an Austen seminar at NYU, she falls for fellow student, Betty Anne Elliot. The two foolishly share one night of passion before Betty decides to marry and disappear from Mary's life.<br><br>That is, until twenty years later when she calls still-single, successful writer Mary out-of-the-blue. Can the romance they had that first day blossom into love and passion?

Mary Elizabeth Nelson

I called from the payphone in the hall.My mother answered:“Mother.What is happening?Why are you doing this?Why?”The last thing she ever said to me was,“Mary,you know we can’t accept this.You may come home when you are ready to come home.You have keys.Your father and I will be out between two and four on Saturday.You can remove what you want then.I’m sorry.Please lock the door behind you and leave the keys.”She hung up,not waiting for a reply.“And leave the keys”were the last words I ever heard my mother say.I have no idea what my father’s last words were since I never spoke to him again.I saw neither of them again.


I still had exams but I did not know why they would mattersince I was not going back to Berkeley and doubted I couldafford college myself.I needed to get my stuff from the house and figure out what I was going to do after that.


Chapter 2