Later that night, after the cookout, Lina and Ed were lying on the living room floor, talking. Everyone else was asleep around the house or in tents outside. After a bit, she pretended to be asleep because she didn’t want to do anything with him. He bent over and said, Good night, and kissed her forehead. He didn’t know anything about her. When she got up to leave the next morning there was a Post-it on the windshield of her car. On it was Ed’s phone number and a note saying to call him if she wanted.

She’d been asked out only twice in college. Not by anyone she liked. Nobody at Indiana University knew about what had happened to her in high school, but it must have been that the stink was on her. Certainly, she could smell it on herself. That day was sunny and bright, school was letting out, and she was moving out of her house and into her friend’s place for the summer, so she felt free and the promise of a date was inviting. She tucked the note into her pocket and drove home.

The engagement came easily, without fanfare. Lina went from barely having had a boyfriend to having a husband.