Collette was her name, Nathan’s ex-girlfriend, and she and Nathan had lived together the past year, before he met Catherine.  Nathan had recently found his own place in the wake of their separation, which seemed to be more his idea than hers.  Sometimes he referred to Collette as the ‘woman with weapons,’ because she’d chased him around their apartment the night of their break-up, when he’d returned home late smelling like alcohol.  Nathan told Catherine he’d been out with his buddies earlier that evening, guys that Collette didn’t like, fellow grad students in his program.  Nathan explained that he believed Collette was jealous that night, though it remained the foundation of so many of their problems.  Collette blamed Nathan’s drinking on his inability to completely connect with her.  She believed that so much of his energy went to work, and the rest of it to thinking, that his drinking left her with nothing but his shell, an empty Nathan.  

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