DC By the Book

Excerpt: Looking back, Caroline wondered when her life with Porter had spiraled so far out of control. It hadn’t started out that way. She’d met him on a crisp fall afternoon that was full of possibilities. She had walked the short distance from her dorm across Foggy Bottom along E Street past the historic Octagon House to the Corcoran Gallery of Art. She preferred this area, rich in history and relatively quiet, to the Mall that was always jammed with tourists. There were few people about in mid-afternoon, with the semester young enough that Caroline could afford a couple hours to admire the Corcoran's private art collection, instead of locking herself away to study it in the school library.