Aileen Smith (Miscellany book, 14 images)

We've seen Aileen before, but with her head shaved bald as a character in the Kyle novel. In her senior year of undergraduate studies, though, she's a psychology major at a fictional Nashville university (the one from "the lost sibling novel" and "the cousins' novel") and ends up dating Ben Walker for ... you know, that's never really clear.

He makes a first impression of being cold and aloof because he's autistic. She makes that same first impression, but it just gets worse. To know her is not to love her, but poor Ben doesn't know much about such things, and he puts up with too much for a bit too long.