“I saw that Jane was just like me but better, an observation she would later, with a laugh, firmly deny. Jane had managed to sidestep the unearned cynicism the rest of us were afflicted with. Her poems were about the search for meaning in a sparkling kitchen sink, the persistence of mildew, dust bunnies, and stubborn love.”

As might be predicted, Ben and Jane fall hard for each other. And while this makes sense to Willa, it doesn’t sweeten her status as fifth wheel. Meanwhile, her brother has broken up with his girlfriend and is not doing well, and their parents, after enduring years in a bitter marriage, finally divorce. For Willa, intimacy is starting to look like an impossible goal.

“Even in your closest friendships, you’re alone,” she says. “Maybe it’s your best friend who, in fact, reminds you, just by making it her business to try to know your heart, that no one can — that our fate is to suffer in isolation and then die.”

That sprinkling of despair and humor is typical of Fox, who explored similar territory in her first novel, “Still Life With Husband.” There she established herself as chronicler of contemporary marriage and adultery. She’s in love with language and can squeeze laughs out of the worst situations while depicting nuanced, complicated characters. Her prose is intelligent, even as, occasionally, the jokes go overboard.

Willa goes on to make mistakes, of course, as she negotiates new relationships. And she learns more about her friends and the place they have in her life. This novel is ultimately about trust, betrayal and forgiveness. Fox makes you care about Willa and everyone else in “Friends Like Us” long after you’ve finished.