kahr cw9 would be another excellent choice to those mentioned about. Also have you though of a dual caliber pistol for the girlfriend? get her something that she can run 22lr in for now and then when/if she feels comfortable change some parts and let her run a larger caliber.
I have a kahr p series pretty much a fancy cw and can honestly say I am in love with it except my one criticism is the guide rod is uncaptive which can be a pain with reassembling it sometimes.