Page 60 of After Anna

“No.”

“You could meet a guy this week who could ask you out. Or you could even ask him out.”

Anna waved her off. “No one will ask me out.”

“You don’t know that. You’re beautiful and smart and any guy would be lucky to date you.” Maggie steered through the night, heading toward Route 202. “And if a guy happens to ask you out, and you like him, you should say yes. You could have a date this weekend.”

“Youthink?” Anna squealed, which made Maggie laugh.

“Of course! You’re assuming things will go badly. Why not assume that they’ll go well?”

“Because they never have?”

“Things are changing.” Maggie thought a minute. “And listen, I have to bring this up because I’m the mom. You know we can talk about sex, right?”

“Oh my God, really?” Anna burst into laughter. “Are you serious right now?”

“Yes. That’s the one thing I want to do differently from my mom.” Maggie felt her smile fade. “It took a lot of growing up and therapy for me to feel comfortable talking about sex, much less having sex.”

“Really.” Anna’s tone turned surprised.

“Yes.” Maggie hesitated. “May I ask you, have you had sex?”

Anna covered her face, giggling. “I can’t believe you!”

“It’s okay, you can tell me. No judgment.”

Anna’s hands slid from her face. “I feel weird talking about this.”

“I’ll go first, then. I had sex for the first time when I was seventeen, just your age.”

“Whoa! Okay. We’re jumping right in.” Anna laughed again.

“There was a guy I had a crush on. He was in my Latin class, he was a swimmer. Little-known fact, they have the best bodies. Take it from me.”

“Ha!” Anna giggled.

“We went to a party where everybody was drinking. He told me he wanted me to be his girlfriend, which he didn’t, and we had sex in the basement. Then he dumped me and started calling me Meatball.”

“Oh no!”

“Let me tell you, being Meatball Ippoliti is no fun. The sex lasted five minutes, but the nickname lasted until graduation.”

“I’m sorry.” Anna groaned.

“It’s okay, it happens.” Maggie glanced over, but couldn’t see Anna’s expression in the dark. The only light was backlighting, emanating from the townhome developments.

“Do you regret it?”

“Not really. I learned from it, and it wasn’t the end of the world. I fell in and out of love a few times with some wonderful men until I got it right.”

“Like with my father?”

“Yes,” Maggie answered, though she had been thinking of Noah. “But it’s not what I would want for you. So, you see where I’m coming from? How about you?”

Anna paused. “I haven’t really had sex yet.”

Maggie kept her hands on the wheel, cruising past the homes. She knew she had been right. She couldn’t wait to tell Noah. She loved being right.