Page 526 of Firefighter's Virgin

I giggled. “Yeah right…not,” I said. “I’m getting better, though, that’s for sure. I’m actually enjoying what I made tonight, not just eating to stay alive.”

“What about the job? How is that going?”

“It’s good. They’ve all been really nice to me, and I haven’t dropped any trays of food or burnt anyone with a hot pot of coffee yet.”

“That’s always good,” she said with a laugh. “You know, I hate seeing you work as a waitress. You’re so smart. You were the smartest girl in our class. You should be in nursing school already.”

“I’ll save enough to go back in a couple of years. I’ll still be young.”

“Well, at least we don’t have to worry about you getting pregnant and ruining it for yourself,” she said. “Since you’re a saint, as well.”

I felt a pang of guilt stab me in the chest. “I’m thinking sainthood is not in my future,” I told her.

“No? I want details.”

“I’m just saying that I’m no saint.”

“Really? You could have fooled me. How many other 22-year old virgins do you know? Especially hot ones.”

“Oh hush,” I said, feeling my eyes fill with tears. Did I really give my virginity up during the act of committing one of the greatest sins against the Catholic Church? She had me thinking about it again. Damn! “Hey, Carla…I need to tell you something.”

“Good, fess up!” she said. I could tell she was smiling. Carla loved nothing better than dishing dirt.

“I lost my virginity.”

“You did? To who? Where? How?”

Laughing, I said, “Whoa! Slow down there. I was angry with my father-”

“He hasn’t been up there bothering you, has he?”

“No. He called and said some stupid things, as usual. But afterwards, I was stressed out. I went and found a little hole in the wall bar and I got drunk. There was this guy there…

“Carla, he was the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen. He had these really pretty eyes with long eyelashes and short, sandy blond hair. And, he also had a killer body to go along with it. He was pretty drunk himself…drunker than me, I think.”

“Whoa! What is his name?”

“I have no idea…”

“You slut!” She giggled. She had no idea that was exactly what I felt like.

“I went to his apartment with him and we had sex. It was pretty amazing sex, too. He was sweet and gentle and all man at the same time.”

“That sounds better than anything I’ve had in recent years. Why do you sound so flat?”

“Well, first of all, you know how I feel about my faith. I was going to wait until I was married…and I blew that on a one-night stand.”

“Oh, don’t be so hard on yourself. You waited longer than most. Five years longer than me.”

“That doesn’t count,” I told her. “It’s not about how long you wait. It’s about saving it for the man you intend to spend the rest of your life with.”

; “So maybe this guy is that man.”

That was when I lost it. I felt the tears well up in my eyes as I said, “Oh, Carla! I did something terrible…I think…”

“Oh no! You’re not pregnant, are you?”