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was no point in going over it again. “I wasn’t tracking very well. I remember him leaning over the seat to get something, but I think he may have dropped it—or changed his mind.”
    A worried frown pleated Bess’s brow. “Oh, Carls,” she whispered. “What if he got you pregnant?”
    That was Carly’s worry as well. “The instant he realized I was a virgin, he stopped. I’m pretty sure he didn’t ejaculate inside of me. That being the case, aren’t I pretty safe?”
    Bess said nothing for a moment. “Coitus interruptus isn’t a fail proof means of birth control, Carly. He penetrated. Even if men don’t ejaculate, they can have seepage. All it takes to get a woman pregnant is one sperm.”
    Carly’s stomach turned a slow revolution. Deep down, she’d already guessed as much. “In my case, there wasn’t much coitus. Maybe, this one time, it worked.”
    “And if it didn’t? What if you’re pregnant? Do you even know how to contact this guy?”
    With a stubborn lift of her chin, Carly said, “I’m not calling him, if that’s what you’re thinking. I never want to see him again.”
    “If you’re pregnant, what choice will you have?”
    “He cursed at me,” Carly reminded her. “Afterward, I felt so dirty—the kind of dirt that never washes away. I owe him nothing, absolutely nothing.”
    “Maybe not. But he owes you. Besides, a man has a right to know when he’s fathered a child, and every child has a right to know its father. You’ll have to get in touch with him.”
    “I’m not pregnant. That just can’t happen.” Even as Carly uttered the words, she knew she was kidding herself. “Having a child would derail my education, possibly my whole life. It just can’t happen.”
    Bess pushed her hair back from her eyes. “Let’s just hope nothing comes of it. If you’re pregnant, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
    Carly hauled in a deep breath. “At least I accomplished one thing. I’m no longer the last twenty-eight-year-old virgin on earth.”
    Bess laughed, albeit worriedly. “True. Before we know it, you’ll be a veteran giving me advice.”
    Carly shook her head. “Once was enough for me. In my opinion, the joys of sex are highly overrated.”
    “It gets better.”
    “If it’s all the same to you, I’ll just take your word for it.” Frankly, she wouldn’t care if she never had sex again.

Chapter Four
    S ix mornings later, Carly woke up feeling sick to her stomach. When Bess found her in the bathroom kneeling by the toilet, she bathed Carly’s face with a cool cloth and started saying, “Oh no!” as if it were a mantra.
    “It’s only the flu,” Carly managed to say between bouts of nausea. “Morning sickness doesn’t start this early. Does it?”
    “It depends.” Bess lowered herself to the floor and rested her back against the vanity doors. “Some women get sick from the very start.”
    Carly’s stomach finally settled enough for her to sit back on her heels.
    “Just to be on the safe side,” Bess said, “maybe we should call Dr. Merrick to make sure the meds you’re taking won’t hurt the baby.”
    “What baby?” Carly made tight fists on her knees and peered owlishly at her friend, whose face was a misty blur. “There is no baby, Bess. There can’t be.” Another wave of nausea struck. Carly leaned back over the toilet bowl and cradled her head on her arms. “Oh, God, what am I going to do? I’m not running a fever. Usually, with the flu, I run a fever.”
    Bess curled a hand over Carly’s shoulder. “Well, first of all, we aren’t going to panic.”
    “Right,” Carly said thinly. “Probably just something I ate.”
    “Exactly,” Bess replied in a calm, reassuring way. “Nausea can be caused by countless things. We’ll just have to wait and see. If your period’s late and you’re still feeling puny, then you should take a home-pregnancy test.”
    Carly couldn’t believe this was happening.
    “Meanwhile,” Bess went on,