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claimed to have hours of homework to complete. I did not argue.
    I had a bowl of beef stew and cornbread awaiting Marissa when she emerged, wrapped in a robe.
    “If I’d known how much fun it was to have you as a roommate,” she said as she slid onto a chair, “I would’ve asked you to move in the minute I got back to Raleigh.”
    “Then you are pleased with the arrangement?”
    “Sure am.” She picked up her spoon. “My brother thinks I take advantage of you, though.”
    I blinked in surprise. “How?”
    “He thinks that chores should be your only contribution. He doesn’t want you paying a cent.”
    “It isn’t Mark’s place to comment on our terms.”
    She laughed. “That’s what I told him, too.” She ate her first spoonful of stew and moaned. “Susanna, this is amazing.”
    “Thank you.” I considered my portion but felt little interest in eating at present. I was too tired to enjoy a meal, and my time with Mark—both the argument and the burning need from the kisses that followed—had unsettled me. “Marissa, perhaps this is too personal of a question, but I should like to ask it anyway.”
    Her eyes sparkled with amusement. “I can’t wait to hear your version of a personal question.”
    A blush bloomed in my cheeks. “Do you use birth control?”
    “That is a personal question.” She set her spoon on the table. “But I don’t mind answering. I take birth control pills.”
    I stared into my bowl, wondering if it would be inappropriate to continue.
    “Anything else you want to know?”
    I nodded, glad that she was willing. “Why do you take those pills if you are not…with someone?”
    “To be ready for when I am. As a bonus, your periods go better when you’re on the pill.”
    “How?”
    “You can predict them exactly. And if you have pain with your periods, the pill can help that too.”
    “Indeed?” These were interesting and welcome reasons. “Why do not all women take birth control pills, then?”
    “They make some women sick.” She smiled. “Would you like me to take you to the county health department?”
    “The place where I receive my vaccinations?”
    “Yeah. There are other health care things they can help you with, and birth control is one of them.” She reached for her phone and brought up her calendar. “I’ll tell you what. Let me know when you have a day off. We’ll head down there and let them explain all of the various types of birth control methods to you. Afterwards, we could go out to lunch.”
    “Perhaps I shall.” If I pursued this idea, it might make it easier to yield about my physical relationship with Mark. Did I truly want that?
    “We’re also shopping for your first pair of jeans. My treat.”
    “Marissa, I don’t—”
    “You’re gorgeous, Susanna. You need to work your assets. And really, this is as much for my brother as it is for you. Okay?”
    “Perhaps.”
    The smile left her face. She reached over and clasped both of my hands. “Do these questions have anything to do with the scene I interrupted in your bedroom?”
    I nodded.
    “Do you worry that he’ll get tired of waiting for…?” Her eyebrows arched high.
    My blush deepened at her candor. She was, after all, my boyfriend’s sister. “Marissa, I cannot be entirely comfortable speaking of this with you.”
    “That’s okay. I’m comfortable enough for the both of us.” She regarded me with a speculative gleam in her eye. “My mom thinks you and Mark are sexually active, but I know you’re not.”
    “How can you tell this?”
    “I’m with you a lot, and I know my brother pretty well. He’s too restrained. There’s an innocence to the way you are together. It’s really sweet.” She gave my hands a squeeze. “Mark might not like it, but he’ll wait.”
    I desperately hoped she was right. I had always expected to remain chaste until marriage. Yet how did we reconcile that he was ready for such intimacies now? “I worry.”
    “Don’t. You’re doing this the