Page 21 of Loving Kai

“Wow, that’s a change in subject, all right.”

“Sorry. Just curious. You don’t need to answer the question.”

“First girlfriend or first…”

She shook her head. “Typically, the first one comes before the second one.”

“Right.”

“Perhaps not in your case. The second one, then.”

“Fourteen.”

She turned to him. “What? No way. You and some other eighth grader hooked up?”

Abe laughed. “No. I was a freshman, and she was…older.”

Maggie sucked in a breath. “Like a woman?”

“No. Jeez. She was seventeen.”

“Oh. Okay. What happened?” He cocked his head, and she nudged him again. “I meant, how did that come about? I’m not looking for details.”

“It might replace the kitchen image.”

“Nothing ever will.”

“A friend and I crashed a party along the river, which freshmen weren’t invited to. Carrie was fighting with her football jock boyfriend and ended up talking to me about what a jerk he was.”

“And you ended up having sex with a complete stranger?”

“I knew who she was.” Abe shrugged. “But eventually, yeah. The next time I saw her, she was back with the boyfriend. But I was fine with it. I had sex with a junior.”

“Wow. That’s quite an accomplishment.”

“It is for a fourteen-year-old boy.”

“Carrie what? Is she still around?”

“Winslow. Ferguson now.”

Maggie thought for a moment. “The English teacher at the high school?”

“Yeah.”

“Is that weird?”

“Why would it be weird? I’m not taking English from her.”

“Doesn’t she have four kids?”

“I swear, none of them are mine.”

Maggie laughed. “I figured. Did she marry the jerk boyfriend?”

“No. She married the nerd she and the jock made fun of in high school.”

“Oh, goodness.”