“Your body’s going through this reawakening. This burgeoning of sexual interest, and you’re feeling things, and you’re curious. That’s perfectly understandable. Have you ever used a vibrator?”

“No.” Todd would have been horrified at the mere suggestion. Sure, sex in the beginning had been pleasant enough, but her pleasure had never been a priority, and after the miscarriage…well, sex had been a battlefield.

“I know you never achieved an orgasm with your husband, but what about masturbation?”

Della had long ago surpassed any embarrassment at such intimate subject matter. Selena knew every degrading detail of her marriage to Todd in-depth. There were no taboo questions or answers in this office. She gave a half laugh, half snort. “No.”

“I mean before Todd.”

“No.” She shook her head. “I met him when I was seventeen. A very sheltered seventeen. I knew guys did it, but I had no idea women could…did…masturbate until I started reading Winona’s novels.”

Winona Crane was an erotic romance author who had moved to Credence with the initial influx of women last summer and had stayed on, much to the delight and scandal of residents. She was building a house out by the lake and had gifted one of her books to Della about three months ago. It had been shockingly educational, and Della had been glomming her backlist.

“And you haven’t tried since reading Winona’s stories?”

Della shook her head. “No.”

Why hadn’t she? She’d wanted to…but something had stopped her. She’d made great strides in breaking the mental chains Todd had shackled her with, but sometimes she could still feel the cold bite of steel around her wrists.

“Maybe you should start there?” Selena suggested gently. “You have as much right as the next person to enjoy your body. And you should be getting to know it, what you like, what works for you. Experiment a bit. Masturbate. Get a vibrator. Then, if and when you’re ready to take dating to another level, you’ll know what to ask for.”

The fact that she could ask for stuff—that a man actually existed out there who would take her needs into consideration—was frankly mind-blowing. Even in the beginning, Todd had been in charge, and she hadn’t known any better. She’d been a virgin with a stiflingly strict father and a mother who had died three days after Della’s twelfth birthday.

“That sounds…like it could be fun.”

Selena smiled knowingly. “Maybe think about purchasing any mechanical aids online.”

Della frowned. She’d been thinking of going to Frieda’s. Mostly because she was curious but also because she’d hate for Arlo to accidentally open up a package and find a vibrator. “Not a sex shop? There’s one about an hour out of town on the interstate.”