“Oh, I see. Bless your little heart.” Thirty minutes later, I had purchased a training bra, a regular bra, and a sports bra.

“Thank you so much, Mrs. Conner. I still don’t know why your store sells all those lacy things when the sports bra is much more comfortable.” I hated that underwire of the regular bra and hoped my boobs did not grow any more.

“Yes, my dear, but our husbands like to see us all lacy.”

I wondered what she was wearing underneath her clothes and thought, Not my husband! I would be mistaken on that topic. I thanked her. My brother and I left to have a cappuccino. I decided to bring Mrs. Conner one. She looked surprised to see me. “I brought you a cappuccino to say thank you.” She looked at me with an odd blend of amusement and curiosity. “Daddy makes me one before school. He calls it starter fuel.”

“Who is your daddy?” she asked. Her look was one of complete horror. I could tell her focus had shifted away from my brother to Daddy. “Hank Edgeworth. He owns—”

“The City Café,” she interrupted.

“This is just mediocre. You should come by the restaurant, and we’ll serve you a real cappuccino. In a real cup, on the house. Presentation, Mrs. Conner. Just like in your store.” I pointed to the mannequins and display of push-up bras, and she flashed a knowing smile as Henry and I left.

“Then there was a time that Henry and Griffin told me the facts of life.” I then regaled Elle and Reggie about the night Henry and Griffin had taken me aside and told me the facts of life—but not before they had consumed quite a lot of beer. “You haven’t heard the facts of life until you have heard them delivered by a couple of slightly tipsy boys.”

I remembered leaving my brother’s room in sheer amazement that this planet got populated at all. In their male brains, sex was an amazing thing, but it just sounded awkward to me. “Wouldn’t you rather go out to a nice dinner instead?” I asked.

As Henry and Griffin concluded their remarks on sex, they asked me if I had any questions. I did. “What about love?” I looked at them.

They exchanged confused looks. I had clearly asked them a question they had not thought of when it came to sex. My brother took the first crack.

“If you ever want a condom, you come to either one of us. Don’t let a boy pressure you. Because boys basically want one thing—to have sex. So be protected. And always, it should be your choice. Do not feel pressure.” Henry’s approach was to basically ignore my question.

This was so not in keeping with the romantic novels I read from time to time. It was Griffin’s turn to have his say.

“Wait until you’re good and ready. You need to be in control of the situation. It’s a big deal. It would be good if he had said ‘I love you’ first, but make sure when he says ‘I love you’ he’s not drunk.” This was Griffin’s advice. “Do you want to have sex?”