“Can you tell me why you’ve been on the pill since you were just a girl?” he asked afterward, standing in the doorway of the bathroom while she was getting ready. “Especially when you were in such a strict religious sect and probably didn’t have much sexual contact with boys?”

“I had no sexual contact with boys,” she clarified, looking at him in the mirror. “Until I reached LA, I hadn’t even kissed a boy. I had my eye on leaving as far back as I can remember, and I wasn’t about to let anything happen that might make my exit that much more difficult.”

“Like an arranged marriage? Is that something Mennonites do?”

“No, but approval from both families is typically sought. And I didn’t want to go anywhere near that. I knew I wanted out.”

“That’s a pretty mature thought process for someone who was as young as you were.”

“After sneaking around just to be able to read People magazine, I understood what I was up against.”

He shoved his hands in his pockets. “So no first love from back then?”

“Not back then, no. I can’t call him my first love, but there was a guy living in the same place I was after I reached LA—a fellow tenant—who was my first kiss. There were so many of us sharing the same house,” she said with a laugh. “It’s crazy to think about what it was like in those days. But I was lucky to have a place to sleep.”

“I can’t imagine you in LA not knowing a soul—not even understanding much about how the outside world worked.”

“It was a steep learning curve.”

“Did he become your first boyfriend?”

“Not really. We hung out a lot at first. But it didn’t last. There wasn’t any spark. After a while I felt like it was more about studying how people outside the Mennonite community behaved. Then I got with a guy I met at the comedy club where I worked hawking tickets. Jack Lippy. He was the first man I ever slept with. I remember feeling so guilty afterward that I broke up with him.”

“How many men have you been with?” He raised his hands. “You don’t have to answer that question if you don’t want to. I’m just curious if you went hog wild once you realized what you’d been missing, or if your upbringing or something else still held you back.”

She smoothed concealer over her scars. “I’ve only slept with three people.”

His jaw dropped. “Including me?”

She nodded before widening her right eye so she could apply some mascara. “I was too busy working, taking acting classes and going to auditions. I didn’t have time to sleep around.”

“Most people in their twenties make time for sex,” he said wryly.