Karina had to give Dad credit for trying to make the new weekly ritual fun for her. He would send her off to buy whatever she wanted for breakfast and didn’t care if she came back from the bakery with frosted pastries, which Mom would have scoffed at. On one such expedition, Karina ducked into the pharmacy section for a box of feminine pads and stowed it in the cart under the glazed donuts. Though she was certain Dad saw it, he never said anything. Not then, not later when she put it on the conveyor belt at the checkout, and not when she pulled it out of the grocery bag at home and took it to her room. Nor did he say anything when Karina bought pink Gillette Daisy razors and shaving cream (the same brand Izzy’s mom had chosen for her) and baby fresh deodorant in the months to come.

Staring at herself in the mirror now, it was hard to believe five years had passed since then. She traced her fingers lightly over her inner thigh, where her smooth skin held no visible memory of the cuts they used to bear. She peeled the clear backing off the matchbook-sized patch, shaded to match someone else’s skin color, and pressed it onto the right cheek of her ass. Cheers, Joanie Teager, she thought.

* * *

Karina waited a few days to tell James, enjoying her secret in the interim. The next time they were together, she allowed him to remove all her clothes down to her panties and bra. Their kissing had grown more passionate, their touching more desperate, and it felt unnatural to stop short of where both their bodies wanted to go.

Karina had mistakenly thought that she would immediately be protected by the force shield of the patch, not realizing it would take a full month for the birth control to become effective. At first, it didn’t seem so long—after all, she’d waited nineteen years for this, what was thirty more days?—but now, feeling James’s hot breath on her neck, his hands on her hips, it felt impossible. She took his hand and guided it to the patch. He pulled his head back a little. “What’s this?” he whispered as his fingertips encircled the outer edge of it, sending a tantalizing shiver down Karina’s leg.

She smiled at him, suddenly feeling shy. “Birth control patch.”

James’s eyes grew bigger and an incredulous smile spread across his face. “Really?”

“Really,” she said, meeting his eyes. “I’m ready too.”

It was equal parts torture and excitement the following twenty-seven days as they dutifully waited for the oversized bandage to do its job. Karina came to understand what people meant when they said half the enjoyment of something was in the anticipation. The underlying tension of what was coming permeated their daily interactions, their frequent text messages. She and James discussed how to make their first time special, to infuse it with the meaning it deserved, and finally decided on an upcoming weekend when they were invited to a friend’s family beach house. There would be grilling on the deck, boogie-boarding in the ocean, a keg of beer and the requisite drinking games. And James and Karina would make love for the first time, losing their virginity together.