Page 71 of The Lessons

“I—I guess I am. I mean, it was kind of the point, right?” I looked up at her, my therapist so cool and collected in her gray linen suit.

“One of many,” she corrected.

“Huh?”

“One of many points to the work. Achieving penetration, I mean. Sexual health is a complex beast, as I’m sure you are aware.”

I swallowed. “Yeah. I mean, yes, I know.”

“We can get into that more later. First, tell me, were you able to orgasm?”

“Yep,” I said proudly. I knew that, in and of itself, was worthy of accolades, but Dr. Lerner didn’t seem too impressed. She continued to make notes.

“Many women aren’t able to do that, even afteryearsof being sexually active.”

“I guess I’m lucky.”

Dr. Lerner gave me a long look over the top of her reading glasses.

~

Dr. Lerner hadn’t given up easily during my appointment. No, she’d made it very clear that, despite my early success, she didn’t want me to give up or feel discouraged if there were future setbacks. I guess that was my all-clear to continue my lessons with Ryan.

I had to admit, I was thrilled about that.

Usually after my appointments with Lisa, I felt relieved, but today that wasn’t the case. Nope, on this Monday, I was a pile of nerves as I entered the Heaven Sent offices. For once, it wasn’t because of the confined elevator or the status of my hymen.

It was because today was the day of my big presentation. In retrospect, it probably wasn’t the best choice to have had an appointment with Dr. Lerner the same day as my presentation, but Cathy had insisted, and I hadn’t wanted to disappoint her.

As I passed the front desk, I noticed the receptionist and one of the admin staff speaking in hushed tones and glancing over at me. Maybe they were looking at my outfit? Ihaddressed up for the presentation, wearing my best gray skirt suit, heels, and a hip, statement necklace. I knew I looked good, but still?I glanced down, making sure all of my buttons and zippers were safely in place and that I hadn’t spilled anything on my blouse during breakfast. Nope, I was clean, and everything was where it was supposed to be.

Maybe it was just me? Maybe I was imagining something.

As I turned down the hall toward my office, Kent, of the merchandise managers, walked by and slowed to greet me.

“Hey, Natalie,” he said with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

What the hell?Okay, maybe I looked a littletoogood, I thought with a shudder. With his receding hairline and pot belly, Kent was not one of our more attractive staff members.

Once I got to my office, I let myself inside, closed the door behind me, and plopped down on my chair. With all this virgin stuff now officially behind me, I was ready to kick it into high gear at work. If Cathy was impressed before, well, she better watch out. I was going to kill it during the presentation today.

I decided to wait to check my email until after the presentation. No sense in distracting myself with morning minutiae when I should be focusing. I’d prepped the PowerPoint days ago but couldn’t seem to find the hard copy of my notes that I’d printed on Friday. I wasn’t too worried; I could always print out another copy, but still, it was very strange.

The presentation wasn’t until after lunch, and the rest of the morning was going to be occupied with the managers meeting. I wanted to find my notes before the meeting, just so I knew I wasn’t crazy.

I wasn’t crazy, right?

The meeting was quickly approaching, and I was in the middle of tearing apart my office when there was a knock at my door.

“Yes?” I called out.

Paulina popped her head in. “Hey. Managers meeting. You coming?”

“Yes. I just can’t find my presentation notes. I swear, there is a gremlin or something that comes in and steals things from my office.”

“Just leave it. We’re going to be locked out. I heard Mike has adopted Cathy’s latecomer policy,” Paulina urged.

I sighed, grabbed my notebook, and hurried down the hall with her, getting there just in the nick of time. I passed Cathy, seated near the door, as I came into the room.

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