“Exactly,” Debra said. “So, should we try the next one? What were you like in high school?”
“I was a late bloomer in all ways, I think, so that’s pretty easy. I was a nerd with red hair who got picked on a lot.”
“I like red hair.”
“You do?”
Debra nodded and said, “And I wasn’t a nerd, exactly, but I was an introvert who kind of kept mostly to herself.”
“I was in the band,” Kristina shared.
“Me too,” Debra replied with excitement and pointed at herself. “Clarinet.”
“Flute,” she said, pointing to herself. “I wanted to play the drums, but my mom wouldn’t let me. Too loud.”
“Has she nothearda flute when it’s not played right by a kid who’s learning?”
Kristina laughed again and said, “She sure did after she got me one.”
“Okay. Question three. Greatest talent?”
“The flute.”
Debra laughed and said, “Funny.”
“No, really. I play professionally. I’m in a small orchestra at home, do lessons, and play weddings and stuff.”
“Oh, wow. Sorry, I didn’t know that.”
“It’s okay. Howcouldyou? What’syourgreatest talent?”
“Numbers. Putting them together and making sense of them. I’m an accountant. I’m actually the head of finance at a corporation, but I’m an accountant at heart.”
“Numbers? Damn. I’m surprisingly bad at numbers. You know how they say music is supposed to help you with things like that? It didn’t help me. I really just didn’t like math, so I never put the time in, but that’s amazing.”
“Okay. Next question,” Debra said and read it herself first. “Oh, interesting. Have you ever cheated on a past partner?”
“Shereallywent all-in, didn’t she?” Kristina laughed and leaned back on her hands, getting a little more comfortable. “No, I’ve never cheated on anyone.”
“Me neither.”
“Was your wife your only partner?”
“In life, yes,” Debra said. “I had sex with a girl in high school before her, though, and she was with someone else before me, too. Neither of us was out back then, even to each other, so I slept with a girl in my biology class who was also in the closet, but it didn’t go anywhere after that. My wife had a boyfriend for a few months our junior year, and they had sex. She didn’t care for it.”
“I can imagine,” Kristina replied.
“I’ve never been with a man. You?”
“Nope,” she replied. “I knew I was gay pretty early on. I did date boys in high school to hide it, but when they were ready to take things further, I conveniently ended things.”
Debra laughed, and Kristina liked the sound of it. She liked Debra herself, too, but something was telling her that this wasn’t a love connection. She wondered at the thought that Nia had put into the questions on the note cards because the order and the depth of them seemed pretty specific to the two of them, and she decided to be brave and maybe offer something that they could both use.
“Debra?”
“Huh?”
Debra looked back at her.
