Katie had told me some about her family during our dates, and I pieced together more from what people said during the weekend. Katie’s dad had stayed male for the first five years after the Divergence, and he and Katie’s mom had married Gus a year or so afterward, who’d been his best friend, and changed into a woman right after the Divergence. Then five years ago, Katie’s dad became female as well, and rather than break up the family, they decided they’d all stay together and find another man, and if they took too long to find one, maybe one of them would turn male. They married Katie’s stepdad Iris a little over a year later, and things had been stable since then except for a couple of the children changing sex when starting a new grade.

“I’m ready,” I said firmly, though I wasn’t quite sure I was. I’d been on the birth control pills long enough for them to be effective, anyway, and if I didn’t do it now, I wouldn’t have the chance for months. Of course, once I was thousands of miles from the nearest Raleigh rabbit pheromones, I might not want to anymore... but I wasn’t thinking about that.

“You were probably confused by being kissed. I understand that can be pretty distracting for people of your species.”