Judy Henderson was flipping through one of the large stationery sample books, unable to make up her mind between the heavy robin's egg blue stock with gold embossing or the sunset pink twenty pound stock with ocher embossing. She needed someone else's opinion, and she looked up to see if anyone was available.
She saw that the only other person in the store was the clerk, Hannah Wilcox. Judy chewed her lip, considering her options. She decided on the blue, since even the wrong decision would be better than taking the advice of that little slut. Hannah was only twenty-four years old, and she already had a six year old daughter in the first grade. Darling child, that Amanda Wilcox. It was such a shame she was a bastard child.
Hannah hadn't been able to graduate high school because of the baby, and she'd never named the father, though there were so many candidates. Word was, Hannah spread her legs for anything in pants, and maybe even a skirt, a thought that made Judy flush deeply. She'd really cleaned up her act since the baby though, Judy gave her that much credit, but she'd be damned before she'd let her husband Fred within ten feet of the little tramp.
It was really a sad story. Irma Wilcox had been married to Mike Wilcox from Dale's Hardware. Mike had married Irma right out of high school, like it should happen, and little Hannah came along two years later. Then, when Hannah wasn't yet even one year old, Old Gary Weaver had run Mike down while driving drunk.
Well, Irma didn't have much in the way of money of course, so she lost her house and had to move into a trailer on the edge of town, taking a job at the Freedom Diner. A pretty and popular woman, Irma ruled that roost and she tried to raise her daughter right. Unfortunately, Hannah proved to be the best of both Mike and Irma physically, but the worst of them both character-wise.
Sure, she was always polite and friendly, but no sooner did she have bosoms than the stories about her exploits started. Of course, nobody was 'fessing up to doing the deed with her, though all of the boys shared winks and smiles whenever she came up in conversation. And what more proof did you need, what with her having that bastard baby, Amanda?
When her mama, God rest her soul, passed away a few years back, Hannah and Amanda would have been out on the streets if it hadn't been for the kindness of old Ben Crosby, who hired her to work there, at Crosby's Stationers. Of course, it was pretty common knowledge that Mr. Crosby smiled a lot more than he had before giving it to Hannah - his kindness, that is.
Such a beautiful girl too, Janet thought, though you wouldn't know it looking at her now. She was five foot seven and a half, five foot nine in the tasteful heels she wore at work, and she was a slender little thing, only about a hundred twenty-five pounds. Sure, she'd put on about ten pounds after the baby came, but it had apparently all gone into her large, D-cup boobs and her full, rounded hips. She had one of those bodies that was all soft curves, a genuine hourglass with no sharp edges. Her long, straight golden blonde hair was pulled into a tight bun, her big baby blue eyes always seemed to smolder and made it seem like "good morning" was an invitation to carnal delights.
She wore a peach colored suit jacket over a cream blouse, and her peach skirt reached just past her knees. She had lovely legs, but at work anyway they were hidden by her skirt and disguised by supermarket pantyhose. Her nails were well-kept, Judy admitted, and a lovely shade of pink that matched the lipstick on her perfect, full pouty lips. If she had one shortcoming, it was that her nose was a little big for her face, but not enough to be noticeable to anyone who wasn't seeking fault in her.
"Can I help you, Mrs. Henderson?" Hannah said, and Judy thought her voice sweet and melodious. She had been one of the soloists in the church choir before Emmy Denton had complained about her low morals to the Deacon.
"Yes, Dear," Judy said with a sweet smile. "I'd like to order some new stationery. If I could get my monogram embossed on this," she indicated the stock she'd chosen.
"That's perfect!" Hannah gushed, clasping her hands in front of her. "It's exactly what I would have picked out for you!"
"Er," Judy said, rocked back on her sensible heels, "I think I'm going to wait and check with my husband first." Judy picked up her handbag decided to go back to Crosby's on Monday, Hannah's day off. She was heading for the door when Hannah called out.
"You be sure to tell Fred that I asked after his health." The door closed behind Judy, the bells chiming, and Hannah added, "Have a nice Saturday evening, Bitch." She went back to cataloging the new stock that had come in, smiling wickedly at the hell Fred Henderson was going to get put through that night.
Later, as Hannah was putting the boxes of stationery on the shelves, preparing to close, the bells on the door chimed and Hannah hurried to the counter. She felt her breath catch in her chest at the sight of Deke Slade. He had been a Senior at high school when Hannah was a Freshman, and he was the most handsome, nicest, most popular boy in the entire graduating class of sixty. He didn't let it go to his head though, and after graduation he'd gone to work with his daddy at the family business, boarding and training horses.
The first time she'd talked to him had been when she was a Junior, and she was waitressing for her mom. She'd taken his order one evening and they'd struck up a fine conversation. There had been real interest there, at least on her part, but a week later he hardly gave her the time of day. The last time she'd spoken to him had been three years earlier, when he'd called on her to offer his condolences on her mom's passing.
Deke was six foot five and weighed about two hundred twenty pounds of hard, lean muscle. A true cowboy, he was dressed in jeans, a red plaid shirt, and leather cowboy boots with pointed toes. He was clean shaved, with short black hair and beautiful green eyes that sparkled when he smiled. He had an air of sweat about him, a little grime on him that said he'd been working a man's job.
"Can I help you, Mr. Slade?" Hannah said, moving behind the counter, near the register. Her heart was pounding in her chest, but for the life of her she didn't know why.
"Hey there Hannah," he drawled softly, his voice deep and clear. "You know my name's Deke, for heaven's sake." She didn't know why, but Hannah found herself examining a sticker on the glass counter proclaiming the store accepted credit cards, and her cheeks felt hot.
"My cousin Sam, over in Howard, well, he's getting married. I was thinking about getting them some nice new stationery with their new monogram on it," he said, and Hannah looked up and saw that he seemed uncomfortable.
"I think that's a lovely idea," Hannah said. "I think it's a perfect gift." Deke twisted his toe against the floor in an obvious "aw shucks" manner.
Hannah escorted Deke over to the sample books and she flipped through three to find her recommendations. He stood close behind her, and Hannah felt the hairs on the back of her neck standing up.
"I like that one," Deke said suddenly, leaning forward to put his finger on the sample. His other hand pressed lightly, innocently, on Hannah's lower back and caused her to gasp as electricity shot through her body. He quickly apologized and pulled his hand away, but every nerve ending was alive and waiting for the next glorious jolt.
"T-That's a good choice," Hannah said, looking up over her shoulder at him. Oh, he smelled good. He had that natural musky sweat smell that just drove her crazy.
"I think that's it then," Deke said, and he chanced to put his hand on her upper back, between her shoulder blades. Hannah closed her eyes and took her lower lip between her teeth as warm current passed through her. It felt so nice, so perfect, so...Hannah's' eyes snapped open and she turned, smiling uncomfortably.
She took the details for the sale and rang it up back at the register, safely behind the counter. "You can pick it up next Saturday," she said, smiling brightly at him.
"I'll be in town then," Deke said, his eyes gazing into her soul. "I guess I'll probably grab dinner at the diner, after," he said.
"Uh-huh," Hannah said, lost in his eyes. She shut her eyes and shook her head, laughing softly. "How about you come over and have a home-cooked meal with Amanda and me?" she asked.
"I think I might just like that," Deke said, his own smile bright. They said their goodbyes and he left. Hannah waited until she saw his pickup pull away before she ran over and locked the door, turning around the sign to read, "Closed". She was anxious, as always, to get home to Amanda and to change out of her work clothes. Tonight though, she was also looking forward to changing into a pair of dry panties.
* * * * *
When she'd gotten home, Hannah saw Miss Elsie off, thanking the old Black woman for the ten thousandth time for watching Amanda. Miss Elsie watched Amanda after school Tuesday through Friday, and all day on Saturdays. Miss Elsie was over eighty, and was a retired school teacher. The help she gave Hannah was nothing compared to the education she was giving Amanda.
Amanda watched the Cartoon Network while Hannah went into her daughter's bedroom to change. Things were cramped in the trailer, and Hannah kept her clothes in her baby's room, while herself sleeping on the sofa in front of the TV. She quickly stripped to nothing, then put on fresh panties (after pausing to make herself gasp as she remembered Deke's touch and his smell), worn old loose-fitting Levi's, and an over-sized Cowboys jersey. She took her hair down and shook it out, enjoying the freedom for about a half a minute before gathering it up with a scrunchy into a ponytail.
They had mac 'n cheese for dinner, and Hannah listened with rapt attention to the goings on in the first grade at Tucker Elementary. Based on what she heard, it was a veritable Peyton Place. She smiled sadly as she told her beautiful daughter to ignore the gossip, to make up her own mind about people. It didn't matter. Gossip was a cancer on her little town.
She'd just tucked Amanda into bed when the phone rang, and Hannah prayed it was a telemarketer. It wasn't. It was Tommy Travis, one of her old classmates.
"Hey there Hannah," Tommy said, not sounding too drunk.