Nancy's Inferno

Why she didn't just lay there and let the voicemail pick up the message, Nancy didn't know. Perhaps it was just her dutiful nature to jump when she heard a phone ring. Something could have happened and someone on the other end might need her help, Or perhaps, maybe it was simply an overriding subconscious desire to vacate her Daughter's bedroom as quickly as possible once she'd accomplished the grim task she'd gone up there to do, and the phone call provided the perfect excuse.

Making it down the steps alive was a miracle. Her pants still undone and her underwear askew, Nancy nearly tumbled head over tea-kettle several times as she scurried to answer the call. Holding her pants up to her waist with one hand, Nancy reached into her purse with the other and answered just before the voice mail picked up.

Taking one long and arduous deep breath before pressing the button, Nancy raised her trembling right hand to her ear then meekly said, "Hello."

"Hi Nancy...it's Pastor Grady," came the booming voice on the other end.

A frigid sheet of ice scoured through Nancy's intestines when she heard the preacher's words rattle in her head. Not fully absorbing what he was saying for several seconds, Nancy momentarily lost herself in the freshly minted memory of what she saw him doing with the young girl at the church an hour or so earlier.

"Dear God...I bet Simone's sitting right next to him while he's talking to me," Nancy cringed to herself as she fumbled to keep the phone to her ear.

"...Uh...Yeah......Uhhhh.....OK....that would be fine...," she found herself answering Pastor Grady before she could fully regain her bearings.

Apparently there was a religious conference the following weekend in Cleveland where Calvin had agreed to speak, and he was calling to ask Nancy if she'd like to join him there in a support capacity. Before she could process the consequences of going along given what she'd just seen, Nancy found herself accepting the Pastor's offer.

"Are you OK, Nancy?" Calvin finally asked after sensing a distance in the woman's voice.

"..Uh...yeah....," she sighed, less than convincingly. "I just laid down to take a nap after work."

For the first time since she'd met the man, Nancy was praying for a quick end to a conversation with Pastor Grady. Shifting nervously from one foot to the other as if she had to pee, Nancy could feel the arousal slickened skin of her inner thighs rubbing together each time she moved, not to mention having to inhale the musky remnants of what she'd just done up in Lacy's bedroom on her fingers each time she repositioned the phone.

Still using one hand to keep her still unbuttoned pants hiked up, Nancy finally leaned the back of her head and shoulders against the wall of the living room and endured the phone call until Pastor Grady finally said "Goodnight".

"What have you gotten yourself in to?" was all Nancy could ask herself once she dropped the phone down and curled up on the sofa.

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In the days following Pastor Grady's offer to join him upstate for the conference, Nancy's view of things started to turn.

The indiscretion in her Daughter's bedroom gradually began to fade a little more into the rear view with each passing day until she nearly convinced herself it was someone else who did it. Still, Nancy found it difficult to make eye contact with Lacy, much less carry on any sort of substantive conversation with her. The tension between the two had grown toxic and getting away for a few days, to anywhere, wasn't a bad idea.

The thought of spending a couple of days alone with Calvin, even though they would be at a religious gathering, started to intrigue Nancy. Even though she'd seen the 'man behind the curtain' so to speak when she'd stumbled upon the preacher having sex with young Simone Dobbins in the church lounge, somehow Nancy thought if she could spend some time alone with him, perhaps she could save him the same way he'd saved her over the past few months.

In that vein, Nancy spent several days picking out the wardrobe she was going to take to Cleveland.

It wasn't like Nancy had anything super sexy or slutty hanging in her closet, but she did manage to pull a skirt that hung above the knee along with a blouse that showed off her shoulders out to bring with her.

"It's a Baptist conference..in late Winter...In Cleveland," she scolded herself, knowing the clothing choices didn't make a bit of sense from a situation or a climate standpoint. Like most everything else going on in the bizarro world of her life however, Nancy was in a weird way starting to understand that up was, in fact, down.

As the trip drew closer, Nancy thought about sitting down with Lacy to lay down some ground rules concerning what her Daughter could and couldn't do while she was gone. Considering the current tenor of their relationship, Nancy decided it wouldn't be worth the wasted breath. Lacy was going to do whatever she wanted.

So Nancy decided to lose herself in the anticipation for the trip to Cleveland with Pastor Grady. The butterflies in her belly seemed to grow in size with each passing day and she could barely sleep the night before the trip imaging how well it could all turn out.

Like most everything else she'd built her hopes on over the past few years however, when Nancy showed up at the church that morning to join Calvin for the drive north, the rug was once again pulled out from beneath her.

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A subtle hint of euphoria sizzled through Nancy's bones when she pulled up to the front of the church and saw Pastor Grady walking out with one of his suitcases. Immediately making eye contact and sharing a quick smile before reaching for her door, Nancy couldn't think of a more picturesque scene. The Sun was out, barely a hint of wind was blowing and she was about to spend a weekend with a man she secretly had a crush on.

"I really want to thank you Calvin for thinking about inviting me along for the conference," Nancy exclaimed as she reached into her backseat and grabbed two of the overnight bags she was bringing along.

"My pleasure Nancy," Pastor Grady replied warmly, taking the two bags plus an extra garment bag from Nancy and laying them in the trunk of his silver Cadillac. "Most of the people that have gone over the years have been bored to tears by the time they get back ...you probably will too."

"Oh....we'll see...anything to get away for a few days is going to be a blessing," Nancy gleamed with real optimism.

Grabbing her purse and making sure her car was locked as Calvin disappeared back inside the church to grab the rest of his things, Nancy nearly had to keep herself from giggling like school girl when she saw his shadow approaching the door once again. The giggling came to a quick end when Nancy saw who was walking behind him.

As enamored as she was watching Calvin's hulking presence stride out the door, it felt like someone hit Nancy square in the chest with a sledgehammer when she saw Simone Dobbins' petite frame strolling behind him.

"I think you've met Gloria Dobbins' Daughter Simone..Her Mom's gonna be out of town for a few days and thought it might be a good idea if Simone tagged along with us to Cleveland .....she hasn't been at church as much as we'd like but hopefully we're in the process of changing that," Calvin nudged the tiny good girl beside him as he introduced her to Nancy.

"I know exactly who that slut is," the bitter and embattled voice in Nancy's head sneered.

"Yes...I think we've crossed paths once or twice..it's good to meet you Simone," Nancy nodded her head and smiled the best she could before turning away to re-adjust her sunglasses and hide her disgust.

"I think Simone wants to look around the area up there..maybe do some networking before she starts looking for a job," Calvin told Nancy as they finished packing the car.

"Yeah....'networking'....," Nancy thought to herself. "The girl just flunked out of school..from the looks of things that day in the lounge, she was using the only talent she has!"

Sitting in the back seat for the drive north, Nancy shot the occasional visual dagger to the front seat when Calvin and Simone would make the random bit of small talk or share a quick knowing glance at each other. Doing the best she could to focus on the dreary wintertime scenery passing by at 70mph, Nancy still couldn't keep the mental picture of Pastor Grady having sex with Simone from infiltrating her mind, and by the time they finally arrived at their hotel, she honestly felt like throwing up.

In all her internal haggering on the trip up, it hadn't dawned on Nancy until they were about to check in that she was going to have to share a room with the 20 year old girl. It wasn't as if she was expecting to share a room with Calvin or lure him at some point over to hers, but there was still that one in a million shot that magic could have happened if the two somehow wound up alone. With Simone there, that would be an impossibility.

For a couple of seconds, it crossed Nancy's mind to maybe ask about the availability of an extra room, but when she saw the hotel was completely booked for the conference, not to mention she didn't have the funds on her to cover a $100+ room for the next two nights, Nancy knew she was stuck in her awkward predicament, the only solace being Pastor Grady's room was right across from hers.

"There's no way that girl will brazenly just walk across the hall to Calvin's room in the middle of the night," Nancy tried convincing herself, but given what she'd seen between the two in the church lounge, deep down she could sense where the weekend was headed.

Thankfully she'd brought along a cadre of magazines and books to read during down time, plus she had all the literature from the conference to peruse. Unfortunately, Nancy's mind would be haplessly fixated on things way out of her control.

Checking into their rooms a little after 6 that Friday night, after some quick unpacking Calvin decided to take the two women to dinner at the Applebees across the street and get a good meal while going over the itinerary for the next few of days. Considering Simone or Pastor Grady had no clue that Nancy knew about their 'arrangement', the mood of the meal was relatively light given the amount of interruptions from Calvin introducing the girls to several of his friends and business partners from the industry who were in town as well. Deciding to call it a night at about 9:30, the three walked back to the hotel and retired to their separate rooms.

Unwinding as best she could sharing the same room with her unwitting rival for Calvin's affection, Nancy threw on a tee-shirt and a pair of sweatpants and crawled under the covers to read until she was ready to go to sleep.

Sitting on her own bed to the left, Simone basically did the same thing most girls her age would. Chatting to several people on her cell phone and texting on and off, the pair made the occasional bit of labored small talk in between Simone's digital conversations until Nancy felt drowsiness beginning to swoop in.

"You're Lacy's Mom..right?" Simone asked out of the blue, taking Nancy somewhat by surprise.

"Have you met her?" she looked over and asked.

"No....not really..I've seen her out a few times..she seems like quite the popular girl," Simone blankly added between texts.

Nancy just nodded her head, not sure what to make of Simone's cryptic remark.

"No more popular than you," she wanted to blurt back but instead just put her face back down in her book.

Hearing Lacy's name, there was the temptation for Nancy to reach over and grab her cell phone from the nightstand to call her Daughter to make sure everything was OK at home. She decided against it at the last second, knowing even if Lacy did answer, she'd most likely be lying about who was there and what they were up to.

"We've got a long day tomorrow..I think I'm gonna turn in," Nancy exhaled as she reached to turn off the lamp beside her bed.

"I think I'm gonna take a shower so I wont have to in the morning," Simone replied with the caged energy of a girl who wasn't use to being in bed at such an early hour.

"Do whatever you want," Nancy bristled to herself as she turned away from the light radiating from Simone's side of the room and tucked herself under the covers.

If she'd just been able to fall asleep during the 10 minutes or so Simone was in the shower, perhaps the chain of events to follow would have taken a much different course. Sadly, even though her body was demanding rest, Nancy's mind was still firing on all cylinders and the melodic hiss of the shower provided an hypnotic backdrop for her mental wanderings.

Lost somewhere in that netherworld between sleep and consciousness, Nancy's eyelids instinctively parted when Simone emerged from the bathroom surrounded by a shroud of thick, warm mist.

Her gaze slanted, and partially obscured by her pillow, Nancy could see Simone's outline gracefully drifting out the door and across her limited visual field. Groggy, and somewhat lethargic in her thought, something just didn't seem right in what she saw.

"Other than the towel she had wrapped around her head..... she wasn't wearing anything," a tremor of curious unease barked in Nancy's brain.

"Maybe she just didn't bring a bathrobe and she's using the big towel just to dry her hair," she tried reassuring herself even though a frigid sliver of angst had already taken root in her fingers and toes.

Laying with her back to Simone's side of the room, Nancy could hear the girl's footsteps traipsing back and forth several times between the dresser and her bed, and she was certain Simone was still naked. Having learned over the years that this current generation had far less shame about such things as previous one's, Nancy tried burying her face deeper into the pillow and just going to sleep. The harder she tried closing her eyes however, the more unsettled she felt knowing a girl half her age was nakedly prancing less than six feet behind her.

Before she could stop herself, Nancy arched her neck ever so slightly until she could steal a peek in the mirror hanging over the dresser out of the corner of her eye. Subtlety squeezing her left hand into the meat of the pillow beneath her head, Nancy looked just like a small child feigning sleep as she tried to keep Simone's image in focus.

In the elastic bending of time that often comes when a person is pulled back from the precipice of sleep, it looked to Nancy as if Simone was moving in elegant slow motion as she prepared herself for bed. The first thing to strike Nancy about the girl in the mirror, other than Simone's aire of ease and comfort even while nude, was the girl's radiantly smooth, mocha colored skin in the soft lamp light.

"You're staring at a naked 20 year old girl for Chrissakes," the strained voice of reason in Nancy's head tried smacking her back to reality.

There was no way of denying it however. Nancy just had to see what the girl Pastor Grady was fooling around with possessed that she didn't. Studying Simone's image in the mirror for much longer than she should have, the answers were plainly clear.

"Her breasts are beautiful," a voice she didn't want to acknowledge as her own admired inside her head, fixating on the way the perfectly sculpted, light brown orbs swayed across Simone's chest each time she took a step.

The fist Nancy had clenched into the pillow flexed and tightened when she saw Simone's reflection spin around, leaving her with a brief but perfect view of the girl's exquisitely contoured, apple-shaped behind.

"Please don't let yourself get turned on by this!" that voice of reason desperately begged as if it had some sort of control over that internal thermometer buried deep inside her brain.

Even though her body remained completely still with her back to Simone, Nancy's knuckles had grown visibly white as she gripped at her pillow like a buoy.

Listening to Simone open and close several of the dresser drawers, most likely putting away the stuff she'd carried in her overnight bags, for one burning instant Nancy felt a overwhelming urge to turn over and see the naked girl with her own eyes instead of the reflection she'd been leering at for nearly a minute. Before she could set her old bones into motion however, she heard Simone crawl into bed and switch off her bedside light.

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Trying to get a good night's sleep in a strange bed is never easy, especially when a person has as much percolating inside their head as Nancy had. By the time her pocket-sized alarm clocked chirped her awake a little after 6 the following morning, the sheets and covers resembled a pretzel from all her tossing and turning during the night.

Casting a weary eye over to Simone still sleeping peacefully in the bed to her left, Nancy felt what amounted to a cold pale of water splash across her sleepy face when she got a good look at the girl.

"I guess that answers your question," she told herself, "Simone slept in the nude."

Resting there on her elbows with her head cranked to the left, Nancy could see both of Simone's breasts gently rising up and down each time the slumbering girl exhaled.

"Let me get up and get a shower," Nancy prodded herself, struggling to wrench her gaze away from the naked girl six feet away.

Finally pushing the covers off as she smacked herself on the cheek several times, Nancy rolled from the bed and staggered towards the bathroom.

Like most mornings, the rejuvenating effect of a long, hot shower was just what the doctor ordered.

"Get a couple of cups of coffee in me and I'll be ready to go," she told herself as she rinsed the shampoo from her hair.

Reaching for a towel, Nancy began the process of drying off as she positioned herself in front of the mirror above the sink. Using her right hand to wipe a swath through the thick layer of built up condensation on the glass, Nancy figured she could take her time brushing her teeth and primping for the day since Simone had taken her shower before she went to bed.

As with most assumptions she made, Nancy was once again mistaken.

Just as she was about to spit and rinse her mouth out before putting her toothbrush back in its traveling case, the door to the bathroom suddenly swung open and a still groggy Simone appeared in the doorway.

"Don't mind me," she absently said as a cool rush of air followed the stark naked girl inside.

What little starch Nancy had left in her legs dissolved in an instant when Simone sat down on the toilet directly to her right. Too stunned to say anything, Nancy tried her best to ignore what was happening and resume applying some mascara. Her hands were shaking so badly however, she was afraid she'd poke her eye right out.

When Simone was done, Nancy gritted her teeth, praying the girl would exit the bathroom just as unceremoniously quick as she'd entered. Unfortunately, the sink area was big enough for two.

Her entire body growing tense as Simone settled in beside her, Nancy had been so taken aback by the forwardness of the young girl's actions that she didn't realize she too was completely naked until she tried to shuffle sideways to allow Simone room in front of the mirror. Looking forward only confirmed it when Nancy began to see both their naked outlines in the slowly de-fogging glass.

In one horrible breath, Nancy was transported back to being a gangly teenager, forced to re-live the dreadful afternoons in the locker room getting dressed and undressed with the other girls during gym class. While she never had any "Carrie" moments growing up, the fact that she developed late combined with her inherent social awkwardness made those days miserable at times.

Even after all those years, Nancy had never grown comfortable with her body, and being forced to stand next to such a beautiful and voluptuous specimen as Simone brought back all that adolescent dread. An overwhelming urge to reach out and grab a towel from the rack to cover herself overtook Nancy but she remained frozen, afraid that making such a drastic move would bring more attention to her state of mind than just simply standing there and absorbing it.