Nancy awoke on Saturday morning feeling surprisingly refreshed despite her trouble falling asleep. She glanced at the clock. It was nearly nine in the morning. She rolled onto her back and stretched, smiling. It had been a long time since she'd slept uninterrupted for so long. She usually woke up around five and couldn't fall back asleep. After a few minutes, her hands slid beneath the covers and ran over her stomach, then beneath her panties and cupped her pussy. She found herself tugging on her pubic hair, and found its presence to be troublesome. She'd shaved before, but generally it wasn't in her normal routine. The first time she had done it was really just to see what it was like, and then a few other times for bikini season. This was different. She tugged on it with her thumb and forefinger and grimaced. It just seemed like such an unnecessary obstruction. She briefly considered shaving it, but forgot about it during the day and never got around to it.
That afternoon, Nancy's mother called, and she chewed her lip with her cell phone in one hand, deciding whether to answer it.
"Hi, Mom," she sighed, tucking her legs beneath her wear she sat on the loveseat.
"Hi. I called and left a message. I texted too, what have you been doing?"
"Working. What's up?"
On the other end, her mother sighed. "Nothing, just...trying to touch base."
"Okay," Nancy said, pinching a lose thread on the hem of her blouse. She waited a few beats, and reached around, unclasping her bra.
"Well?" her mother said. Nancy pulled the bra off through her shirt sleeve and threw it onto the couch.
"Well what?"
"Well...how are you?"
"I'm good. You?"
"I'm fine. Is your new job working out for you?"
"Yeah, it's okay."
"It's really too bad you got laid off from the call center. It feels like you're going backwards instead of forwards .That job at the Laundromat is for high school drop outs. And you never finished school. I mean, what are you doing?"
"First, it's a dry cleaning service. Second, I have no control over company layoffs. Even the manager was laid off. As far as school goes, I don't know why you're even asking. You know I applied for multiple scholarships, and I only was offered one, which would only have covered a quarter of the tuition. The big one that I qualified for went to someone else. I can't afford it, you can't afford it. All I can do is save up and pay for it myself, eventually. That's what I'm doing."
"Well...you could do that a lot faster if you lived at home. And there's always loans."
"Oh, well."
Another sigh from her mother. Nancy considered the fact that she'd probably inherited the excessive sigh from her, and rolled her eyes.
"You're so stubborn," her mother continued," by the way...is there a reason you haven't spoken to your brother in months? I talked to him the other day and he said you won't return his phone calls. He wants to borrow your car this weekend."
Nancy's jaw flinched and her eyes grew darker.
"Are you serious?" she asked.
"Nancy, I realize he and Lori weren't very nice to you when you were staying with them, but-"
"They weren't very nice to me? They weren't very nice to me? Lori spread fake rumors about me to the whole family, and no one would listen to me. She told my entire family that I was a slut that mooched off of you. Neither of which is a true statement. She's a crazy person. And on top of that, her whipped husband kicked me out and told me I was a disappointment to the family. And there was a lot more than that, Mom. They were cruel to me on a daily basis, and treated me like fucking Cinderella."
"Nancy!"
"And then you claim that I've broken up the family, because I don't want to talk to them anymore, because I don't want toxic people in my life. And you have the nerve to say that I have broken up the family. You got divorced. Jake and Lori betrayed me and treated me like garbage for no discernible reason, and none of you were there to support me. If you call me with a bunch of negative shit again, I'm done with you, too."
"Nancy, we are family. You do not walk away from family."
"Watch me." Nancy hung up and growled, throwing the phone onto the couch next to her bra. She sat quietly for a moment, chewing on a strand of her hair.
"Why did I take my bra off?" she asked the empty room.
Sunday came and went quickly, and Monday came too soon, as always. On her lunch break, Nancy checked her account balance. She had fifty-four hundred in checking and six thousand in savings. She had a long way to go before she could even think about going back to school. Her mother had pestered her and pestered her about taking out loans, but every time she gave it serious thought, she came back to the same conclusion. She didn't want to owe money. She had never owed money before, but she'd been obligated to people, and it was a feeling she did not like. Her family always had a way of hanging anything over her head they could. She had no intention of expecting more from anyone else.
That afternoon, Nancy took her last break in a parking lot. Leaning against the side of the van where she had parked on the side of a QT, she took out a cigarette and dug in her purse for a lighter. Once it was lit, she let out a long drag and looked out across the street, watching the cars go by. She was getting spontaneously wet again and she squeezed her legs together. She hated the feeling of having wet panties, and she didn't have time to go home and change. Even if she went to the bathroom and tried to clean up, it would still feel uncomfortable. An odd thought entered her mind then, and Nancy furrowed her eyebrows. A few minutes later she found herself taking off her panties in the stall of the QT bathroom and stuffing them in the deep pocket of her uniform trousers. An image of Mr. Hoyden's red door flickered somewhere in the back of her mind, and Nancy returned to the van.
Mr. Hoyden was putting on a special soundtrack just for Nancy, when she parked across the street from his house. It was a pick up rather than a delivery, so he could keep her there just a little bit longer. A few moments later, she was at his door. He opened it and smiled.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Hoyden. Got a bundle for me?"
"I sure do. I'll be right back. It's hot outside; you can come in for a moment if you like. I'll just be a minute," he said, leaving the door ajar to leave the decision up to her.
Nancy stood at the threshold a moment, and suddenly felt the summer heat more than ever. She felt as though she'd been hot all day long, and her clothes felt thick, hot and sticky. The air from inside Mr. Hoyden's home was so very cool and inviting. She stepped through. Mr. Hoyden's living room was spacious with an impressive vault ceiling. The windows she'd seen on the outside were even more dramatic inside the spacious room. The furniture was all neutral and elegant, and she peered down the hallway to the left where Mr. Hoyden had gone. Music was playing from somewhere in the house, pleasant music that both put her at ease being in a strange man's home, and made the home itself seem more inviting. She pulled at the neckline of her uniform, still feeling stifled. She stepped inside a little further, but kept the door within arm's reach. To the left was the kitchen. It was an open floor plan, and all that separated it from the large living room was an island with a stainless steel countertop. She took a step back when she heard Mr. Hoyden returning.
"Sorry about that," he started. He was holding a garment bag in one hand and a glass of water in the other.
