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PART ELEVEN
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE – AT ODDS ( Saturday, December 17 )
"No! Absolutely not! I forbid it!" Hiram Hobbs emphatically told his favorite daughter when she broke the news to him on Saturday afternoon. "You're not going to rent an apartment!"
"Daddy, I'm sorry, but I signed the lease this morning and gave the landlord the first and last month's rent plus a damage deposit. I'm moving as soon as the present renters are out." She had hoped her father wouldn't be so angry at her decision and was frustrated at his reaction as she struggled to keep a cool head.
"Why do you feel you have to move out?" he questioned harshly. "Aren't you happy here? Is there something else you need? I have plenty of money. Would you like a new truck? Is that it? We can get you a new truck—"
"Daddy, I'm thirty-five years old," Lindsey said. "Don't you think it's time I got my own place? Don't you think I'm ready to be out on my own?"
"But why ? Why are you making this decision now ?"
"It's just time I moved." She couldn't tell him that Sarah was the main reason she was moving. "Leslie will still be here—probably for a long time yet. You'll have her around. She hasn't known any signs of wanting to get married that I know of."
"But you'll have to buy furniture, kitchen stuff and all those kinds of things. You don't have anything to move with."
"I know. I never thought it was necessary to have things like that, since everything is right here. But the people who rent it now are leaving all of the furniture and a lot of kitchen stuff and such behind. They're moving to California and are going to buy all new things out there."
"Isn't there anything I can say that will change your mind?" Hiram said.
"Daddy, it's a done deal. Again—I'm sorry, but I'm a grown woman, and I made this decision on my own. I knew if I had asked you, you would have reacted just like you're reacting right now. That would have solved nothing."
She hesitated and then picked up her coat. "I have to get to Christmas practice at The Old West Town ."
She left, leaving Hiram Hobbs wondering what he had done to make Lindsey want to move out of his house. She had been living with him forever, it seemed. And now she wanted to live by herself? He didn't understand.
* * * * * *
"Hello, sweetheart," Sarah said as she got in the truck. Lindsey had honked the horn for her as she drove up. She didn't want to have to explain anything to Sylvia by going in the house. Sarah leaned over and gave her a quick kiss.
"More," Lindsey said. "I need more than that." There's that word again, she thought. Sweetheart . She reached over, pulled Sarah to her mouth and kissed her fully, deeply and passionately. "That's more like it," she said, finally releasing her and feeling in control once again.
"Did you tell your father you were renting the apartment?" Sarah asked, as they drove off to The Old West Town .
"Yes. He wasn't too happy about it," Lindsey said. "But I told him I was a grown woman and there was nothing he could do about it."
"I think it's great that Karin and Evelyn are leaving the furniture and some of the other things," Sarah said. She was excited when Lindsey called and told her. "You won't have to buy hardly anything . But it would have been fun shopping for stuff."
"I'm sure there'll be plenty of shopping to do after I see what I need to get. I can't imagine just up and leaving all your belongings like that, but that's what they wanted to do. There'll be personal stuff to buy, of course, like sheets and pillows and—" She began naming things that were very personal. Sarah whacked her in the arm, her face turning pink as Lindsey mentioned lube . Lindsey thought Sarah was so much in control when it came to sex, but could be so easily embarrassed at the tiniest thing.
They pulled up to The Old West Town and parked behind the outdoor stage. The street was muddy. Another storm was coming in from the west, and the cold front preceding it had brought a little rain shower with it as it approached Laramie. It was gradually getting colder and the wind speed was increasing. Lindsey knew it would soon be snowing again. It was typical Wyoming winter weather.
She had no idea where the thought came from, but wished she was moving to California rather than Karin and Evelyn. She wondered if Sarah would go with her if she did. With the job at Scully's folding up and The Old West Town perhaps becoming defunct, what job opportunities were left for her in Laramie? Now she'd leased an apartment for a year, so knew it would be at least that long before she could seriously entertain the thought of moving anywhere else. She had enough money from what she had been saving over the last five years to live for a long time without having to work at all. She wouldn't ask her father for money. Sarah said she had planned to be in Laramie for a year while her brother-in-law was on sabbatical. Who knows what would happen between now and then?
* * * * * *
"All right, ladies," Lindsey said loudly, standing in front of the choir. "Let's get started. Christmas is a week from tomorrow, so this will probably be the last practice before our program next Saturday, unless you want to have another practice on Wednesday night."
"Why can't we make it another night," one of the women said. Lindsey recognized her as someone who usually stayed for the Wednesday mid-week service. "Like Thursday or something—" the woman continued. "I mean—" her voice trailed off, searching for words.
Lindsey pondered a moment, and then said, "Would everybody be willing to have practice on Thursday night?" She didn't want to deprive some of the women of missing a second mid-week service. She looked around as one by one the women nodded their heads.
"Where do you think we should hold the practice then? The church or the coffee house?"
The women buzzed among themselves for a little bit.
"All right. Let's take a vote," Lindsey said. "Who wants to practice Thursday night at the church?" No one raised a hand. "Who wants to practice Thursday night at the Alpine Coffeehouse ?" The vote was unanimous in favor of that.
"Okay then. We'll meet at 6:30 Thursday evening at the Alpine Coffeehouse ." That settled, she began the music CD and raised her baton, and everyone raised their music folders in unison.
After an hour and a half of steady singing—working out some problem areas—they took a coffee/cookie break. Sarah whispered to Lindsey, as she passed her coming down from the choir loft, "I'm hungry. I've hardly had a thing to eat all day from remembering last night! I'm an emotional wreck."
"Take all the cookies you want," Lindsey told her. "We always have plenty . You need to keep up your strength." She grinned widely as Sarah passed her and then winked as Sarah turned around and looked at her. Sarah went inside the small room and started piling a napkin high with cookies.
Lindsey was standing at the door to the small room with a cup of coffee in her hand when Annette walked up to her, close enough to be almost in her face. "We're having the Bible Study tonight, aren't we, Lindsey?" Annette asked softly. "I'm kind of worried about the storm. I looked out the door a minute ago, and the snow is really coming down. I don't like to drive in this weather. Maybe I could leave my car at the coffee house and you could take me home afterwards?" She looked invitingly at Lindsey for a response.
"I've already called the others in the group and cancelled it," Lindsey said, backing away from Annette. "I was going to tell you this afternoon at practice."
"What? Why are you cancelling it?" Annette asked. She was astounded because it was the first time Lindsey had ever cancelled the Bible Study.
"I'm taking off tonight and the next two Saturday nights, and we'll get started again after the first of the year. I need a break."
Lindsey wanted to say she was going to discontinue the Bible Study. She planned to consider the alternatives and wait until after the holidays before she came to any firm decision. She knew she wasn't going to go forward with the Bible Study anymore at the Alpine Coffeehouse . Maybe after she moved into her apartment, they could just have a small Bible Study and lesbian book reading at her place. But nothing else! She thought Sarah would go along with that. She didn't think Sarah would mind having a lesbian book group meeting in addition to the Bible Study. Or maybe she'd just drop the whole thing. It all depended on what Sarah wanted to do. What Sarah wants to do? Whatever happened with me making decisions?
Just then, Sarah came up to them, a cup of coffee in one hand and a napkin brimming over with cookies in the other. "Do you want some?" she asked them both, holding out her napkin. Lindsey politely took two cookies that looked like they were about to topple onto the floor.
Annette shook her head. "No, thanks," she said and wandered off into the small room to get a cup of coffee. After she got her coffee, she stood in the doorway looking at Lindsey and Sarah, who were animatedly discussing something. They each waved an arm in the air every so often—and laughed. I wonder if Sarah has anything to do with Lindsey's decision , she thought. They're awfully cozy with each other. I don't like it.
They practiced another hour and a half and then Lindsey said that was enough—before they wore out their voices. Most of the women were glad to quit for the afternoon. Leslie was the first to leave—without saying good-bye to anyone again—muttering something having to do with the Sunday service tomorrow and how she had to get some things together.
Lindsey told Marlene she may as well take the Christmas music with her now—which she normally did after the practices. She didn't think she would remember it on Thursday when she was at The Old West Town , and didn't want to burden Marlene by having her call her at work to remind her to bring the music to practice Thursday night like she did the last time.
Lindsey and Sarah were the last to leave, and Lindsey made sure the building was locked up tight, including the adjacent small room. It wouldn't do to have anything stolen at this late date. She looked around outside and noticed all the cars were gone—including Annette's.
"Remind me to get some flyers made up at the printer's tomorrow afternoon after church," she told Sarah, "to advertise the Christmas program. Then I'll need to post them around town. I'll have to have some programs printed, too, and give them out at tomorrow evening's service to our church members. I hope we can draw a large crowd of townspeople. That would make daddy very happy," She started the engine and let the truck warm up.
Then she continued. "But I'm not sure what I want in the flyer yet. I need to have the printers help me design it first. I shouldn't have waited till the last minute to do this. I don't know if I'll have enough time because I have to work, too. But I wrote down what I want in the program, so at least that part is done. It's just a matter of having someone type it all out and then putting it into their computer and printing copies."
"Lindsey, I don't know why you have to go to the printer's to do that. I'm perfectly capable of doing things like that on my computer. I'm a professional. Just tell me what you want. Or, better yet, you can show me."
"You mean you can work up flyers on your computer?" Lindsey put the truck in gear and headed back to town. The snow was falling in large, fluffy flakes that piled up quickly.
"Of course. You can do almost anything with a computer," Sarah said. "Except have sex," she whispered. Which I'm thinking of right now, she thought, but didn't say out loud.
"Then all I would have to do is get a bunch of them copied. Right?" Lindsey said. She hadn't heard Sarah's remark about sex because she was thinking how much time she could save by not going to the printers to have them help her design the flyer.
Sarah replied, "I could print out copies for you, too—depending on how many you would need. I have some card stock that my printer can handle. And I can print out the programs, too, to hand out to people when they come to The Old West Town to hear the Christmas choir. As well as for the church people tomorrow night."
"That sounds like a winner to me," Lindsey said. "Maybe tomorrow afternoon after church I could come over and we can work on it."
"I don't see why not," Sarah said, anticipating being together with Lindsey again.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO – FRUSTRATION
Lindsey pulled up to the curb in front of Sarah's house. "See you tomorrow?" she asked.
"Yeah, I guess I better let you go on to your Bible Study," Sarah said, starting to open the passenger door.
"I'm not going tonight. I cancelled it till after the holidays."
"Really?" Sarah said. "I was wondering why you didn't ask me again to go with you after practice. I probably would have gone this time."
"I need a break. After the holidays, I'll be moved into my apartment. I thought I might have the Bible Study there. There are only six of us. If you came, that would be seven. There's plenty of room there, don't you think?" Sarah didn't yet know that the Bible Study was a cover-up for the lesbian book group.
"I think that's a great idea!" Sarah said. "That way, your daddy won't be so upset that you've rented the apartment if he finds out you're going to continue with the Bible Study."
"I guess that's one way to look at it," Lindsey responded. "But he's really angry right now. You don't know him. You don't know what goes through his mind like I do."
Sarah didn't want to continue that line of conversation, so changed the subject. There were other things on her mind.
"Do you have anywhere to go right now?" Sarah said.
"Just home. Daddy won't be expecting me, though. I didn't tell him I cancelled the Bible Study for tonight."
"Why don't you come in then? We can go upstairs where my computer is and get a head start on those flyers." She gazed at Lindsey with a pleading look in her eyes. Working on flyers wasn't exactly what she had in mind, but it would do for starters.
"Won't Sylvia mind?" A confrontation with Sylvia was one thing Lindsey wanted to avoid.
"I don't care if she does," Sarah said. "We're working on some legit stuff, and I don't know why she would have a problem with that. Come on." She opened the door and dangled a bit before she jumped down. Lindsey turned off the engine and got out of the truck quickly.
When they got in the door, they heard the boys fighting over the TV in the family room. As they walked into the kitchen, they saw the twin girls helping themselves to a pitcher of Kool-Aid from the fridge. Lindsey caught the pitcher just as it was about to tip over and unleash its contents onto the floor.
"Roger! Robert!" Sarah shouted to the boys. "Where is your mother?"
The boys stopped arguing and Roger said, "I don't know. She said she was going out for a while. She said you'd be home shortly and babysit us."
"Damn!" Sarah said to herself. Then to the boys, "How long ago did she leave?"
"I don't know," Roger answered.
"About three hours ago," Robert said.
"Why aren't you two watching Lori and Lilly?" Sarah was getting angrier now, not only because Sylvia had taken off again, leaving the kids alone, but because Roger and Robert weren't shouldering the responsibility of taking care of their sisters. "They just about had an accident with the pitcher of Kool-Aid!" she said, exasperated.
"We told them not to get it, but I guess they didn't listen," Roger said, not really caring what his sisters did.
You insolent little punk! Sarah thought. "Just wait till I tell your mother!" she yelled at him.
"She doesn't care," Roger retorted. "She never cares about us. She always goes off and leaves us alone. You're not around much, either." They went back to arguing over the TV.
Lindsey put a hand on Sarah's arm as she saw Sarah was about to storm into the family room. "Leave it alone," she said sternly. Sarah noticeably calmed down then and looked at Lindsey with tears welling up in her eyes.
"Why does my sister do things like this?" she asked. "Doesn't she even care about the kids?"
"You know she does, Sarah," Lindsey said. "Remember how upset she was about Lori falling down the stairs?"
"I know," Sarah sobbed. "But then she goes and does stuff like this!" She stamped her feet on the kitchen floor as she said those words. "Damn!" she said with a final stomp.
The twin girls were standing there looking at them both, bewildered at their Aunt Sarah's reaction. They were looking at Lindsey rather strangely.
Finally, Lori said to Lindsey, "You look like our Sunday School teacher, but you have longer hair. You're not our Sunday School teacher with a wig on, are you?"
"Your Sunday School teacher is my twin sister," Lindsey responded.
"Wow!" Lori said. "I didn't know there were any grown-up twins!" She and Lilly kept looking at Lindsey, ogling her as it were, as they had never really noticed her before. It made Lindsey feel uncomfortable.
"Would you girls like some Kool-Aid now?" Lindsey said in a calm voice. She poured the liquid into two glasses the girls had already gotten out of the cupboard. "I also have a few cookies in my pocket that were left over from our Christmas choir practice at The Old West Town ."
She pulled out a small sack and dumped the contents on the kitchen table. The girls' eyes lit up, and they began to go through the cookies and sort them according to the different kinds. There were considerably more cookies than Lindsey remembered picking up. Her daddy was usually the beneficiary of leftovers from practice, but he wouldn't get anything tonight.
They heard the garage door open and then close a moment or so later. Sylvia came in the back door, carrying a couple of grocery sacks. "You two boys get out there and bring in the rest of the groceries!" she hollered at Roger and Robert.
The boys got up obediently and then rushed to the back door to see what groceries were in the car. Their mother told them when she left that if they behaved themselves while she was gone, there would be a surprise for them. Sylvia had already brought their treats in with the two sacks she carried, so they would be disappointed if they rummaged around in the car very much before bringing in the rest of the groceries.
She set the two paper sacks on the table, not noticing the cookies there. She heard the girls say, "Ohhh, mommy, you crushed our cookies."
Sylvia looked down at the mess on the table, and said, "Oh, I'm sorry, girls." Then she looked up and saw Lindsey and Sarah standing there.
"Sylvia, was the grocery store the only place you went?" Sarah looked at her, ready to disbelieve Sylvia's response.
"Well, yes. We were out of groceries, and I wanted to stock up because there's another storm headed this way. In fact, I think it's already here. Why? Weren't the kids all right when you got here? What did they say?"
"Robert seemed to think you'd been gone a very long time—like three hours! And Roger said you were never home and left them alone all the time."
"Kids will be kids. I was only gone an hour. How long have you been here?" she asked, noticing that Sarah and Lindsey still had their coats on.
"We just got here from the Christmas choir practice," Sarah said, sighing deeply for thinking negative thoughts about her sister.
She wasn't going to rat on the boys about the near-accident Lori and Lilly had with the Kool-Aid because they weren't being watched like they should have been. She didn't want to make the boys any angrier with her. If she said anything, she would have denied them the goodies their mother brought home with the groceries. Maybe Sylvia got them chocolate candy , she mused. The most I could hope for, probably, is that they'll make themselves sick on chocolate again! She chuckled to herself.
"We're going upstairs to work on some flyers and programs on my computer for the Christmas program," she said. "Do you need me to do anything down here first?"
"No, that's all right. The boys can help me put things away. They need the exercise." Sylvia didn't relish having the kids home for a solid two weeks for the Christmas holidays. But she was going to make sure they had plenty to keep themselves busy while she worked at the clothing store so they wouldn't be such a bother for Sarah.
"Come on, before she changes her mind," Sarah said to Lindsey as Sylvia started taking groceries out of the sack. Lindsey followed her up the stairs to the deck.
Sarah unlocked her bedroom door. "Leave your coat in here on the bed," she said. She hung her own in the closet. She started to walk back out to her computer, thinking Lindsey would follow. However, Lindsey had closed the bedroom door and was leaning against it, daring Sarah to try to open it.
"Lindsey, what are you doing? My sister is right downstairs!" she whispered loudly, then moved to push Lindsey out of the way.
"Not till you kiss me and say please," Lindsey said. She was in control now and knew it. Sarah put her arms around her neck and said, "Please," and then planted her lips on Lindsey's, kissing her deeply.
"Ummm, you taste delicious," Sarah said, turning loose of her. "Now, would you please open the door? It's not a good idea to be up here in my bedroom right now. Wait till the kids and Sylvia go to bed. Then we'll see."
Lindsey opened the door and reached over to stroke a breast as Sarah squeezed past her.
"Oh!" Sarah said, startled. "That wasn't fair." She turned back around and tweaked one of Lindsey's nipples. "Just you wait," Sarah teased, then sat down at her computer. "Bring out that chair in the bedroom, so you'll have something to sit on."
Lindsey put the small chair as close to Sarah's office chair as she could so she could see the computer screen clearly. She marveled at how brilliant the colors were as Sarah booted the computer up and downloaded a program that would enable her to do flyers. This is going to save me a world of time, she thought. I won't have to draw everything by hand . Her mind began to get in gear as she thought how she wanted the flyer to look.
Lindsey never wondered why she had not taken the time to learn about computers and use them to her advantage. She'd decided long ago that she would never have a use for a computer—first working with horses on the ranch and now as a bartender. Deanna handled their only computer at The Old West Town quite well without any interference from her. She saw no reason to get involved with learning how to even turn on a switch! Her time was taken up with work and other things, and she had no time to fiddle with a computer. She watched with fascination as Sarah's fingers skittered across the keyboard as if it were second nature to her.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE – OTHER PLANS
Hiram Hobbs was deeply concerned about Lindsey's decision to move out of his house into a place of her own. Lindsey had always been headstrong in many ways, and he was still willing to go along with most things. She was a mirror image of him at her age, but getting an apartment was something else. He didn't understand why, after all these years—especially after his wife left him five years ago—she would want to live by herself. He'd made it clear to his girls that he wanted them to live with him until they got married, because it wasn't safe for a single woman to live alone. He provided everything for them—everything they could possibly want. Selling the ranch had made him wealthy overnight. Now Lindsey was repaying him by moving out of the house. Why would she want to move into an apartment? Everyone knew that apartments were occupied by tenants with low-life reputations. That was no place for a minister's daughter to live. He would find a way to stop her.
He decided to contact a couple of friends he knew who were in the real estate business. The house next door to him, which was a little smaller than his house, was for sale. He was sure he could buy it with no hassle. It would be suitable for a single woman, if Lindsey were that determined to have her own place. He had plenty of money and could pay cash for it. Then he would present it to Lindsey as a gift— a place of her own —where she could still live by herself, but be close by. He could keep Lindsey under his watchful eyes if she lived right next door. He felt deep down inside that Lindsey needed some watching, but he could never figure out why he felt that way. Lindsey was his favorite daughter and for him to think of anything being awry in her life...he just didn't want to go there.
Having settled in his mind the issue of Lindsey moving out, he went back to working on his sermon for the Sunday morning worship service. It was concerning lust . According to the Bible, it was one of the seven deadly sins in a person's life, but Hiram never looked at it that way. He thought briefly of a woman from church, whose name was Cindy Murray. He'd taken her to dinner a few times in the past couple of months, despite the fact she had a husband who came to church with her. There might be possibilities there. She was a very attractive woman, and not too much younger than he was. She seemed interested in him, too.
* * * * * *
Sarah and Lindsey worked steadily at the computer, until a beautiful digital color drawing gradually came into being as a work of art. Sarah worked the keyboard and followed Lindsey's directions as to what she wanted to see in the flyer. Lindsey was amazed at how much a computer could enhance what she was seeing in her mind's eye—even down to the shaded colors and shadows she wanted. Lindsey thought she might briefly hand-draw a picture of The Old West Town somewhere on the flyer, but Sarah found a piece of clip-art that was a good substitute—nothing fancy, but perfectly okay.
The final picture was finished about 8:30. Lindsey gazed at it admiringly and said, "That's it!"
"What do you need for the programs now? We can do that, too," Sarah said.
Lindsey pulled out the hand-written program she had been working on when she wasn't busy at Scully's . It included the names of the women in the Christmas choir, each one's special part in the program, and the order of the music. Lindsey decided to keep the one-page flyer as the front title page for the programs, but leaving the admission price off. They would tell the people of the church the price of admission at announcement time during the evening service. Townspeople would see the flyer posted around town with the admission price on it.
Lindsey was still in a daze as she handed over her scribbling. "Are you sure about this? Isn't it getting kind of late?"
"It won't take very long," Sarah said.
A few minutes later, Lindsey looked with admiration at Sarah as she printed out a copy of the program. She was completely satisfied with the finished product. "Now I'll take both of these originals down to the copy place tomorrow and have them run off a bunch of copies."
"I told you I could do that, Lindsey," Sarah said. "Then you'll have copies of the program to give to the congregation in the morning instead of waiting till the evening service. You'll also have plenty of programs for the people who come out to The Old West Town next Saturday."
"Sarah, you are an amazing woman!" Lindsey said. She looked at her watch. "How much longer will it take to print it all out?" I can't stay much longer. Daddy will be wondering why I'm not home yet. I'll have to come up with some excuse if it gets too late.
"Thirty copies of the flyer to post around town and about two hundred fifty copies of the program for the congregation and the townspeople," Sarah said. "Do you think that will be enough?"
Lindsey started to nod her head and then said, "Maybe three hundred programs would be better. Think big." She grinned.
Sarah said, "Shouldn't take more than a half hour. I could help you post the flyers around town, too, if you like. When had you planned on doing that?"
"I hadn't thought about that, because I was thinking I'd have to spend the afternoon tomorrow at the copier place. Since I won't have to now, probably tomorrow after church. I could hit some of the main businesses where people shop all the time. The flyer is so brilliant a person can't help but notice, no matter where it's posted." Lindsey wanted to spend as much time as she could with Sarah, even if it was just putting up flyers. She was glad for Sarah's offer to help.
She looked at the flyer and noted with satisfaction that she had scheduled the program to be presented twice next Saturday. The admission price of five dollars would be collected at The Old West Town as people came to see the program. Kids under five would be free. She was certain the church members would have no problem with that, and it was cheap enough that other townspeople wouldn't object, either. Her daddy would be happy. She hoped that would soften the blow of her moving into an apartment.
She changed the subject. "I don't hear anything downstairs. Do you suppose everybody has gone to bed?" She put her arm around Sarah's chair as she spoke, leaning in closer. As one of her hands turned and lifted Sarah's head, she started nuzzling her neck.
"Let me go see," Sarah responded, slipping away from Lindsey's soft lips.
She carefully went downstairs and looked around. There was nothing but silence in the house. She came back upstairs. "I guess they're all in bed. It's Saturday night, and Sylvia likes to go to bed early so she'll be well rested for Sunday morning. Let me load the printer with paper, and it can be printing out copies. I'll print the programs first."
She sat down at the computer to ready the image for printing. Lindsey pulled her chair up behind her, her legs straddling Sarah's chair. She leaned over, reached her arms around Sarah and started nuzzling Sarah's neck again, sending Sarah's body into a frenzy. Sarah's fingers were shaking as she played over the keyboard.
"Lindsey, stop that!" she finally whispered in exasperation. "I need to get this done without any more distractions." Lindsey pulled away.
Sarah finished at the computer, then stood up and arranged the paper for printing. She reached back to the computer and pushed the print button. The printer started up with no delay. Sarah waited until a couple of programs had printed out, then turned back around to Lindsey and took her by the hand. "Come on," she said teasingly, leading her into her bedroom.
"Come here," Lindsey said huskily, as Sarah locked the bedroom door and turned around. Lindsey had turned on the table lamp beside Sarah's bed and was unbuttoning her shirt with one hand. Sarah walked slowly over to Lindsey's other outstretched arm. She reached out and helped Lindsey finish unbuttoning her shirt while Lindsey started to lift Sarah's sweater over her head.
"You're so beautiful, Sarah," Lindsey said, as her shirt slipped off her shoulders. She leaned her head down to kiss Sarah's neck, both hands working under her sweater now. Sarah's nipples were standing erect against her bra. Lindsey brought her arms around and undid the bra restraint in back. "You know what I want tonight, don't you?"
"I think so, sweetheart. I'm yours tonight. You're in control."
Lindsey uttered a soft moan and finished taking Sarah's sweater off. Her released bra fell to the floor at the same time. Her hand reached down and gently lifted a breast, then her head lowered as she took the nipple in her lips and began to suck and stroke with her tongue.
Sarah's chest rose up and down with increased breathing. She put her arms around Lindsey, undoing the clasp of her bra and pulling it off quickly. Then she pulled her down to the bed and moved on top of her. Sarah's breast was in Lindsey's mouth as she worked at the buttons on Lindsey's jeans. When Sarah reached her fingers down between Lindsey's thighs into her wetness, Lindsey gave out another moan, long and low. "I thought I was in control," she said.
"You are," Sarah responded. "You're absolutely in control of what you want me to do to you." Lindsey started to say something, and Sarah hushed her words with her mouth, working her tongue in between Lindsey's lips, hungry and insistent as she began to move her fingers up and down Lindsey's clit.
"Is this good for you?" she broke her lips away to ask. She looked down at the purely sensuous glimmer in Lindsey's eyes.
"Oh, God, yes," Lindsey said. "But it would be better if I didn't have my pants on."
"We can remedy that."
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR – NOT AGAIN!
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Sarah! What's going on?" It was Sylvia.
"Oh, God," Sarah said alarmingly, sitting straight up. "Quick, get under the covers!" she whispered to Lindsey.
Lindsey hastened to crawl under the covers and pulled the blanket over her head.
"Just a minute, Sylvia," Sarah yelled breathlessly. "I was just about to get into the shower."
She hurriedly slid off the bed and pulled on her robe. She turned the lamp off next to the bed and turned the light on in the bathroom, leaving the door slightly open. Rushing to the bedroom door, she unlocked and opened it and then stepped outside, pulling the robe's tie tightly around her. She left the bedroom door halfway open.
"What do you want, Sylvia?" Sarah demanded. Sylvia was looking at her anxiously.
"I heard this loud noise from my bedroom. I came up here and found your printer was spitting out papers right and left. That's what was making the loud noise. I thought you'd want to know about it. Didn't you hear it?" Sylvia looked at her questioningly.
"Actually, no, I didn't hear it. I was printing out some stuff for church tomorrow."
Sarah looked over at her printer. It was still spewing out copies, but it was really noisy! Sarah hadn't noticed that before. She reached over and shut the printer off. She shouldn't have left it unattended.
"Well, why were you going to take a shower when your printer is printing out stuff? I would think you'd want to keep an eye on it."
"Sylvia! I didn't know the printer was that loud! I haven't used it that much. And I thought I would have plenty of time to take a shower while it was printing!" Sarah said. "These programs have to be printed out tonight so they can be handed out to the congregation in the morning for the Christmas program on Saturday. I'm sorry it woke you up."
"I tried your bedroom door, but it was locked, so I knocked as hard as I could. It took you long enough to get the door open! Why did you lock your door? You know you don't have to do that here."
I'm glad I did lock the door, Sarah thought. I do that routinely now. "Well, I didn't want anyone to walk in on me while I was in the shower—like the boys, or even the girls."
"They've been asleep a long time, Sarah. And they're not allowed up here, anyway."
"I guess I just never thought," Sarah responded. She wished Sylvia would just leave so she didn't have to answer any more questions and could get back to Lindsey.
"Well, it didn't really wake me up. I wasn't asleep yet. I was reading. Did Lindsey leave? I didn't hear her truck drive off."
"You weren't sleeping?" Sarah almost gasped as she said those words. Oh, God, I was afraid that might happen.
"That's what I said," Sylvia responded. "Did Lindsey leave?"
Sarah regained her composure as she said, "You don't see her here, do you?"
Sylvia looked around, glancing briefly into the darkened bedroom, and noted the bathroom light was on. "Well, I guess she must have left then, and I just never noticed. You can wait till morning to print those things, can't you? It's too noisy."
"It shouldn't make any more noise now," Sarah said. "I've turned it off. Yes, I'll wait till tomorrow. Go back to bed, Sylvia. I need to get in the shower."
Sylvia went back downstairs, and Sarah heaved a sigh of relief. She went back into her bedroom, locked the door again, and turned the lamp on. Lindsey poked her head out from under the covers. "Is it all clear?" she whispered.
"Yes." Sarah started laughing.
"What's so funny?" Lindsey asked.
"Just the fact that it looks like we're interrupted again," Sarah said.
"Can't we just continue with what we were doing?" Lindsey pleaded. I didn't think this would work , she thought. It worked once before, but we were taking a chance then, too. And now— she held out hope against hope.
"Lindsey, we better not. My sister has ears like a—I don't know what. She would hear us, I'm sure—even though my bedroom door is closed and I told her you had left. Do you know she wasn't even sleeping yet? She was reading. "
Lindsey came out from under the covers, completely naked. She had finished shedding her clothes in bed while Sarah was out on the deck with Sylvia. She sat on the edge of the bed.
"I guess I did all this for nothing, then, didn't I?" Lindsey looked at her questioningly and then opened her arms wide, staring down at her own naked body.
Sarah started giggling.
"What's so funny now ?" Lindsey asked again.
"You—my sweet, beautiful woman. Come here." She reached out her arms as she sat down on the bed beside Lindsey. She kissed Lindsey passionately. Then Lindsey began exploring inside her robe, and Sarah felt her desire rising.
All of a sudden, she pulled away. "Lindsey, we can't do this now. Sylvia will hear. You have to leave." She got up and pulled her robe tightly around herself and looked towards the bedroom door, visibly shaken. She was afraid Sylvia would come knocking again for whatever reason.
"We can't let this keep happening," Lindsey said, getting out of bed and pulling on her pants. She knew the gravity of the situation if Sylvia caught them in bed.
"What—you mean having sex?" Sarah was alarmed that Lindsey would want to stop having sex now that they had finally started.
"No. Being interrupted," Lindsey responded. "I'll be in my apartment soon—" She let her words trail off, and Sarah got the full import of what she was saying as Lindsey continued to look at her with longing.
"Then we won't be interrupted anymore, will we?" Sarah snuggled up to Lindsey and put her arms around her, causing her to stop buttoning her pants. "But you really have to go now, baby," she said. Her hands made a trail down Lindsey's chest to her navel.
"Then let me go," Lindsey said breathlessly, but making no move to stop Sarah's hands. Please let me go, she thought. I can't stand being so close to you, and being denied what we both want so desperately, all because of Sylvia this time. Sarah backed away finally, after a final kiss, and Lindsey finished dressing.
Sarah checked downstairs to see if anyone was afoot and then motioned to Lindsey to come down. She ushered her out the front door as quietly as she could, then went back upstairs and climbed into bed without taking a shower. She heard the monster truck roaring down the street and snuggled under the covers. She smiled to herself and realized that she felt something for Lindsey that she had not felt in many years. Could it be love? Or was it just sex? No one had ever made her feel like she did when she was around Lindsey. Melanie, her first lover—the innocent victim in her car accident—came close. But now she couldn't keep her hands off Lindsey and didn't understand why!
Lindsey had a myriad of thoughts as she drove home. First, she looked at her watch and saw it was only a little after nine and daddy would be waiting for her with questions. At least, it's not much past the time I would ordinarily be home if I'd had the Bible Study. And if he asks questions, I know enough about the study I would have had tonight that I won't have a problem talking with him.
Then her thoughts shifted. God, I thought I had an insatiable appetite for sex! I can't get enough of Sarah, but Sarah can't seem to get enough of me . She's in control, and I'm slowing losing it. What's happening to me?
Sylvia's thoughts were focused on getting to sleep. She heard the truck leave. She had just finished her book and placed it on her nightstand. Must be those teenage boys again. I wish they wouldn't drive down the street late at night like they do. The next time I see them around, I'll have a talk with them. It's a disruption to the whole neighborhood.