Chapter 1: The First Time

The women’s meeting ended at eight-thirty. Elena stayed behind to stack chairs and gather the leftover cookies, smiling and nodding as the last few ladies said their goodbyes. When the final set of headlights disappeared from the parking lot, the church fell into a deep, hollow silence. She stood in the empty fellowship hall for a moment, listening to the low hum of the fluorescent lights and the distant tick of the old wall clock. Then she walked down the short hallway to the women’s bathroom and locked the door behind her.

The lock clicked with a sound that felt louder than it should have. Elena set her bag on the counter and looked at herself in the mirror. Mid-thirties. Long red hair. The modest blouse and skirt she had worn all evening still clung to her in the places she had tried not to notice—across her firm 34D breasts, over the curve of her hips. She unbuttoned the blouse slowly. Each button felt deliberate. When the fabric slipped from her shoulders and pooled on the cold tile, she stood in her bra and skirt, skin prickling in the air-conditioned room. She unhooked the bra. Her breasts settled, heavy and bare. She stepped out of the skirt and the simple cotton panties beneath it, folding everything neatly into the bag.

The black dress she pulled from the bottom of the bag was thin and tight. She stepped into it and worked it up her body. The fabric clung to her 5’8”, 135-pound frame, stretching across her breasts and ending high on her thighs. No bra. No panties. She smoothed the dress over her hips and studied her reflection again. The woman looking back at her did not look like the pastor’s wife who had just led a discussion on Proverbs 31. She looked like someone else. Elena’s pulse was already quick. She told herself she was only going for a drive. She told herself she would turn around before she reached Riverbend. Neither thought felt true.

She left the bathroom, walked past the dark sanctuary, and stepped outside. The night air was cool against her bare legs. She got into the minivan, started the engine, and pulled onto the empty road that led out of Willow Creek.

The drive took thirty-two minutes. The tires hummed against the asphalt. Headlights from oncoming cars swept across the windshield and disappeared. Elena kept both hands on the wheel at first. Then she lowered one to her thigh. The dress had ridden up. Her bare skin was warm. She pressed her legs together, then deliberately opened them again. The cool air from the vents brushed between her thighs and made her clit ache. She thought about Michael at home, probably still in his study, Bible open, completely unaware. She thought about the way he had kissed her forehead that morning. The thought should have made her turn around. Instead it made her wetter. By the time the lights of Riverbend appeared on the horizon, her nipples were hard against the thin fabric of the dress and she could feel the slickness gathering between her legs.