The girl looked like she would rather double down than admit she overstepped, but before she could mouth off, the woman behind the desk said, "Fran? Is your mother Fran?"
"Yes," he replied, turning back to look at the older woman. "Yes, she is...was my mother."
She turned to the girl and, while pointing at the woman with hunched shoulders, said, "Take her to room five and help her get settled." Then turning to Jack, she said, "I'm so sorry for your loss." Then she then continued, "Melody did call. She failed to mention your name, but did tell me a bit about Fran and the help she has provided this shelter in the past."
This was news to Jack. Both Fran and Jacob had mentioned a few times that they believed any good deeds should speak for themselves and didn't need an advertisement. So, here was proof that they followed their own advice.
The older woman continued, "We all appreciate you taking the time to bring her donation to us. Do you want any help?"
"No," he said, "I can handle it. Where do you want me to put the boxes?"
"I'll show you when you bring in the first box."
He nodded, then turned and went outside to fetch the first box. When he returned, the older woman came out from behind her desk and gestured for Jack to follow her down a hall that led off the left side of the lobby.
As he followed her, she turned to him and said, "Please don't be too angry with the girl. She didn't know."
Still angry, he said, "And, what if I was donating things I purchased myself? Would you still be apologizing for her?"
She stopped walking and turned to face him. "As much as I hate to say it, we have had a few unpleasant experiences in the past with male donors. And because of those unpleasant experiences, we have had to institute a policy of only accepting donations from women, or women-owned businesses. It isn't out of discrimination, but out of necessity that we made that policy. It has made it harder to support this shelter, but it has allowed us to remain independent and, more importantly, it has increased the security for all the women who shelter here."
He wondered what had happened that forced them to turn away donations from men. He also noticed that she was not using the girl's name, just referring to her as "girl". He suspected it was for security reasons.
She continued, "If it had been your donation, I would have thanked you for your kind intentions, but politely declined, due to our policy. I would have also apologized for the girl's rudeness."
He sighed, "Okay, I think I understand. I didn't know about your policy. Thanks' for not..."
"It's okay. It's not really your donation, anyway. It's Fran's donation and you're just delivering it. So, it's not a problem." She winked at him, which helped take the sting out of her "not your donation" claim.
He nodded, and she turned and resumed walking down the hallway.
Jack pulled into his garage, happy to be done driving for the day. His earlier prediction of it taking between three to four hours had proved correct. He left around one, and it was now just after four. Traffic had been worse than usual for that time of day, but not as bad as it could have been.
He grabbed the air mattress off the front passenger seat and headed into the house. The door to the garage was in the kitchen, and as he passed through it on the way living room, he noticed a plate and glass sitting on the kitchen table. He was a little embarrassed to realize he hadn't considered if Madison was hungry when she had arrived. He also realized he was starving. His last meal had been breakfast. As he headed for the hallway that led to the bedrooms, he decided he was going to order pizza for dinner.
As he entered the hallway, a stunning young woman walked out of the room he'd given to Madison. She had hair the same color as Madison's, but it was loose and arrayed around her head like a frizzy halo. She was wearing a thin camisole and cotton shorts, and her athletic figure was on full display.
His first thought on seeing the woman was, Nipples! She was clearly not wearing a bra and the camisole material was thin enough that he could see a faint outline of her areolas framing two sharp points, tenting the fabric of her top. His second thought was mild irritation that Madison would invite someone over without asking him first. Then his eyes focused on her face and dropped the air mattress in shock as he realized who she was.
"Madison?!" He had no idea she was this hot. She'd always worn baggy clothes and now he was beginning to understand why. There was no way guys would leave her alone if she showed off this figure.
"Eep!" she squeaked, then dashed back into her room, slamming the door behind her. "Just a second!" she yelled through the door. "Is that the air mattress?"
"Um...Yes?" he replied. Still confused by what he was seeing. When did she get hot?
A few seconds later, she opened her door and stepped back out into the hallway, this time wearing baggy sweatpants and a large t-shirt. He could still see more of her chest than he ever had before, but it was still less revealing than what many girls at school had worn regularly.
She walked over to Jack, bent over and picked up the air mattress, then turned and headed back towards her room. As she walked away, she called over her shoulder, "I'm hungry. Can we order pizza?"
"Um...sure? Yes! I was just thinking the same thing."
He turned and headed towards the living room. The image of her in her thin camisole and cotton shorts was etched into his brain, and his pants were still tight. As he sat on the couch, he rearranged himself so he was more comfortable, and less obvious, then opened the pizza store app on his phone. At the same time, he turned on the T.V. and opened the WebTube app. He needed to distract himself and hoped his earlier arousal would subside before Madison came out of her room.