Sometimes the Good Guy Wins Ch. 03

"If you hated what he made you do, why did you do what you did with Linda and Donna? I'd never force you to do anything you didn't want to do. You don't ever have to do anything like that!"

"Donna and Linda live as lesbians. Do you know why? Because they both won't fit in here! The only solution they came up with was to stay together and invite you back as often as possible. If I had said, "He's mine now" it would have been cruel. Bill was into cruel, not me. The best way for me to be, for all of us, is as partners in love. We're in Iowa. In Iowa you're my husband. We're a couple. In Nebraska we aren't a simple couple. We're a foursome. I feel good about us. I feel good about sharing you with them and being shared with as freely as they shared."

"You are amazing."

"I was worried you would be possessive, but you had already loved them both and adding me didn't ruin anything. They both wanted you to have their asses because the feelings will last longer and because they believe offering that to you is so intimate it's special."

"There's something else, isn't there?" I asked.

"Yes. When I was little I discovered I could listen to people. Not just what they said, but what they thought. You were the first one I listened to, then Momma. She taught me how to keep it a secret and not intrude. When I married Bill I shut it off, completely. It was a mistake but I was so afraid you might end up in prison if I let Momma know, or anyone. I stopped talking with Momma and I even stopped listening. When I got to the farm Momma and I had a long talk and cry. We're Ok again. When I met Donna and Linda I listened and knew they loved you."

"That's how Momma knows everything!"

"Yes. She listens. Now I listen too."

It was nearing noon when I pulled into a rest stop near Des Moines. Sammi opened the fridge and discovered treats left by Linda and Donna. Two nice lunches packed in carry out foam we could zap in the microwave. We ate, used the facilities and were back on the road before one o'clock.

Sammi spent some time reading her book about weather. I focused on the road, other vehicles and listening to the weather reports every fifteen minutes. I knew we'd be in Davenport Iowa before my eight hours were up, but it would be close. Fortunately the I-80 Truck Stop is ten miles west of Davenport. We stopped. It's huge. I called Danni in L.A. and let her know we were doing OK. She harassed me a little and said she'd heard there was a rig in Iowa that smelled like sex. I said I was having trouble walking. We laughed and I could tell she was happy for both of us.

We played, ate, slept, played and snuggled in Davenport Iowa. Next stop, Avon Ohio. Four-hundred-seventy-five miles and exactly eight driving hours if the traffic cooperated. We left Davenport at six in the morning. Sammi had never seen a Great Lake so we took and hour off at Gary Indiana and she saw a Great Lake, Lake Michigan. It was getting towards evening when we stopped at the Pilot Truck Stop in Avon.

We decided to eat in the restaurant and as we ate different people I had known approached us. The first was a Cuban trucker out of L.A. named Luis. He drove for Hunt. He walked to our table and sat down. He looked at Sammi and asked, "Nick, you pickin' up hitchers now?"

"Nope. You toten' a partner yet?

He shook his head and replied, "If I could find a cute one like her, I'd take her in a minute and swear all of you to silence so my wife didn't find out." We both laughed.

Sammi asked, "Why not bring your wife on the road?"

"From the day we bought the house in L.A. she hasn't been over fifty miles from it. She'd get rid of me before she'd leave that house." He laughed and we both heard some pain behind his laughter. He congratulated us on finding each other and went on his way. He'd been gone ten minutes when Kelly Harper took his seat.

"Word is someone brought you out of your coma, Nick. I can see that it's true." She faced Sammi and extended a hand. "I'm Kelly and I want to thank you for putting a smile back on this man. For a while I wasn't sure he was coming back to us."

Sammi shook her hand and said, "With good looking women like you truckin I'm surprised it took him as long to come back as it did."

"Oh, and she has a silver tongue too. Damn, I'm sure you already know about her tongue. Honey, I'm glad to meet you. Anytime you want some girl-girl time, my truck's the pink Freightliner." She got up, kissed my cheek and Sammi's mouth, then she swayed her way out of the restaurant. We both watched her go.

"Do I give off a bi vibe?" Sammi asked.

"I don't know about a vibe, but sweetheart you are two very attractive things, beautiful and a trucker. That makes you fair game for offers like that one. By the way, she's serious. If we're hauling in the same direction or layin' over at the same stop, she'd help you up into her cab without hesitation."

"With you included?"

"I don't know the answer to that. If we knock on her door we'll get the answer."

"Do you want me to knock on her door?" Sammi asked, with a very soft voice. If I said yes I figured it moved me toward being the same kind of asshole as Bill. If I said no maybe she'd hear it as me disapproving of her past and her willing participation with Linda and Donna.

"If you feel the desire for some girl-girl time I think Kelly would love to share with you. I'd understand if that happens, but I hope you don't need it for a few months. Including her in a threesome would also be Ok with me, someday. I think Donna and Linda are different. Anyone else is a long ways down the road, if ever."

"I can see it way out in the future, but right now we're still new. I want to enjoy feeling safe, protected and loved with just you." She rested her hand on my forearm as she spoke.

"I love you." I said. We got up, paid the bill and wandered back to the truck. We spent an hour making the sleeper ship-shape. Sammi took the sheets and pillowcases inside and did laundry. I carried our clothes and followed her. As I loaded the washer I felt strange. It had been five years since I had loaded panties and bras into a washer.

Sammi saw a smile grow on my face and she came over to me and asked, "What prompted the smile?"

I reached into the washer and pulled out a bra. I held it up and said, "I like having this in my laundry."

"I like it, too." She kissed me and we stood together looking out the windows while the machines did their work. My arm was around her waist and hers around mine. In the laundry room there were five other people, all men. I could almost smell the envy in the room.

We switched the loads from washers to dryers and stepped outside for some fresh air. Sammi said, "My life has sure changed."

"Mine too."

"You were already a trucker."

"A trucker who most of the time was in a coma. I was going through the motions, but I wasn't alive. Now look! I have things to look forward to, things I want to do and share with you. I want to take some time off and go on a Honeymoon. I want to go back to the second house and wake up there with rain making noise on the roof and you next to me."

"When you left me in the house and went out to the truck, I cried. You were so close, yet sooo far away."

"I'm glad I didn't move the truck."

"I think I still could have found you."

"Momma would have brought you a flashlight if you couldn't." We laughed a little and leaned against the laundry wall for a while. We went back inside and folded clothes and sheets. We carried it all back to the truck and put everything away.

I checked the weather report on weather.com and found we needed to be on the road early the next morning to beat a weather system chasing us. We talked it over and decided to leave before dawn. Leaving at three in the morning would put us way out in front of the storm and get us close to Albany before it started raining. The other consideration was that we'd drive past Lake Erie in the dark and Sammi would miss it.

"Are we ever coming back this way?" Sammi asked.

"Probably in three days."

"Then let's start in the dark. Oh, Honey, that means we ought to get to bed soon!"

"Ok, but there are a couple things we need to do. A safety check and a walk. We haven't been getting enough vertical exercise."

She looked deep in thought for a few seconds and said, "When we walk Kelly will join us. I want her to."

"Ok. Let's go!" We did the safety check with Sammi leading and me coaching. She learned well and I only made minor corrections. Then we walked two laps around the truck stop. As we passed our rig at the end of the first lap I saw Kelly get down from her pink Freightliner. She came to us. I wondered how Sammi knew she would join us, then I remembered she said she could listen to thoughts.

"Mind if I tag along? I need the exercise, but don't do it often enough."

Sammi and Kelly put me between them and we were off. Sammi held my hand and after a hundred yards or so Kelly asked, "Sammi, Ok with you if I hold his other hand?"

"Ok by me, if it's Ok with Nick. It might start rumors though."

"Fewer than if I was holding your hand." They both smiled. Kelly took my hand and all three of us smiled. Like lots of truckers I've known Kelly has long pauses in her conversations.

She asked, "Next stop?"

Sammi answered, "Albany, then Portland Maine."

"I'll follow you to Albany, then I head into Boston."

I asked, "Kelly, how long have you been on the road?"

"This trip or forever?"

"Forever." Sammi and I answered.

"My husband was a long haul trucker and the last two years I was his co-driver. He had a heart attack in '88 and I inherited the truck. Everything else we own is in a storage locker in Denver. That puts me on the road as a driver since '86. Twenty-two or three years."

Sammi asked, "How long have you been alone?"

"You mean without someone in the truck with me? Six years. Two years before that I took on a co-driver but after two years it didn't work anymore so we parted ways."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Sammi said.

"Sammi, how long have you been on the road?" Kelly asked.

"What day is it?"

"Jesus! Nick, what's going on here?"

"I've known Sammi most of my life. First we were friends then I went away into the military and she got married. When I came back she wasn't available. I got married and later my wife got sick and she died."

"I remember. I thought it would kill both of you."

"Not long ago Sammi's husband died of an angry husband and we were both available at the same moment. Sammi contacted my Dad and he found me. Two days later she was in my truck."

"So, how do you like being a trucker?"

"I'm just a beginner. I've been reading about weather and about how to do the paperwork."

"Did someone besides Nick show you about paperwork?"

"Danni in L.A."

"Great! She is the best. Have you driven at all?"

"Not yet. I want to. I believe I can do it and it will help us make more money."

Kelly stopped, stopping all of us. She said, "Consider this: my rig is a lot like yours. We're headed to Albany at the same time. If Sammi rides with me we can talk about the woman's side of trucking. Stuff you won't think of cause you're a man. That's not a put down. Then in Albany, we can stop at Petrol 9W in Glenmont and Sammi can rejoin you."

I felt Sammi squeeze my hand. I hoped that meant she wanted to do it. I said, "If Sammi wants a lesson in being a truckin woman, I'm better than Ok with it. Not only a good education, but a chance to build a new friendship. What do you think, Sammi?"

"Do you promise I can come back to Nick?" Sammi was smiling as she asked.

"Well, Ok."

"Can we buy you dinner in Glenmont?" I asked.

"Yes! I know the perfect place. It's walking distance from the truck stop."

"Deal. What time did you want to head out?" I asked.

"If we go to bed now and get up at about two-thirty we can be on the highway by three. That gets us to Glenmont before the storm and hopefully we get to drive the whole way on dry roads."

"Perfect." We resumed walking. We arrived at our truck and gave and received hugs all around. As she turned to walk back to her truck Kelly said, "Please don't wear pink."

They both laughed. We got inside and undressed. When we got into bed we didn't join. We held each other, kissing and touching for a long time, maybe five minutes. Then we slept, still holding each other. At 2:30 in the morning our alarm woke us and we started another day of trucking. Sammi dressed in baggy jeans and a flannel shirt. She carried a jacket as she took the short walk to the pink Kenworth. I let them lead.

As I followed I thought. It had been five years since Bonnie died. Five quiet years in the cab of my truck. In my head I did the math and came to the conclusion that for six hundred thousand miles I'd been alone. Then I spent two days with Donna and a night with Linda. A few days later I helped LeeAnn climb up into the cab. We were in our second week on the road. Seventy-five hundred miles with a woman in the cab with me and now that I was in the second hour without her beside me, I was missing her. A lot!

I was impressed with Kelly as a driver. She skirted around problems with ease and kept a good steady pace. When we were twenty miles from the truck stop I noticed dark clouds in my side mirrors. Very dark clouds. We had left at the right time. We hadn't stopped for lunch. I figured Sammi made lunch for them both and fed Kelly while they drove. She had been making and feeding me lunch for a few days and I'd already stopped thinking far enough ahead to make a lunch. I realized again how much I loved having Sammi beside me.

We pulled into the parking of the truck stop and parked side by side. We did our safety checks and then went into the restaurant together. After we ordered and our drinks had been delivered I asked, "Well, did the two of you become sisters?"

They both smiled and looked at each other. Kelly said, "If we did I guess that'd make you my brother, too. Wouldn't it?" She was still smiling.

I looked at Sammi and saw her smiling back at me. She trusted Kelly and had trusted her enough to tell her about LeeAnn. I had a choice. I could get upset with Sammi for telling and ruin the next few days with my upset or I could accept that it had happened, it couldn't be changed, and welcome my new sister into the family.

My eyes went back to Kelly and I asked, "Sis, can you find a way to be in Denver a week from today?"

"Sis? I'm family? Just like that?" Her eyebrows were up, her eyes wide open and she sounded surprised.

"Look! I trust Sammi with my life. If she opened us up to you it's because she believes you're worth it. Good enough for her, good enough for me. Ok, you're family. Next week in Denver we're getting married. You should be there. You can meet your niece, Megan and our parents."

"Just like that?"

"You want resistance? Ok, if you show up for the wedding you have to wear a dress! And heels! And getting into the family has a probation period."

"How long a probation?" Kelly asked.

"Don't screw up between right now and..."

Sammi interrupted and said, "When we leave tomorrow!"

"Yeah!" I affirmed.

Dinner was delivered. Local time had the menu saying it was lunch but since we were truckers we knew it was dinner or supper. We ate and when the meal was finished we had things to do. Clean up of the trucks, checking the engines, tires, brakes and other little tasks. We left the restaurant and went to the big screen TV that was showing the weather. It was raining, turning to snow and we could expect it to last until about noon the next day. If we stayed put until late the next afternoon the roads would be clear and we could get to Boston and Portland by early the next day.

Sammi and Kelly went to the phones and called our destinations and called Danni. I went to our trucks and did what I could do before the storm halted the effort. Both trucks were in good shape. I thought about how Sammi was taking more and more responsibility as my partner, not just my wife and sex toy.

The winds picked up, rain turned to snow and the temperature dropped. We retreated to our sleepers and Sammi used the cell to call thirty-five feet to our left. She asked, "What time do you think you'll leave tomorrow?"

"It depends on the weather report. I plan to sleep about ten hours tonight, get up in the morning and check the weather channel. The way the storm has been moving I figure two to three hours after it clears here it will be clear for me all the way into Boston."

Sammi had the conversation on speaker. She said, "Thanks. Now I know how you think that through. Another good lesson. I'm learning."

"I know our friendship just started but... I want you to know the rest of the story."

"Stop! Kelly, I have us on speaker. If you're about to share something with me that should be just between us girls I'll shut the speaker off. Nick understands privacy and secrets."

There was about twenty seconds of silence. Kelly's voice was less sure of herself than it had been, but she said, "If it's ok with the two of you, I'd rather do this face-to-face. Can I come over?"

I said, "Pink rover, pink rover, can Kelly come over?"

Sammi responded, "Yes! Let Kelly come over!" We were laughing when the connection ended and fifteen seconds later Kelly quickly climbed up and into our home. I handed her a towel and she wiped some wetness from her trip away.

We turned the seats and Kelly sat on the driver's seat, Sammi sat shotgun and I sat on the bunk. Sammi offered coffee, diet Coke, water. Kelly said, "Maybe later, if the offer is still there. First, please let me talk."

I knew the signal. Bonnie taught it to me. "Let me talk" means, don't interrupt. Don't fix anything. Don't offer me a tissue. JUST LISTEN! I froze. I was granting her the space and freedom to share whatever it was she wanted to share.

"I remember when I first met Nick and Bonnie." Kelly said. "One look and I knew she was his life. They were as close as right leg and left leg. Every time I saw them I missed my husband so much I cried."

Tears flowed down her cheeks. I wanted to look for our box of tissues, but I didn't. That would be an interruption.

"When the word got out that they were off the road and that she was dying I cried even harder. Then I saw Nick back on the road. It broke my heart. It wasn't Nick. His heart died with Bonnie. About two years after Bonnie passed I was in Atlanta and he came up to me in a restaurant and asked if he could sit down. I said yes and he sat down. We ate that meal together and he never said a word." She had been shifting between looking at Sammi and the floor.

She turned her head and looked right at me. "While he sat there in silence, I realized I loved him. I realized that for the rest of my life he could share my table without saying anything and I'd get it. He gave me everything he had to give in that dinner. When we were finished eating Nick thanked me, paid the bill and walked away. Every time we've been in the same place at the same time, we've shared a meal. He's always been a gentleman and the last few times I sensed he was ready to come back to life. I saw you together back there and my heart jumped for joy and it broke. Nick, I'm honored to be invited to be family. Honored to be invited to the wedding and to meet the rest of the family. But, I can't!"

Her hands covered her face and she cried. Sobbed. Sammi didn't move. I didn't move. I sensed that we both wanted to hold her, comfort her, say something.

She gathered herself back together and looked up at Sammi. "I can't be your sister. I love your husband. Hell, I love you. We weren't an hour out of Avon and I knew we had connected. It was easy, we both love the same man!"

Kelly turned and looked at me and said, "I'll never say it again. I won't track you down or be a pest. But... the way you both just opened your hearts to me I couldn't go one more mile down the road without being honest."