The Trip to Rancho Mirage

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He stopped for gas and his life changed.
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The sign read "Harpersville – 1 mile" and just beyond it another sign listed the restaurants and other services available at the exit. I needed gas and there was a Conoco station at the exit and I had a Conoco card so I pulled into the right lane and slowed for the exit.

As I filled the tank I looked around and saw that there was a restaurant across the street. It was a little early for supper, but what the hell, I was already stopped. After I topped off I drove over to the restaurant and went inside. It had a nice 'homey' atmosphere and there were some nice aromas wafting through the place.

I took a seat in a booth and had no sooner sat down when an extremely attractive waitress came up, handed me a menu and asked:

"What would you like to drink hon?"

I smiled at the "hon" and thought "Don't I just wish I could be her honey." I told her coffee with cream and when she went to get it I looked over the menu and settled on the liver and onions with mashed potatoes and green beans. The waitress, Joyce was the name on her tag, took my order and I watched her ass move in her jeans as she walked toward the kitchen to turn in my order.

It was a little early for supper so the place wasn't really busy, at least not busy enough to keep the two waitresses fully occupied. Joyce, apparently with nothing better to do, came over and said:

"I've not seen you in here before."

"Never been in here before. Just passing through."

"That seems to be the way it always is. The good looking guys are always just passing through."

"Pickings that slim around here?"

"Worse than slim. There are some nice looking guys, but almost all of them are losers. Only interested in hunting, fishing, car racing and drinking."

"Then why stay here?"

"Where would I go? I never finished high school so I doubt I could get a good enough job to be on my own. At least here I can still live at home."

"Good enough job? A good waitress can get a job anywhere. Most of the waitresses I knew back home did real well."

"I do okay here."

"Then you could do okay anywhere."

A bell rang and a voice called out "order up." And Joyce said, "That'll be you hon" and she headed for the kitchen. She was back in a minute with my meal. She left and came back a minute later and topped off my coffee cup. She walked through the place and topped off everyone else's coffee and then went back behind the counter where the cash register was.

I noticed as I ate that she was watching me. I wondered if maybe it might be to my advantage to linger a few days in Harpersville. I could make Rancho Mirage in two days and I didn't need to be there for another nine days. Joyce saw me finish my meal and she came over and asked me if I would like dessert and I took a pass on it. She started to leave and then she hesitated.

"You said that you were just passing through. Where are you headed?"

"Rancho Mirage in California. I have a job waiting for me there."

"California? I'd like to see California some day. I'm twenty-two years old and I've never been more than a hundred miles from this place."

"So go. Just pack your bags and go."

She had a wistful look on her face and I have no idea why I said it, but I looked into her eyes and said:

"Pack your bags, throw them in my truck and you can keep me company on the ride."

"I couldn't do that. What would I do when I got there? Where would I go? Where would I stay?"

"As for what you would do I've already told you that a good waitress can get a job anywhere. As for where you would stay you can stay with me until you find a place of your own. I'll be staying with my brother and his wife and they have plenty of room."

"You make it sound so easy."

"I don't know about easy, but I do know that you can sit around and wish for this or that, but you aren't likely to get it if you don't get off your butt and go for it."

She laughed and said, "That's true, but I don't know you. I don't know anything about you. For all I know you might be an axe murderer."

"I know just as little about you. For all I know there is a jealous husband watching us talk and he might be out in the parking lot waiting to kick my ass when I leave."

"No fear of that. There isn't a man living in this county I'd let myself be caught dead with."

"Tell you what. I don't need to be there for another nine days. I can stay over here for a day or two and you can get to know me better. Where is a good motel?"

"Take a left out of the parking lot and three blocks down on the left."

"What time do you get off work?"

"Nine."

"I'll pick you up at nine and we can go somewhere for a drink and get to know each other."

"You are serious?"

"Absolutely."

I paid my check and drove over to the Bide-A-Wee motel and took a room for a night. Then I drove around the town looking the place over to give me something to do until nine. At nine when I got to the restaurant Joyce was already standing outside waiting. She got in the car and I asked:

"Where to?"

"There is a bar on the south end of town called Baxter's. It is a lot quieter than the Texas Roadhouse on the other end of town."

As we drove to the bar she said, "I can't believe I'm doing this."

"What?"

"Thinking of taking you up on your offer."

"Oh come on Joyce; you have had to want to leave this place at one time or another. You must have wanted to see other places."

"Oh I have; I've just never had a chance. First pa had a stroke and mom needed help taking care of him. Then he died and mom had a stroke and I had to quit school to take care of her. Six months ago she passed and I just haven't seemed to come up with any ambition."

By then we were at Baxter's and we went inside and found a table. Joyce said:

"I've wanted to leave here, but I never had any idea of where to go. I don't have any family left here and I don't have any family any place else. I guess I'm just afraid to go off on my own."

"So you have no preference? North, south, east or west; it doesn't matter?"

"No. I'd just like to leave here."

Some one fired up the juke box while we were talking and a guy walked up to the table and said:

"Come on Joyce baby; dance with me."

"I'm with some one Clint."

"So what? He won't mind will you buddy."

He said it as a statement and not as a question. I didn't know the lay of the land so I took the safe way out and said:

"It's up to the lady."

"See Joyce? Come on babe."

He reached for her arm and she jerked it away from him. "I don't want to dance with you. Go away." She turned to me and said, "It was a mistake to come here. We can go back to the restaurant and talk there."

She got up and I followed as she headed for the door. The guy grabbed her arm and said:

"Don't you walk away from me slut!"

She jerked her arm away from him and he reached for her again and I grabbed his arm and said:

"Keep your hands to yourself bud."

He pulled his arm away from me and said, "Butt out asshole; this is between me and the slut."

"The lady doesn't appear to want your attentions."

"Look asswipe" he said as he poked me in the chest and I hit him in the face with my right and I put my full two hundred pounds into the punch. He went down like a pole-axed steer. Blood was spurting out his nose as he struggled to get up, but I moved over and put my foot down on his throat and pushed down. He grabbed my ankle and tried to push me off, but I put my weight on it and said:

"Best you stay down buddy. If you stand up and try to carry on I'll put you in the hospital and you can take that to the bank."

He let go of my ankle and said, "Fuck it! The slut isn't worth it."

Joyce tugged my arm and said, "Come on. We'd better get out of here."

As we pulled out of the parking lot Joyce said, "I guess you won't want me travelling with you now."

"Why? Why would what just happened with that loud mouth matter?"

"Because what he said is true. I have been a slut. I stopped a year ago, but before I stopped I was pretty much a round heeled tramp."

"So? That is in the past right? So what does that have to do with today or tomorrow?"

She shrugged and said, "Nothing I guess. God, but I do hate this place."

"So when you get home start packing."

She was silent for a bit and then she said, "You need to leave. I know Clint. He isn't going to take what you did to him lying down. He's probably on the phone to his brothers and a couple of cousins right now and they will be looking for you."

"No problem. I can leave right now. How fast can you pack?"

"You mean it? You really mean it? You would take me with you?"

"Of course I meant it. I wouldn't have brought it up if I wasn't going to follow through on it."

"Turn here" she said and then she pointed. Third house on the left."

I pulled into the drive and parked. "Come on" she said, "I'll make a pot of coffee and then pack. How much can I take?"

"I've got plenty of room as long as you don't want to take any furniture."

Four suitcases and three garbage bags later we were on our way to my motel.

"Do we need to stick around until tomorrow so you can do things like see to the house?"

"The house belongs to the bank. They took it when mom died and I couldn't make the payments. They have been letting me stay there and pay rent."

"Need to stop by the bank or anything?"

"No. I don't have any bank accounts. What money I have I keep in a coffee can. I don't have any ties here at all. I still have a week's pay coming from the restaurant, but payday isn't until Friday. I'll call and have them mail it to me."

We were nearing my motel when she said, "Oh shit!" and ducked down. "What's the matter?"

"That pickup on the corner at the light. That's Clint's brother Carl and the two guys with him are Clint's cousins. They've never seen you, but if they see me they will know who you are."

I drove through the intersection without looking over at the truck and three blocks later I pulled in at the motel. I backed up to my trailer, got out and hooked up to it and then hurried into my room, grabbed my stuff and got back to my truck. I pulled out of the motel and headed down the street that would put me on the Interstate. I was three blocks from the entrance ramp when a pickup came flying up behind me and pulled out to come up on my side.

It was a two lane street and the pickup was in the oncoming lane and as it came up beside me I saw Clint and two guys in it. He obviously intended to pull up alongside me and force me to the curb, but I wasn't going to play his game. I cut hard left and caught him by surprise. Instinct made him cut left to avoid me and he ran up on the sidewalk and into a tree. I got back into my lane and a minute later we were headed down the on ramp and were moving west.

I looked over at Joyce and saw that she was quietly crying. "What's wrong" I asked.

"Everything I touch turns to shit. You could have been hurt and all because of me."

"Nonsense."

"No it isn't. If I would have just done my job and served you we never would have ended up at the bar and getting mixed up with Clint."

"But you didn't just serve me and because you didn't I now have a beautiful travelling companion and I'm not sorry about that at all. Now stop the crying and look out the window. You wanted to see places other than Harpersville and that is what is outside that window."

We drove in silence for about an hour and I began to get tired. I took the next exit that showed that there was a motel there. I drove into the motel and got a room for the night. The room had two beds and I told Joyce to pick one. She eyed me with what I thought might be suspicion and I asked, "What?"

She shrugged and said, "Nothing"

"Oh no you don't Joyce. We are going to be together for quite a while so let's get things out in the open."

"I thought maybe that you expected we would use the same bed."

I looked at her for a couple of seconds and then said, "I didn't invite you along to be a sex partner Joyce. You pick a bed and I'll take the other one. You want to shower now or in the morning?"

"The morning I guess."

"Okay. You get the bathroom first to change."

She went into the bathroom to change into whatever she slept in and I stripped down to my briefs and got into bed. When she came out I said goodnight to her and she said the same to me and got in the other bed.

I was in no hurry so I didn't leave a wake up call, but noise woke me up. It was the shower running. I looked over at the clock and saw that it was seven-thirty. I got up, put on my pants and a shirt and walked up to the front office. They had a continental breakfast set up and I grabbed two sweet rolls and two cups of coffee and went back to the room.

Joyce was out of the shower and dressed when I got there. She hadn't put on her make-up yet and quite frankly she didn't need it. The girl was absolutely beautiful. I gave her a roll and a cup of coffee and went in to take my shower. When I came out she was on a cell phone talking to some one. She hung up when I came into the room and said:

"That was Stella; the owner of the restaurant. I called her to let her know I wouldn't be in any more. She wasn't all that happy at my lack of notice, but she knew how unhappy I was and she wished me luck."

"You ready for breakfast?"

"No thanks. The coffee and the roll will do me until lunch time."

I was a touch hungry, but I wasn't going to eat in front of her so when I turned in the room key I grabbed another sweet roll and we hit the road. As we drove west I noticed the way she was looking at me and I asked her:

"What are you thinking?"

She was silent for a couple of seconds and then she said. "I'm just thinking about what is happening here. I'm sitting in a truck with a man that the only thing I know about is that his name is Rob. I've just spent a night in a hotel room with a man and all I did was sleep. I've been expecting a move and there has been no sign of one. This just doesn't fit the picture I have of men. In my experience all men are pigs, but you don't seem to fit the mold.

"There is a white band of skin on your ring finger so my first thought was that you took off your ring to make it easier to score with chicks, but you haven't even given me a lustful look. None of this fits in with what I expect from the male of the species."

"The ring is gone because the marriage is gone. The reason I'm moving to California is so I can start my life fresh."

I was silent for a few moments and then I said, "You must have had some really bad times with the guys in Harpersville if you have such a lousy opinion of men."

"It was bad, but I have to admit that I pretty much asked for it."

"You asked to be treated badly?"

"In a way. Billy Denton and I were childhood sweethearts and we grew up knowing that we would get married and live happily ever after. We set a wedding date for a week after graduation. Then my mom had her stroke and I quit school to take care of her. Billy said no problem; she could live with us after we were married. Taking care of mom cut into the time I was able to spend with Billy and there were some weeks when we didn't even see each other. Then graduation came and the day after Billy joined the Army. He didn't say a word to me, just joined and left town and I never heard from him again.

"Six months after that Billy's sister Irene was telling people that Billy was getting married to some girl he met where he was stationed. I lost it. I started dating Billy's friends. If you were a friend of Billy's you could get a date with me and all the sex you could handle as long as you wrote Billy a letter telling him all about it and then gave it to me to read and then mail. I did his brothers, all four of his cousins and his best friend in the first month he was gone.

"By the time I woke up to the fact that Billy didn't give a damn and all I was doing was hurting myself I was the town punchboard. I stopped cold, but it was already too late. No guy with any self respect at all would have anything to do with me. The only guys who would have anything to do with me were assholes like Clint. The thing was that all of Billy's relatives and so called friends didn't hesitate to climb on board. So yeah, my opinion of men in general isn't all that good."

"Well maybe I can turn that opinion around."

"Yeah. Maybe you can."

We made general conversation as the miles churned by and I found out all sorts of things about Joyce. Her favorite color was red, she preferred cats to dogs, she had never driven a car and she didn't like pork. Except for bacon. She could eat a pound of bacon at a sitting, but couldn't stand the thought of pork chops, pork loin or sausage. She liked her hair long (and so did I) and would rather go braless than wear one. That is one fact that I was very aware of as she sat next to me. Painfully aware of if you get my meaning.

We stopped for lunch and I called my brother to let him know I was a day and a half out and that I had company with me. He told me not to sweat it as he had plenty of room. I asked him to check around and see if there were any places looking for a good waitress and he said that he would.

Joyce took advantage of the stop to make a few calls of her own. She called the bank and let them know that she had moved out and then told them they could keep the furniture and rent the place out furnished or call the Salvation Army or Goodwill to come and get it. She got my brother's address from me and called her cell phone provider and arranged to have the bills sent to Jake's place. Then she called Stella at the restaurant and arranged to have her final check sent to her at Jake's.

"That's it" she said when she disconnected the call. "No more ties to Harpersville. I sure do hope that I'm not going to regret this."

"I think that you are going to love it. Everything from now on is going to be an adventure for you."

"You think?"

"I do."

++++++++++++++++++++++++

We stopped early that evening and had dinner at a place called – believe it or not – Mom's Diner. The food was good and the size of the servings was awesome. And as if to prove my point that a good waitress could always find a job there was a sign in the window that said "Waitress wanted."

Joyce said, "Maybe it is an omen telling me to apply."

"No you don't girl! You signed on to keep me company all the way to California."

"Yeah, there is that."

There was a motel just across the street so we drove over and I checked us in. The room was a surprise. I was so used to every motel room I stayed in having two beds I never asked, but the room that Joyce and I entered only had one bed. It was queen sized, but only one bed.

"I'd better go back and see if they have a room with two beds" I said as I started to leave the room.

"Don't be silly" Joyce said, "There is plenty of room. We won't crowd each other."

"That's not my fear girl. You are a beautiful and sexy looking lady and I'm not all that sure that I can trust myself being that close to you."

"Oh bull crap Rob. You sleep on one side and I sleep on the other and there will be almost a foot between us. In twin beds there would only be three or four feet between us. If you were going to do something one foot or four feet what's the difference? Besides, maybe you need to worry about what I might do. I'm a healthy female and I've gone almost a year without and you are a very attractive man."

"Maybe I should let you have the bed and I'll sleep in the truck."

"Don't you dare! Dibs on the shower" she said and started pulling off her clothes. I did mention that she was not wearing a bra right? She turned to face me, smiled and said:

"Still thinking truck?"

She headed for the bathroom leaving me standing there with an unbelievably hard cock. I might have read her wrong, but I didn't think so so I quickly undressed and followed her into the shower. When I slid the curtain aside and got in with her she smiled and handed me the wash rag and the bar of soap and turned her back to me. I washed her back and then reached around and started washing her front. She reached back, found my stiff cock and started stroking it. She bent at the waist and picked up the shampoo and handed it to me.