Jack (Tucker’s Pride #4)

Chapter 6

Emma backed her trailer up to the bay doors and waited for the signal that her locks were in place. Once they were, she put her truck into park and turned it off. Getting out, she had her gloves on and was ready to lock things in place when her mom said her name. She told her that she had a phone call.

“Take a message, and I’ll call them back. We’re behind enough on this load, and I want to get out of here as soon as they get me empty.” Mom said that she’d do that and Emma finished up her locking down the trailer so that the people on the inside could work on getting things done. She hated to unload or load at this center.

This was the third time this month that their scheduled time had been put back. The first time, it had been only an hour. This time, it was nearly seven. She didn’t have time to pussy foot around with a center if they didn’t get their shit together. It was nearly dark when she decided to get into her bed and eat something with her mom. They’d been traveling together since her dad died five years ago, and it had been working out well for the two of them.

“What is it you’ve made us?” Mom handed her a plate of still steaming food of spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread. “This is a bit much, don’t you think?”

“Well, we had plans to have dinner out tonight, and I had my heart set on Italian. But this place has screwed that all up. Again. Besides, it’s not that much to throw some frozen meatballs into the pot with the noodles. Not all that good but rib-sticking.” They ate in silence for a few minutes before her mom spoke again. “I heard from your grandpa. He said that the real estate agent showed the house to a couple today. I hope they can sell it. I’m sick of paying taxes on the place when we don’t even live there.”

Her father had passed away a month and a half after the house had been completely paid off. Even with the mortgage that he’d borrowed against the house for her semi was now fully paid. From the beginning, her parents had supported her and now that she was free of any kind of payments to the bank, it made the profit that she made go a bit further when paying bills. The house being sold would save them a bit more. The two of them were making a profit now but without the monthly taxes, it would be easier to bank more.

“Don’t forget to call that person back. I think that it was the same person as before, Denver Tucker.” She said she’d call him as soon as she was finished eating. “Are they the ones that I sent all that paperwork to when they were looking for full-time drivers?”

“Yes. They’re opening a distribution center along the coast. It’ll be nice to be able to be at home at night. I know we’d have to buy us a place but it won’t have to be as big as the place we had back home.” The house had been in their family for generations, but neither she nor her mom were all that sentimental about the place. In fact, they both hated living there after her dad had died. “Maybe we can get us a little condo that has a couple of bedrooms, so we don’t have to do yard crap either.”

“I’d like to have a crafting room. And a big kitchen. Well, not big, but big enough that I could cook some cookies when I want.” They had talked about this before, finding a driving job so that she could be home nightly. Her mom had gotten her driver’s license to drive one of the big rigs but she didn’t care for it. It had helped a great deal, her knowing how to drive to keep them on track when working. “You know how much it would cost to get us something smaller to go to the store in. I don’t care for driving this sucker to the grocery store when we need something.”

The two of them joked around about what they wanted in a house. Mom had said that she wanted a garden so that she could grow her own vegetables. Emma had wanted a garage to hold her rig in. She didn’t care if it spent all its time in the weather. They only had nice weather down here where they were working for the most part.

After getting the dishes cleaned up—her mom used regular plates so as not to add to the amount of trash in the world, and it worked out great for them. The two of them only drank bottled water, so there were a lot of empty bottles in the rig when they got to a place to recycle them. Emma thought that the two of them worked well together. After checking to see how much longer they were going to be at this center, she called Denver Tucker.

“We’ve gone over your application, Ms. Holden, and it looks like we can work well together. I know you said that your mom didn’t want to drive the bigger trucks but we do have cargo vans that she could drive that would bring in some good money for her as well.” She told him that her mom would like that so long as it wasn’t full-time. “I understand that she wants to work part-time, and any time that she can give us will be a blessing. The stores that we’re suppling to are smaller stores that families run. But there are approximately seventy of them along the coast that we’ll supply.”

“That’ll be wonderful.” He told her that the center was nearly finished on the outside, but the inside was being worked on now. “There will be forty bay doors along with an entire section devoted to the perishable things that will be delivered, such as candy and drinks that can’t handle the heat.”

“The place we’re at now has over a hundred bay doors, but they only use about twenty, which is what makes me late in and out of here. I don’t know that they have enough people or they just don’t care about times but it’s a pain to be here.” She shut down her talking about the center that she was working at. That didn’t bode well to do that to a new employer. “Mom and I will be looking for a place to stay here too. About where the center is so that we can be halfway between each delivery.”

“There are several condos that you can look into. I can set up a realtor to help you out with that if you want. Also, you will be given an allowance when you have to stay over for whatever reason.” She said that she understood there would be times for her to work overnight. “Good. I’m glad that we’re on the same page. As for a starting date, it will be three weeks before the center starts taking in product. Most of the shelves have been put together and are standing. The merge area—the area where all the boxes and products are put on lines to head to the trucks has been running for a few days now, working out the bugs or whatever.”

“Three weeks? That’s a good deal faster than I thought.” He asked her if she was coming to town this week to sign off on paperwork for her new job. “I really thought it would be months yet. I guess you guys know how to get people fired up.”

“Yes, it seems that once the land was ready, the rest of it just fell into place. For now we’re only distributing the things for Carol’s Plaza but might branch out to other stores and shops as we get used to what we’re doing. Of course, it helps that we have good drivers like you and your mom on our team, too.” She thanked him, embarrassed that he’d say something like that. “If you don’t have a return trip, we can have dinner tomorrow night. I understand that you only have one more week to go with the company you—”

“I don’t work for a company, Mr. Tucker. I’m an independent driver. Working with you will be under contract, but I work because I want to, not because of someone ordering me to. I’m sorry if that makes a difference to you but that’s what I wanted when I filled out the application to deliver for you and your company.” He said that he’d known that but had forgotten. “Thank you. I don’t want any misunderstanding going on between us.”

“You’re right. And neither do we. Thank you very much for reminding me.” She told him that she was all right with it, and they moved on. She didn’t want to have to only work for one firm. Especially for one that was just starting out. It could mean that she’d not be able to find employment if the company fell through on their promises and she sort of like having three meals a day and her truck. “What do you think about having dinner with my family. I will warn you there are a lot of us, but I think you can hold your own.”

She wasn’t so sure about that. Emma and her mom had been traveling together for years and had been their only company. But she agreed to have dinner with the family on Friday night. That gave her three days to get something to wear and hang out at the rest stop for truckers. A long hot shower was going to be on her list of things to get done. What she wouldn’t give for a nice big bathtub right now, she thought with a smile.

After leaving the center, they headed to the store. They’d not stopped for supplies in a while so they were about out of everything. In the bed area, they had a microwave, a small oven as well as a good-sized refrigerator. All the comforts of home and none of the work that went along with it. Her mom was in charge of the area where she cooked, and the two of them had gotten used to sharing a bed when there was time for them to get a good night’s sleep. They got along well and had a wonderful time seeing the country. At least this end of the country.

“What do you think about going to see a movie tomorrow night?” Mom looked shocked that she’d ask such a question. “It’s all right if you don’t want to go, Mom. It was just something that I thought you’d enjoy that was about as normal as two people can get.”

“How about dinner, too? Oh, it would be nice to have time for both, don’t you think?” She told her that she owed her a meal anyway. “I would love to have a date tomorrow night. That’ll give us a little bit of time to catch up on things that have been going on. I know how much you dislike having the radio on, but there are newspapers that we can look at, too.”

Her mom was teasing her, but she’d been right in saying that she didn’t like the radio on. It wasn’t just the bad news that seemed to be on every station but she really did enjoy her quiet time. They would listen to a book if they’d find one that they both thought that they’d enjoy but other than that, the radio was never on.

Picking up some laundry detergent and some softener, she was going to spend tomorrow morning at the laundry mat to get some things cleaned up. They didn’t really wear all that much in clothing, the usual things really but since they rarely got out of the rig more than a couple of times a week, neither of them saw any reason to put on clean clothing daily.

While she was doing laundry the next morning, she took her mom’s advice and picked up the local and larger city newspaper. It had been a lot harder than she thought it should have been to pick up actual papers, but she managed to find a couple. Mostly, it was the local stuff that she read, but other things were going on around town, too, that she was interested in. Like talk of the charity Tucker Charities.

It went on to tell how the Tucker family, along with the Fosters, had set up the charity to help people get back up on their feet. Not just individuals but also companies that wanted to expand and or start-up. Like the distribution center that she was going to be working for.

It was going to hire as many as six hundred people. All the work on the building was done by locals when it could be done, and once it was up to full capacity, including truckers like herself, there would be over a thousand new jobs. She wholly believed in the trickle-down theory in that if there were that many jobs, people from all other walks of life would benefit from it as well, like restaurants and especially schools. Her mom came into the laundry mat just as she was putting the last load in the dryer and showed her the haircut she’d gotten.

“I nearly fell asleep while she was washing my hair. It’s nice to be pampered a bit, don’t you think?” She told her mom that she didn’t care for people touching her. “Yes, I remember that. You were always an odd man out. But I love you, and that’s all that matters.”

Her mom took the papers with her and said she’d be in the rig. As she was taking out her pants from the dryer, she noticed that there wasn’t much going on in the place. Not that she knew all that much about laundry mats, she just thought that there would be more people in the place on a Thursday morning.

It took her two trips to get her things out to the rig and by the time they’d gotten things put away and the things hung up that didn’t go in the dryer, they were ready for some dinner. Ordering a pizza sounded good to her but her mom wanted to sit someplace that was larger than a table. In the shopping center where they were, two shops served pizza, and they decided on which one to go to after flipping a coin. If only life were that easy, as just a flip of a quarter could make the decision for life’s little things.

“I’m stuffed.” Emma looked around the room and noticed a man at the counter talking to the cashier. She wondered if he had wanted something to eat and didn’t have the money when he turned suddenly and looked at her. She didn’t move, there was something so very strange about the look he was giving her. “Mom, it’s time we get back.”

They were gathering up their things when the man came to their table. He didn’t say anything but continued to stare at her. Finally having enough, she shoved him hard enough for him to hit the floor and stepped around him. Just as she was taking a step toward the door, he grabbed her leg and had her falling on her ass.

Turning around, she grabbed him by the arm and twisted. The sound of something snapping in his arm didn’t make her feel any better, but she was free of him and stood up. Whatever was wrong with the man, she wanted nothing to do with him. As she was getting up, he came at her again, this time with a knife in his hand that had been on their table.

“Back off.” She didn’t want to have to pull out her gun, but her mom had no such trouble. Putting it to the back of his head, telling him to drop the knife, she was able to limp her way away from him.

Whatever was going on in the man’s head, she didn’t want to hang around and find out. As is was now, she was beginning to feel the pain of being tossed around and didn’t much care for it.

Mom had the man on the floor with his hands behind his head when the police arrived. While she didn’t know what his problem had been with her, he was pissed off enough for the police to take him away almost as soon as they arrived. Sitting down hard on the chair that had been right behind her, she felt something warm and wet running down the back of her head. Turning to look at her mom, she yelled at the girl behind the counter to call an ambulance. That was the last thing she remembered as the floor simply came up from beneath her feet and slapped her out. Christ, all she’d wanted was a few slices of hot pizza, and now she was going to have to explain why she wasn’t going to be able to have dinner with her new bosses.

~*~

“They didn’t say what the man was going to do to her. Please don’t ask me that again, Denver. I might have to wrestle with you a bit before we get to the hospital.” He laughed, and Bailee glared at him. “I’m serious. Her mother said that the man just came at them—well, Emma, at least and knocked her around. If not for her being armed, there is no telling what might have happened to her. Did you know that Emma’s mom was a former cop? That’s good to know.”

“I didn’t know, no. But I’m glad for it.” They were pulling into the emergency department parking lot an hour after hearing from Charlotte Holden. “I’m so glad that she called us. It’s a shame that this happened, but I’m sure that we can get to the bottom of this soon.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure. He seemed sort of deranged, according to Charlotte. I’m betting that he saw her as a target or something and was going to simply rob her.” Denver asked why he’d pick her. “I don’t know. Perhaps because she’s beautiful. Also, being a redhead makes me think that he believes all those stories about redheads being magical or something. I’ve even heard that some people think that they’re evil and in league with the devil himself.”

“I’d heard that too.” They were shown to the room where Emma was but the room was empty of a bed when they arrived. Ms. Holden was there, sitting on one of the chairs, crying. It was her that got the woman to stop crying and to tell her what was going on.

“The man had a picture on him that showed a red-headed woman that sort of looked like Emma. She had fuller lips than my daughter and seemed to be a bit heavier. But he thought that she was the woman at the welfare office who had taken his kids away from him. He was set to kill her so that he’d not have to face her in court. If he acts like that around his children, I’m glad they were taken from him. The man was set to kill my little girl.” Bailee was sorry that it had come to this but she told the other woman that she was glad that she remembered to call them. “That was Emma. She woke up a couple of times and told me to call you guys to explain why we might not make it to your house tomorrow night. We were having such a good day too when the man attacked us. The man that runs the shop we were in seemed to not understand me telling him to get the police until I had to smack him a good one. I hated to do it, but he was just standing there while Emma was bleeding on the floor.”

“I would have been terrified if that had happened to me. Especially with it being my child.” Denver asked where Emma was. “Oh yes, I should have asked that first thing. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. She was taken for a CAT scan of her head and neck. They haven’t put any stitches in her yet. I think they were waiting for the tests to come back. I’m going to have to call someone to get the rig taken care of. The shopping center has a strict rule about leaving rigs on their lot overnight.”

“I’ll make a couple of phone calls, and it will be all right. Once we figure out what’s going on here, I’ll have someone drive it to our house, so you don’t have to worry about it.” Charlotte thanked them both. “Do you need anything, ma’am?”

“Just my girl to be all right.” Bailee sat with her while Denver went to make the phone calls. It really wasn’t that big of a deal to have it moved, but there was no point in leaving it out there to be vandalized. “I just wish we’d have eaten in the rig if it was going to cause all that much trouble.”

Before she could say anything, Emma was brought into the room. She looked a little out of it, and the nurse explained that the doctor had said she could have something for the pain. Whatever it was, it looked like it was doing the trick for her.

“They’re going to keep her overnight. Just to make sure that she’s here to get some meds when she needs them.” Bailee wondered what would have happened to her if they were to have released her since she and her mom both lived in their rig. She was going to make arrangements to have Charlotte stay with them and Emma when she got out of the hospital. It was the only way that they were going to get some rest, she thought. “Once the doctor looks over the scans, then we’ll come in and put some stitches in her head. It’s a good-sized cut but shouldn’t put her down for very long.”

After explaining that she was a red head and would need a bit more to knock her out, the nurse laughed and said that the doctor had a red-headed wife and knew how that was true. After she left, Charlotte went to the bed and held onto Emma’s hand. Bailee felt her eyes fill with tears. After so many things going on with mothers lately, it was nice to see a family get along so well.

“Emma is my step-daughter. When her father met me, she was about two at the time. We dated for a while, and Emma and I became close to each other. Then, when her dad died suddenly, we were all each other had.” She told her she was sorry. “I am as well. We didn’t have a lot of time together, Frank and I, but we certainly loved this little girl. She’s done so much for me that I don’t know that I would have made it without her bullying me all the time. In a good way, you understand.”

“Yes, of course. She told me how you bullied her at times as well. The two of you are good together.” She said that they had to be because they were in cramped quarters all the time. “Yes, I can see how that would make a difference in a relationship. I don’t know that I could have been in a rig for as long as the two of you have been.”

“Like I said, it was for the best.” Charlotte looked at Emma. “We, the two of us, have sold off everything that we owned to make this work for us. I wanted to see the country and she wanted to drive so that she was her own boss. I have no idea how much longer she plans to do this, but I’ve never been so proud of anyone as I am of her. We have a bit of a savings account thanks to her and we’re doing something that very few mother and daughters get to do with each other.”

“I would imagine that you two are the exception to the rule about families getting along so well. Taylor, you’ll meet her later. She’s having issues with her mom right now. I heard from the courthouse that she’s been arrested for threatening a sitting judge, along with a few other things that are going to get her jail time. Now that woman is a nutball.” The two of them talked for a while, waiting for someone to come in and talk to them. Denver came back to tell them that the rig had been taken care of, and she could tell that Charlotte was relieved about that. She had looked it up earlier and couldn’t believe the cost of a simple rig. And theirs had extra stuff in it for them to live.

It was nearly midnight when they admitted Emma. She didn’t want to stay, but her mom said she’d feel better if she had. That was when she told them that their house was open for them and that they’d be proud to have them staying with them until she felt better. She had a feeling that the only reason that Emma agreed was because her mom did so quickly. It was lovely to see such a bond between two people like she was.

After setting up Charlotte in one of the guest rooms, she and Denver went to bed, too. Tomorrow was going to be a long day as they had meetings all day with different vendors that wanted to come to the town. She was excited and scared at the same time. So many people were depending on them for new jobs and businesses coming in that it made her slightly nervous, too.

The next morning, Charlotte heard from Emma about when she was going to be discharged. The rig had been brought to the house and she was happy to see that Charlotte was able to get herself some clean clothing. It was wonderful, too, that she got to see a first-hand look at the inside of the little home they’d been living in for the past five years.

“I don’t think that I could have done it.” Bailee thought about some of the magic that was in the family and wondered if they could tweak the rig a bit so that they had a lot more room. That was a question for later, she thought. She wanted to make sure that everything else turned out fine for the two women before the center was finished.

Several hours after having her breakfast, Bailee was ready to face the meetings that she had set up. Off and on, she would check on Emma, but for the most part she was glad to be getting these meetings done with. She’d know better than to have them all on the same day again. It was trying for her to have to keep straight what each meeting was about. She felt like she was in a tennis match with things going back and forth.

However, at the end of the day, it was a great accomplishment to know that seven more businesses were coming to town that would hire two hundred people. Next week, they were going to do the groundbreaking for the parts place for wine barrels being made right here in their little town.

Dever was picking up something for dinner as they both had had a fulfilling day. Emma was in the living room relaxing and her mom was on the phone with someone. Once she left the room, Bailee asked her how she was doing. She could tell that she was in a bit of pain, but she said it was nice to be settled someplace other than a hospital bed.

“I would imagine. And something bigger than the bed that you two share.” She said that there was that as well. “I’m hoping that you guys live close enough that we can get together sometimes. I fell in love with your mom, and she’s having a good time house-hunting with the realtor.”

“She’s going to be spending the most time in the place so it might as well be her that finds us something. I think she’s finished with traveling now and wants to settle in one place.” She nodded and then said that she’d spoken to her a bit. “Not that I’d turn her down if she wanted to go with me at times. Being home at night has been the most appealing thing you offered us. Mom wants to put in a little garden and have a place where she could sit and read. I’m betting that we won’t even own a television set when we get someplace. We’ve enjoyed the peace and quiet for too long for us to go back to wanting all that noise again.

“I can understand that as well. I was going to ask you, do you still feel up to having dinner with us all tomorrow night? I don’t want to make you do anything that you don’t want to do.” She said other than a pounding headache, she felt pretty good. “Good. I was going to cancel if you thought you couldn’t do it. I can’t wait to get this project, along with a few more, started. It’s going to be so good for the area.”

There was more to it than that but she didn’t mention it just yet. Bailee was thinking that it would be wonderful if it turned out that Emma was one of the others mates. However, since she wanted it to happen, it wouldn’t. But time would tell, she supposed. Tomorrow was going to be another long and scary day with all the meetings that she had coming up.