Chapter 5: Running for Cover

Flagstaff was a little less than half way, but I was getting a late start this morning. It would be my destination for the first day. Two gas stops later, I pulled into decent looking motel on the outskirts of the Arizona city. It was almost seven in the evening, and I was bone weary and stiff. I had set the cruise on something a little less than eighty, hoping that would keep me clear of the highway patrol. Either I was lucky or I had guessed right.

I had a shower to wash off the stink of being in the car all day, then a quick meal at the diner attached to the motel. I was tired, and after trying to watch a repeat of Criminal Minds, shut the TV and the bedside light off, and fell almost immediately to sleep.

I was surprised at how well I slept. I thought with all the turmoil surrounding my leaving the ranch, I would be too upset to get any rest, but along the way I had rationalized what had happened and accepted it. I was just a foolish little girl with dreams of her handsome cowboy that would never come to pass. I should have known better.

Trying to get home from Flagstaff in one day was just too ambitious. I gave up at Lost Hills, where Highway 46 crossed I-5. From there it would be an easy drive to Salinas. Both my parents and siblings would be working, so no one would be home before five that evening. Come to think of it, it would be Friday night, so I wasn't sure if anyone would be home.

I pulled out my cell phone and dialed the old familiar number.

"Hey Mom, it's Julie. How are you?"

"I'm fine, Julie. Nice to hear from you. How are things in Spokane?"

"Actually, Mom, I'm in California, on my way home. I should be there early tomorrow afternoon."

"Wonderful. I only work half-days on Fridays, so I'll be here waiting for you. It will be good to see you. Is there anything wrong?" she asked as an afterthought.

"No ... nothing too much, Mom. I'll tell you all about what's been going on when I get there."

"Drive carefully, Julie. We'll be waiting for you."

I hung up feeling one hundred percent better.

I slept in Friday morning. I needed it. I'd had a restless night, dreaming about my lost love ... or at least my lost wanna-be love. He had filled my dreams, unlike the night before. I put it down to a delayed reaction. After a light breakfast in the café across the road, I checked out and was on my way again.

I pulled into our driveway just after one o'clock. Mom's car was parked in the carport, but Dad's was gone; obviously at work. Mom must have heard the car, because she was out of the door and moving quickly to the car as I got out. I got a big bear-hug from her and a cooing sound of pleasure as we embraced.

I didn't bother with my luggage at that point, but followed Mom into the familiar surroundings of our family home. It was a bungalow, single level, four bedroom, pseudo-Spanish style. Since my brothers were still living at home, the house was still well occupied. We'd lived in this quiet neighborhood as long as I could remember.

My old room was just as I had left it. No one had used it in the year-and-a-half that I'd been gone. There was coffee on the stove and we sat at the kitchen table, talking about the family and other events that had gone on in town while I had been away. But after we got past that, she couldn't contain her curiosity any more.

"So, Julie, what happened? I can tell something brought you here unexpectedly."

There was no fooling mom. We had been closer than either of my brothers and she knew me too well not to recognize the signs. I poured it all out to her. Mixed with tears and anger, I told her everything, even the things I hadn't admitted to myself. I was in love with Rance Cameron and I had been rejected. It hurt, and my mother knew it.

I had pretty much got myself under control when the phone rang. It was my father, and they'd run out of product and would be shutting the trim and packaging line down early. He would be home in an hour, anxious to see his only daughter. I didn't want to tell my story all over again, and Mom took that burden off my shoulders. She would give Dad the abbreviated version.

Dad arrived just before three-thirty, followed by my brothers, Ramon and Raoul. What followed would have looked and sounded like chaos to most people, but was a typical homecoming for me. I had been away at Stanford for four years, seldom home even in the summer, and now for another year-and-a-half in Spokane. I was the wandering daughter, coming home to visit, not to stay.

My mother had clearly warned both my father and brothers that all was not well in my world, and they laid off the usual kidding and taunting I might have expected. I was grateful for that. I still hadn't really come to terms with how I felt about what had happened at the ranch. The discovery of Lisa was still fresh and painful.