Chapter 1: Weed, California

Sunday morning. The late September sun was just poking up and lighting the small one bedroom apartment. Half asleep, Brandi was burrowed under the quilts nestled against her husband. Christopher had gotten home yesterday afternoon from a run to San Antonio and back. The job of being a long haul trucker was full of ‘pros and cons’, but they made the best of it. Her full time job had her pretty much locked into where they lived, while he was fortunate enough to be able to be flexible on a physical address. The reunion that night had been typical of a young married couple. Brandi was thinking that after slightly over three years of wedded bliss, it was time to talk about starting a family. Goodness knows her friends and family were starting to ask when they planned that next chapter in life.

Daydreaming for a few minutes about what names they would give their children, Brandi sighed to herself. Eventually Christopher woke up and swung his feet off the bed to stand and head towards the bathroom. She admired his muscular body. A foot and a half taller than her petite frame, she smiled to herself, thinking about how often he would put her up on his shoulders like a child and walk around with her up there. “It’s nice to see things!” she joked. Muscles rippled along his naked torso, and she shuddered a little bit.

“Sweetheart,” he smiled upon return, “I’m going to run out and grab us some breakfast sandwiches at the drive-through. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Looking at the treasure in his bed, he couldn’t believe that the beautiful girl he met several years ago at a Halloween Party in a bar would become his wife.

“Noooo...!” she sighed dramatically. “Get back in bed! Now!”

He laughed. “That means eventually we both have to get dressed to go out for food. This way, you stay here, waiting naked for me, until I return.” Bending over, he kissed the tip of her nose and left.

A few minutes later, Brandi heard a muffled ringing in his travel duffel that caught her attention. She unzipped the bag and that was on the floor on his side and fished out a cell phone she had never seen before. “Hello?”

A girls voice with a heavy Texas accent answered. “Hi, is Chris there? I need to speak to him. It’s really important.”

Thinking it might be work related, she replied; “No, he ran out for a few minutes. Who is this?”

“My name is Clover, honey. I’m his girlfriend. Who is this?”

“I’m Brandi. The wife.”

“WIFE? The voice screeched. “He said he was divorced!”

Brandi was studying the phone carefully and discovered a file of saved pictures. All of the same woman who was a lot curvier than she was, a redhead, and in a lot of them, she was posing naked on a bed. Thinking quickly, she forwarded them to her own phone. “No, we are still married, but I don’t know if we will stay that way for long. What’s so important that you need to speak with him?”

“I’m pregnant.”

Those two words were like a punch in the stomach. Dreams were incinerated. “I will have him call you back when he gets here. Shouldn’t be long.”

When her soon to be ex husband came in a few minutes later, Brandi was sitting on the bed, fully dressed and holding the phone. “You asshole!” she thundered. Christopher was shocked, because Brandi seldom used words of that nature. “Who the fuck is CLOVER?”

“Um, a coworker at the yard in San Antonio. Why?” He was starting to sweat.

“Guess who just called to let us know you are going to be a daddy! HOW COULD YOU?” Throwing the phone at him, Brandi managed to strike him in the middle of his chest.

“Sweetheart, please, it’s not what you think!”

“Not what I think? Not what I think? What the hell am I supposed to think after seeing pictures of her naked on a bed in a motel room? Tell me!”

Christopher realized that he was in deep. He had two choices. Try to lie his way out, or confess and tell the truth. “She works at the San Antonio yard. You know I go out there at least twice a month. She is usually the one who is Dispatch. One night I had a layover, so a bunch of people went out to a bar, and I went along. We had a few beers and stuff happened. Really, she isn’t important. I love you, not her.”

Brandi waited a moment and yes, he said it...

“It was just sex.”

“Just sex? JUST SEX? Do you have ANY idea how stupid that sounds? It’s like the thing every cheater says when they get caught! Tell me, if it was ME stepping out while you were away and I said ‘It was just sex’, how would YOU feel?”

Christopher gulped, realizing his anger would be immense.

“We took VOWS. We stood in front of our families and friends and made a promise before them and GOD. I gave you the most precious gift a woman could give a man, that night! You were my first and only!” Putting her face in her hands, she started sobbing.

He went to her to try to comfort her. “Babe, I’m sorry, I...”

“Get away from me!” she screamed. “You rotten, miserable bastard!” Jumping up, Brandi grabbed a suitcase from the closet and opened it on the bed. She ran to her dresser and started pulling out clothes.

“Babe, what are you doing?”

“What does it look like? Packing stuff so I can get out of here. I will be back on Tuesday after you leave on your next run, for the rest. You can keep the apartment. I can stay with my parents for a while until we figure stuff out and the divorce is done.”

“Divorce? What do you mean, divorce? We can fix this.”

“Nothing to fix. She won. She has you now and your DNA growing inside her. And don’t give me the ‘I was lonely’ speech. Guess who sits here at night reading while you are on the road?” There was no good answer. “But tell me, how would you try to ‘fix’ this mess? She isn’t moving in here and we’re not moving there and I’m not going to be a sister-wife and raise her kid!”

Dragging the suitcase behind her, Brandi ran out the door and down to her car in the lot. She only managed to get three blocks before she had to pull over. The tears were so heavy that she couldn’t see or safely drive.

The family welcomed her home, offering love, comfort and support. Her father and brother were ready to leave the source of their rage, broken and bloody, tossed into one of the many old and abandoned mines that were left over from the California gold rush, 150+ years ago. As tempting as that sounded, Brandi asked them not to do anything like that, risking legal action. The papers were filed. Since they had no real assets, they split the bank account, each kept their car, and a few personal items. She also made it a point to legally change her name back to her maiden name. Knowing that Brandi (and her family and many friends) would never forgive him, he broke the lease on the apartment and moved back towards Sacramento. His own parents and older sister there, made sure to remind him, on a regular basis, that he was an idiot. Just after his son was born, he took a transfer to the San Antonio office.

Lodi, California:

Pulling into the parking lot of the grocery store, Brandi took a final look at herself in the mirror and nodded. Ready to face yet another day as “the new boss”, she grabbed her purse and hopped down from the seat. Tiny feet made their way across the lot and in through the doors. Her little Kia looked out of place, surrounded by SUV’s, and work trucks. She nodded and smiled at several people that she had already met, but as so many of the staff were “part time”, she had yet to get to know everyone. Today would be her “formal introduction” to the staff. She had transferred in a week ago, but this would be the first time everyone was gathered for a meeting with the district manager who wanted to go over changes that the grocery store chain was making. She was one of them.

Three months earlier, she had been offered the chance of this promotion. But it had meant relocation from her home near the California-Oregon border, to this town located in the Central Valley. It offered a clean break from the heartache that she was just getting over. Her parents agreed that it might be the best possible thing to do. Not “run away” from the troubles, but just “leave them behind for a fresh start”.

The grocery store was part of the IGA (International Grocers Association) network located in the heart of Lodi. The community was rich in history and numerous vineyards flourished in the area, Nestled between Interstate 5 and Highway 99, it was easy to get to, and after a day of tastings, you could enjoy a nice meal at any manner of dining establishment that you wanted, and then see a movie, or a play, or go dancing at a place that featured live music. There were wonderful little boutiques and specialty stores where untold treasures could be found. Lodi was slowly recovering from COVID and was looking strong. Yes, a number of business’ had closed, and sadly, people died. But the town was in a resurgence, that the community embraced.