Crimson Highway by David Wickenhauser (i can read with my eyes shut txt) 📕

“Yep,” she said, nodding.

Hugh took care of business at his delivery fairly quickly, dropped his load in the assigned spot, and hooked up to an empty trailer. Paperwork with the DC office completed, he entered his “finished” macros into the Qualcomm computer.

Before he’d even had a chance to drive away from the facility, a chirp from the Qualcomm indicated that his next load assignment was already coming across.

He read the pre-plan, acknowledged it, and headed out of the facility for their night’s parking place.

“Well, Jenny, we’re dead-heading again to another interesting place,” he told Jenny. “We’ve got to go all the way down 395 to a tiny little town on California’s east side, to pick up a load of bottled water.”

“That’s interesting?” Jenny asked.

“In a way, yes,” he answered. “You’ll recognize the bottled water company’s famous label, but you’ll be surprised at that place when we get there.”

Hugh pulled into the little truck stop a few minutes later. They gathered the items that they would need for their showers, and headed to the driver’s facility.

This wasn’t the kind of place that gave shower credits for buying fuel, and Hugh never got fuel there anyway, so he paid cash for their showers, collected their towels, and went into their separate shower rooms.

He admitted that Jenny had had a good idea. The shower felt good.

He stood under the hot water for a long time, and could feel it dissolve the tension that the past couple of days had built up in him. And he tried, unsuccessfully, not to think about Jenny right next door taking her shower.

Despite the long shower that he had taken, he finished before Jenny did. He hung around in the store, absentmindedly browsing through all of the typical truckers’ store items that he’d already seen in hundreds of other places like this one.

When she finally came out, the transformation had been ratcheted up several notches from the time he had seen her after her first shower. At that time, she had become merely beautiful. This time, she was downright stunning! Beautiful was an entirely inadequate word to describe how she looked.

She had apparently done some serious shopping at Walmart. She walked up to him wearing a pair of silky slacks that clung to her in all the right places. She had on a stylishly modern top—the kind that shows just a little bit more cleavage than what Hugh had always felt was appropriate. But, on her, it was just right.

She had applied just a little bit of makeup, although Hugh had never thought that she ever needed any. She had also spent a little more time with her hair. In short, she looked perfect.

Hugh noticed Jenny nervously searching his face, seeking clues from his expression as to what he thought of her appearance.

He definitely wasn’t going to disappoint her. “Wow!” he exclaimed. “Miss McDonald, you are one beautiful girl!”

Jenny stiffened at the mention of her last name. She knew she hadn’t told him, and she had been careful to hide it with her thumb when she had shown her driver’s license to him. For the moment, though, she decided to let it pass.

Hugh sensed her discomfort, and realized he had made a mistake. He too, however, decided to let it pass.

“Thank you, Mister Mann. Shall we go to dinner?” Jenny said, recovering quickly. She put her arm inside his as they left the building and walked back out to the truck, for all the world like two people on a date.

Just before they got to the truck, Jenny jerked her arm out of his and stopped walking.

“Wait a minute,” she said. “Can you find something to do out here for awhile, so I can get things ready?”

“What’s going on?” Hugh asked.

“You’ll see,” she answered, an enigmatic expression on her face.

“OK, no problem. Just let me know when it’s good for me to come in.”

Hugh puttered around the truck and trailer for awhile checking equipment. He tried to see what she was doing inside the cab, but she had drawn all the curtains.

He then took a leisurely stroll around the perimeter of the truck stop in order to give her more time to do whatever she was doing.

On his way back to the truck he could see her standing outside looking for him.

“There you are,” she said. “OK. This is my surprise for you. I hope you like it,” she said beckoning him to climb up and enter the cab.

Hugh was truly surprised, and amazed, by what he saw. Jenny had covered his little pull-out tray with a large doily as a tablecloth, and had set a beautiful table using chinette plates, shiny, silver-looking plastic ware, and even plastic glasses that looked like crystal goblets.

“You like?” she asked.

“Like? Heck, that’s beautiful!” he remarked. “And, something smells delicious. What further surprises do you have for me, Jen?”

She opened the microwave door, and Hugh saw a large microwaveable plastic plate filled with an assortment of pre-cooked foods.

“I wasn’t sure what your favorite foods were, so I bought a good assortment,” she said, as she lifted the plate out, and stood there ready to serve up.

“From the looks of it, I’ll be wanting some of everything,” he said, seeing that she had bought some lobster, and shrimp, steak, mashed potatoes, and an assortment of vegetables.

She had selected this assortment, all pre-cooked, from the Walmart deli counter.

Jenny looked pleased by his remark, and did just what he asked.

They sat side-by-side, crowding close together in order to both eat off of the little table.

They ate without talking. But it was a comfortable silence.

The only thing bothering Hugh was that he realized that Jenny had done all this—the shower, the stunning outfit, the makeup, the meal—for