A Summer on the Road

Hello all thank you for reading my story. If you haven't read part 1 I would advise you to read this first. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

***

Jane slammed her hands on the wheel shouting, "FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!"

"Easy, easy, relax," Paul said, waving his arms in the air. "You were close this time. It's coming, don't worry." He was taken aback by her foul mouth. Gillian had never said the f-word outside of very passionate moments, and never in public. Jane was backing the semi up to the loading dock. After her third attempt she thought she was close but the shipper on the dock waved wildly, again ending the attempt.

"How the fuck can I have a commercial driver's license and I can't even back this thing up." Jane said in exasperation.

Paul spoke softly to her as she breathed heavily over the wheel, "You're getting it. Really. Let me finish this one and you can practice some more back at our yard."

She didn't answer, instead. opened the door, got down and stepped away from the cab, fuming. Paul slid over to the driver's seat, re-positioned the truck and backed smoothly up to the customer's dock.

****

Tara looked over at her friend lounging on a chaise beside the pool. "So how's the job going? Have you driven on the road yet?"

"Since I got my commercial license we've mostly driven around some back roads and one real shipment that I kind of screwed up at their end we spent weeks just maneuvering around the yard, mostly without a trailer. The cab alone feels huge but once the trailer is attached, its ginormous.

"Wow! Congratulations. Must be a bit of a power trip?"

"Yeah, the first week I wasn't sure I could do it but Paul kept encouraging me to stick with it. I really want to go somewhere now on a longer run."

"Paul?"

"He's my instructor."

"Oh. Real trucker I would guess. Whats he like?"

Jane turned over onto her side to look at Tara. Her eyes lit up as she beamed a huge smile at the other girl.

Tara got the non-verbal message loud and clear. But she wanted more. "Okay, give me some details."

Jane looked up at some clouds passing by and then began to speak. "Tall, broad shoulders, trim with muscular chest - I'm guessing as I've never seen him without a shirt - dark hair with cute curls around his ears and forehead, yummy features and very strong but soft looking hands, and ..."

Tara prompted, "And what?"

Jane sighed, "And the most squeezable ass I've ever seen."

"What? Better than mine?" Tara smirked back.

Jane replied with more than a hint of sarcasm, "Oh Honey your bum is divine but his is just a little tighter and more muscular looking." She looked over at Tara with a lascivious grin while reaching across and pinching her on the butt.

Tara swatted Jane's hands away, then asked, "Hmmm .. nice. Are you interested?"

"Physically yes, but he has a ton of baggage that makes anything happening highly unlikely," Jane said in a musing voice.

"Such as?"

"Well for starters, he's older - mid to late twenties I would guess."

Tara raised her hands to her face and gasped in mock horror, "OH My God! Late twenties, a senior citizen."

"Fuck off babe. If you saw him you would be drooling."

Tara sniffed, "Okay, I could overlook some gray hair if his ass was that good. So, what are the rest of the issues?"

"Yeah" Jane hesitated as she rolled onto her stomach and focused on the cute lifeguard moving around the country club pool. "More to the point, he has two small children."

"Really. And with daddy comes mommy correct?" Tara asked, now quite curious.

"No, and that I sense is the biggest issue. She died in a traffic accident a couple of years ago. I get the sense from him the wound is still pretty deep."

"How so?"

"Just a sense. He disappears from me at times, so to speak. He fades out into space and just seems sad when he comes back," Jane replied.

"Hard to imagine what that would be like. I'm not sure I would want to get close to that sort of pain," Tara said quietly.

"Yeah, me neither," Jane said turning over on her back, working on the tan on her thighs.

"And besides ..." Jane started and then stopped.

"Besides what?"

Jane sighed, "I don't think he has any interest in me, well, at least not in that way."

Tara coughed out a laugh. "Are you kidding me Jane. You are totally smoking hot, the most beautiful female I know. I cannot believe he isn't into you at some level."

"Thanks friend. My confidence needed a boost, but whatever I have, it doesn't seem to be working on him."

With that both girls went quiet, lost in their own thoughts. They were enjoying the spring sunshine.

****

Paul spotted some Robertson drivers he knew across the truck stop cafeteria and walked towards them. He and Jane had dropped a load off at a customer location in east end Ottawa. They were waiting for the call to pick up a small return shipment from another customer. Paul was expecting to be back in the GTA by early evening. He wanted to pick his daughters up in the morning from his mom's to take them to their summer daycare.

Jane was off in the driver's section, taking a shower. The weather had been sticky hot, not so much a problem in the fully air conditioned cab but the time at the customer's was sweltering. She had become grumpier as the day progressed.

He greeted his friends and they offered him a chair. Sitting down he said, "Vince, Bill, good to see you. Hows it going for you guys."

They chatted for a while and Paul remembered Jane. "Do you guys mind if my partner joins us?"

"Yeah, no problem," Vince replied, shuffling over and pulling a chair over from another table.

Chatting away, Paul noticed both Bill and Vince snap their eyes past him and widen, almost in unison. Vince let out a low whistle and said to no one in particular, "How about that walking over there."

"Yeah," was all that came out of Bill's mouth.

Paul groaned. He had a good idea what had caught their attention. He slowly turned around and stifled a gasp.

Jane was moving through the tables headed in their direction. She was all long tanned legs in a short pair of cutoff jeans and flipflops. Her hair was still wet and flowing around her shoulders as she ran a comb through it while moving. Her top was a loose tangerine coloured tank top over a sports bra. Before reaching the table she shook her hair forward and then with both hands swept her beautiful mane back over her shoulders.

She looked simply stunning.

Paul pulled the chair out as she neared the table. He glanced at Vince and Bill to gauge their reaction as she neared the table. They were somewhere between mesmerized and shocked.

"Hi guys, I'm Jane, Paul's co-driver," Jane introduced herself while beaming them a megawatt smile.

Vince, the older of the two recovered first and stuck out his hand while introducing himself and then Bill, who was still too tongue tied to speak.

Paul just smiled at the interaction as Jane chatted away to the guys about her driving experiences so far. Up until this point he had not seen her around other men in a social situation and was somewhat surprised at the charm she exuded to the company drivers. That she was a gorgeous young woman was plainly obvious and the way she captivated the men with her beauty was clear. What wasn't so obvious was how she could wrap a couple of gruff guys around her fingers with her charm.

Paul found himself feeling oddly proud that she could sit with a group of truckers and meld right in. Well, sort of. This long legged beauty would never be a typical driver in a truck stop cafeteria.

He smiled at her as Vince and Bill got up to leave. They were clearly smitten by the chestnut haired teenager even if they had no idea how she ended up as a co-driver. They considered Paul a very lucky man. Even though he was smiling he still wasn't so sure of his luck.

Jane looked at the odd smile. "What?" she asked, frowning at him.

"Just pleased at how pleasant you were with the guys. You made them feel really comfortable."

"Why wouldn't I be okay with them. They seemed like good guys."

"Jane, yes they are and well ... you have an effect on men. They're not used to girls like you in this setting."

"What effect are you referring too?" she asked smirking while looking directly into Paul's eyes."

"Hmm .. they like you."

"Well I hope so. Dad always says that his drivers are the company's most important asset. They should be treated well."

Paul was thoughtful for a moment. Yes, she really was the CEO's daughter. "I'm glad he thinks that way about us. And thank you for projecting that to those guys even when they don't know who you are."

"Meaning ...?"

"Meaning that they don't know you're the big Boss's daughter."

Jane nodded her head and then said, "And some day they may be working for me, you never know."

Paul considered this surprising statement for a moment and then looked at her and asked, "Would you like it if I was working for you if that was to come to pass?" He really didn't know why he asked that but there was a strange dynamic flowing here that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Maybe yes, that would be interesting wouldn't it? But right now I'm your protege and I'll do what ever you ask me to do?" Jane replied with a small smile on her lips.

They were silent for a few minutes. Jane resumed eating the lunch she had ordered while occasionally looking at Paul. He just smiled at her. Were her statements projecting the company's future arrogant or just playful. Was she just having fun with him? The thought of working for this snotty smart assed girl, even if she was far away in the executive suite, made him shake his head at the irony. She could barely back a semi up in a straight line and one day she would probably own a big part of the whole operation.

But for now she was his student and he wanted her to dress more appropriately.

"So, once you've finished with lunch could you please change into something more appropriate for work."

"Huh ...don't like my legs or something?"

"Jane your legs are very attractive but I want you to wear some jeans or something more protective while around the rig. There are some sharp corners and I want you to do the full circle check, tire pressure and bolts and everything before we leave."

Jane huffed, "I'm going to a BBQ party at Tara's so I want to be ready when we get back. I like my cutoffs! If you don't like my legs, don't look at them.

"Besides why do I always have to check the rig?" she whined.

Paul took a deep breath. The brat was back. His concern was returning for his children and she was worried about her party.

Paul sighed, "Jane, once again, your legs are lovely and I don't want to see you hurt them. Would you please put something else on. Humour me please."

"Okay," she huffed and got up to leave the table.

****

Paul was sitting in the cab, on hold with the customer. They had a small dock and he wanted the load ready before heading out. Jane walked over and thrust the clipboard up into his hands. She was now wearing her jeans and workboots.

"Its all good. Can we leave now."

"Jane, did you do the full circle check?

"Yes master. I said its all good," Jane replied at her snarkiest.

"Jane, you know that if something obvious was wrong and the issue causes an incident it could cost you your license. Robertson Trucking would also be written up as having an unsafe vehicle on the road.

"Okay, okay, I looked at everything on the list. Can we go now and get the load. I can still make most of Tara's party if we leave now."

Paul took a deep breath and stared out the window. He watched a rig swing into the parking area and pull up beside them. He brought his mind back to his beautiful daughters and smiled. Looking down at the brat he said, "Jane, thank you for doing the check. They're going to call me back soon and we will be ready to roll."

Jane, spun on her heels and headed back to the building. "I'm getting a coffee, want one?" she asked walking away from the truck.

Paul continued smiling, "No thank you Jane." Inside he was seething. Were these really the manners instilled in a girl by one of the most exclusive private girls schools in the province? His girls would always be in the public system but he was damn sure they would be more polite than this brat.

*****

In truth Jane knew she was being a bitch and had no clear idea why she was like that to him. Paul had always been a patient and conscientious instructor and a perfect gentleman. She knew he didn't deserve the shit she directed at him. But there was something in the way he related to her that she found frustrating.

Simply put, Jane expected a certain reaction from the boys and men in her life. Jane loved the attention she drew from men, and even some women. She had always had a strong sense of her own attractiveness and the effect it had on people. But Paul had never shown any interest in her other than as a colleague or really as a student of his.

Jane, in reality, was new to relationships, the result of a strict private school environment. In addition she was not that sexually experienced. Not a virgin, but that first time with an inexperience guy last semester at University was far less than mind blowing, in fact a letdown. But still, she loved the attention and despite her reservations she could feel the draw to Paul. Paul seemed oblivious to her sometimes flirty behaviour and that was becoming frustrating. It brought out the brat in her.

Was he simply not interested or was there more to it, she mused while waiting to pay for her coffee. She looked out the window at Paul standing by the cab, the phone to his ear. She nodded her head up and down. Yes, from close up or a distance or from any perspective he was simply beautiful.

But why the distance between them. She had known that her cutoffs and top had been adorable but all he said was find something else to wear. His comment about her legs, when asked, sounded insincere. She wanted a response from him. She wanted him to want her. But then the other side of her brain asked `to what end? Yes, I would like a response from him but a relationship?' ' Hardly!' was her answer to her own question. Paul and her lived on different planets, work aside.

****

Paul snapped the mobile shut and sighed. The customer was waiting for one more item to complete the load but they were very late. The loading dock would be held open but pickup wouldn't be until 21:00. They wouldn't be back into the GTA till well after midnight.

He watched Jane walk back with her coffee, knowing she wasn't going to like the news.

"Jane, we can head over to the customer location but it looks like they won't have us loaded up until about nine."

She stopped walking towards him, her eyes widened in disbelief and she half gasped, half shouted, "No, NO, you're shitting me. I can't get back that late. I'm co-hosting the party with Tara. Every one we know will be there!"

"Jane, I'm really sorry, Late shipments do happen, not often, but really, its part of the job."

"Look, why don't we just head back, someone else can pick up the load tomorrow? We have trucks coming to this area all the time?"

"Sorry, can't. They need it delivered before noon tomorrow to meet their contract. These guys are important customers. Your dad would be really upset if we screwed up this account."

"Leave my dad out of this. He's not the one committing social suicide. Besides I could calm him down. I have a way with him."

Paul smirked at that one. He was sure the drama queen in front of him could lay on the 'daddy's litttle princess' act. But that wasn't going to be necessary, not if this was under his control.

"Sorry kid, that's not happening. You've got all summer to make up lost ground," he said turning back to the cab.

"NO! I want to leave for home NOW! I'll tell dad and whoever that you are being difficult!"

Paul froze for a few seconds, furious at the threat. Then he walked over to the rig and slammed a hand on the door panel. He forced an image of Zoey and Beatrice into his mind to clear that of the spoiled brat behind him. With the images of his beautiful girls calming him down to the point that he could talk to the annoying princess without blowing up, he turned back to her.

Walking up and staring down into her deep blue eyes that now showed real apprehension and maybe just a little bit of fear, he started talking in a low and outwardly calm voice, "Jane, I'm through with your behaviour. You want to be a trucker? Then stop acting like a spoiled brat." Jane gasped and her eyes bulged in disbelief. No one, except maybe her dad, had ever talked to her that way. She started to speak but Paul silenced her with a look and a palm held up in her face.

He continued in the low voice, "Here are your choices, one, smarten up and start acting like an adult, two, I go to your dad and tell him that you're behaviour is unacceptable and you're through as a driver, or ... or .." He stopped not sure of what other options he would offer.

Jane swallowed hard and there was now real fear in her eyes. As much as she gave him a hard time she wanted to continue driving. She didn't want to fail in the eyes of her father. Looking at him with frightened eyes she stammered, "Or what? If I screw up again I want more choices."

He breathed deeply and glared at her. Summoning all his anger he said unblinking, "Or I turn you over my knee and spank the crap out your little brat ass."

She jumped back a foot and glared at him. "You wouldn't dare! Nobody touches me without my permission and never like that."

"Look child, you wanted choices. There they are! Step out of line again and you choose." He turned and left a fuming girl who was literally stamping her feet in frustration.

In reality he knew option three was a bluff. Even without her dad's parting words to him he had never struck a women in anger and had no plans to start now - no matter how provoked. The point was to emphasize that she either smarten up or she was out. Option three was just to scare her into line.

Paul turned and stalked back to the idling truck and got into the cab and waited. He stared out the window at the exit to the truck stop. After sitting there for probably only ten minutes that seemed to be stretching into hours he heard the co-driver door open and she stepped up and in. No words were spoken. She just stared ahead.

Paul put the engine into gear and eased out into the highway access road. A small smile touched his lips. While a large part of him wanted to be done with the spoiled princess there was something about her that spoke to another part of him. There were brief moments when she had looked at him with a radiant smile and flashing blue eyes that made him breathless. Her hair was often tied in a loose pony tail that framed her delicate features. Even a scowling Jane was striking but that full watt smile rocked him deeply. At those times he resolved that her beauty would have no effect on him. But deep down he felt an unmistakable pull.

On the highway the silence in the cab allowed him to clear his mind and think. If she really did start to behave then the summer wouldn't really be so bad. Knowing that his daughters were being very well cared for freed his mind to enjoy the driving on the summer roads. And this gig had a time limit - she would be back in school in the fall and fully out of his life. He nodded to himself as he agreed that he could put up with her until then.

****

Thanks again for reading and please vote - high scores are very encouraging to continue writing. Comments are always welcome.

Stay tuned for Part 3.