Breaing the Drought

In response to reader comments I decided to continue the saga of Wendy and Sam, with the idea of getting them to go further than their one night stand. Those who haven't read Breaking the Drought would be advised to read that story first, as this tale begins the very next day and helps bring things to a satisfactory end. I hope you enjoy the sequel to Breaking the Drought.

*****

Wendy had been around horses for years, she knew their moods, could adjust herself to even the wildest horses, and she knew the quick and dirty way to cure a horse of colic. However, when it came to mechanical things she was at a loss. She could change a tire, top up the oil and water, but that was about the limit of her mechanical abilities. An ex girlfriend had once tried to teach her the basics many years ago but all Wendy managed to achieve was the noble title of chief wrench holder. Sue would ask her for a half inch spanner and Wendy would fetch it. One time Sue slyly asked her to hand her a left handed half inch spanner. When Wendy handed her the spanner, she took it in her right hand and frowned.

"Nope, you got me a right handed half inch, ain't you learned nothing yet?"

She thought of Sue at that moment as she stared at the steam pouring out of the engine bay of her motor home. Granted Sue could be a pain in the ass when she'd had a few too many bourbons but when she was sober she was as sweet as one of those Christian virgins she used to lust after. In the end it was her inability to control her lusts that ended the relationship. Wendy could put up with a lot but a cheating girlfriend was crossing the line.

"Looks like a blown head gasket," Jake scratched his head.

"How can you tell?"

"You got water leaking from the head gasket."

"Oh," Wendy scratched her head as if that actually meant something, "so, what's that in plain English?"

"You ain't going nowhere," he turned as another motor home drove past, "you might be okay with a new gasket or it could be a rebuild."

"Fuck," she swore, "what is it with engines and me?"

"So, what do you wanna do?"

"I gotta go see Tom," she turned and stared in the direction of Tom's Jeep, "it looks like you'll be running the show without me for a few days."

She found Tom leaning against the front of his Jeep Cherokee, he was on the phone to someone and she waited a respectful distance until he finished.

"Hey there," he greeted her, "what's cooking?"

"My engine," she replied, "Jake thinks I got a blown head gasket."

"Well that's a shame. So what's the plan, ma'am?"

"I'm gonna stay on here and find an auto shop, Jake's gonna leave me here and I'll catch up with you at the next town."

"Sounds like a plan," he straightened up, "looks like you got company."

Wendy turned and spotted Samantha talking to Jake.

"Yeah, we kind of hooked up last night."

"This a permanent arrangement?" Tom raised an eyebrow.

"I was kinda hoping, she is cute but she wants to stay in town."

"Well there's all kinds of fish in the sea," Tom replied, "she looks kind of familiar."

"She was at the show yesterday."

"No, I've seen her before some place else."

"You might have seen her up on You Tube," Wendy replied, "she's a part time country singer, got her own channel apparently, she's quite good."

"Samantha?"

"Yeah," Wendy nodded, "Samantha McLeary."

"That's her," he glanced over his shoulder at his wife, "Ellie is a fan too, I didn't know she was at the show, I'd have paid her to perform."

"You wanna meet her?"

"Don't mind if I do," he turned and tapped on the hood. Ellie looked up from a laptop balanced on her knee and he moved around to the passenger window. A few moments later Wendy heard, an "oh my God," and then Ellie got out.

Samantha had her back to them as they wandered over but perhaps sensing her approach she turned suddenly and Wendy felt a slight twinge of emotion. She looked slightly more sedate in a Walmart uniform but even in uniform she still looked hot.

"Howdy doody," Samantha greeted her, "you got a blown head gasket," her eyes shifted to Tom and Ellie, "hey," her smile widened.

"Yeah, so Jake tells me, um, this is Tom and his wife, Ellie. They own this enterprise and this is Miss Samantha McLeary. They've seen your You Tube channel and wanted to say hi."

"Well hello there," Samantha greeted them with a handshake, "nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Tom replied, "we love your channel."

"Why thank you," she beamed, "what's your favorite song?"

"I love your version of Coat of Many Colors," Ellie spoke up, "I actually love all your Dolly Parton covers."

"She's really saying she loves Dolly." Tom put his arm around his wife, "so do I as a matter of fact."

"Yeah she's my favorite too," Samantha chuckled, "I always wanted to be like Dolly Parton," she looked down at her breasts, "but the good Lord blessed me with average size boobies so I had to settle for trying to sing like her."

Tom blushed, Ellie smiled, and Wendy laughed.

"I do believe you're blushing, Tom."

"Sorry," Samantha spoke up, "bad habit of mine."

The conversation shifted from music to other more mundane topics until finally Tom turned to Wendy.

"Okay, we'll leave you here and give me a call if you need a loan, we got petty cash for this kind of thing and I'm sure we can fix something up."

"No need for that," Samantha glanced at the engine bay, "I can fix this."

It took a few moments for Wendy to register the comment.

"You can, how?"

"Easy, just take off the carburettor, unbolt the manifold, the heads, check for damage to the valves, replace the gaskets, we'll have to do both of them and put it all together, about a day all up."

"How much?"

"Oh I can do that for free, but I gotta work a shift at Walmart."

"I see," Tom dug his hands into his pockets, "a whole day?"

"Yup, price of being a singer I guess."

Wendy read Tom's look and saw it coming before he spoke.

"So, if I was to pay you double what you earn at Walmart today, you could fix this?"

"Sure," she looked at Wendy, "but you gotta pay for the head gaskets."

"That's not a problem, I can come up with that."

"Okay," she took out her phone, "we got a deal," she looked at Tom, "yeah?"

"Yup," he took out his wallet.

"Excuse me while I make a call, nobody talk for a moment," she swiped the screen, "I gotta put on my poor li'l ol' me act."

It was a class act Wendy admitted to her later.

"Yeah, hi, Cathy, it's me. I ain't gonna make it in to work today... I got diarrhea... oh Jesus, oh fuck... sorry... are you still there? Look I might make it to the drug store but I can't get off the sofa... yeah I know, it sucks but I can... hold on," she held her stomach and grimaced.

"Oh shit... I gotta run... bye."

She hung up and leaned against the motor home and smiled.

"Did you know that employers will question just about every sickness excuse except diarrhea?"

"You don't say," Tom looked at Jake, "I'll remember that one," he handed over a wad of bills and Samantha grinned.

"Thanks, you won't regret it," she pocketed the phone. "We'll swing by my house, I gotta get out of this crappy uniform and into something more comfortable."

***

"So what's the situation between you two?" Tom asked some fifteen minutes later as he prepared to get into his Jeep.

"We uh, it was a night, why?"

"Just wondering," he stared at her motor home, "your personal life is your own. You and I have talked about it before, but if I was to offer her a slot in the show how would that affect you?"

"A slot," Wendy stared at him, "like a singing slot?"

"Yeah," he folded his arms, "we talked about it a few months back when that guy blew in outside of Casper, Wyoming. We would have signed him on the spot but then he got itchy feet and left town, she'd be earning a lot more than seven fifty but if it's gonna make your life difficult then the offer is withdrawn."

"Hey, I'd be happy to see more of her but I ain't so sure she'd wanna see me all the time but I'll ask her if you want, is that what you want?"

"Just sound her out, but remember what I said. I've always kept an open mind on your lifestyle choices but the show comes first and I can't afford to lose you over her."

"I'll keep it in mind," she nodded, "food for thought."

***

It certainly was food for thought, Wendy mused some twenty five minutes later as she sat beside Samantha in her old Chevy pickup. Tom had offered her a job but that offer could be withdrawn if she couldn't work out her relationship to Samantha. What was she? Last night she was a one night stand, she'd flirted with her earlier in the day and when she knocked on the door of her motor home it hadn't taken long for them to start making out. The sex was good, she was attractive, talented and apparently had the ability to strip down an engine.

But would this last? Had she just been curious last night? Lots of women had one night stands with women and even looked back with pleasure on their encounters but turning a one night stand into a relationship wasn't the best way forward.

She was still thinking it over as they pulled up outside a ramshackle weather-board house on the outskirts of town. There was an old car on the front lawn with no hood and weeds growing around the wheels. She shared the house with a girlfriend, Annie who worked at Taco Bell and a dog called Mutt.

"He was wandering along the road with a busted paw and scratches all over him. I took him home and my boyfriend moved out because he's got some allergy to animals. I always say Mutt saved my butt because that guy was starting to drive me crazy."

She pulled off her vest and grinned at her.

"I think he likes you, he's smelling your pussy."

Mutt had his head buried between her legs and Wendy was massaging his big floppy ears.

"He's a beautiful dog."

"Now that's a good sign. They say animals have a sixth sense."

"They pick up on fear," Wendy replied, "but I've been around dogs all my life, stands to reason I can make friends with them pretty quick."

"Be right back," Samantha headed for the door, "but feel free to just walk in," she added, "it's not like you haven't seen it all before."

Tempting but Wendy stayed seated with Mutt at her feet. The house looked clean and reasonably tidy, she took stock of the room. It had a nice wall-mounted tv screen, computer desk, several chairs and pictures hanging from the walls.

Samantha reappeared not long after in a denim shirt and jeans, she was carrying a set of overalls and a pair of hiking boots. Mutt went over to sniff the overalls and wagged his tail.

"Hey, Mutt, you wanna come too?"

"Sure he can come."

"I'll keep him out of your motor home."

"The hell you will, I tramp in and out of there all day long with dirty boots, I'm sure the floor can handle dog hair and he's a short haired dog anyway."

"So how do you like living here?"

"It's all right I guess, but there's not a lot of opportunities here. I've got two part time jobs plus my singing career. I keep thinking I should just head on over to Nashville but I wouldn't be the first star to fall by the wayside."

"Nashville's overrated," Wendy frowned, "we do a show about thirty miles from Nashville once a year and I'm always glad to get out of there but you're right. They head into town with a guitar and stars in their eyes and wind up hooking to pay the rent, by then the guitar has been stolen or sold to pay the rent."

"Well at least I don't have that problem with Annie."

"And how is it with Annie?"

"Annie's cool, she's got some guy and they talk about moving out, which sucks because then I'd have to find someone else to share the rent. Lord knows I don't earn enough to pay it."

"You know I had an interesting conversation about you with Tom just before."

"And?" Samantha looked up from tying her boots.

Wendy laid it out as briefly as she could without mentioning the elephant in the room. Samantha however did mention it as she put her hands between her knees.

"So where do I sleep?"

"Well that's the elephant in the room," she replied, "and now that we've seen him. How do you feel about last night? Be honest, I value honesty above all other traits in women and men."

"I loved it," she replied, "honestly, I felt like I'd come alive but the next day I did find myself coming down a bit. Don't get me wrong," she looked at her.

"I think you're hotter than a Texas heatwave but great sex doesn't always mean a great relationship. I've just come out of one with Tim, my ex, it started off great then he moved in and it was not so great. You find yourself fighting over the remote and before you know it he's staying out all night. His family is in Houston so he'd go back home for a few days and then a few weeks, until finally he just sent me a text to tell me he'd found someone else."

"I get it," Wendy sighed, "I really do. I'd let you sleep on the couch until we find you a motor home but that could be a while."

"It's a really great offer for a girl like me," she leaned over and ran her hands through Mutt's coat, "but I might have to say no, even if I did sleep on your couch or your bed, there's always Mutt and I can't leave him behind. Annie would just get rid of him, she tolerates him being here because he's my dog and I pay half the rent but she's a cat person."

"So you'd think about it?"

"I'll think about it but unless a motor home drops out of the sky it's a no but thank you."

They left not long after with Mutt in the back of the pickup and made their way back into town to an auto parts dealer.

***

Wendy had never been a big believer in God or Fate. Shit happened no matter which god you worshiped and Fate always seemed to work against her, but that day as Samantha worked on her engine Fate stepped in and dealt her a half decent hand.

She'd been consigned to the interior while Samantha labored on the engine, although when it came time to lift the heads off she lent a hand, but Samantha preferred to work on her own with only Mutt for company. Now and then she'd say something but for the most part she was quite content to just work away, which left Wendy with her laptop for the better part of the morning. There were a few emails to reply to, she updated her Facebook status, liked a few posts and then browsed the news sites. On one site there was an advertisement for recreational vehicles with the picture of a motor home and the usual photo-shopped model couple standing proudly in front of it.

She clicked on the advertisement but their motor homes were too expensive, but what the hell, they probably had to fork up extra money for their advertising campaign. Wendy went from that site to other sites, looking for motor homes and found plenty, but at a hefty price. She logged onto her bank and checked her balance as she did the math in her head.

Close but no cigar.

She logged off and kept searching but it was a fruitless hour and eventually Wendy gave up in disgust and fetched two root beers from the fridge and ambled through to where Samantha was tightening the head bolts with a torque wrench.

"Hey, looking good," she looked down, "you said a day and it's just gone twelve."

"I only said a day because sometimes there's other damage but your valves are good, a little pitting on the valves but nothing to worry about, so we're good."

"Here," Wendy handed her a root beer, "I'm out of Coke."

"Hey thanks," she smiled, "you read my mind."

A flash of silver caught her eye and she looked up to find a silver trailer had come to a halt, a tall, leggy blonde woman got out of the passenger side and looked around as if expecting to find something here.

"I wonder who she's looking for?" Samantha opened the bottle.

"Probably the show, we get a lot of them pulling up alongside."

"Nice trailer though."

"Yeah," Wendy's eyes narrowed.

"You dirty woman, you're checking her out," Samantha reached over and slapped her calf.

"Huh?" Wendy came to and noticed the woman, "yeah and no," she stepped back, "I gotta make a phone call," she stopped.

"Can your truck tow one of those things?"

"Sure it can, it's got a big block Dodge V8, why?"

"Keep working, I gotta get back to work, I'll fix us some lunch in a spell."

She snatched up her phone and ducked outside as she swiped the screen and prayed that Tom had a signal wherever he was right now. She could see the trailer in her mind's eye, he'd talked about selling it off for the last three months when the popcorn guy retired and just left him the trailer. It had been used as mobile storage but lately it was just collecting junk.

"Hey, Wendy," Tom answered, "what's up?"

"I got an idea."

"Shoot."

"She's interested," Wendy looked over her shoulder, "but the sleeping arrangements aren't going to work out right now, but that old trailer you were going to sell. How much would you want for it?"

"Well, market value is about twenty six hundred but I could drop it to twenty."

"How about fifteen? I got fifteen I could loan her."

There was a few moments silence before Tom replied.

"Tell me something, do you think she'd last twelve months with the show?"

"Yeah, I reckon."

"All right, if she stays twelve months with the show I'll consider that a fair trade, hell, she could earn me that much money in six months."

"Twelve months, okay, I'll go talk to her and get back to you."

She farewelled him and walked over to the motor home. Samantha was in the passenger seat with Mutt curled up on the driver's seat, she had her hand resting on him as she stared into the distance. Wendy slid down to sit on the floor.

"How bad would you like to leave here?"

"So bad it hurts," she replied, "if I had one of those babies I'd be gone tomorrow, fuck Walmart, fuck the bar and fuck this town. Just me and Mutt and the open road."

"I might be able to arrange that," she smiled.

"How?" Samantha half turned and brought her foot up onto her knee.

"Tom's dead serious about having you doing shows. He's got a trailer just like that one over there although it's probably a little smaller. He'll give it to you if you sign up for twelve months," she took a mouthful of root beer.

"And as for the elephant in the room, you're your own woman. If you wanna bunk in with me for a spell, I'm okay with that but if it's not your thing then that's okay too. This is a chance to get out there and do what you do best, sing."

"Yeah I sure can sing," she managed a half smile, "it used to drive my ex crazy when I sang in the shower and he was trying to get over a hangover."

"You know that woman I told you about, the acrobat?"

"Yeah, she broke your heart."

"She broke my trust," Wendy replied, "hell I would have done anything for Sammie Jo, I would have walked through a forest fire or a blizzard. She took everything I had and it was like it was nothing, when I found her in bed with a guy she just shrugged it off like it was nothing and told me it didn't mean anything."

"A guy," Samantha's eyes shifted, "she got with a guy?"

"She was bisexual, I kind of knew that but she used to tell me that part of her life was over, and ever since then I find myself trying to start over with a new woman in a new town but I'm never in town long enough to start a fire, let alone keep one going. There are sometimes I think I should just stay in town, leave the goddamn show and be normal but there's always another show and I know in twenty years time I'll just be one of those old fat lesbians," she stopped as Samantha swung out of the seat and knelt on the edge of the engine bay.

"What?"

"Will you shut the fuck up and kiss me?"

Wendy opened her mouth to say something but Samantha moved over and planked herself down on the floor and pinning her to the side of the door, gave her with an open mouthed kiss. Her head was at an angle and it seemed as if she was looking at something else. A moment later she broke free and grinned as she looked at the leggy blonde who was now talking to her boyfriend.