Double or Nothing

[:::: Authors Note ::::]

Welcome to Part II of Double or Nothing; thank you for the feedback on Part I.

I'm still working to find my groove with editors and of course, thank you to Kite for working with me on the story. I think we all know grammar is my most significant challenge; all my family and employees tell me all the time. This is causing some delay as I work with editors to refine my storytelling quickly. Mistakes that are left are due to my tweaks on the final edit.

Now I am trying something I think is a little different in the context of an LW story, so I am not sure how it's going to work. For context, I know people in a relationship similar to what I am going to do here. I'm drawing on conversations and questions over the years as a base for this part of the story.

Now back to the story; if you haven't read 'Double or Nothing Part 1', you don't need to as you should be able to pick up enough of the story to know what's happening with our main character Terry Other. But if you can spend the time, check it out to get the full context. This part is a long read at over 22,000 words, and we're going to zig and zag a few times in the next couple of parts, so bear with me everyone!

Lastly, I have written Parts III, IV and V, so I am getting edits on part three as I publish this, so cross fingers, it shouldn't be as long between parts.

Enjoy Double or Nothing Part II

[:::: Double or Nothing Part II ::::]

Loaded down with the tools of my trade and all my worldly possessions that matter to me, I eased my truck onto the highway. I kept switching radio stations, looking for something that would suit my mood. Each station felt like it was playing the sombre march of my life from the past six months. Songs of loss, betrayal, or how 'I've been done wrong'. Rock songs screamed pain; classical stations played mournful music, pop songs talked of cheaters and country, well, country songs told how my woman left me and stole my dog. Each station told of my woe but not of my future. In the end, I ended up changing over to Spotify on my mobile, synced into my truck Bluetooth and listened to some casual chill hop tunes, music but no words that I could relax and enjoy the drive.

The reason I was going? Well, a little over six months ago, my wife of over fifteen years left me for another man, a pudgy self-obsessed doctor. Actually, as I recently found out, a surgeon with a superiority complex and a narcissistic sneer that would make a politician cringe. To make matters worse, it wasn't just my wife that betrayed me; my daughter, Mackenzie, bought into what her mother was shovelling and left me as well. As I understood it, she had been working with her mother for over a year, doing the paperwork to have the fuckwit doctor adopt her made me irrelevant in her life.

Then, after all of that was complete, adding insult to injury, both women turned up on my doorstep the day I was leaving town. My ex-daughter, now adopted by the aforementioned fuckwit, Dr Stephen Morrison, wanted me to spoil her and give her presents. I will admit, I was a little brash in my response to her. I told both women they were dead to me.

Neither of them had any idea where I was going or what I was doing, but I'm sure they assumed it was as a plumber, which was my qualification and one of the main reasons they left me in the first place. Apparently, a plumber is not as good as a doctor in their books. So, after the divorce and the crappy adoption process, I was driving about six hours away from Maitland to Bathurst to join Delotiz Inc as their new quality manager.

I had met the owners, William and Martha, the night my ex-family left me with nothing but a 'Dear John' letter at our local hospital. Throughout my divorce, they kept in contact; then, once it was done, they offered me the lead quality manager for their plumbing product range. It was a big deal, and this was why I was now heading south and trying to find the music to listen to that wouldn't make me shed tears, having lost my family.

A couple of years ago, I had bought a second-hand Ford F-Truck and then proceeded to gear it out for my work. I replaced the tray with custom-built toolboxes and installed a new bull-bar with hi-intensity lights and a heavy winch if I got stuck in the mud on a job site. I also installed surrounding lights for night works, giving me the ability to work day or night pretty much anywhere.

The few times Carol, Mackenzie and I had gone camping, the fit-out on my truck had been invaluable. Between my customisation and the four-wheel-drive capability, I was happy my truck could go anywhere. It did use more fuel than a usual ute that was common in Australia, but I felt it was worth it.

As I drove the first couple of hours, I thought about the last few years, and now with hindsight, I could see both women pulling away from me. It was never overt, but passionate kisses from Carol turned into chaste kisses, then pecks on the cheek. With Mackenzie, we would go on dad and daughter dates to the shops or a café where we would talk about everything and anything. It moved from that loving relationship where she loved to spend time with me into a 'dad, what can you do for me' relationship.

I had loved both of them so much I never saw it coming. My sister Kim told me it was because I loved them so much that I made allowances for the inconsistency, never thinking I would be betrayed by those I loved so much. I would still have been ignorant to it all if Carol had not had an affair with Dr Dickhead, and he convinced her to leave me. While I hated the asshole with a passion for stealing my family, I suppose on reflection; if it weren't him, it would have been someone else sooner or later; Carol just wanted to trade up and be rid of me.

At one point, I pulled into one of the highway service centres and filled up my fuel tank. I went inside and to pay and picked up a couple of drinks and snacks. While inside, I caught the weather report on the TV hanging from the wall. There were a couple of big storms coming over later today, perfect! The weather was going to reflect my mood. With the fuel topped off and a quick check on my tie-downs, I was back on the highway and cruising along at a decent pace.

I was hoping that I would make it to my new two-bedroom unit by early evening. I had just over a week before starting with Delotiz Inc, so I had plenty of time to walk or drive around. Being outside Bathurst here in Australia, I also wanted to check out 'the great race' track. Having grown up watching the race with dad, driving around the track was a bucket list item for me. I was also looking forward to checking out the local cafés and bars. Coffee and evening beverages are the staples for a traddie like me, so knowing the right spots would help me make new connections and relationships.

As I continued my drive, I continued reflecting on my life lately, beginning to feel depressed. Despite my recent conflict with Carol and Mackenzie, I still had no real idea why they had done to me what they did. For fucks sake, they pulled out a restraining order on me, preventing me from seeing either of them or doctor dickweed during the divorce process, all the while demanding that I allow Mackenzie to be adopted, becoming Mackenzie Morrison and no longer my daughter. Kim, who was both my older sister and my lawyer, convinced me to sign the documents as with the time and effort that went into everything, this was something that both of my betraying women had done with complete understanding.

The weather darkened with my mood; dark clouds gathered as I drove, almost feeling like the oncoming storm knew of my anguish and pain, deciding to take it out on the ground I was driving. Perhaps if I were lucky, the storm would pass over the Morrison household and lightning would strike the house and burn it to the ground!

As the rain began, my internal anguish continued to build, and I started to feel really sorry for myself. I was sure that my windows were up, but for some reason, my shirt was getting wet with water as I continued to feel the pain of my lost family. So with the weather pouring outside, water from my tears poured inside, and I mourned and drove.

The heavens really opened up then, and the rain started coming down in sheets of water. The rain became so heavy that I had to slow down somewhat, ensuring that I could see the road ahead as lightning split the sky and thunder rolled across my dual-cab cabin. For almost two hours, I drove through the storm, sometimes light and easy other times so heavy I could barely see in front of me. Through it all, I wept. The betrayal, the love, the hate, each signpost I passed gave me distance, each tear a memory of love, each lightning strike outside a reminder of pain.

I spotted another service centre and pulled over; driving in a storm like this is exhausting; it takes concentration. Add the processing of my emotions, and I was pretty tired. I again topped up my fuel tank and pulled into one of the parking bays, falling asleep to the sound of the storm washing the heavy rain against my windows.

It was only half an hour later when I woke, and I must admit I felt a whole lot better. Also, it looked like a large part of the storm had passed. It was still raining, but a lot lighter, and much of the lighting and thunder had moved on. I took it as a good sign, switched back over to the radio on a local country station, started up the truck, then got back on the road.

I was on the road for about an hour before the news announcement came onto the radio.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we apologise for the break-in our programming; however, the Bureau of Meteorology has just announced a superstorm cell that is developing right behind the storm front that has just passed over the Sydney region. As a result, all residents from Newscastle to Orange are asked to seek shelter due to potentially damaging winds, hail and flooding rain."

For the next ten minutes, they gave details. A few low-pressure systems joined together and used the humidity generated by the previous storm to create a much bigger storm system. I knew I would be caught in it, and there were no real stops for me between where I was on the highway and Bathurst. There was a risk that my truck could catch a lot of hail that could damage and even smash my windows; however, if it came to that, I could shelter under one of the highway overpasses. Being in a decent 4x4 truck, rain wouldn't matter to me as much, as I could drive through everything but the worst weather. So I continued my drive.

Again the rain came, and I focused on the road. Again walls of water battered my truck as I drove. This time though, after crying hard for the last few hours, I was focused, and I kept my mind on the road and what I was doing. At one point, the rain was coming down so hard; I almost missed my turnoff. I was now off the highway onto the road that would lead me to my new place on the outskirts of the city of Bathurst, near Delotiz Inc. It was a good road, but unlike the highway, it had no streetlights, and the road's shoulders were not as broad, so I needed to be careful. I'd say I had been driving for around twenty minutes along that road and expected around another hour at this low speed before I arrived when I caught the light from the corner of my eyes.

It was again raining beyond hard; raindrops fell so hard it was like the entire percussion section in an orchestra was hitting my windshield. Nevertheless, my eyes were focused, watching in front of me and looking to the side when needed. It was one of these sideways glances when I caught the hazard lights of a vehicle up ahead. But the lights were wrong; they weren't parked on the shoulder of the road as they should be. Instead, the lights were almost perpendicular to the road I was driving on and sat at an odd angle.

I slowed right down as I approached and then stopped as I came level with the vehicle that was obviously in distress. It was a late model Land Rover Sport, one of those four-wheel drives with no low gear, but you could still take it off-road if you knew what you were doing. Unfortunately, it looked like it had slid off the road and into a drainage ditch for some reason.

What was worse was that while it had hazard lights turned on, the vehicle's nose was deep in water that looked to be rising. I had no idea if anyone was in the car, so I pulled over and hit my own hazard lights along with all the surrounding custom lights that I had on the truck. While I doubt that anyone would be coming around the road at any speed in this weather, the light would hopefully alert drivers that I was parked on the road.

I threw on an all-weather coat and grabbed my flashlight before I exited the truck. However, the moment I was in the elements, it made little difference. Stepping out of my truck, I knew that I would be soaked inside and out due to the storm. I made my way over to the Land Rover and saw the vehicle firmly lodged in the drainage ditch. It wasn't going anywhere quickly either as it had been pushed against a large tree that had fallen over in the storm into the ditch, its roots still looking firmly grounded on the other side of the drainage ditch.

Using my flashlight, I could see the car had likely slid off the road perhaps a dozen metres up the road and then was pushed down the drainage ditch by the torrent of water until the tree stopped it. In Australia, we drive on the left side of the road, meaning that our driver's doors are on the right. I mention this because I could see the tree pinned the passenger's side doors; however, with the force of water coming down the drainage ditch due to the storm, it was unlikely that the driver's side doors would open easily.

I slid down the partial bank and knee-deep into the water, shining my torchlight into the now fogged up windows to see if there was anyone conscious within the car. Almost immediately, I heard yelling for help, so I wadded into the water a little deeper.

"Help!" I heard a feminine voice.

I knocked on the window hard with my knuckles and yelled back, "Window?". It was hard to communicate due to the noise of the storm. However, I heard her response.

"The car is dead!" There was a note of panic in her voice, obviously being driven off the road then pushed down the ditch would be stressful for anyone, so she was doing well to not be in total freak-out mode. The car's electrics couldn't be out as the Hazard's were working, but I'm sure she knew how windows worked, so the windows system must be broken.

I thought for a minute; I wasn't going to be able to open the door with the force of the water on the door or the tree on the other side, also breaking the window would be difficult and could cause more harm. However, I did have a great big truck with a winch through which I could pull them out, well, hopefully, enough to open the doors. I also knew I had a limited time as the water was getting deeper, and it was always possible the tree could give way and wash the entire car away.

I knocked hard on the window again, and just as I yelled, the rain eased off just a bit. "I am going to get my winch and pull you out, don't move!"

"Ok!" I got the response and also caught the movement of a second person in the passenger seat of the car. Shit, two people, I need to move.

I made my way back up to my truck, jumped in and quickly repositioned it, so the winch was in line with the back of the Land Rover. My winch was a fancy one with a remote. Once the truck was positioned, I got out and began unwinding it so I could hook it to the back of their car. It took about ten minutes, in which time the rain must have renewed its vigour and eased off at least three times.

I noted that the ankle-deep water at the rear of the car when I started hooking up the winch was now moving up to my knees. I also discovered that while Land Rover may be a great car, their recovery points are challenging to get to when you are in a hurry. I wound the chain end of the winch through the recovery point but had a difficult time securing the other end. I ended up securing it to a point where I thought it would hold, then stood back to begin the winching process.

At first, it was pretty slow as the metal cable took up the slack between my truck and the car. However, within a few minutes of careful winding, the car began to ease out of the rising water inch by inch. I wasn't too worried about the weight pulling my truck into the ditch; my F-Truck would easily be three times as heavy with all my tools and belongings. So I wound the car out.

It took about ten minutes as I got the car out of the ditch enough to open the doors. The moment I felt it was far enough out of the water, I stopped the winding. Before I could even make it into the now knee-deep water, the driver's side door started to open. There was still a force of water against the door, so I had to help pull the door open; however, once I managed to help the driver open the door, my life changed forever.

I held out my hand to her, the rain still coming down in buckets and helped her out of the car. Her face was striking, pale skin, and a spattering of freckles was offset by the most amazing mane of red hair I had seen. She was dressed in a dark green skirt that showed curvy hips, shaped that when she walked, I would have bet that every man would be hard-pressed not to look backwards. The white blouse that dry would have accentuated her ample bust went transparent in the rain. She had a white lacy bra on; while it didn't go as transparent as her top, it still got wet. I had to avert my eyes to not stare at her transparent apparel.

She blushed a little knowing there was little she could do in this weather, and I made sure my gaze kept to her eyes in respect to the amazing view she was granting me. And those green eyes, I could have stared into them forever and never known we were standing in the middle of a massive storm where not moments ago she could have been swept away.

And just like that, the moment passed; I helped her stand on her feet and made sure she wouldn't fall over into the surrounding water, then I turned back to help the passenger out of the car and had to do a double-take. If the driver had been fantastic, then I was again struck dumb as I was caught by the vision of beauty climbing over the centre console to make it out the driver's side door.

She was the exact doppelgänger of her sister, and there was no doubt in my mind that they were sisters. Indeed they had to be identical twins. Those same curves, hair, eyes, and freckles on her face were slightly different from her sister, but you wouldn't tell unless you were looking. She was climbing over the console when I looked at her. She was also in a skirt, this one navy blue with a white top, and she had to hike up the skirt to get over the console.

I helped this second vision of beauty out of the car then the three of us wadded out of the water and onto the exposed bank of the drainage ditch. Fortunately, the rain let up at that point, so we didn't have to yell at the top of our lungs.

"Are you both ok?" I asked, looking at them.

They both nodded, "Yes, Thank you!" The twin in the green skirt responded.

"I don't know what we would have done if you hadn't come along!" The other twin in the blue skirt said.

I looked at the winch cable, it was tight, and while the water was still pushing against the car, the tree kept it firmly lodged. I might be able to pull the car out, but it would be an effort, and if the vehicle was dead electronically, I am not sure what I could do.

"Look, is there someone I can call to come and help you? I don't know we can do much more for your car right now; the main thing is that you are safe! I'm Terry, by the way!"