and wasn't hesitant to speak her mind at a relatively high volume. Jake hated conflict, but he had learned that backing down from Brandee would create a tsunami that would overwhelm his own wants and needs. So fight they did, but making up they did even better. Jake pressed down a little harder on the accelerator. They had miles to go, and a big night ahead.
***
Brandee was born Brandee Alexander on December 10, 1986 in Las Vegas, Nevada. She was born just a couple of weeks before the New Year, inspiring her father, Alan, to nickname her "tax break". Brandee's mom Debra used to work on stage as a dancer. For the most part, Debra's career was in the casinos and nightclubs that bordered Vegas' famed Strip, but occasionally she would land a spot on one of the big stages on the glittery path that Las Vegas is so known for. Most of the people that she worked behind on stage were second and third line singers that no one ever heard about. Debra remembered fondly, though, her rare opportunities under the bright lights dancing behind the likes of Cher, Dolly Parton, Tony Orlando, and Dawn.
Debra Alexander's maiden name was D'Angelo and, while she was a talented dancer (with legs, she was told, that went on for miles), her career was never very stable. When the economy took a downturn, the shows failed to sell out. A showroom needs a 92% full house to make a profit. When the folks didn't show up, the big acts sometimes came down with "strep throat" or (and this was a common one) "exhaustion" and the show’s run would be over. The dancers on the big stages would trickle down a few blocks to the 2nd line houses. The dancers that they would replace in the 2nd line houses would be left to the poorly lit dives like O'Sherry's and Slots of Luck. More than once, Debra D'Angelo had needed to make ends meet without a job on the horizon. It was then that she had spent some time as a stripper, using the pseudonym Crimson Delight. She had never told Brandee about those times and hoped she would never know.
Times got better for Debra D'Angelo when she met Alan Alexander. She met him in the least romantic place possible. They found themselves in the same place at the same time in the produce aisle of the local Safeway. They struck up a conversation about the comparative value of the Golden Delicious vs. the Granny Smith. Before they knew it, the great apple debate had turned into a dinner date. She discovered that he was a real estate broker with a taste for good wine and long conversations. They were married a year to the day from their first date.
Brandee came along on December 10, the same year Debra and Alan were married. She was 8 pounds, 8 1/2 ounces, and came into the world with lungs full of mad. She gave the receiving nurse a blast with her first full breath. She let the nurse in the hospital nursery have it when she gave Brandee her Vitamin K shot. She let the newborn ward know her opinion when the blanket slid off of her, leaving her cold. Brandee Reneé Alexander was here, and dammit, the world was going to know her opinion.
Young Brandee was a sharp little thing. She picked up the basics of crawling then walking then running months earlier than her peers. She loved to run around outside her family's two-story home, but she loved falling down almost as much. Jake wouldn't have recognized the goddess on the bar stool if he had seen that same goddess when she was seven years old. Most of the time, she had a skinned leg or a scraped chin. Only later, when she realized that attracting the opposite sex could be just as much of a game as the ones that she had mastered earlier, did she let the butterfly out of the caterpillar's cocoon.
Brandee began attending Del Sol High School in Las Vegas. She got along well with her teachers that first year, though she was "coded" a couple of times for wearing tops that showed a little bit of her tanned and
***
Brandee was born Brandee Alexander on December 10, 1986 in Las Vegas, Nevada. She was born just a couple of weeks before the New Year, inspiring her father, Alan, to nickname her "tax break". Brandee's mom Debra used to work on stage as a dancer. For the most part, Debra's career was in the casinos and nightclubs that bordered Vegas' famed Strip, but occasionally she would land a spot on one of the big stages on the glittery path that Las Vegas is so known for. Most of the people that she worked behind on stage were second and third line singers that no one ever heard about. Debra remembered fondly, though, her rare opportunities under the bright lights dancing behind the likes of Cher, Dolly Parton, Tony Orlando, and Dawn.
Debra Alexander's maiden name was D'Angelo and, while she was a talented dancer (with legs, she was told, that went on for miles), her career was never very stable. When the economy took a downturn, the shows failed to sell out. A showroom needs a 92% full house to make a profit. When the folks didn't show up, the big acts sometimes came down with "strep throat" or (and this was a common one) "exhaustion" and the show’s run would be over. The dancers on the big stages would trickle down a few blocks to the 2nd line houses. The dancers that they would replace in the 2nd line houses would be left to the poorly lit dives like O'Sherry's and Slots of Luck. More than once, Debra D'Angelo had needed to make ends meet without a job on the horizon. It was then that she had spent some time as a stripper, using the pseudonym Crimson Delight. She had never told Brandee about those times and hoped she would never know.
Times got better for Debra D'Angelo when she met Alan Alexander. She met him in the least romantic place possible. They found themselves in the same place at the same time in the produce aisle of the local Safeway. They struck up a conversation about the comparative value of the Golden Delicious vs. the Granny Smith. Before they knew it, the great apple debate had turned into a dinner date. She discovered that he was a real estate broker with a taste for good wine and long conversations. They were married a year to the day from their first date.
Brandee came along on December 10, the same year Debra and Alan were married. She was 8 pounds, 8 1/2 ounces, and came into the world with lungs full of mad. She gave the receiving nurse a blast with her first full breath. She let the nurse in the hospital nursery have it when she gave Brandee her Vitamin K shot. She let the newborn ward know her opinion when the blanket slid off of her, leaving her cold. Brandee Reneé Alexander was here, and dammit, the world was going to know her opinion.
Young Brandee was a sharp little thing. She picked up the basics of crawling then walking then running months earlier than her peers. She loved to run around outside her family's two-story home, but she loved falling down almost as much. Jake wouldn't have recognized the goddess on the bar stool if he had seen that same goddess when she was seven years old. Most of the time, she had a skinned leg or a scraped chin. Only later, when she realized that attracting the opposite sex could be just as much of a game as the ones that she had mastered earlier, did she let the butterfly out of the caterpillar's cocoon.
Brandee began attending Del Sol High School in Las Vegas. She got along well with her teachers that first year, though she was "coded" a couple of times for wearing tops that showed a little bit of her tanned and
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