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spying on her, but I need to be around her. She is
the only hold I have on my sanity. I have the capability to simply
take her. But it would be immoral to coerce her into my life. I
have to believe she will willingly come to me one day. Even if
she’ll never touch me again when she learns who I really am. A few
days with her is worth everything to me. Truck
     
    *******
     
    As he had every year since kindergarten, Dan
carried out the tradition of cooking a big breakfast. Julie plugged
her IPhone into a set of speakers. The music blared as Dan
slid a plate across the table. Turning the volume down on the
speakers, he motioned for Julie to have a seat.
    “What’s up?” Julie asked, flopping down on a
barstool. Noticing how Dan had an extra sparkle in his eyes, Julie
beamed as she haphazardly smeared grape jelly over a homemade
biscuit. The years hadn’t been good to Dan, and there was no one
Julie loved more. She would have done anything to see the smile he
flashed at her.
    “I got a new job. A good one.”
    Dan had to quit school to work and take care
of his family. A high school drop-out had a hard time finding a
decent job in a down economy.
    “Yeah, what?”
    “I’m the new paralegal for the district
attorney. Actually, I’m more in charge of the dirty work.” He
folded his arms across his chest. Julie gulped down a chunk of
biscuit. Dan had always been a blue-collar worker at best; half the
time, he was not much more than a temporary handyman.
    “How did you manage that?”
    She tried to keep her voice upbeat, but her
stomach told her it was more than a lucky break.
    “The temp company I’m working for put in a
good word,” Dan said and took a swig of coffee. He peeked at Julie
over his mug. “You know his son, I think,” he said, sitting his mug
down and glancing off into space.
    “Whose son?”
    Dan ran his fingers down the seam of his
pants. “My boss’s.”
    “Really, what’s his name?”
    “Trucker,” he informed her.
    Julie’s fork slipped from her grasp and
clattered against the wood floor. She sat motionless.
    “Julie?” he said, and then hesitated.
    Julie gnawed on her bottom lip. What is
with this boy? Why is he slowly taking over everything?
    “Julie,” Dan said again. “You know him?”
    “Not really. I’ve seen him around.”
    “Well, his dad said he was quite fond of
you.”
    Hearing the front door swing open, Julie
jumped to her feet.
    “Hey, ready?” Tiffany, her best friend’s
voice reached them before she did. Julie breathed a sigh of relief
and grabbed her school supplies.
    “Bye, Dad,” she hollered over her shoulder
and darted to the door. She was obviously nervous about the talk of
Trucker. She just hoped Dan didn’t notice.
    “Hey, if you see him, be nice. I really need
this job.”
    She froze. “I’m always nice.”
    “Be extra nice,” he warned.
    “Dad, I don’t want to be late. I might go
home with Tiff after class. See you at supper.” Julie slammed the
door, cutting off any further talk.
    “Chill, girl, what crawled up your ass this
morning?” Tiffany bumped her shoulder before getting in the
car.
    “Dad got a job working for Trucker’s dad. He
was warning me to be nice,” Julie said and sighed.
    “Oh, I would love to be real nice to him,”
Tiffany said and laughed.
    “I doubt him meant that nice.”
    “A girl can dream.”
    Motlow Community College had a grand total of
one thousand, three hundred, and ninety-three students. That grand
total covered everyone from the fresh-face, high school graduate to
the retiree that was finally living out a lifelong dream. All the
way there, the girls were silent. Whether it was the first day
jitters or the dread of the unknown. When they pulled into the
parking lot, it was already swarming with people. Julie
unintentionally scanned the lot for Trucker’s car. When she didn’t
see it, her heart sunk. She had already been warned he wasn’t
starting there, but she still hoped against hope that he