The roads were not marked as well now as they had been years ago before California became the United States Penal State.She spotted it up ahead and do...n shifted to fourth and then to third. Just shy of the Cajon Pass she turned off onto 138. She was still going a bit fast but the racer hung on as if it were on rails. If she could just maintain her speed Palmdale was only a half hour ahead."Hey, Doll. You down there? This is Spike and we're just north of LA proper. Should be there in plenty of. "Sheryl laughed and ended the call.Cricket ended up doing her three times that afternoon. The first time was right there on his apartment floor. He'd grabbed her almost as soon as the door closed behind her, and he'd practically ripped her clothes from her body before pushing her to the carpet. The second time, he did her from behind again in the shower and the third time was just before she left."Sorry, Babe, but you look just so fine I gots ta hit it one more time before ya go and see my boy,. "My barns were built on concrete slabs. I cleaned out everything but the basic structures, burning the lot, then sprayed everything left with a chemical the agriculture agent recommended. Adriana got a job in town so we would have some type of income while I began the change to organic farming."We had some money that we had invested over the years. We sold off the investments and stuck our necks out to invest in a co-op with a group of other like-minded farmers and a few businessmen. During the. They’d gotten into the “adult” eggnog and opened up with each other more than they had in a long time. She’d suddenly lost Rhonda’s father midway through the last year after a long marriage and the daughter had put a lot of energy into supporting her devastated mom. Mom had pulled out of it though and seemed adjusted to that big change in her life.What she’d learned from her mom during that talk a week earlier had been a little bit jarring but also made her really think about some things in her.