Nothing is Everything

Everything is Nothing

Published by Teresa Meeks at Smashwords

Copyright 2013 by Teresa Meeks

Cover Design and Art by Narvin Meeks

Edited by Donna Gerard, DiAnn Lisica & Narvin Meeks

Discover other titles by Teresa Meeks

Nothing is Always Something

Tortured Journey

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Chapter 1

The last year had been a madhouse. Slipping into my old jeans and t-shirt I reflected over the craziness. My name is Stacee Anderson and my life has had its ups and downs just like anyone else. I turned my life around, though. I’d gone through a terrible divorce, but not before suffering at the hands of an abusive ex-husband and ending up literally dumping garbage for a living. I tried blocking out thoughts of the death of my friend, being mauled by man-eating dogs, and almost losing my own life to two deranged killers. But from time to time those images kept rushing back to me. I seem to have the knack for attracting crazy things.

The bright spots to that time in my life were finding the love of my life, Nick Andrews, having my son Josh at my side, and the thought of being a stepmom to two great kids, Olivia and Gene. My financial status rose significantly, from not having two pennies to rub together to having several hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank. I didn’t increase my bank account without a price. I’d almost died when I found out that a co-worker of my ex-husband was plotting to kill someone and they turned the tables on me. I remember hearing Nick yell my name as my blood flowed from my body. I was in the hospital for weeks recovering from my attack.

Sitting there I remember those painful days in the hospital and how speechless I was as Victoria came through the door of the hospital room. Victoria was the deranged killer’s wife. As I laid there weak and helpless, she reached inside her purse. I thought for sure that she was going to finish what her husband had started but instead I was stunned when she handed me a check for $500,000.

Victoria had turned the tables on her psychopath husband and in the end she got everything, including four million dollars from a life insurance policy. Her deranged husband was shot by the police as he tried to cut me to pieces with a chainsaw. After Victoria visited me that day she wasn't heard from again. She simply placed the check on the hospital bed and walked back out of the room as quietly as she had entered.

That was months ago and my life is starting a new chapter. Looking down at the two caret diamond ring on my finger, I remembered the night Nick got down on one knee and asked me to share the rest of my life with him. It was Valentine’s Day, we were all dressed up and going to a new restaurant. We’d heard nothing but rave reviews of the food and ambiance. It turned out to be perfect. Nick was his usual handsome, charming self. He has beautiful dark eyes and hair and his suit looked like it was tailored to fit well over his muscular build. I’d just bought a new outfit that afternoon, so when he surprised me and said, let’s go to dinner, I was ready to go.

We dropped the kids off at my parent’s house. Mom and Dad loved Olivia and Gene the same as Josh. As far as they were concerned they were already part of the family. They loved having a house full of kids again; it put a smile on their faces. Every time we dropped off the kids at my parent’s house, I tried to forget what my Father had always said about feeding them sugar and soda and sending them home. The last thing I wanted was three kids hopped up on sugar.

After dinner, that Valentine’s night, Nick popped the question. I was so surprised. I was completely caught off guard. We were both crying while people at adjoining tables were applauding. We couldn’t wait to call our parents and friends to share the good news. The three weeks since that night had been a flash. Nick and I agreed there wasn’t any rush to set a wedding date, but I had already started dreaming of it. We’d both gone through big weddings in our previous marriages, so we had tossed the idea around of taking a vacation together and eloping.

If we did anything, it would be next summer. The kids knew that we were getting married. Josh was a little confused about what that meant and where his Dad would be in his life. What would Nick being his stepdad fit into things? Olivia was not happy about it but didn’t say anything, and Gene was too young to realize what was going on. Nick and I continued to run two households and we saw each other as often as we could. Nick would sneak over after Josh went to sleep and stay the night but by morning would end up on the sofa, so we didn’t confuse Josh further.

I had found my job when I was desperate. I must have put in hundreds of applications and when I saw the help wanted sign as I passed the refuse company, I thought, what the hell! After begging to be taken seriously, Mr. Barnes gave in and hired me. The first months were grueling. I went home black and blue daily. My job as a garbage collector was about to change, though. I’d been promoted last week to driver-in-training. I’d pulled my weight in this dirty job for months. Mr. Barnes, the owner of the refuse company had increased his business with a new county contract and he needed another truck.

My crew consisted of Peter, Mike, and Johnny. All three looked like they were part of a male strip act. They each had muscles on top of muscles and were tan from working days in the sun. It was a huge surprise to know that they worked at the refuse during the day, and then also cleaned the homes of Evanston’s elite population at night. The three guys had quite a little enterprise going. After slinging trash cans during the day they would take a quick shower and change into tight shirtless business suits. I’d walked in on them last year when they wanted to surprise me and cleaned my townhouse.

When I was released from the hospital and got home, there they were vacuuming and mopping the townhouse. They were very handsome in their three piece suits and all oiled up. The wives of the business leaders of the community got a little eye candy as the guys pushed around the vacuum cleaner and broom. Evanston had a population of about 25,000 but it still had a small town feel about it.

When Mr. Barnes got this new contract, he decided to split up my crew once I could drive the monster truck. Peter’s truck was named Goliath while mine, I’d already decided, was going to be named Hercules.

Peter was going to keep Johnny and get one new person. I would get Mike and a new person. Mr. Barnes thought it made sense to split the experienced team to continue with the speed of the garbage hauls.

Who would have imagined last year, while I was climbing the ladder and holding onto the side of the truck for dear life, bumping my shins, hitting my head, and breaking my nose in the process, that I would now be hopping on back of the truck like a pro. My steel toed boots were worn and rugged, my jeans were full of holes, my arms were muscular, and I could lift the heaviest of the trash cans as well as one of the guys. This might not be much of an accomplishment to most, but to a former housewife who had no work experience and nothing to her name, it was wonderful.

Standing at 5’7" I looked like a midget alongside my muscle bound co-workers. My once strawberry blond hair was now sun-bleached and was simply blond. At one time, I thought I could lose twenty-five pounds and be a little healthier. My work forced that to happen and I didn’t realize it, until I bought new clothes the other day. I was down to a size eight from my normal 12 and that put a smile on my face.

The new garbage contract was scheduled to start on May 1st. This gave Peter two months to teach me everything he knew while we continued to do the regular garbage run. I’d planned to take the Commercial Driving test as soon as I felt comfortable behind the wheel, which at this point made me very nervous. Last night as the day started winding down, I started getting antsy. Peter had said earlier in the day that after the run, we would stay at the yard for a little bit and go over the truck mechanics. What lever, pedal, switch, or handle did what. By the way Peter talked; you would have thought the truck was a rocket getting ready to take off to mars. I expected him to say at some point today, all systems check.

The time had finally come. We’d finished our run and were back at the yard. I took notes as Peter talked and pointed to the mechanics of the truck. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be and I think I got the gist of all of the levers and such. Tomorrow I was to get behind the wheel and try not to run over anyone. At least I would start in the parking lot away from people.

I didn’t sleep very well that night, Looking at Josh as I went into his room to wake him, I’d realized that he’d grown like a weed in the past year. He had sprouted up and towered over his classmates. He was going to be a six foot tall young man when he grew up. At seven years old, he was in the second grade which put him two years behind Olivia and two years ahead of Gene. All of the kids were stair-steps and I realized that about the time one was out on their own, the next would be graduating.

Olivia had Nick’s personality and looks. Her dark olive skin tone and dark eyes and hair were