Chapter 1

“UGH… What time is it?
Amber knew that she shouldn’t look, but the curiosity got the better of her.
2 AM. She had gone to bed at 10 and here she was still awake at 2 watching video after video in a rabbit hole of makeup tutorials, cabin building, and reactions to other people’s reactions.
“What am I doing with my life?”
This was of course the question her parents asked her at dinner tonight, and last night, and every night since she moved home after graduating from college. The conversation was usually filled with recommendations for jobs, comparisons to all of her old friends from high school and how well they were doing.
“Michele just got promoted to assistant manager at the Swift Mart.” Her mother would start.
“That’s nice.”
“Have you heard from Tony?”
“No.”
This was a bit of lie. While she hadn’t heard anything directly, Facebook showed her that Tony, her ex was having a great time since graduating. His internship in NY was coming to a close and he was just offered a position as a junior broker. They had been together for three years and had planned to move to New York together, but news of Amber not getting a job, or an internship meant that she couldn’t pay her half of the rent so Tony thought it would be best if they just didn’t see each other for while. But she saw him, and the two or three girls he had been with since they split.
“Well kiddo,” her dad added, “What are you going to do with our life because you can’t just hang out and go to the gym all day.”
“I mean you look great honey, you are in such good shape, but you don’t need to push yourself so hard.”
Amber was used to this by now. She had been lifting more and more at the gym and had bulked up quite a bit. She found it a better outlet for her stress then overeating or drinking. But of course, this bulk of muscle had her mom thinking she was looking a little to butch. Amber was 5’6” and 130 lbs. of muscle. She knew she was a bit intimidating, but she didn’t care. Her mother on the other hand.
“You are going to scare the boy’s away if you keep this up.”
Amber just tuned them out after that. So much went wrong in the last few months, and all she had now was Bachelor of Arts in American History with a mediocre GPA and a large debt of student loans. She couldn’t picture being a teacher, and no library, or museum paid enough to help her with her loans.
Amber was about to click her phone off for the night when the next video began.
“My life on the open road? What is this some trucker video.” Amber watched as the camera panned around the big rig, did some dumb wipe effects, and moved to the cab. “Huh, that’s about as big as my apartment was back at school.” She watched as a surprisingly cute guy, dark hair and well built gave a description of his daily life, play some videos of the open road and then how he preps the cab for bed. “Woah, it has a little TV, and internet, and a mini fridge. Then he just drives. That’s the life.” Then the video panned to historic sites, it was Philadelphia, the Liberty Bell, Amish country, scenes of the desert, Vegas, and L.A.
Amber looked over at her wall. Since middle school she kept a small map with pins in it for where she had been and where she wanted to visit. There were so many tacks across America, so many places she wanted to see, things she wanted to experience. And here was this truck driver, doing what she wanted.
“I made about $50,00 my first year, and I mean made it. My company paid for my training, and they cover the cost of upkeep on the truck. I even got a few bonuses for staying ahead of schedule. Another good year or so and I can pay off my student loans and get out on my own.”
$50,000! Amber was lucky if she was being offered $35,000 right now. She opened a search bar and typed in “Average trucker salary.” The results varied but there it was, some companies starting drivers at $50,000, and sign on bonuses, longevity bonuses and bonuses for clean driving records and other certifications.
“Amber you’re getting ahead of yourself; this is a guy industry.” She searched again, “Percent of Women Truck Drivers.”
“10%”
“Hmm, that’s not terrible. I’m not breaking new grounds or anything.”
Amber kept at her late-night search and finally came across a trucking company based out of her state called American Logistics. It boasted that it was a female owned and operated trucking company, and they were hiring.
“Screw it.” Amber said to herself as she filled out an application online and attached her resume. “Either they take me, or I am not even qualified to drive a truck and should just go apply to the Swift Mart.”