Jaime was waiting tables at a Korean restaurant in a backwater Missouri Baptist town. It was the church that brought these Korean Christians to Bolivar. They had to hire local girls because of the lack of Asians. Jaime was 8 months pregnant and ready to pop but she was a really good waitress and took good care of me. On a whim I handed her a Garfield upon leaving saying, “For the baby.”
The next time I went to the restaurant Jaime was thin. She told me it was an easy birth and she took three days off before returning to work. She was country tough and I was impressed. I handed her a Franklin and said, “Buy the baby some clothes.”
By the end of summer we were dating. Her husband was a ne’re do well criminal and spent many days in jail.. He came from an prominent local family so his prison sojourns were of moderate duration. Jaime and I would see each other when he was in lock down. As soon as he got released he’d knock her up and go back to his illegal ways. I’d jokingly tell Jaime to see if he couldn’t get arrested in spring so we could have the whole summer together.
She’d bring the babies to the lake house or leave them with her mother. I liked having the rug rats around having grown up in a big family I was used to kids underfoot. Jaime loved the lake house even more than me, it was a country heaven. We’d tend the big garden, swim, fish and play with the babies. We’d go out fishing and put the babies in the cubby under the dashboard. The rocking waters made them sleep like angels. Many of the locals thought us married. I’d only see her twice a month because I was working in Kansas City. I’d never know such a natural, comfortable lover. Despite our odd circumstances every time we got together it was like coming home.
Five years into our relationship her husband Daryll got busted on a serious crime. He and a buddy heard that a local widow was sitting on a huge stash of cash (a common country myth) in her quiet rural home. The boys broke in an ended up interrogating the old biddy roughly. They left the old woman bruised and banged up but alive and pissed off. They were arrested immediately and given serious jail time.
I took this opening to ask her for a marriage. She turned me down, she loved Daryll, didn’t want to move to the city and couldn’t understand why I would want to alter our relationship. She was right.
Daryll was down for the count, one more strike and he was out. Thanks to our crowded prison system and Daryll’s pleasant lock down demeanor he was out in 32 months. Somewhere in the walls of Tipton Maximum Security he found Jesus. When he was sprung he went straight, knocked Jaime up again and became an model husband and my affair with his wife ended.
Daryll now manages the farm supply in south Bolivar, Jaime now has six kids and sells antiques and country junk over Ebay. She’s gone fat but looks good to me. She was my best girlfriend ever. We lasted a very weird and wonderful eight years.