Rescue Me (Butler Island)

by Nikki Rittenberry

  Chapter 34

  A blast of cool air rushed over Lana’s skin as she entered the lobby at Mainland Hospital. The soles of her sandals clapped against the linoleum floor.

  Click. Click. Click. Click.

  She’d just made it back to her car at the cemetery when Kendall had phoned with the news: Randall was in Recovery. His ankle surgery had been a success. She’d sat behind the wheel of her idling Corolla for roughly ten minutes before her composure returned. A swell of relief had flooded her insides, because she knew all too well how close she’d come to losing him—how close she’d come to burying the man she loved. Again.

  She wasn’t going to go there. Simply couldn’t. He was going to be okay. And although his recovery was going to be long and painful, it certainly beat the alternative. Death.

  Rounding the corner Lana moved toward the elevators, so deep in gratitude for the second chance she’d been given, she’d failed to notice the woman leaning against the wall near the elevator entrance. That is until the woman pushed off the wall and headed toward her.

  “Well, it’s about time.”

  Lana halted immediately, clapping eyes on the woman responsible for outing her relationship with Randall in front of the entire town. Rage boiled inside her depths, red-hot and festering. “Get out of my way”, she ground out, clenching her fists at her side.

  Steering her body around her former friend Lana took a step, reaching for the call button next to the elevator—only, Jenny took a step, too, thwarting her hasty getaway.

  “Wait, there’s something you need to hear first.”

  “There’s nothing you could possibly say to me that I’d want to hear right now, Jenny.”

  “Trust me”, Jenny said as she reached into her purse for the small voice recorder, “You’ll definitely want to hear this.” Gripping the small device, she pressed PLAY.

  “We need to talk.”

  “What’re you doing here? I thought I was pretty clear about you lying low for a few days.”

  “I needed more details.”

  “Then you should’ve called. Anybody see you come in here?”

  “Relax. The building is nearly empty this morning.”

  “Yes, but the Public Services Department is—”

  “The Public Services Department is buzzing with post-storm clean up coordination. Trust me, no one saw me.”

  “You shouldn’t be here. It’s too risky.”

  “Then I’ll get right to the point. You promised me a job in exchange for my performance yesterday. I’m here to collect.”

  A stretch of silence, and then…

  “Well, obviously I need some time to make good on my end of the deal. Everything has to appear convincing, Jenny. Timing is key.”

  Jenny stopped the recording and inhaled a deep breath. “I know this is probably hard for you to believe, but… I’m sorry—for everything.” She explained how Mayor Cliffburg had contacted her last week with what seemed like the perfect solution to all her problems.

  “I just… wanted to take the focus off me and all of the rotten choices I’ve made this year. That was my chief motive, here. Mayor Cliffburg offering me a job—well, that was just icing on the cake.

  “When I stood up in front of everyone yesterday and publicly humiliated you, I expected to feel some sort of… redemption, I guess. But I didn’t. The moment you stepped foot off that stage the guilt started eating at me.” Shifting her weight, she went on. “And then after the auction ended, when I got a job-well-done from the mayor, I suddenly wanted no part of it. I promise you, Lana”, she pleaded, “if there was any way I could reverse time and undo all the damage I created yesterday, I would!”

  Lana watched as tears trickled down Jenny’s cheek. She didn’t want to feel compassion for her former friend—lord knows the woman’s selfishness was part of the reason they were standing here. Jenny had made some poor choices since the new year began.

  And according to many, so had Lana.

  Quick to judge and slow to forgive, the residents of Butler Island had unknowingly initiated yesterday’s outcome. Months of contempt and humiliation had sucked the liveliness from Jenny, leaving behind a bitter and spiteful shell. The woman wasn’t an innocent bystander by any means, but Lana understood—probably better than anyone—that sometimes life’s toughest choices weren’t presented in black and white. More often than not options were murky and gray.

  Lana wanted to believe that Jenny’s remorse was sincere. The woman was a lot of things, yes—but she wasn’t a liar. She’d made her feelings for Lana blatantly clear the last several months.

  Crystal clear.

  “I just don’t get it, Jenny. Your misery-loves-company motive is twisted and sick, but straightforward. What has me completely baffled is Mayor Cliffburg’s motive. Why?—why would he do this?”

  “Honey, isn’t it obvious? The man’s completely captivated by you. Needless to say, when he found out that you’d been secretly seeing Randall, he didn’t take the news well.”

  With quivering hands, Jenny ran her fingertips over the tender skin near her mouth where the mayor had grabbed her face earlier. “He’s not the caring, charismatic man he leads the public to believe, Lana. He’s cold. Conniving. Downright scary. He’s waiting for public outrage to peak. He wants you to feel like the only thing you have left is your position at city hall. And when that happens, he plans to take that away from you, too.”

  “And you’re my replacement”, Lana stated just above a whisper.

  Jenny nodded. “But… things change, Lana. I have a new plan, and if you’re willing, I think we can attempt to make this right. What do you say?”

  A high-pitched DING announced the elevator’s arrival a moment before the heavy metallic doors slid open. Part of her wanted to turn her back on Jenny, the part that felt mauled and betrayed. But something kept her feet planted firmly in place.

  “You ladies going up?” asked the kind, middle-aged gentleman that’d just stepped aboard.

  Mayor Cliffburg had everyone fooled, claiming to be honorable and good, when truthfully he was anything but. He’d mastered his craft, disguising his poisonous and corrupt insides with flashy suits and phony smiles.

  He could ruin her reputation, deliver her walking papers, but his evil scheme couldn’t take what mattered to her most. Family.

  She wasn’t afraid of Michael Cliffburg.

  But Michael Cliffburg should be afraid of her.

  The people in this town deserved better. They deserved to know their beloved leader was crooked to the core.

  “No”, Lana finally said, “we’re not. Thank you for asking.” Nodding firmly once, the chivalrous man removed his hand from the impatient door, disappearing a moment later behind a sheet of sliding heavy metal.

  Crossing her arms, Lana’s eye’s returned to Jenny. “So”—she shrugged—“what now?”

  Feeding her starved lungs with a liter of antiseptic-scented air, Jenny’s rigid shoulders relaxed. “Two things”, she gestured with her fingers, “a computer and some of your time.”

  “Having any gas pains?” Chief Handler’s wife, Debbie, asked. “When I had my gallbladder removed a few years ago, the surgeon pumped my body full of air—I was tootin’ like a New York City cab driver in rush hour traffic for the next three days!”

  Randall’s dark brows lifted briefly in surprise. “Nope, no gas pains.” But suddenly he was sensing a sharp pain in his ass. Chatty Debbie meant well, he knew, but damn… Where did she come up with this shit?

  “Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to have zero control over your body?”

  Probably no more embarrassing than hearing you talk about it.

  “Seemed to happen every time someone came into my room. Kind of reminded me of those movies set in medieval times—you know, the ones where horns announce the arrival of royalty? Anyhow, I…”

  Chief Handler scrubbed a chubby hand down his face before mouthing the words I’m sorry to Randall. How the man had survived t
hirty years of peculiar conversation, he’d never know.

  “…They don’t tell you these things beforehand, you know. I mean, what woman in her right mind would agree to have an elective surgery, knowin’ her rear end would come down with a case of Tourette’s syndrome?”

  Probably the same kind of woman that openly talked about it.

  Randall eyed the clock: almost noon. Damn it, Lana, where are you…

  “Uh, honey”, Chief Handler interjected before she started again. “Would you mind gettin’ me a cup of coffee from the cafeteria? After the night we all had, I could use another jolt of caffeine.”

  “I reckon”, she said, planting a kiss on the top of his nearly bald head. “But you’ll have to drink it black this time; you’ve already had three candy bars this morning.”

  “Yes, Dear.” Chief Handler waited for the door to close before he released a frustrated breath. “The woman has too much time on her hands. Drives me damn nuts, sometimes”, he uttered wryly.

  You’re not the only one.

  Randall studied him for a beat. Chatty Debbie may occasionally drive the man berserk, but there was no mistaking how much Chief adored his wife. “Yeah, but you still love her anyway.”

  “Sure do.” Shifting his large derriere in the narrow seat, his eyes settled on Randall. “You gave us all quite a scare last night, you know—especially Lana. For the second time, I had to stand on her front porch and deliver bad news. I don’t ever want to have to do that again.”

  “Then we both want the same thing.”

  “Good.” Chief jutted his chin in the direction of Randall’s ankle. “Doc say how long before you’re back on your feet?”

  “If he did, I was too doped up to remem—”

  “I’m sorry”, Lana announced as she stepped into the room. “I didn’t realize you had a visitor. I can come back lat—”

  “No!” Randall blurted. His sudden outburst rattled his cracked ribs; palming his left side he winced, sucking air through his mouth through clenched teeth. He’d waited all morning for Lana to arrive, and if experiencing a little pain’s what it’d take for her to stay, he’d gladly do it again.

  “But you’re—”

  “It’s okay, Darlin’ ”, Chief uttered, rocking in his chair until he gained enough momentum to stand. “I was gettin’ ready to head down to the cafeteria, anyhow.” Shuffling to the door, he gave Lana a friendly pat on the shoulder and murmured something that sounded an awful lot like go easy on him before vanishing into the hall.

  Lana stood several paces in front of the door, her arms wrapped around her middle for comfort. Feet fixed to the linoleum floor, her eyes swept over his body, carefully surveying the damage.

  “I’m okay”, he reassured her when her blue eyes began to fill with tears. A quivering hand briefly covered her mouth before her composure returned. The piercing sharp pain exploding behind his breastbone had nothing to do with his injuries, this time. The fact that he’d done this to her—again—didn’t sit right with him. “C’ mere”, he uttered quietly, patting the mattress.

  In roughly two strides Lana rushed forward, carefully shrouding him with her soft body. The sensation felt good, natural, leaving no doubt that this—this life, this woman—was what he wanted.

  “I’m sorry”, he whispered, nuzzling her neck with the tip of his nose. Subtle hints of vanilla drifted into his awareness, immediately putting his weary mind at ease.

  Lana raised her upper body a bit, aiming her glassy blue eyes at his. “When I opened the door last night and saw Grant and Chief Handler, I-I thought—”

  “I know”, he murmured, tucking a strand of light brown hair behind her ear. “I’m so sorry. Guess I just thought if I left town for a day or two it’d make things easier on you.”

  “I can handle the looks and the crude comments, Randall. Because at the end of the day what people think of me and the choices I’ve made, don’t matter. But you do. You matter to Connor… to me.”

  “I never meant to hurt you. God”, he sighed, letting the back of his head rest against the pillow again, “That’s all I seem to be good at these days.”

  For the first time in days he saw the corners of Lana’s mouth lift into a radiant smile. “Well, that’s not all you’re good at; I can think of quite a few things, actually.”

  Randall smiled too. “A few, eh?”

  Laughter fled her pink lips, filling him with a sense of purpose. God, he loved hearing it, loved how her full lips spanned across her slender face, how her deep-blue gaze danced buoyantly, as though she didn’t have a care in the world.

  “I still have a few moves you haven’t seen yet, you know.”

  “Yet?” One of Lana’s dark brows raised before her eyes raked over his wounded body. “I don’t think you’re in the best condition to—”

  “I think I can still manage”, he commented wryly. “It would have to take a full body cast to keep me from showing you.” Hell, just the thought of sinking into Lana’s sweet body right now had blood suddenly rushing south. At least he knew everything still worked.

  Staring at her hands, Lana’s expression gradually turned serious. There was definitely something on her mind. And with a multitude of misfortunes in the last twenty-four hours alone, her weary brain had been working overtime. “A penny for your thoughts…”

  Silence stretched for a few beats, leaving him to wonder whether she’d answer. “I ran into Jenny this morning”, she finally murmured.

  “Really?”

  Lana nodded. She explained how the mayor had pitched the idea to Jenny, offering her Lana’s position at city hall in return for her performance.

  “What makes you think she’s telling the truth? She’d probably say just about anything to—”

  “She engaged the mayor in a very incriminating conversation this morning and got it all on tape… That’s actually why it took me so long to get to you today; I loaded the audio on the town’s website.”

  Lana shrugged as if bringing down corrupt politicians was all in a day’s work. “Jimmy never liked the guy”, she shared, picking at the remnants of coral polish leftover from the night before. “Guess now I know why...”

  Living beings tend to overcomplicate things. Doesn’t have to be that way, though. The secret to life really is simple. It all comes down to love: the love you give and the love others give you.

  It was time—hell, past time—to tell her how he really felt. Jimmy was right: the secret to life is love. And he planned on giving his to Lana until his last breath. “I saw him, you know.”

  “Who, the mayor?”

  “No… Jimmy.” Set to a timer, the blood pressure cuff tightened around his left bicep with a low hum. He stared into Lana’s hopeful gaze until the cuff hissed, slipping into a slumber-like phase

  “How’d...how’d he look?”

  Just one of the many things he loved about this woman. He knew how crazy it probably sounded, and to most people what he’d experienced had been nothing more than a dream, a vivid hallucination brought on by the narcotic cocktail he’d received after paramedics extracted him from his mangled Ford.

  But not Lana. Because irrational or not, she believed him.

  “He looked good—sarcastic as ever, too. He couldn’t help but point out how he’d rescued me for the second time.” Lana covered her mouth with her fingertips, but the half-laugh/half-sob escaped anyhow. “He asked me if I was in love with you.”

  “And what di-did you tell him?”

  “The truth…” Randall palmed her face, wiping a fleeing tear with the pad of his thumb. “Because I am. Have been for a long time.”

  The hint of a smile curved her lips. “This you or the drugs talkin’?” she teased.

  Randall chuckled under his breath, the subtle vibration reminding him immediately of his injuries. “Ahhh… don’t make me laugh”, he managed, smiling. “It hurts.”

  “I’m so sorry!” she amended. “I didn’t mean to—”

  “It’s okay. For the first t
ime in a long time, everything feels… okay.”

  “Just okay?” she asked, nibbling on her bottom lip.

  Randall carefully tugged her a little closer, planting a soft kiss to the sweet spot just below her right ear. “Better than okay: perfect…”

  Pulling back slightly, Lana’s blue gaze homed in on his. “You know… I’ve always believed life was deliberate, that the highs and lows we experience are mapped out far in advance. That people enter and exit our lives for a reason. And so for the life of me, I couldn’t understand how losing Jimmy fit into that equation. It just seemed so… random.”

  Wiping a falling tear, she smiled. “But I think I get it, now”, she whispered. “Jimmy rescued you that day, making it possible for you to rescue me.”

  He’d never thought of it that way, but maybe she was partly right. Because through the tragedy of losing Jimmy, he and Lana had discovered each other. They’d managed to transform something awful and unfathomable into something beautiful and treasured. “You know, as your rescuer, you owe me.”

  “That so? And what is it that you want, Randall Burns?”

  His eyes followed his fingers as he nudged a lock of light brown hair that’d fallen across her left cheek. “You… Forever…”

  The next few seconds felt like centuries. He searched her delicate features for clues as to what she was thinking, but her expression gave nothing away.

  “You sure about that?” she finally asked. “Because it’s not just me—Connor and I are sort of a package deal.”

  “Good. Because I was sort of counting on that. I love Connor… and I love you, too.” Lana silently chewed on her bottom lip for a few beats, her midnight eyes connecting with his. “You’re killing me, here”, he whispered.

  Finally, a hint of a smile.

  “Me?” she asked, placing her palm against her chest. “Forever?”

  “Please.”

  “A simple thank you won’t suffice?”