Come Home to Deep River
Page 32
Cathy nodded, then closed her eyes. But even after he’d shut her in, she could still hear them talking. A couple of minutes later Duke got back in the truck, and as he made a U-turn in the street, she grabbed onto the console to steady herself.
“Lon’s just ahead of us, leading the way with his lights flashing. Just hang on for a few minutes more. Are you hurting very much?” he asked.
“Enough, and I really appreciate this,” she added.
Duke glanced down at her briefly. Again, their gazes locked, but this time she was the first to look away. He could tell he made her uncomfortable, so he turned his attention to driving.
As soon as he pulled up at the ER, everything began happening at once. Two orderlies came running out so quickly that Duke guessed the chief must have radioed ahead that they were inbound. He jumped out as they were transferring Cathy from his truck to a gurney, and then walked beside her as they wheeled her inside.
“Is there anyone I can call?” Duke asked.
“No, but I’m fine, and thank you again for all your help,” Cathy said.
Duke watched until they wheeled her out of sight and then shoved his hands in his pockets. He was still standing in the middle of the hall when Hope came around a corner. When she saw him, she came running.
“Duke? What are you doing here? Did something happen to Jack?”
“No, no, nothing like that,” Duke said. “I came in to get a haircut this morning. I was going to have my oil checked when I saw a woman take a bad fall. I just brought her in.”
“Oh no! Who was it?” Hope asked.
“Her name is Cathy Terry.”
“Oh, Mercy mentioned her a time or two. She’s renting from Dan Amos. Was she hurt bad?”
“I don’t know. I felt bad leaving her here on her own, but when I offered to call someone for her, she shook me off. I think I make her nervous…not me personally, but me being a man.”
Hope was a little surprised by Duke’s insight and concern. Most of the time her brother-in-law was either critical or dismissive of just about everything and everybody.
“I’m working in the ER today. I’ll check on her,” Hope said.
“Okay. If she needs help, let me know,” he said, then left the ER.
He got back in his truck and headed for the Curl Up and Dye for his appointment. The last barber had left Blessings some years back, so it was either a haircut at the ladies’ hair salon, a drive all the way to Savannah, or do it yourself. Duke had only tried DIY once when he was twelve, and the results had been disastrous. But his thoughts were no longer on the day ahead of him. He was thinking of the little redhead he’d left all alone in the ER.
* * *
Cathy was disgusted with herself and, at the same time, a little anxious. Being self-reliant was fine when all your moving parts were working, but from the swelling on her ankle and the huge bruise already spreading on her hip, she wasn’t going to be jogging for a while, and getting to the Crown for groceries wasn’t going to be easy, either. She didn’t have one person in town she knew well enough to ask for help, and she was wishing she’d already leased a car.
Cathy was watching Rhonda, the nurse who was cleaning the scrape on her hand, when another nurse walked in. She was tall, dark-haired, and looked vaguely familiar.
“Hi, Rhonda, how is she doing?” Hope asked.
“We’re waiting for Doctor Quick,” Rhonda said.
Hope moved to the other side of the bed.
“Hi, Cathy. I’m Hope Talbot. Mercy Pittman, the fabulous baker at Granny’s, is my sister, and it was my brother-in-law, Duke, who brought you here. Has someone been in yet to get your personal information?”
“No, not yet,” Cathy said, but now she knew why the woman looked familiar. She looked like the woman she’d seen at Granny’s.
“Then they will do that shortly. Is there anyone I can call?” Hope asked.
“No, but I have a question. Does Blessings have a taxi service?” Cathy asked.
“We don’t have an official taxi service, but we have a whole lot of good people who will gladly give you a ride home. Do you live alone?”
Cathy nodded.
Hope glanced down at Cathy’s swollen ankle. “You won’t be driving for a while.”
“I don’t have a car here,” she said.
“Ah… Came in on the bus, did you?” Hope said.
“No, I had been backpacking for several months when I got to Blessings. I decided it was time to find a place to spend the winter.”
Hope’s eyes widened. “Wow! Go, you! As for getting home, that’s no problem. We’ll get you all sorted out. All it will take is one phone call. Have you met Ruby yet?” Hope asked.
“No, who’s Ruby?” Cathy asked.
“Ruby Butterman. She owns the Curl Up and Dye. She’s the go-to person in Blessings when someone is in need. Her husband, Peanut, is the local lawyer.”
“Her husband’s name is Peanut Butterman? For real?” Cathy asked.
Hope giggled. “Yes. He always says his parents were smoking weed when they named him.”
Cathy grinned, and then winced when Rhonda poured some antiseptic on the palm of her hand.
“I’ll go make a couple of phone calls,” Hope said. “I’ll be back later to check on you. Don’t worry. We’ll get you home.”
Once again, Cathy was struck by how friendly people were here, and as Hope had predicted, a couple of minutes later, a man came in and got her personal information, and as he was leaving, the ER doctor arrived.
Rhonda looked up. “Good morning, Doctor Quick. This is Cathy Terry.”
He smiled. “Morning, Rhonda,” he said, and then he shifted focus to his patient. “Hello, Cathy, I’m Dr. Quick. What have you done to yourself?” he asked, as he began eyeing the bruising and the swollen ankle.
“I turned my ankle and fell while I was jogging.”
Dr. Quick was already feeling her ankle. “Can you move it?” he asked.
“Yes, it hurts, but I can move it,” she said, and proceeded to show him. “Fell pretty hard on my right side. My shoulder and hip are beginning to hurt, too.”
“Did you hit your head?” he asked, glancing at her thick, red curls.
“No.”
Dr. Quick nodded. “Okay, I’m sending you down for X-rays. We’ll know more after I see them. Just bear with us.”
A couple of minutes later, an orderly arrived with a wheelchair, and all the way down the hall, Cathy kept thinking… Nightmare or not, I wish I’d gone back to bed.
Once in a Blue Moon
On sale August 2020!
About the Author
Jackie Ashenden has been writing fiction since she was eleven years old. Mild-mannered fantasy/SF/pseudo-literary writer by day, obsessive romance writer by night, she used to balance her writing with the more serious job of librarianship until a chance meeting with another romance writer prompted her to throw off the shackles of her day job and devote herself to the true love of her heart—writing romance. She particularly likes to write dark, emotional stories with alpha heroes who’ve just gotten the world to their liking only to have it blown wide apart by their kick-ass heroines.
She lives in Auckland, New Zealand, with her husband, the inimitable Dr. Jax, two kids, one dog, and one cat. When she’s not torturing alpha males and their obstreperous heroines, she can be found drinking chocolate martinis, reading anything she can lay her hands on, posting random stuff on her blog, or being forced to go mountain biking with her husband.
You can find Jackie at jackieashenden.com or follow her on Twitter.
The One for You
Secrets come to light and lovers learn to heal in this steamy series by bestselling author Roni Loren
Kincaid Breslin is a survivor. She doesn’t know why she got the chance to live when so many of her friends died when prom night turne
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