Inherited Light_A Small-Town, California Romance Filled with Dogs, Deception, and Finding True Love Despite Our Imperfections

by Katie Mettner

  She leaned back against the seat and smiled at me. “Thanks, I owe you one. I’m exhausted from working all day and smiling all night. Wine is what I need. Wine and some time out of the chair.”

  She rubbed her back and I took notice as I steered out of the parking lot toward her house. “Your back is the problem, isn’t it?” I asked her, reaching over to massage her shoulder. I noticed my own back aching earlier, but figured it was bound to after standing hunched over the ramp all afternoon.

  “It starts to hurt if I sit in the chair for too long. Normally I vary my sitting positions throughout the day, but yesterday and today were spent in the chair for far too many hours. It will be okay tomorrow.”

  “Do you have anything you can take to help with the pain?” I asked, steering into a parking lot a few blocks from her gallery.

  “I do at home, but why are we here?” she asked glancing around in the dark.

  I pointed at the small building. “You said you wanted wine. I’ll go in and grab a bottle. What’s your favorite kind?”

  She looked at me with a teasing grin on her face. “I hate to say it, because most people think its trash, but I love white zin.”

  I leaned over and kissed her nose. “If you love it then it’s not trash. I’ll be right back. You’ll be okay in here alone? Or do you want to come in?”

  She smiled as her head rested on the back of the seat. “I couldn’t if I tried.”

  “I’ll be right back,” I promised, jumping from the cab and striding to the door. I noticed we made it just in the nick of time and I jogged to the wine display and made a selection before they closed the registers. Living in wine country, I had more choices than I could count, so I grabbed the first bottle of white zinfandel I could find and carried it to the checkout.

  I set it down on the counter and the older gentleman at the register twisted it toward him as I took out my wallet. “Nice choice, son. You’ll love it. Sweet, but not too sweet.”

  I nodded. “Thanks, I feel like saying eeny meeny miney mo when it comes to wine sometimes. There are too many choices.”

  I showed him my ID and waited while he scanned the wine. “Tell me about it. Every day there’s a rep in here pedaling a new one. It’s hard to stay current with all the choices. Anything else for you tonight?”

  My eyes caught sight of a small display below the counter. “Hang on,” I said, bending down to check it out. There were sample packs of Tylenol, Advil, aspirin and surprisingly, packs of condoms. I grabbed two types of pain relievers and a pack of condoms, setting it all up on the counter. “My friend has a sore back,” I explained as he rung it all up. I didn’t make eye contact with him as he scanned the items and threw them in the bag with the bottle of wine.

  “Nice of you to grab her some pain relievers,” he said, but I could tell he was trying not to laugh as I paid for the purchases and grabbed the bag.

  “Have a great night,” I called as I approached the front of the building. I was grateful the entrance to the store didn’t have any windows, and I slipped the condoms into my coat pocket until I could put them in the truck. I didn’t intend to use them tonight, but at least they would be there when, and if, I needed them.

  I climbed back in the truck and handed her the two packets of medication, holding out a bottle of unopened water from the console. “Maybe this will take the edge off until I get you home.”

  She took the packets of medication and the bottle of water, but I noticed her hand shook as she did it. She held the bottle of water to her chest. “Thank you, Ren. How sweet of you. I appreciate this more than you know.”

  She ripped open the Tylenol and took the two pills, resting the bottle of water in the console while she tore open the Advil and held them in her hand, too. I grabbed her arm before she could put the pills on her tongue. “Is it safe to take both together?”

  She nodded, so I let her hand go and she swallowed them, screwing the cap back on the water bottle as I turned out of the parking lot and toward Martindale.

  “Don’t worry, I don’t always take both, but tonight the pain is especially exquisite.”

  I rested my hand on her thin thigh. “I’ll get you home soon and do whatever you need me to do. Would a backrub help?”

  She leaned back, putting her hand over mine. “I’ll be okay, but thanks for the offer. I’m excited to see the ramp. I bet a tornado wouldn’t budge it now.

  I laughed and lifted my hand from her leg, giving her the so-so motion. “It’s sturdy and you won’t get hurt on it, but it needs to be torn down. I’ll build the one to the back door first, then demolish the old one. Since I was under it anyway, I checked out the stairs to the front door and they’re going to have to go. The cement is crumbling and sinking into the soil, which was also causing some of the instability in the ramp. They’ve been covered for too long and there’s no way to make them usable again. If you’re interested, I could build a set of stairs and small deck on the front of the house. It would be a space you could sit on with your chair in the morning and enjoy the sunshine. If a friend stopped by, it would be a great place to sit and visit. What do you think?”

  She stared out the windshield and I noticed her sniffing. I caught a tear with my thumb as it ran down her face then squeezed her shoulder, my heart clenching to hear her cry. “I can just replace the stairs. You don’t have to cry, sweetheart.”

  I slowed the truck and exited the highway, glad we were almost home. She swiped at her other eye and sighed. “As you were describing what you would do I realized I don’t have any friends to sit on a deck with, Ren. It’s no one’s fault but my own. You can build it, but there will be no friends to fill it.”

  I turned into her driveway and parked in the space where her van usually sits. The ignition off, I swiveled toward her. “I’m sorry, Cat. I don’t know why you feel this way, but your pain is palpable as I sit here with you. Maybe it’s because I grew up with Cinn, and I learned how to read her cues when her words weren’t telling me the truth about how she truly felt. All I know is, I need to get you into the house so you can take a hot shower and go to bed. Tomorrow morning will be soon enough to check out the ramp. We’ll do it in the bright morning sun and share a cup of coffee in the yard. Okay?”

  She grasped my hand tightly. “Will you stay with me tonight?”

  I took a deep breath and held it, unsure of what to say. Her eyes searched mine and I never wanted to see such desperation in them ever again. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea, Cat. You should rest.”

  “I only meant stay in the house with me. I don’t want to be alone. Can I be honest with you?”

  I rubbed her face with my thumb. “Always, baby.”

  “When I saw Xavier tonight, everything from the time I dated him rushed back to me in a wave of fear. I don’t want to be alone because I’m scared. I know, logically, he’s not going to come out here, but the dark scares me into believing he might.”

  I tugged her to me, right into my arms so I could hold her. “I’ll stay for however long you need me to stay, Cat. I know Xavier and he’s all bark and no bite, but it’s little consolation when you’re tired, sore, and upset about your van. Let’s go in and you can shower while I chill the wine. We can share a glass before bed.”

  She nodded against the hollow of my neck and rather than release her I opened my door, climbing out with her still in my arms. I swiveled and sat her on the seat while I unstrapped her wheelchair and then grabbed the cushion and her purse, before lifting her down into the chair. I noticed her wince and wondered if she had hurt herself somehow and didn’t want to tell me. She rolled ahead of me and I grabbed the keys and the bottle of wine, locking the truck behind me.

  She stopped at the ramp and waited for the light to come on, but it didn’t. “Did you turn the light off when you were in the house?” she asked.

  A feeling hit me as I stood there waiting in the darkness. It was doom. As though our lives were about to change and it took everything I had to answer her, and not pick
her up and run. “No, I didn’t go in the house. Let me check and see if the bulb is burned out.” I set the wine down on the sidewalk and jogged around the side of the ramp.

  She started rolling up the ramp alongside me. “It shouldn’t be burned out, but I guess you never know.”

  I grabbed my phone as I stepped carefully around the back of the ramp. I fumbled with the phone to turn the flashlight on and dropped it by accident. “Dammit,” I said, bending over to pick it up. I felt a sharp pain in my neck and the ground rose up to meet me.

  Chapter Eleven

  My head pounded with each heartbeat and I woke slowly, wondering what the hell had happened. The dark had swallowed me, but I searched around on the ground for my phone, remembering it was what I had bent over to get before someone hit me from behind. I felt the hard case under my rib and rolled over, moaning a little as I did, until I could get the phone in my hand. I sat up and the hulking ramp loomed in front of me. Only then did I remember where I was.

  Fear enveloped me and I hoisted my body up and propelled myself forward, yelling into the night. “Cat! Cat!” I called as I ran around the ramp, the flashlight bouncing a beam of light across the lawn until I trained it on the house. Her chair lay tipped over against the ramp’s railing and another sweep of the light was all I needed to find her, laying at the bottom, not moving.

  Terror. Heart stopping terror was all encompassing as I ran and slid to my knees, my hands checking for a pulse. I let out a breath when I felt a steady one. There was no light, so I ran to my truck and turned the headlights on, illuminating the space around us, and protecting us from another sneak attack. I knelt by Cat again and rubbed her face roughly. “Cat, please wake up, honey,” I called, slapping her face lightly. She slowly moved her head and moaned, her face grimacing as though she was in terrible pain.

  “Ren?” she asked, her hand coming up to touch her head. “What happened?”

  She tested her arms and fingers, but I held her still with my hand. “I’m going to call an ambulance. I don’t want to do anything until they stabilize your neck.”

  She didn’t argue, which had me dialing 911 with urgency. I somehow knew she would refuse an ambulance unless she was worried about her condition, too. I held the phone between my shoulder and my ear, keeping my hand on her to hold her steady.

  “911, what’s your emergency?” the operator asked.

  “I need an ambulance at 722 Hollyhock Lane. We were attacked and a woman is injured.”

  “I’m sending an ambulance now. Is the patient conscious?”

  I ran my hand over her face and she grabbed it with her hand. “Yes, she’s conscious, but she was thrown from her wheelchair. She’s paralyzed from the waist down.”

  “Okay, sir, make sure she doesn’t move until the paramedics arrive.”

  “She’s not moving. I’m holding her still,” I said as she stared up at me with fear written all over her face.

  “My ankle hurts,” she said, tears in her eyes.

  “You can feel your ankle?” I asked, suddenly realizing how little I knew about her true condition. “She says her ankle hurts,” I told the operator.

  “I can feel it,” Cat said, breathing heavily. “I have patchy feeling in my legs and feet. I can feel there’s something wrong with it.”

  I kept one hand on her shoulder. “Don’t move. I’m going to check it.”

  “Sir, wait for the paramedics,” the voice on the line said.

  I glanced down toward where her feet were resting on each other and noticed her left ankle was at a funny angle.

  “I’m not moving her,” I answered. There was so much information coming at me from all angles I was having a hard time keeping it sorted after the knock to my head. “Her ankle does look funky.”

  “Is her airway open and is she breathing normally?” the operator asked.

  I skidded back to her head, brushing her hair from her face. “Yes, she’s still conscious,” I said. “I hear the sirens!”

  “I’ll hang up now. Make sure to give the paramedics the information about her disability.”

  “Yes, yes, I will. Thank you!”

  I let the phone fall into my hand and hit the off button then lay down next to her, so our noses were touching. “I’m not going to leave you, okay, sweetheart? I’m right here and I won’t leave you.”

  She smiled weakly as pain etched her face. “I’ll be okay. Once they treat my ankle, anyway.”

  I ran my hand down her face. “How about if we let the doctors determine if you’re okay, anyway. Okay?”

  She laughed softly and flinched, her hand coming up to her head. “My head hurts.”

  I nodded, lowering her hand. “Mine too, but we’re both alive. Do you remember anything about what happened?”

  She closed her eyes to think, but the blare of the ambulance sirens drowned out everything in our throbbing brains. She opened her eyes again as they drove up to the curb. “No, your grunt hit my ears at the same time a flash of something blue struck out from my right. I just remember trying to get away from someone and then I woke up to you talking to me.”

  I sat up and rubbed her arm. “Shhh, it’s okay. They’re going to check you out now,” I said as the paramedics ran into the yard with a backboard and neck collar.

  I stood up and put my hand through my hair, groaning at the giant lump growing on the back of my head. The paramedics knelt next to Cat and started assessing her before I could say a word.

  “Catalina?” the paramedic with the neck collar asked. “What the hell happened?”

  Her eyes searched out the voice and she must have recognized the man behind it. Relief filled her face. “Jorge? Oh my God, Jorge. Someone attacked us,” she cried and he held her arms so she didn’t roll to her back.

  “Okay, Cat, listen to me. We need to take some precautions here because of your back and neck. Do you have any pain in either?” He didn’t wait for an answer as the other EMT put the neck brace on her as a precaution.

  “No. Well, yes. My back hurts, but it has hurt since I got up this morning. I took Tylenol and Advil right before this happened. My neck doesn’t hurt, but my ankle does.”

  Jorge flicked his eyes to the man next to him and pointed in the direction of her leg. “Check it out for me, Jacob.”

  Jorge swung his head my direction, still holding Cat steady on the ground. “Do you remember what happened?”

  “Not much. I drove her home from her gallery because her van had a flat. When the automatic light didn’t come on, I checked it. Someone jumped me and hit me. When I shook the fog from my mind, I found her like this.”

  His eyes flicked to Jacob who gave a slight shake of his head and jogged back to the rig. “Are you hurt, too?”

  “I have a knot on my head, but that’s it. Just take care of Cat, please.”

  Jacob ran back with an ankle splint and I knelt next to Cat’s head, stroking her hair. “He’s going to secure your ankle now, sweetheart,” I said, rubbing my thumb down her face.

  Jorge smiled. “Don’t move, but you can scream.”

  Cat chuckled and then moaned when Jacob put the splint on. “I can feel it, but not like you would feel it. I need to roll over, my arm is scraped and sore.”

  Jorge held her and Jacob grabbed the backboard. “Let us do the work,” Jorge said. They rolled her backward while I maneuvered the board under her. As soon as she was on her back, she gasped and cried out. She grabbed my shirt in her fist and I leaned down by her. My heart pounded as my own back burned with pain and it took my breath away. Jorge and Jacob scrambled to secure her to the board, but she was writhing in pain.

  “My back,” she gasped. “Under my knees.”

  I was helpless until I realized what she wanted. I grabbed for the cushion from her wheelchair and handed it to Jorge. “She needs it under her knees. Right, honey?” I asked.

  She said yes with her eyes, but instead of the cushion, they used a plastic roll they had. Once they got her strapped to the board with i
t under her knees she relaxed and the tension in my back begin to ease. She let go of my shirt a little bit and laughed it off.

  “Sorry, spasm. I can’t think,” she said, her voice tearful and not at all amused. “I’m scared.”

  I kissed her cheek and offered her a warm smile. “I know you’re scared, but we’ll get you to the ER and make you feel better.”

  “Don’t leave me, please,” she begged.

  “I have to leave you in the rig with Jorge and Jacob, but I’ll be right behind you in my truck. They’ll get you there and I’ll be by your side the whole time. Try to relax.”

  Jorge pointed at me. “Are you okay to drive? If you’ve been unconscious you shouldn’t be driving.”

  “I wasn’t unconscious.” I was lying and we both knew it, but he wasn’t putting me in the rig, so it didn’t matter much.

  “Are you able to help us load her? It would be better if we didn’t have to bounce the stretcher across the grass. As soon as we get her to the rig we can get a line started and offer her some pain relief.”

  “Yes, let’s do it now,” I said, my gaze drifting to her face, which was pinched. Her eyes were closed and she was trying to take slow breaths, but I could tell she was still in terrible pain.

  Jacob and Jorge each grabbed the end by her feet and left me to lift the head of the board. I put my hands in the handholds and on the count of three we lifted her slowly off the ground. The two men hurried through the grass and it hit me how grateful I was Law had mowed it today.

  Her eyes opened and she gazed at me. She was terrified and it broke my heart. “You’re doing great, Cat. Just a little bit farther and they’ll make you more comfortable. I’m going to beat you to the hospital, I promise.”

  “I don’t want to be alone,” she whispered and I shook my head, ignoring the pain it caused.

  “You aren’t going to be alone. You know Jorge is going to take excellent care of you in the ambulance. Just relax and tell them what you need. They’re here to help and you’re in good hands.”