Rescue Me (Butler Island) Read Online Free Page A

Please… d-don’t leave us! No !”
    Hearing her desperate plea, her heartbreaking sobs, was
more than Randall could bear. This was his fault—he was the reason this woman
was experiencing unspeakable agony.
    Randall was to blame.
    Standing, he quickly stepped into the aisle, wiping his
palm down his face as he scurried toward the exit. There wasn’t a dry eye in
the room as Lana’s breakdown continued.
    He needed to get out of here. Now.
    Bursting through the heavy wood doors, his strong façade
cracked as the emotions from the previous four days rushed over him—through
him.
    Damn it , Jimmy … It should have been me …
    A single hot, wet tear slid down his cheek as he climbed
into his truck and started the ignition. He needed to get away, needed to be
far from prying eyes.
    Needed to grieve for his best friend on his own terms.
Alone.
    Squealing out of the packed parking lot he glanced at the
gauges along the dash. He had a full tank of gas. Good. He’d head East on I-10.
    His destination was unknown.
    His return date: yet to be determined.

 
     
     
    Chapter 3
     
     
     
    Lana Phillips quietly closed Connor’s bedroom door, torn
between falling to bed in a heap of exhaustion, or enjoying the silent solitude
that followed tucking her five-year-old in bed.
    Well, maybe “ enjoy ” was a bit of a stretch, and
the “ silent solitude ” was anything but peaceful.
    It’d been roughly five months since she’d buried her
husband. Five months since the weight of the world fell solely upon her
shoulders. There were bills to pay, groceries to purchase, school functions to
attend, and a myriad of other duties to perform. She was now a single parent—a
twenty-seven-year-old woman attempting to raise a boy into a man.
    All by her lonesome.
    Conner hadn’t quite adjusted to life without Jimmy. Guess
it was safe to say neither of them had.
    She worried about her little boy. She tried to make extra
time for Connor, but that was problematic considering she was now assuming the
roles of both mommy and daddy.
    Trudging into the kitchen, Lana snatched the bottle of
white zinfandel she’d opened last night from the fridge and filled her wine
glass half-full—or rather, half-empty. Yeah, that sounded better—sort of summed
up her life the last five months.
    Half-empty.
    Taking a sip of crisp wine, she drifted into the living
room. Jimmy was her high school sweetheart: her first boyfriend, her first real
kiss, her first… everything . He’d been a senior when they began dating,
Lana a freshman.
    She still remembered every detail of the day they’d met.
She’d been walking down the crowded halls of Butler Island High when someone
had bumped into her from behind, causing Lana’s books and papers to scatter
recklessly along the speckled linoleum floor. Dodging droves of feet scurrying
by, she began gathering her belongings, aware that the delay would likely make
her late for her third period algebra class.
    Unexpectedly, a good-looking blond with broad shoulders
and delicious milk chocolate eyes swooped down to her rescue.
    “You all right?”
    “Um, yeah… Just a little embarrassed, I guess.”
    His laughter was warm, soothing—no hint of ridicule
what-so-ever. “Well, good to know even pretty girls like you get embarrassed
from time to time. Here you go”, he remarked as he handed her a stack of books.
    “Thanks”, she uttered, rising to her feet. Mirroring her
movement he stood as well, his six-foot frame towering over her. It was then
she noticed his jersey. “You’re a football player”, she stated flatly. Weren’t
jocks supposed to be mindless, arrogant assholes ?
    “Did the jersey give me away?”
    His tone was playful, unmocking. She regarded him warily,
silently for a stretch. They stood in the middle of the hallway, the crowd
bisecting around them as though Jimmy was Moses parting the Red Sea. His body
shielding her from another collision. Nervously she tucked her light brown hair
behind her ear