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“That’s enough, Jon. Let’s get you out of here,” Dad told me.
I narrowed my eyes, looking at this piece of shit through the bars until we were through the doors and I could no longer see him. I wasn’t normally a violent person, but I’d meant every word I said to him. If I saw him again, he was going to wish I hadn’t. No one laid a finger on Rain like that.
“Let’s get you home, son,” Dad said after we had retrieved my valuables and walked out the front of the station.
“No. Take me back to the tractor pull. I need to find out where they’ve taken Rain. I lost my phone somewhere in the shuffle.”
“Are you sure, son? I don’t want to have to come bail you out again.”
“You won’t. I promise. I need to find her though, Dad.”
“All right. I guess it’s safe enough with that other guy in jail still. Your car is there anyway, I suppose.”
We had barely stopped in the parking lot when I was tumbling out of the car and headed back through the gates. I flashed my ticket for re-entry and the girl at the booth looked at me uncertainly but waved me on in. I was sure I looked a sight with all the mud caked on me. I could feel it drying on my face and neck and see it splattered on my clothes in large splotches.
After talking to a few people who knew no more than I did about the situation, I was relieved to see the ambulance coming back. Running over to them as they parked, I learned that they had treated her for an ankle injury and taken her to the night clinic for further evaluation before returning to the tractor pull. They were the only ambulance service on call in the area and were required to be present at the event except for any emergencies that occurred. I thanked them and hurried back out of the arena, running to my car.
An ankle injury didn’t sound too bad. Hopefully, it was just a twist or sprain and not broken. The last thing she needed was to be starting out her new business with a bum ankle that would hold her back. I drove like a maniac to the clinic, dimly aware that I might be lucky to not get a ticket or go back to jail for going way over the limit. Even as fast as I was going, it seemed like it took forever to get there.
From the glove box, I pulled out one of the small plastic sleeves of tissues I kept there and wet it with some leftover bottled water in the console, dabbing at my face and neck to get off as much of the mud as I could manage. I found a clean shirt in the back seat, pulled my mud-caked one over my head, and put the other one on. It was wrinkled, but it was a definite improvement. Mud still clung to my jeans, but I didn’t look quite as rough as I had. I rushed up the steps of the clinic. My girl was in there—my Rain. The woman I loved.
25
Rain
The last person I had expected to see at the clinic was Allison Clarke, but here she was, looking at me forlornly as she helped me up on the exam table.
“The doctor will be in shortly to examine you, but he’s finishing up with another patient right now,” she told me, making a hasty retreat away from me.
I had thought she’d be scarce after that, but she returned a few moments later with a bottle of water and a clipboard, asking me questions about my history and about how the injury happened.
“It was just stupid. I was down at the tractor pull, and it was muddy. I stepped in a hole and my other foot slipped right out from under me before I could right myself. I guess I twisted it,” I told her, leaving out the part about the fight that had been taking place at the time out of embarrassment.
“Happens a lot around here when it gets rainy out,” she said, continuing with her questions.
When she was done, she removed the wrappings and looked at my swollen ankle for a moment. She didn’t bother to wrap it again but did grab a large wedge cushion and gently raised my leg to rest it on top so that my foot was comfortably elevated.
“That’ll help with the aching. It looks like you may have just sprained it, but I’ll leave that to the doctor to decide. Probably some X-rays. You know how this goes, I imagine.”
“Yeah. I don’t know people bones as well as animals, but yeah. Thanks.”
“Do you need anything else?”
“I don’t think so.”
“OK. I’ll get out of your way and let you wait in privacy,” she said.
