Ranger's Homecoming (The Rescue Rangers Book 2) by Caitlyn Lynch

Author:Caitlyn Lynch [Lynch, Caitlyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shenanigans Press
Published: 2021-06-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

The impound lot wasn’t far from Carla’s house, just a couple of blocks. Obviously her terrorized school buddy had done her bidding and called ahead, because the lot manager was very eager to hand Jason’s rental car keys back. Driving it over to the rental company’s office in town, he paid for the extra day’s hire without quibbling and accepted their offer of a ride to wherever he was headed.

Rose seemed exhausted when Jason arrived back at her house. Friends had long since filled her freezer with meals, but she only shook her head when he pressed her to eat. Eventually he managed to convince her to have some soup, since she needed to eat something to take her medication with.

“There’s no point in this,” she grumbled, washing the pills down with a few sips of water. “I’m dying, the pills aren’t going to change that.”

It was hard for him to hear her talk like that, Rose the indomitable, the one who had never backed down, never taken a backward step despite the years of abuse from her husband and her son, never allowed the Hunters to push Jason and his mother around.

“They’re just to make you more comfortable,” he said finally, taking the glass from her shaking hand.

“A stiff bourbon would do the job a lot better.” She pushed herself to her feet, waving him away when he moved to assist her. “I know, I know, I can’t have one. Not yet, anyway.”

“Not yet?”

“Doc Walters says when the time gets close, he’ll take me off the medication and I can have whatever I like. I’m got an expensive bottle of champagne in the cooler, and a packet of cigarettes.” She sounded gleeful, like a teenager plotting a wild night of escape from parental authority.

“Aunt Rose, you haven’t smoked since I was a child,” Jason shook his head. “You’ll cough your lungs up.”

She smiled at him, a frail shadow of the strong, vibrant woman she had once been. No blood relation, she was still the only family he had apart from his mom and stepfather, or at least the only one he would acknowledge. The mere thought of losing her made his heart ache.

“There are worse ways to go, Jason,” she said, and walked slowly down the hallway to her bedroom, her cane tapping a soft plunk-plunk as she went. “Good night, dear,” her voice floated softly in the air behind her. “Sleep well.”

Jason sat quietly for a while, staring out into the darkness through the window. Eventually he sighed and got up, heading to the kitchen to reheat the casserole he’d pulled from the freezer and tried to persuade his aunt to eat. He needed a meal himself, and he might as well eat it as throw it out.

After his solitary supper, he fished out his phone and did a little bit of searching and scrolling, wishing that Rose was technologically minded enough to own a computer. His phone screen was just too small to do any more

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