Page 16 of Downpour

Ray remained silent. The disdain in his eyes said it all.

That was fine. I enjoyed a challenge.

4

RAY

Two days had passed since Brooke showed up at my doorstep with skinned knees and a smile plastered on her face. And for the past two days, she hadn’t stopped talking.

No matter how many times I told her to shut up, she just...wouldn’t.

Mickey, my niece’s accidental pet cow, had taken up permanent residence on my back deck. Apparently, he was in love with the girl.

Thankfully, I’d gotten a few hours of peace today. It was one of those rare mornings when I didn’t have to go into town for physical therapy. Babbling Brooke wasn’t scheduled to return until the afternoon. Since I hadn’t fired anyone in the past forty-eight hours, my brothers and parents had left me alone.

Wheeling myself back into the kitchen, I stowed the empty watering can under the sink. My back was giving me hell today—not an unusual occurrence, but certainly an irritating one.

My phone vibrated in my lap.

CJ

You good?

I didn’t bother responding. CJ, my younger brother, knew I’d call if I needed something.

Not like he could help me anyway. He was probably as far away from people as humanly possible. It wasn’t lost on me that he had been moving the herd of cattle farther and farther from the civilized part of the property, and it had nothing to do with the construction of the lodge and restaurant.

The sliding door was propped open today, letting a breeze sweep through the screen. If I was being honest, I wanted to go outside and drive through the property.

For the first time, the ranch was bustling from sunrise to sunset, and it wasn’t because of the cattle.

I had been urging my dad for years to diversify the ranch’s financial interests. Finally, he listened.

Cassandra was brought in. She fell in love with my brother, Christian, and the ranch revitalization project was born.

She was swamped, coordinating the budding equine program while the framing for the restaurant and lodge was going up. It would be worth it in the end.

Putting all your eggs in one basket was foolish. Everyone needed a backup plan. Turns out, I was the pot calling the kettle black.

I shifted to try and ease the ache that radiated down my sciatic nerve. It made my knee throb. That was new.

I had been feeling weird muscle sensations for a few weeks. My physical therapist knew, but we kept it between the two of us.

I eased away from the kitchen counter and locked my wheelchair. Carefully, I cupped the back of my knee and lifted my foot off the footrest. I closed my eyes, braced against the armrests, then did what the physical therapist said and focused on the muscles that I remembered.

I felt the memory of tension pulling from my hip to my knee to my ankle as I slid my foot an inch. Moving my leg was an out-of-body experience.

My upper body gross motor skills had returned more easily than my fine motor skills. It was frustrating to have to spend my time in physical therapy learning how to use a pencil or use my phone.

Thank God for voice notes and voice-to-text. Not that I was ever the one to reach out to people. I used it for brief responses and middle finger emojis.

I glanced at the clock as I wedged my hands under my knee and slowly lifted my foot back onto the metal rest. It was almost two in the afternoon.

Brooke was supposed to have been here at one.

Today was her first day flying solo.

The day she showed up in my driveway with a fucking love plant, Chris and Cassandra had been there to act as a buffer. My mom was the one who showed up yesterday to make sure I didn’t fire her.

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