Embracing the Rain by Amy Bledsoe

Chapter One

Raine Taylor closed the front door of her small cabin and jiggled the locked doorknob out of habit. After turning her key in both bolts, she tightened the red knit scarf around her neck and stepped off the porch. Glancing to the right and to the left, the young nurse darted to her gray sedan sitting in the driveway. As the gentle breeze attempted to cut through the heat, the evening sun splashed a multitude of bold colors across the sky, but she walked with her head down and face hidden. The possibility that danger lurked drove the fear inside of her. Ignoring the beauty above, she unlocked the car door, opened it, and slid into the seat.Only then could she breathe a deep sigh of relief.

"You can do this," she said as she began the ten-minute drive into town.

The mere thought of purposeful social interaction was unthinkable, but there had been no way out of the mandatory staff banquet being held at one of town's nicer restaurants. Once inside the noisy establishment, Raine tried to shut out the unsettling feeling of people surrounding her. Keeping her eyes on the checkered floor pattern, she headed for the large gathering room separated from the rest of the diners by a wall of windows.

It took only a moment to spot an open seat in the corner, and she quickly snagged it. Still way out of her comfort zone, she tried to ignore the nausea in her stomach and the heat flushing her cheeks. Able to rise to the occasion as menus were passed around and orders were made, she forced small talk with her co-workers, smiled at the appropriate times, and laughed when necessary, but she sometimes wondered how many of them could see through her feeble attempt at normalcy.

One of the group's waitresses, Nicki, stood at the end of the long table and chatted with some of the nurses after delivering their food. The bubbly waitress jumped from one topic to another, talking about handbags and shoes, and moving on to air travel and Hawaii. Raine listened to the chatter while she stabbed a crouton in her salad until it was a pile of bread dust. She wistfully remembered what it was like to be carefree and happy.

When Nicki finally left the group of nurses so they could enjoy their meals, Raine watched her bounce between a few other tables, always engaging in friendly conversation with the patrons. The waitress stopped and tucked some hair behind her ears, leaving one strand hanging in her face. As she strutted to a table full of men across the busy restaurant, she pulled down her shirt until her chest was partially revealed. Raine's stomach lurched in alarm at the girl's provocative behavior, but she knew it was her own unresolved fear that caused her anxiety.

When she finished eating her dinner, she slipped out of the restaurant virtually unnoticed. Back in the safety of her car, her thoughts jumped back in time to the friends and co-workers she'd left behind in Oklahoma City almost a year earlier. When her trusted therapist had suggested a change in scenery, her friends and family supported the idea. Raine didn't have to consider the option for long, knowing if it could put an end to her incessant reliving of being pulled into a dark room by an evil stranger, perhaps a move was best.

Her phone buzzed in the console, and seeing it was her mother, Charlotte, she put it on speaker. "Hey Mom," she said, making an effort to sound chipper.

"Hi, honey!" said Charlotte. "Just checking on you."

"I'm doing fine. I'm actually on my way home from a staff party."

"Oh, good. Do you still like working in the ER?"

Raine sighed. "Yeah, I really do." When she'd found the job in the emergency department of the one hospital in town several months ago, Charlotte questioned if working in an ER would remind Raine of her own trauma.

"So it hasn't been too difficult?"

"No." said Raine. "I kinda feel a connection with patients sometimes."