With that, he hurried down to his own room and did lock the door this time.
As soon as he sat down at his desk, he placed his head in his arms on his desktop. He could feel another one of those headaches coming. That was when he remembered that he had told Sheila last night that he’d call the doctor today for an appointment. Well, he’d think about that later, maybe after he got home this afternoon.
Then his thoughts turned to his bills. He sure did owe a lot of money now. If only he could go back to the casino one more time. He just knew his luck was about to change. In fact, he might even be able to win it all back in one day.
But, he knew that now that his parents had gone back home, it would be difficult for him to go anywhere without Michelle. He also knew that Sheila wouldn’t keep Michelle if she even thought that Kent was going to the casino.
Then he thought of Mrs. Anderson. She didn’t know anything about his gambling. He could get her to take care of Michelle one night soon and then he could go back to the casino and win all his money back. It just had to be about time he started winning again.
He rose and made his way to the door to open it. He felt good now. He now had a plan, a plan that he knew would work this time. Great!
* * *
All morning, during her classes, Grace kept replaying in her mind the brief conversation she’d had with Kent that morning in the parking lot. He had seemed quite worried about something. He certainly had acted strange when she told him she wanted to talk to him.
Why would he be worried about anything she might say to him though? Then it hit her. Sure, he had probably been expecting her to say something to him about his gambling. That must have been why he seemed so relieved when she asked him about tonight instead.
Since she hadn’t talked to her dad this morning or otherwise heard how well Sheila and Larry did last night, she didn’t know if she should be saying anything to him yet. Well, she’d just have to wait until her dad told her what he wanted her to do next.
She was glad that her mom had asked her to bring her lunch into the office and eat with her there today. Dr. Payne was gone for the day and that made it so much easier for mother and daughter to have a nice private lunch together.
But when she stepped into the office, she was surprised to see that someone else was joining them for lunch. Her dad was standing next to her mom’s desk with what looked like a sack lunch.
It was difficult to miss him. After all, he was six-five and weighed two-fifty. She didn’t always think about her dad being that big, since Matt was two inches taller and twenty-five pounds heavier. What a family.
Her dad turned to her and said, “I hope you don’t mind if I join you two for lunch.”
She stepped up to him and gave him a hug for her answer.
Her mom said, “Why don’t we go into the conference room so we can spread out?”
Once they were settled, her dad asked the blessing and turned to her immediately afterward. “Well, last night went just as I expected it would. Sheila and Larry didn’t get anywhere with Kent when they talked to him. Of course, he denied that he had a problem of any kind.”
He paused then said, “He did admit that he is having headaches and promised Sheila that he’d call the doctor today.”
When she started to speak, he continued, “But just as I said last night, this is not necessarily bad. The seeds are being planted and sometimes it takes lots of seeds and even more time than we’d like.”
This time when he paused, she jumped in with, “But don’t you think it’s time for me to say something to him? Kent and I are taking the girls out for bowling and pizza tonight.”
He thought about that for a moment then said, “Yes, I think it just might be about time for you to say something. But only ask as casually as you can and then if he denies it, just back off for right now. Later, you’ll be able to hit him harder but we’ll save that for when it will be more effective.”
Again, before she could speak he added. “But, I would think it’ll probably be best if the girls don’t hear what you’re talking about.”
She nodded then thought of a question she’d been wanting to ask him.
“Dad? You said you’ve worked with gamblers before. How do you do it? I mean, I’m sure God doesn’t just grab people and make them stop gambling very often. So how does it work?”
He gave her an affectionate smile. “I’ve always been proud of your inquisitive mind little one. Well, as I said last night I don’t think anyone can be totally free of any kind of addiction unless they turn it all over to God.”
She opened her mouth to speak but he anticipated her question. “Yes, many consider gambling to be an addiction, not just a compulsion. And I basically agree.”
Her lunch forgotten, Grace leaned forward. “Okay then Dad. How do we get him to the point where he’ll turn it over to God?”
He laughed. “You really do ask the tough questions don’t you kiddo? Okay, here is what my experience has taught me.”
She nodded her head to encourage him to continue.
“Most people who get caught up in an addiction of any kind won’t seek help or even accept it until they hit bottom in some way.”
She nodded as she waited for him to continue.
“Even then, very few will seek help on their own. In the case of gambling, they’re so caught up in the psychological aspects of gambling that they can’t see that the more they gamble, the worse they get.”
He cleared his throat and took a drink of water.
“They still think that big win that will pull them out of debt is there just waiting for them the next time they gamble. On the other hand though, some will accept help from the right person at the right time.”
He held up a big hand. “But I’m not sure Kent is quite to that point yet. I don’t think that he’s desperate enough to accept help, even from you.”
Grace felt her stomach sink. “But how will we know when he is ready?”
Her dad placed a large hand over hers on the table. “My experience has been that he will do or say something around one of us that will give us an indication that he is where he needs to be so that he will accept help.”
“For example?”
He seemed to be thinking again. “I would say that with Kent, it will probably have something to do with his headaches. I’m fairly sure that those headaches are tension or stress headaches. I’ve read about people blacking out from them. They go places and do things without remembering they did them.”
She was really worried now. “Are you saying that you think that might happen to Kent?”
He nodded his head slowly with a frown on his face. “I’m afraid that the way that Wally described Kent’s behavior the other night of not acknowledging him, is an indication that it could already be starting.”
“Oh no! But what can we do?”
He looked away, then back. “First, we pray and keep on praying. Then we watch Kent for any sign that he’s ready. And finally, we have to act quickly when the timing is right.”
Grace went back to her classroom after lunch with so much more knowledge that she was thoroughly confused. She just hoped that when the time came, that her dad would be close by.
* * *
When Kent and Michelle were in the car ready to drive home from school, Kent realized that he’d had a pretty good day after all. He sure hadn’t thought he would. Of course, Payne hadn’t been there all day. As was always the case, it was automatically a better day any time that his tormentor was gone.
As they were going through the garage door into the kitchen, Michelle said, “Daddy, do you think they’ll have shoes that will fit me?”
He laughed. “Of course they will. Brianna’s mom said that they go bowling all the time and aren’t Brianna’s feet about the same size as yours?”
She grinned real big and shouted, “Good.”
She turned then and headed for her room. A couple of minutes later, he heard her go into the family room and then the
sounds of the TV drifted back to him.
He just sat there, wanting to spend time with Michelle but not wanting to watch TV with her. He didn’t think his good mood would survive for very long if he had to sit through one of those kidcoms as he called them, not even for the fifteen minutes they had before they needed to leave.
Soon, it was time for them to go to get Grace and Brianna for what Michelle was calling the family date. Well, he figured that was a good enough name for what they were doing tonight.
Once Grace and Brianna were both in his car and he was driving down the street, he overheard Brianna telling Michelle where to put her fingers to hold the bowling ball. He struggled to keep from laughing. This evening was going to be an interesting one for sure.
“Oh Kent, I’m so glad you agreed to let the girls come along. I just know we’re all going to have such a wonderful time.”
He smiled back at Grace then turned back to the street. “I’m glad you thought of it. Michelle has been complaining that I’ve been leaving her too much just like her mother did. So I decided that I needed to spend more time with her. This will work out great.”
As soon as they had a lane and were getting ready to bowl, Kent could feel his body begin to relax. He hadn’t even realized that he’d been so tense and up-tight. He knew Grace pretty well. She wouldn’t jump him about his gambling here at the bowling alley ... would she?
He was sitting back watching Brianna as she tried to show Michelle how to roll the ball down the lane, when Grace sat down close to him.
“They sure are great together, aren’t they?”
He just nodded and looked closely into her deep blue eyes. After all the years she’d been away, he could hardly believe that they were indeed here sitting next to each other. What was even better was the fact that they were both single now.
Just as Kent was about to say something to that effect, he saw two men walking toward them. No way! That couldn’t be Wally Cooper, the cop, with his brother. But it was and they were definitely headed straight toward Kent.
As usual, Larry was the first to speak and in his normal loud tones, which Kent could clearly hear in the noisy bowling alley.
“Hey big bro.” He spread his arm out to indicate Grace and the girls. “This sure looks domestic if you ask me.”
Kent felt like telling Larry that he hadn’t asked him but he knew Larry would come back with much worse, so he let the comment go.
What he did though was to stand and then lead the two men away from Grace and the girls. He had a feeling he didn’t want any of them to hear whatever Larry, and especially Wally, might have to say to him.
He was glad he had, since as soon as they stopped near the snack bar, Larry said, “Wally here wanted to ask you about something that happened Saturday night.”
Now what? He turned to Wally who had been in their class all through school and had been a fairly good friend of Kent’s, especially in high school once Matt had drifted away.
Wally, who was dressed in jeans and a knit shirt, looked Kent in the eye and said, “I walked right up to you the other night at the casino and said hi to you.” He shook his head and frowned. “But you looked right through me like I wasn’t even there. Or like you didn’t even know me. Or you didn’t want to acknowledge me.”
He shook his head, “Which one was it Kent? Didn’t you want anyone to know you were there in that casino?”
Kent didn’t remember seeing anyone he knew at the casino Saturday night. Wally had to be all messed up.
“Hey Wally, you know me. I wouldn’t do that. I don’t remember seeing you or anyone else I know for that matter. You must have seen someone who looked just like me.”
If Kent thought that would settle the issue, he was badly mistaken.
“No way Kent. I was standing this close to you and I know it was you. Is there something wrong with you man?”
Before Kent could deny it, Larry spoke up.
“Yeah, Sheila said you were having headaches so bad that they almost knock you down. Couldn’t that be the problem here?”
Kent was getting mad now. He pointed his finger at his brother. “My headaches are not the problem here. They’re not as bad as Sheila thinks they are anyway. And besides don’t you think I’d know a guy I’ve been friends with for as long as I have with Wally?”
Before either of the other men could comment, Michelle yelled out, “Daddy! It’s your turn.”
He looked over at his daughter who was now waving at him and called out to her, “I’ll be right there Honey.”
Then he turned back to Larry and Wally. “I’ve got to go now and I don’t want either one of you going over there and upsetting Grace and the girls. So I’d appreciate it if you would just leave us alone. Okay?”
Kent didn’t wait for a response from either man. He turned his back on them and walked back to where Grace and the girls were waiting. They were all giving him questioning looks too. Great!
When he entered their lane, he grabbed his ball and went straight out to bowl. But when he came back after making his spare, he just knew that Grace was going to ask him about his encounter with the other two men.
But, he was pleasantly surprised when she only smiled at him and stood to take her turn. When she returned, she just smiled at him again and sat back down next to him.
That made him wonder if Grace already knew what Larry and Wally had wanted to talk to him about. Why else would she not ask him? No, that couldn’t be. Not sweet Grace. She couldn’t be involved with Sheila and Larry against him. Could she?
As he watched the girls take their turns, he began to wonder about what Wally had said. Why would one of his best friends say something like that, which was so obviously not true? Wally had to be mistaken. That was all there was to it.
* * *
All the time that Kent had been talking to Larry and Wally, Grace had been watching as closely as she could without being too obvious. She was sure they’d been talking about what Wally had said about Kent not seeing him in the casino Saturday night. She sure hoped that they weren’t possibly getting ahead of her dad’s plan to help Kent. Her dad hadn’t said anything about anyone else approaching Kent tonight. He’d just said that he wanted her to say something to him tonight.
But she hadn’t been able to be alone with Kent at the bowling alley long enough to talk to him about his gambling . The girls had been right next to them the whole time. But once they arrived at The Pizza Place, she might be able to get an opportunity since the girls were planning to play video games while they waited for their pizza to bake. Brianna had told Michelle all about the video games there and they were both jabbering in the backseat about which games they were going to play.
As they entered The Pizza Place, she tried to get herself prepared to talk to Kent about his gambling. She couldn’t put it off any longer. She needed to do so tonight to keep in step with her dad’s plan. As soon as the girls took off for the video games she would have to start.
Besides that, she was looking forward to just being in The Pizza Place. It was one place that she had such wonderful memories of while growing up in Strawberry. It had basically been the teen hangout and she and Kent had spent many wonderful hours there with their friends.
Now, she had to concentrate and get this right. She didn’t want to make Kent angry and possibly alienate him so that she wouldn’t be able to help him later, as her dad had mentioned.
But just as she opened her mouth to start, Kent started talking first.
He looked into her eyes again. He sure had been doing a lot of that tonight.
“Grace, I think you know now that I’ve loved you for a long time, probably at least fifteen years.”
He paused as if to let that sink in while continuing to stare into her eyes.
She took advantage of that pause to say, “But Kent, we were always just good friends who enjoyed doing things together and with our other friends.”
He shook his head and kept the serious look on his face. “Yes,
we were. But somehow, somewhere along the way, my love for you changed from that of a friend to someone who wants to spend the rest of his life with you.”
Wow! Everything she’d planned to say to him just left her mind at his first statement but with the second one, her mind went totally blank. She couldn’t even think, much less talk. That was when Kent dropped the final bomb.
“Grace, I think you love me too and if that’s true, I would like to ask you to marry me.”
She knew all the color had drained from her face now. She could scarcely breathe and still couldn’t say a word. But this time, Kent helped her out a little.
“You don’t have to give me an answer right now Grace. I want you to think about it for a little while.” He chuckled. “But not too long, you hear?”
Still, nothing would come out of her mouth when she opened it and she knew she must be giving him a not too intelligent look on top of it all.
Kent went on as if she wasn’t floundering like a fish out of water.
“We both know that Michelle has had a rough go of it to this point in her life, mainly due to Shelly running off with her then ignoring her most of the time. So she needs a mother. One who will nurture her the way you do Brianna.”
He sighed. “And speaking of Brianna, I think that I could be a real father to her too.
Finally, Grace found her voice but she wasn’t quite sure she’d found her wits to go along with it though. However, she blurted out the first thing that popped into her mind. “Oh Kent, I do love you ... and somehow, I now realize that I always have.”
When he started to speak, she held up a hand. “No, let me finish. I just don’t know for sure if it’s the kind of love that you’re talking about.”
She blew out a sigh of her own. “I do enjoy spending time with you. For that matter, I always have. And right now, I can’t think of anyone I’d rather be with.”
Walking Away (The Walking Together Series Book 2) Page 18