Walking Away (The Walking Together Series Book 2)
Page 4
“Sure you may Sweetie. Do you need any help?”
Brianna was already at the doorway and turned to face Grace with her hands on her hips. “No Mommy. I can do it all by myself.”
Grace had to place her hand in front of her face to hide her grin as Brianna pranced out of the room. Her little girl was trying to grow up a little too quickly for Grace’s good. For what had to be at least the tenth time lately, Grace regretted the fact that Brianna didn’t have a brother or sister. She really needed a playmate.
Once they arrived at church, Brianna hurried off to her class and Grace stopped to talk with her parents who were in the foyer greeting people, as usual.
After receiving a hug from both of them, her mom pulled back and looked into Grace’s eyes for a long moment. “That’s what I was afraid of. I never should have said anything to you about Kent. You’ve been worrying about it all night. Haven’t you Dear?”
She started to downplay it some but she knew she wouldn’t be able to fool her mother. “Yes, I’m afraid I’ve just been feeling so bad about how I behaved toward Kent back then. It must have looked to him as if I was taking advantage of his feelings for me. But you know Mom that just wasn’t the case.”
Her mom pulled her back into a hug and patted her back. “I sure didn’t want you to get so upset about it Dear. I don’t know what I was thinking telling you all those things at this late date.”
When they pulled apart again, Grace said, “Mom, it wasn’t just what you said yesterday. Matt told me that he warned Kent away from me just before I met Randy.”
They were still in a loose hug and her mother just kept patting her back without saying anything else. Of course, that confirmed her suspicion that her parents had known about Matt warning Kent off.
Grace felt tears begin to fill her eyes. “Oh Mom, what would have happened if I had turned to Kent instead of to Randy way back then.”
Her mom shook her head vigorously. “No Sweetie, you can’t go back and change the past. You can only try to make the present and future better.”
She had a thoughtful look for a moment. “Besides you never would have had Brianna if that would have happened.”
“Oh Mom. You’re so right. I can’t ever regret anything that brought Brianna into our lives.”
After class, Grace was waiting in the foyer for Brianna when Judy Wallace came up and gave her a hug.
“Oh Grace, I can hardly wait to have you teaching across the hall from me. It’s just such a thrill for me to have one of my students come back and teach alongside me, especially my best friend’s daughter. You don’t know how I’ve always wanted this.”
Grace was about to comment when Judy added. “You know even back then when you were in high school, I knew you would be a wonderful teacher some day.”
Grace didn’t know what to say to that so she simply hugged Judy again. She was saved from having to do or say anything else when Brianna came flying into the room and wrapped her arms around Grace.
“I’m ready Mommy. I’m ready to join Grandpa’s church.”
Grace and Judy both laughed and they all turned to go into the sanctuary for the morning service.
* * *
Sunday evening, Kent found himself back at the noisy, smoky casino again. He hadn’t really wanted to come, but as often happened, Larry had talked him into it. After the way the night before had ended for Kent, he had made up his mind that he wasn’t going back to the casino until he could be sure that the same thing wouldn’t happen again. But Larry would not take no for an answer.
Kent had finally relented and gone along, hoping that he could not only keep out of trouble but help Larry to do the same thing.
Even though he’d sworn that he would start with the quarter machines again, he went straight to the dollar slot machines and began playing two tokens at a time until he had gone through his first twenty tokens.
He was looking for a change girl when a slender brunette appeared at his elbow. She wasn’t wearing any of the casino’s many different uniforms, and she had a token cup in her hand.
She leaned against the stool next to his and smiled at him. She opened her mouth to speak just as Kent slid off the other side of his stool and almost ran down the aisle to the other end of the row of slot machines.
Every brunette he saw anymore reminded him of Shelly. Even after six years, it still hurt to think of his ex-wife and all that she’d done to him and their daughter. He couldn’t let any woman get close to him again, especially one who looked anything at all like Shelly.
Kent settled himself in front of another dollar slot machine and began to play. He looked up after a few minutes and noticed that Larry was now sitting next to the brunette, and they seemed to be having a rather animated conversation punctuated by much laughter.
Kent was on his third batch of twenty tokens when Larry appeared at his elbow. “Hey, Kent, I’m sure glad you drove tonight. Tina and I would like to go somewhere else, and we can take her car.”
Larry slapped Kent on the back and winked at him out of the vision of the brunette. “Is that okay with you, buddy?”
“Sure, Larry, have fun.” What else could he say? But he knew how Larry’s evening would end.
After they left, Kent settled down to his thoughts while mechanically feeding the slot machine and pushing the button. His mind went back to that day five years ago when he had gone by Shelly’s apartment to get Michelle for the weekend and they were gone. He hadn’t seen his daughter since.
A feeling of depression so deep it almost took his breath away settled over him. He wasn’t aware of the noise his machine was making until a woman in a green and yellow uniform tapped him on the shoulder and motioned for him to follow her and a security guard to the cage.
He went through the motions of signing for his $1,200 check. He should be happy. He should be excited. It didn’t seem to matter, though, since Michelle was no longer a part of his life.
Where could they be? He’d tried to find them. Shelly’s mother still lived in town but she swore that she didn’t know where her daughter was either. He’d had no choice but to believe her.
Kent had the best intentions of leaving. He’d even been heading for the exit after picking up his check, but he never made it. Before he realized it, he had cashed the check and headed back to the slots. After all, if his luck was changing, he didn’t want to miss any of the winnings he might have gotten if he stayed.
Well, it didn’t work out that way. As usual, he lost all of the $1200 before he finally was able to drag himself out of the place after midnight.
Just after he crossed into the town of Strawberry, red and blue lights lit up behind him. He looked in the mirror and saw a police car and the guy apparently wanted Kent to pull over.
So he pulled over to the side of the road and after getting out his license and registration, waited for the officer to come up to his car.
When the officer stepped up to Kent’s open window, he recognized him as an old friend of his that he’d gone to high school with, Wally Cooper.
“Hey Kent, could you step out of your car for a minute please?”
Kent didn’t know why he should have to do that, but complied anyway. When he was standing next to his car, Wally pulled out a small flashlight and flashed it into Kent’s eyes a couple of times then smiled at Kent.
“Well, I guess you’re just a bit tired to be driving this late at night, huh Kent?”
Kent didn’t know what to say so he just said, “Yeah.”
Then Wally said, “I noticed you weaving a little back there and stopped you to make sure you were all right. You can go on home now and have a good night, what’s left of it.”
With that, Wally returned to his car leaving Kent standing there thinking about what had just happened. Did Wally actually think he’d been drinking? Kent didn’t drink. He’d seen enough of what drinking had done to his brother’s life. He never wanted any of that to happen to him. He’d sure had enough bad things happen to him wi
thout drinking causing him even more.
When he finally pulled into his garage a few minutes later, he was relieved to see that Larry wasn’t there. He hadn’t thought so, but he knew better than to assume anything with his brother. He hoped that Larry would be able to get home early enough to get to school on time in the morning.
But, hey, he couldn’t worry about Larry. He couldn’t do everything for him. Larry had to do some things for himself, no matter what.
Chapter Four
As a student, Grace had always loved the first day of school whether she’d been in elementary, high school or college. Once she began teaching, she found that she loved it even more. She enjoyed meeting her new students for the first time and this year she was even more excited. Even if some of them were new to the school, so was she.
That was when she remembered the horrible way the students had treated her when she had been a new teacher fresh out of college. But she didn’t think that would happen here. After all this was Strawberry not St. Louis and she was starting her eighth year of teaching not her first.
Grace had always loved new things. It didn’t matter what it was, she figured she just liked change. That had always made Randy angry. He was the type who had grown up in one house (make that mansion) and never moved anywhere except temporarily to go to college. He had hated change.
She shook her head. That was just one of the many differences between her and Randy.
She walked down the hall to her classroom after stopping in to say hi to her mom at the office. When she had her door unlocked and was about to go in, a she heard her name called out from behind her.
“Grace. Are you ready for the circus to start?”
Grace smiled and turned around for the hug she knew was coming. Judy Wallace was not only the best teacher Grace had had in high school but Judy was also her mom’s best friend. So Grace had spent a lot of time with both Judy and her husband Hal, all the time she was growing up.
They both needed to get ready for their first class so they only talked long enough to plan to go to lunch together in the teacher’s lounge.
Grace thought she was ready for her first class, and she thought that after teaching for seven years, she’d be prepared for anything that might happen. But she was surprised.
She had planned to open each class with a little introduction by telling them about herself then she would ask each student to do the same.
Well, in her first class, a boy raised his hand after Grace had finished introducing herself. When she called on him, there were snickers around the room so she tried to prepare herself for something disruptive.
Ms. Donaldson, aren’t you the preacher’s daughter?”
She tried to smile around the dread that more was coming. “Yes, Pastor Livingston of First Baptist Church is my father.”
The boy looked around the room at the other students then said, “Then Matt Livingston must be your brother.”
Again, she wasn’t sure where he was coming from so she only said, “Yes, he is my older brother.”
The boy smirked then looked around the room again before saying, “Hey guys, we’d better be nice to her. That guy could pick up two or three of us at once.”
When he sat down to a round of laughter, Grace wasn’t sure where to go from there. But she was surprised that things went rather smoothly after that. Maybe the kid had really meant what he’d said and wasn’t just being a smart-aleck.
Soon, it was lunchtime and she stepped out into the hall to meet Judy. As they walked to the lounge together, Grace thought again, about how great it was to be here. She’d brought a salad for lunch and Judy had brought a sandwich. So they found an empty table and she sat down.
Grace was surprised when Judy didn’t sit down right away but pulled one of the chairs away from the table and placed it against the wall. Before she could ask Judy why she’d done that, the door opened and a young woman in a wheel chair came through and wheeled right up to the open spot at the table.
Judy leaned toward Grace. “Grace I would like for you to meet a good friend of mine, Joanne Lewis. She teaches math here.”
Grace reached out her hand and Joanne took it.
“Joanne, this is the best student I ever had and also my best friend’s daughter, Grace Donaldson.”
Judy smiled at Joanne’s puzzled look. “Linda Livingston is her mom.”
Joanne looked to be almost as tall as Grace but was much thinner and had shoulder length red hair. She also had the prettiest green eyes that Grace had ever seen.
Before Grace could say anything, Joanne said, “Oh yes, I saw you and your little girl join the church yesterday. I’m so happy to meet you.”
Grace smiled back at her. “I’m glad to meet you too Joanne.”
Just then, a speaker mounted on the wall crackled with static then a man’s voice came over it. “Mrs. Wallace, could you come to the office for a moment, please.”
Judy tossed her sandwich back in her bag and stood. “Well, it looks as if I’m going to have to finish that later.”
When Judy left, Grace pulled out her salad, poured a little bit of Italian dressing on it, and began to eat.
Joanne was eating what looked like leftover lasagna. She took a bite, chewed it slowly, and then turned to Grace.
“I think we’re going to be good friends Grace.” She snickered. “I can tell for several reasons but most of all anyone that Judy speaks so highly of simply has to be a fantastic person.”
They both laughed at that then Joanne grew serious. “I think it would be good for each of us to tell the other about ourselves.”
When Grace nodded, Joanne added, “And since it was my idea, I guess I should start.”
Grace waited, not knowing what to expect.
Joanne blew out a sigh. “Well, the best way to start is that I met David Lewis up at Mizzou and when we graduated, we got married and moved here where he grew up and I got a job teaching here.”
Grace was shocked. “You married David Lewis?” When Joanne only nodded, Grace said, “I never knew him all that well, he was even a year older than my brother Matt. But he had quite a reputation back in high school.”
Joanne snorted. “Yeah, he did in college too, but I ignored all that and married him anyway.”
Grace was glad Joanne continued since she didn’t know what she could say to any of that.
“Well, we’d been married about four years and had both of our girls by then.” She interrupted herself to say, “Samantha is eight and Katie is seven like your little girl,.”
“Okay, as I was saying, about four years later, I was driving home from the grocery store one Friday night and a drunk driver came across the center line and hit my car head on. I guess you could say I was luckier that he was. He was killed and I only wound up in this wheelchair.”
“Oh, Joanne, how awful.”
Joanne shook her head. “That’s probably not the worst of it. David couldn’t handle having an invalid for a wife so he ran off to Alaska where he still is as far as I know.”
“Oh, Joanne, again, I’m so sorry. Your story makes mine seem like nothing.”
Joanne seemed to be waiting so Grace began her story. “Well, I went to school up at Mizzou too and met a boy from St. Louis. We got married as soon as I graduated and moved to St. Louis where I taught until this year.”
She frowned. “I knew Randy was cheating on me but I didn’t want to admit it even to myself. But then, about a year ago, he and his girlfriend had been out together and he crashed his car killing them both. The police said they were both very drunk at the time.”
Joanne reached across and grasped Grace’s hand. “It’s my turn to be sorry. That must have been terrible.”
Grace could only nod.
Joanne looked into her eyes and said, “I guess neither one of us did very well in picking husbands huh?”
Grace couldn’t believe that she was actually laughing at that and Joanne was laughing along with her.
* * *
Kent shook his head as he looked down the hallway to his room. That’s when he knew for sure that this was going to be a bad day. Payne was standing at Kent’s door apparently waiting for him and making a show of looking at his watch.
Kent suppressed the urge to look at his watch too. He knew that would probably further enflame the principal. He was also sure that he couldn’t be more than five minutes late. What was so wrong with that? The kids wouldn’t start showing up for at least another thirty minutes.
He decided to act as if nothing was wrong and tried to greet the principal as congenially as he could manage. “Good morning Dr. Payne. How are you this morning?”
Payne ignored his greeting and waited until Kent opened his door, then followed him into the room.
Once Kent closed the door behind him, Payne turned on him and said, “You are already late for the first day of classes Jackson. I certainly hope you are not going to make that a habit again this year.”
“No, sir, it won’t happen again.”
“I should hope not.” He turned to leave then said, “Why can’t you be more like your brother? He’s been in his classroom for half an hour already.”
Kent had the stray thought that Larry was probably in there all right, but sound asleep.
When Kent didn’t say anything else, the guy was out the door leaving Kent just standing there listening to his heels clicking on the tile floor all the way down the hallway.
Kent made it to his desk in the front of the room and sank into his chair. Man, the jerk was already starting in on him, the same way he’d ended last school year. Why was that? And why did the guy always treat Larry like he was the greatest and treat Kent like he was a bum?