Walking Away (The Walking Together Series Book 2)

by T. E. Killian

  Since there were so many clearing the table, Kent who usually helped Mrs. Anderson with that chore, decided the best and probably safest thing for him to do would be to head into the living room.

  Soon the others joined him and he could tell right away that Mrs. Anderson had something she wanted to say to him. He’d lived next door to her for five years now, and thought he knew her pretty well. When that particular look came over her face, it usually meant something was coming that he might not like so he braced himself for it.

  The dear older lady looked down at his daughter as Michelle was apparently teaching Brianna how to play scissors and paper. They were giggling quite a bit.

  “Kent?”

  He braced himself, knowing it was coming now. But he was surprised at what she actually said this time.

  “Son, don’t you think this little girl’s grandma would like to see her too? She hasn’t seen her since you have.”

  When he didn’t respond immediately, she went on. “Why Virginia was just as devastated when Shelly took that little girl away as you were. I know she wants to see her so badly. Won’t you call her and tell her that Michelle is here?”

  Kent had totally forgotten about Shelly’s mom. Yes, as Mrs. Anderson had said, Virginia Peck had seemingly been as blameless as he had been when Shelly took off with Michelle. Kent believed his former mother-in-law when she claimed that she had never heard a word from her daughter at all for the past five years.

  Yes, he needed to call her. “I’ll call her as soon as we get back to our house.”

  Mrs. Anderson began shaking her head immediately. “Why don’t you call her right now? I’m sure it would be more comfortable for Virginia and maybe Michelle too if she came while you were still here.”

  Just as he was about to say he didn’t have her phone number, Mrs. Anderson stood and made her way to a table against one wall. He knew what she was doing. She picked up a piece of paper and brought it over to Kent. That was when he knew he’d been setup, big time. He loved the sweet little old lady that much more, even if she was a little devious at times.

  When she handed the paper to him, it had Virginia Peck and a phone number written on it. Well, he’d better do it right now then.

  When he looked up, he had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Everyone else was staring at him now, even the girls and especially Grace. But she had a look of anticipation on her face and the longer he stalled, the more it seemed to be turning into disappointment.

  Well, that settled it. He didn’t ever want Grace to be disappointed in him. So he pulled out his cell phone and made the call.

  When a woman’s voice answered, Kent said, “Mrs. Peck?”

  “Yes. Who is this?”

  “Mrs. Peck, this is Kent Jackson.” He blew out a sigh. “I don’t know how to tell you this except to just say it this way. Michelle is here with me right now.”

  He had to hold the phone away from his ear. For the second night in a row, one of Michelle’s grandmas began shrieking on the phone right in his ear.

  “Are you at your house?”

  “No, I’m next door at Mrs. Anderson’s house.”

  “Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right there.”

  With that, the line went dead and Kent looked at Mrs. Anderson who grinned back at him. “Told you so.”

  Kent had to laugh as the little old lady had sounded just like the first graders she’d taught for so many years. Grace joined him and then the girls laughed too. But he was certain that they didn’t know why they were laughing.

  Now Kent knew he had to explain to Michelle what was going to happen next. But that task was taken away from him when Brianna turned to Michelle and announced.

  “Now you have two grandmas just like me.”

  Michelle didn’t say anything so Kent said, “That’s right Michelle. Your mom’s mother is on her way over here right now. Do you remember her?”

  Michelle just shook her head and sat there staring at the door as if not sure what might be coming through it in a few minutes.

  True to her word, Virginia Peck was knocking at Mrs. Anderson’s door no more than five minutes later. Kent remembered that she only lived a few blocks away.

  When Mrs. Anderson opened the door and Virginia Peck rushed in, she stopped cold when she saw the two blond blue-eyed girls sitting close to each other on a loveseat.

  “Lordy, you’d sure think I’d know my own granddaughter. Well for goodness sakes Michelle, say something.”

  Michelle just continued to stare at her grandmother. But at Grace’s urging, Brianna jumped off the loveseat and went to stand next to her mother. Then Mrs. Peck cautiously made her way to Michelle. She stopped in front of her and looked down at her granddaughter.

  “May I sit next to you Michelle?”

  When Michelle nodded with her eyes still wide and watching, Mrs. Peck sat down on the edge of the seat.

  After that, Kent just sat back and watched Michelle get to know her grandma. He wasn’t upset with things the way they’d turned out. After all, Mrs. Peck had always been nice to him. It was just Shelly that apparently neither one of them could get along with.

  After almost an hour of everyone trying to get to know each other, Mrs. Peck went home. But before she did, she made Kent promise to bring Michelle over to her house sometime over the weekend.

  On their way back home in the dark, Kent was surprised when Michelle suddenly started singing a song that had to be some kind of little kids’ church song.

  “Michelle, where did you learn that song?”

  He didn’t think she was going to answer at first so he said, “It’s okay that you’re singing it. It’s just that I didn’t think your mom ever took you to church.”

  It took her a moment to answer. She must have still been trying to decide if he was telling the truth about not being angry with her. Finally, she said, “This summer, mommy and her boyfriend had a big fight about me so mommy let this church come and get me for something I think they called Bible School.”

  He was about to say something but wasn’t sure what when she added, “I learned a whole bunch of neat songs. And you know what? Brianna knows all the same songs too. Isn’t that great?”

  He chuckled. “It sure is Michelle.”

  He wasn’t so sure about that. But right now, almost anything that made Michelle happy made him happy too.

  They had arrived at home then and he said, “Let’s go finish getting all your new things put away so we’ll have time to watch a little TV together before bedtime. Okay?”

  He was thrilled when she shouted, “Okay Daddy.”

  Maybe he was getting somewhere with her after all. Maybe!

  Chapter Seven

  All Brianna talked about while they were getting ready for school the next morning was how much fun she’d had with Michelle the day before. Grace caught herself grinning right along with her daughter. It was so contagious. Not only that, but it sure was wonderful to see how much Brianna had brightened up since they had moved to Strawberry.

  When they parked in the high school parking lot, Kent and Michelle were getting out of his car nearby and he called out to them.

  The girls ran to greet each other and Grace waited for Kent to come over to where she was since she was closer to the elementary school.

  “Grace, I want to thank you again for you and Brianna helping us with Michelle’s shopping yesterday. You can’t imagine how badly that might have turned out if I’d tried to take her by myself.”

  She smiled back at him. “Oh Kent, it was no bother at all and I know Brianna had a blast. That’s all she’s talked about this morning.”

  They followed the giggling girls to the office and once they stepped outside again, Kent turned to her. “How about letting the girls play together some this weekend. They can alternate between your house and mine so we don’t either one get too overwhelmed by them.”

  She laughed at the expression on his face when he’d said that. “Oh Kent, they’re not tha
t bad.” Then she thought for a moment. “But right now I can’t promise anything for the weekend. My former in-laws have bought a house down here and are coming down this weekend to furnish it and be with Brianna.”

  Kent frowned. “Are they moving down here just because you brought Brianna here?”

  She shook her head. “No, they’re not actually moving down here. They just bought another house here. But they did do it just to be with her and probably harass me.”

  At Kent’s puzzled expression, she added. “Randy’s parents have always given me a hard time. They are also rather well off financially. They even have what they call a cottage on the Lake of the Ozarks.”

  She chuckled. “Their so-called cottage is as big as your house and mine put together. They didn’t say, but I would imagine their house here is in the gated community where my parents live. That would be the only place around Strawberry that would come close to meeting their rather lofty standards.”

  Kent laughed with her but she noticed that he still had a thoughtful frown on his face.

  They parted at Kent’s classroom door and Grace went on down the hall to her room. When she sat down at her desk, she was still wondering about the way Kent had been looking at her. Maybe she was wrong but she’d had the strong feeling that Kent had wanted to ask her something.

  As she started getting her lesson plan out for her first class, she decided that she’d just have to wait and see if he would ask her something the next time they saw each other.

  She was surprised when after her last morning class left the room that Judy Wallace stepped inside the door and closed it behind her.

  Judy was carrying what appeared to be her lunch and she took the chair next to Grace’s desk. “I thought it might be nice if we just had our lunch together in here today. You did bring your lunch didn’t you?”

  When Grace smiled and nodded her head, Judy went on. “I just get so tired of the lounge sometimes. All most of those teachers ever do is complain about something. If it’s not the students, it’s their parents, or most of all, Dr. Payne. They even complain about each other when the object of their attack is not present.”

  Grace giggled. “Yes, you’re certainly right about that Judy. My last school, up in St. Louis was probably even worse than this one, if you can believe that.”

  Grace pulled out her lunch and Judy prayed over their food. My, it sure was great to be among strong Christians again. She hadn’t even thought about that benefit of moving back to Strawberry.

  Just as she was stowing that thought away for future consideration, Judy laid her sandwich down on its wrapper and looked into Grace’s eyes.

  “Grace, I know I haven’t been around you much for quite some time, but I think I can still tell when something is bothering you. Do you want to talk about it? I’m a good listener, no matter what Hal may say.”

  Grace smiled and then grew serious. “Yes, Judy, there is something bothering me ... quite a bit in fact.”

  She looked down at her salad and then back up at Judy. “You see, after Randy died, his parents went to court to try to get custody of Brianna, claiming that they had so much more to offer her than I ever could, especially as a single mother.”

  When Judy just sat there listening with an ever-deepening frown on her face, Grace continued, “I have to admit that they could have given her anything she’d ever have wanted except for one very important thing.”

  She leaned back and crossed her arms. “Yes, they could have given her anything but love.”

  Judy started to say something but Grace was going strong now. “Not long after I married Randy, I began to realize that what I had always thought was his love for me was not that at all. Being brought up the way he had, he didn’t know how to love. All he knew how to do was to possess. That’s exactly how his parents look at Brianna.”

  She blew out a loud sigh. “I don’t ever want that for my daughter.”

  Grace didn’t realize she was crying until Judy handed her a tissue and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

  “Well, I for one am sure glad you not only were able to keep Brianna but now you’re down here away from those people.”

  Grace was shaking her head emphatically. “That’s just it Judy. They called me Monday night to tell me they bought a house down here just so they could spend more time with Brianna.”

  Judy didn’t say anything. She just kept patting Grace’s shoulder. Grace frowned. “I think part of what they will be doing down here is spying on me so they can get something they can use against me in court and also trying to turn Brianna against me.”

  After Grace wiped her eyes again and blew her nose, she looked up to see Judy glaring at her. Now what?

  Judy gritted her teeth then said, “Grace, as a result of them trying to get custody of Brianna, did the judge give them any kind of visitation rights?”

  Grace nodded and frowned again. “Yes, but I think the judge must have known them and didn’t like them or he figured them out during the time we all spent in court. He gave them supervised visitation only and at my discretion as to when and how much. But with the supervised part, I have to be there whenever they are with her.”

  Judy finished her sandwich then took a drink from her water bottle. “Well, that shouldn’t be too bad then, should it?”

  Grace almost snorted. “You don’t know David and Meredith Donaldson. As soon as they get around Brianna and me, they start in on how badly I do this or that until I just want to scream. Poor Brianna wants to love her grandparents, but they just aren’t the type that you can easily love, no matter how hard you try.”

  After Judy made a few more encouraging remarks, it was time for her to go back to her room for the next class.

  Grace was left sitting at her desk thinking that all she’d done was complain to Judy the whole time. But then when she thought about it, it had made her feel a little better to be able to do so.

  * * *

  Kent spent his whole day dreading the trip to the Kansas City airport to pick up his parents. He was sure glad that his mom had forgotten some sort of commitment they’d had yesterday. It had given him another whole day for him and Michelle to get to know each other a little better. He knew that once his mom descended upon them and took over, he’d have a lot less time with Michelle.

  He dearly loved his mom but when she and his dad came to visit, she usually tried to take over his life completely while she was there. His dad, on the other hand, was rather aloof. He usually spent most of his time with a couple of his old friends.

  Kent frowned to himself. He had long ago resigned himself to the fact that his dad was hard to love. They had never been close at all, especially not the way his dad had been with Larry and even Sheila.

  Oh well, he’d suffered through all that for thirty years now. He figured he was used to it enough to make it through another short visit. At least, he hoped this visit would be a short one. They usually only stayed a week at the most. But he wasn’t so sure about this time. He could tell on the phone the other night that his mom was planning on making up for lost time with Michelle. Well, so was he. After all, she was his daughter.

  When he stopped in at the office after school to pick up Michelle, Grace was there.

  “Oh Kent, the girls hit me right away. They want to play at my house for a little while this afternoon. Brianna can’t wait to show Michelle all of her things.”

  Kent thought about that for a moment. “Well, I guess it’ll be okay, but she and I need to leave by five to get to the airport to pick up my parents.” He quickly added. “If I don’t take Michelle with me, I’ll hear about it from my mom all the way home.”

  Grace laughed but before she could answer, he said, “I need to do something this afternoon anyway, so why don’t I pick her up at your house at about five then?”

  Being around Grace made Kent think about her brother, his old friend Matt Livingston. So as he was driving out of the high school parking lot, he decided to go see Matt.

 
; He and Matt had really been close through most of high school until Matt had gotten in with a wild bunch of guys their senior year. Then last December when Betty Sue came to town, Matt changed and even joined his dad’s church. Now the two old friends were trying to build that friendship back up again.

  Once he made the decision, Kent realized that he needed to talk to Matt. There were so many things going on in his life right now that he felt like he needed someone to talk to. Sure, he could usually talk to Sheila, but there were just some things that he’d feel more comfortable talking to another guy about. Of course, Larry had never been one that Kent could really talk to about much of anything.

  So here he was headed for Matt’s shop, which was back behind Trish’s motel and diner.

  Matt was working on some sheet metal ductwork when Kent walked into the shop. He looked up at Kent and let out a yell. “Well, it’s about time you finally decided to come down and see how sweet a setup I’ve got here in my new shop.”

  Kent grinned back at the big man. All through school, Matt had been so much bigger than Kent and all the other boys, for that matter. It had seemed to bother most of the other guys but it had never really bothered Kent. He knew that Matt was what some people would call a gentle giant. Now that didn’t mean that Kent wanted to get the guy mad at him, no way.

  “Come on. I’ll give you the royal tour of the place.”

  Kent felt bad that he hadn’t come down sooner. Matt really seemed to be proud of his shop. He seemed to glow as he showed Kent all the projects he was working on right then. Kent was pleasantly surprised at how much work Matt already had. He hadn’t thought the business would pick up that quickly.

  After the short tour, Matt went to a small tabletop refrigerator, pulled out two soft drinks, and handed one to Kent.

  Matt pointed at two lawn chairs. “Let’s sit a spell so we can talk.”

  As soon as they were both seated across from each other, Matt slapped his knee and said, “All right, Kent, spit it out. What’s got you so bothered? Is it my little sister?”