When he joined them on the sidewalk, he said, “What exactly do we have here? Do we need to get Hal involved?”
Grace spoke up quickly before Matt could. “Please Dad, don’t call the police until we know for sure what Kent is doing with that gun. It could turn out to be something totally innocent.”
Matt spoke up then. “I’d like to try to see in before we do anything, especially anything drastic.”
He turned to Grace and pointed toward Kent’s house. “It looks like the curtains are open in that big window there in front. Do you think I could see Kent from there without him seeing me?”
She was nodding her head before he finished. “Yes, I’m sure you could. His recliner isn’t very far from that window and it kind of faces the door. But you’ll see him okay.”
With that, Matt made his way up to the window and keeping to the side, peered inside. He waved them over and rushed to the door.
By the time Grace and her dad made it inside, Matt was standing next to Kent’s chair holding the pistol down at his side. When Grace looked over at Kent, she was surprised to see that he seemed to be sleeping.
Matt took an empty clip out of the gun then slid the top of it back and forth. He turned to them and said, “Empty.”
Grace looked past Matt and said, “Look, he seems to be waking up.”
They all turned toward Kent as he opened his eyes and stared blankly up at them.
* * *
Kent must have fallen asleep again. But this time when he woke up, he was shocked to see Matt standing over him holding Kent’s old pistol. What in the world was going on here? What was Matt doing here and what was he doing with that pistol? Where did that thing come from anyway? The stupid thing was supposed to be high up in his bedroom closet.
Then he heard a noise near the front door and was equally shocked to see Grace and her dad both step up beside Matt. They were all staring down at him like he was crazy. What? What had he done now?
Kent tried to get up out of his recliner but the look Matt was giving him made him sink back into it. Matt turned and handed the gun to his dad.
“Kent, can you hear me?”
He could hear Matt’s voice and understand what he was saying, but for some reason, he just couldn’t answer. His head wasn’t hurting anymore. That was good, wasn’t it? But why did his mind seem so fogged up?
“Kent.”
This time Kent was able to get his mouth to work. But what came out sounded weak even to his ears. “Yeah?”
Matt turned to Grace and their dad. “He doesn’t smell like he’s been drinking and his eyes don’t look like he’s on anything else either. But he seems to be really confused.”
Matt’s dad stepped forward. “Let me try Son.”
Henry Livingston squatted down in front of Kent and looked him in the eye. “Kent. What is the last thing you remember? Where were you?”
“Why? What does that have to do with anything?”
“Were you in the casino Kent?”
Before he thought about it, he nodded his head and was relieved when it didn’t hurt.
The guy frowned and spoke again. “Kent, I’m not a doctor, but I think that your headaches are causing you to black out or something like that which causes you to lose periods of time.”
Finally, someone was saying something that seemed to make sense. At least Kent thought it did. Did it? He needed to think about that for a minute. He held up his hand and said, “Let me think for a minute will you?”
Henry stood, then stepped back to where Grace and Matt were standing. “Go ahead Kent. You do all the thinking you need to do. Okay?”
He nodded his head and was again surprised to realize that it didn’t hurt any longer.
Now, he had to think. He had to be honest with himself though. He was scared. Maybe there was something bad wrong with him. Think! Think!
Yes, he was sure of two other times where he seemed to lose some time and he wound up somewhere he hadn’t been when he last remembered where he was. He never remembered how he got their either.
The first time was when he was at the casino then woke up in a strange woman’s bed. The other time was just the other night when he was at the casino and then he was home without remembering how he got there. Then last night was very similar.
But no. Last night was different. He woke up at home on the floor in his living room. Then he woke up again on his bed. Finally, he woke up in here in his recliner. Yes, this time was definitely different. What was going on? Was it getting worse?
He looked up at the three standing before him with worried looks on their faces. Henry and Matt Livingston and Grace? Grace! She had tears running down her cheeks. Why was she so sad?
“Don’t cry Grace.”
Grace started to step over to him and Matt put a huge hand on her shoulder to stop her. But Henry silently waved Matt off and Grace stepped over in front of Kent. Then she leaned down and placed a cool soft hand on his forehead. Wow! Did that ever feel good.
“Kent, will you let us take you to the doctor to find out what may be causing your headaches?”
Just then, as he looked up into those beautiful blue eyes, he would have agreed to do anything she asked.
“Yes.”
Grace turned to her dad who pulled out his cell phone and said, “It’s Saturday but I think I can get Wilson to meet us at his office.”
A short time later, Kent was escorted into a dimly lit doctor’s office with no receptionist or even a nurse visible. The doctor met them at the door and quickly led Kent back to an examining room, leaving the other three in the waiting room. He was in his late fifties with graying hair at his temples and what seemed to Kent at the time a pleasant smile.
As soon as they were in the examining room, the doctor said, “My name is Dr. Gillette and you are Kent Jackson, correct?”
“Yes sir.”
“Good. Now would you sit up there on the table for me please.”
Fifteen minutes later, the doctor looked Kent in the eye and said, “Have you been under a lot of stress lately?”
Stress? Him? He didn’t think so. “Probably no more than the normal high school teacher who only teaches freshmen.”
When the doctor didn’t laugh or even smile like most people did when he said that, Kent knew something was up. But what?
The doctor shook his head. “Henry said you’ve been gambling quite a bit over the last few months.”
Kent started to deny it but the look the doctor was giving him made him stop. Instead, he remained silent.
“If that’s true, son, I’ve seen several cases where people who were gambling a lot and also losing a lot who started having headaches much like yours.”
That brought Kent’s head up quickly.
“Yes, and this type of stress headache can become so intense that the sufferer can blackout or basically loose patches of time. They go one place and suddenly they seem to be someplace else entirely and they don’t remember how they got there.”
While Kent was still trying to process all of that, the doctor said, “Is that what seems to be happening to you Kent?”
As much as he wanted to deny it, Kent nodded and said, “Yes, I think that’s what has happened to me at least two other times before last night.”
The doctor stepped to the door, opened it and motioned for Kent to go out ahead of him. They were soon in the waiting room where the others sat. Grace jumped up, rushed up to him, and wrapped both hands around his arm.
“Oh Kent. Are you feeling better now?”
Before he could answer, the doctor looked at Henry and said, “I think you were right Henry.”
Henry shook the doctor’s hand and said “Thanks Wilson. I guess we need to take it from here then.”
“Yes, I think that would be best.” He turned to Kent and handed him a small piece of paper. “This is a prescription for some pain medication. You should try to take it before the pain begins to get severe. If you wait too long, it may be too late to stop the memory episode.”<
br />
Kent thanked the doctor and they all left the office together.
Chapter Sixteen
Kent was rather surprised when they all returned to his house that Matt and Grace didn’t come in, only Henry Livingston. Now what?
Well, he didn’t have long to wait. Kent had barely sat back down in his recliner when Henry took a seat on the couch nearby and began.
“Okay, Kent, you heard what Dr. Gillette said about your headaches. Do you want them to stop?”
“Of course I want them to stop.”
“Okay. Didn’t the doctor also say that they were probably caused by the stress brought on by your losing at the casino.”
Kent didn’t want to sit here and be grilled by the preacher even if he was Grace’s dad. That made him think about Grace. Where was she?
“Where’s Grace?”
To Kent’s surprise, Henry just smiled, stepped to the door, and opened it. Grace came through the open door, pulled a hassock up next to Kent’s chair, and sat on it.
“I’m here Kent and I will do everything I can to help you. Okay?”
That made him feel so good, he just wanted to pull her into his arms and hold her. But one look at her dad and he knew the guy had more to say. So he leaned back in his chair and waited.
Henry started again. “Okay, Kent, back to where we were a minute ago. Dr. Gillette and I both feel that these headaches and blackouts that you’re experiencing are caused by stress which is a direct result of your losing at the casino.”
He cleared his throat, leaned forward, and continued. “Therefore, the only way they’re going to stop is if you quit gambling.”
“You don’t know that for sure.”
Henry looked at Grace then back to Kent. He sighed then said, “No, we don’t know that for certain. But Kent, I’ve worked with several others who have had the same problems that you have and once they were able to quit gambling and put their lives back in order, the headaches went away.”
Kent refused to look up at the guy so he kept his eyes on his feet. That was when he felt Grace’s hand cover his hand where it rested on his chair arm. Wow! Did that ever feel good. Not only that, but it felt right.
“Kent, I don’t want you to suffer through any more of those headaches and blackouts.” Grace squeezed his hand. “If there is a future for you and me, it has to be without gambling in it.”
When she finished speaking, she looked at her dad and he leaned back in his chair as if he were telling her to take it from there.
Kent decided it was time for him to say something but before he could start, Grace said, “Kent, I know a lot of what my dad is saying is difficult for you to accept, but I’m afraid there’s more, much more.”
Another look passed between daughter and father as if Grace was passing the baton back to him, so to speak. Henry picked it up and ran with it.
“You see, Kent, it has been my experience that for anyone to truly be free from gambling, they need God’s help to do it. In other words, you need to turn it all over to God and He will help you out of whatever you’re in.”
With that, Henry stood and quietly left the house.
Okay, now he had Grace all to himself. He could talk to her about their future. After all, she just mentioned their future, didn’t she?
“Can we talk about our future now Grace?”
She began shaking her head immediately and leaned back away from him taking her comforting hand off his arm.
“No, Kent, I don’t think that now is a good time to talk about our future.”
“But you just mentioned it a few minutes ago.”
“Yes, I did. But I only said that if we are to have a future together, it has to be without gambling in it. That was all I said and I think that’s all I want to say on that subject as long as you refuse to quit gambling.”
Now she’d done it. She’d gone too far.
“No Grace. I think that we have a great future ahead of us if only you’ll admit that you love me.”
Grace stood then. “Whether or not I love you Kent is not the question right now. The important question is, do you want a future with me in it bad enough to quit gambling?”
With that, she leaned over, kissed him on the forehead, and left.
Now what?
Kent sat there staring at the closed door for at least five minutes barely even blinking. Finally, he mentally shook himself and stood.
He looked down at the clothes he’d slept in and decided he needed to get cleaned up and eat something. Maybe then, he’d be able to think about all that Henry and Grace had dumped on him.
That was when the doorbell rang and when he opened the door, he was surprised to see Michelle standing there with Mrs. Anderson.
Michelle! He’d forgotten all about her. She must have been at Mrs. Anderson’s while Grace was over here.
Michelle came in cautiously and went straight to her room without even looking up at him. He knew he needed to have a little talk with her about all this, but later. Yes, much later. Right now, he needed to clean up and hope his mind cleared a whole lot more.
Once Kent had showered and dressed, he went into the kitchen to get something to eat. He could tell that Michelle had already had a sandwich. Most of the things were still on the table or the counter. He smiled and made a sandwich for himself.
Once he was sitting there eating his sandwich, the first thought that popped into his mind was that without any prompting from him, Grace had talked about their future together. Granted, she had said there couldn’t be one unless he quit gambling. But, at least she had mentioned a future together. Which, in his mind, meant that she was thinking about it too.
Gambling! He’d never thought too much about his gambling. It had just been something he’d started back in June to fill his long lonely nights. How had it become so important in his life that he had to go every chance he could get?
More than all that, was gambling really the cause of his headaches and blackouts? What else could it be? The doctor had said that there wasn’t anything physically wrong with Kent. He’d even said that it was all caused by stress and that the stress was probably caused by Kent’s gambling. But what did he know? He couldn’t get inside Kent’s head.
Well, he wasn’t going to make any decisions right then. Ha! He couldn’t if he wanted to. His mind was still somewhat cluttered from the night before, not to mention all that had happened since.
But there was one question that kept floating around in his mind. Was Grace really serious when she said they couldn’t have a future together unless he quit gambling?
Man! Did he ever have a lot more thinking to do.
* * *
Grace had barely made it back to her house after picking up Brianna at Mrs. Anderson’s, when her cell phone began ringing. She looked at the display and wasn’t surprised to see that it was Trish.
“Hey girl, we’re having a group meeting to help you plan out how you’re going to help Kent.”
Grace had to laugh. It certainly didn’t surprise her that Trish apparently already knew everything that had happened with Kent today. It also didn’t surprise her that Trish was taking control of the situation. That was Trish. She was always doing things like this.
Grace dearly loved the woman who had been there so much for her, especially during her high school years. Trish’s diner had been more than a part-time job to Grace. It had been a place of refuge from all of her teenage problems.
“We’re meeting at my house in one hour. Be here.”
Grace had a feeling that her mom was going to be at Trish’s meeting, so as soon as she disconnected that call, she punched the speed-dial for Mrs. Anderson and arranged for Brianna to stay with her.
My, things sure were moving fast. So fast now that she was having a difficult time keeping up with it all. But she knew from past experience that Trish would somehow be able to bring it all together for her.
When Trish let Grace in her front door, she pulled her into a tight hug. Then Trish pulled
back, looked Grace in the eye, and said, “You do love that darn fool boy don’t you?”
Tears came to her eyes and all Grace could do was nod her head emphatically and try to smile back at Trish.
Trish hugged her tightly again and said, “Then it’s all going to work out perfectly Sweetie. You just wait and see.”
Grace hugged her back. “Oh, I certainly hope so Trish.”
Without another word, Trish led Grace back to her family room where Grace’s mom, Betty Sue, Judy, and Joanne were already sitting. She was surprised and pleased too that Joanne was with them. Great. She and Joanne were beginning to be quite close.
As soon as they each had a glass of iced tea, Trish cleared her throat and said, “Okay, girls. We’re here to help Grace and Kent get together and this is how we’re going to go about it.”
She looked around the room and when no one spoke, she continued, “First, I’d like for you to give us all an update on what all has happened today Grace .”
When she finished telling them about finding Kent with the gun, the trip to the doctor’s office and afterward, Grace didn’t even realize that tears were streaming down her cheeks until Trish reached over and handed her some tissue.
“Now, Ladies, I want each of you to give your thoughts on how Grace can get Kent to want to quit his gambling. After all, as the doctor told him, he won’t be free of the headaches until he quits. And Grace told Kent this morning, that they’re not going to be able to be together until he quits.”
Grace’s mom reached over to Grace who was sitting next to her and patted her on the shoulder. “Good for you Dear. You have to stand firm with him.”
Grace smiled back at her as Trish turned to Grace’s mom and said, “Why don’t we start with you Linda, then we’ll just go around the room from your left.”
“I would like to say something that is really directly to Grace first.” She squeezed Grace’s shoulder. “Well, I’ve watched the two of you as you played together since you were in elementary school. I’ve always been convinced that someday you two would be married.”
All the women began talking at once as more tears streamed down Grace’s cheeks.
Walking Away (The Walking Together Series Book 2) Page 20
