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Full of Grace: Chapter 10
Nick turned back to me and squeezed my hands. But I couldn't really feel him
squeezing my hands. I hung my head down and closed my eyes.
"Kevin, look at me." Nick spoke those words in such a tone that I had no
choice but to look at him.
"You're gonna be ok, Kev. I don't care what the doctors say. I'm promising
you right here and right now, you're gonna be ok. We're gonna do whatever it
takes to get your hands back 100%. Do you believe me?"
I searched his eyes deep. Where was the little boy I use to play Mario Kart
with all the time? I didn't see the first trace of him anymore when I looked
at Nick now. I missed him in a lot of ways. "Kevin, do you believe me?" I
nodded my head, "Yeah, I believe you Nick."
Nick smiled and stood up. "Good. Now let's get the hell out of here."
He wheeled me out to his car and helped me get inside. Then he got behind
the wheel and we took off. Orlando was soon left behind as we headed north.
I didn't ask any questions. Just looked out the window until I fell alseep.
"Kevin, wake up." I came awake as Nick spoke to me and shook my shoulders.
"Come on Kev. We're here. Wake up." I mumbled, "I'm awake."
Nick opened the door and helped me out. I stood up and looked around. A
small log cabin stood before us. And there was nothing but moutains all
around. The path leading up to the cabin was dirt. I was immediately
transformed back to my childhood and the log cabin we use to live in. I
closed my eyes and took a deep breath and let the cool moutain air fill my
lungs.
Then I looked at Nick and asked, "Where are we, Nick?" He said, "My cabin.
Up in Georgia." "This is yours? I never knew you had this place." "No one
knows about this place. It's been my hideout for the last couple of years
when I needed to get away from things. I couldn' t think of anywhere better
to bring you, Kev. I hoped maybe it would remind you of your home in
Kentucky." I looked around again and said, "Oh, it does, Nick. It
certainly does. Thank you."
Nick took my arm and we walked around the back of the cabin. There was a
beautiful lake with a pier and a fishing boat. I laughed, "Oh my goodness.
Fishing. I haven't done that in - well, I can't remember the last time I
went fishing." Nick smiled at the look of complete joy on my face at the
mere thought of fishing, "Kev, now you can fish till your hearts content."
We went inside the cabin and Nick showed me around. There were two bedrooms
- side by side. A bathroom. A laundry room. The kitchen and living room
was one big room. Very, very nice.
I lay on the sofa and Nick turned on the tv. "Do you want something to eat,
Kev? Something to drink." I shook my head, "No, I'm ok,Nick. Sit down and
talk to me. How far are we from any town or anything?" "Hmmm, I guess we're
about 10 miles from just a small little store where you can get just the
basic stuff. To get back to "civilization" we're about 30 miles away.
You're safe here, Kevin."
I smiled - sadness settling on me again like a brick wall hitting me. Nick
was still continuing to amaze me. He seemed to know what I was thinking and
feeling without me saying a word. "What about the guys? They are gonna be
wondering what's going on. What if the press gets ahold of this?" Nick
said, "I have my cell phone and it has a scrambler on it so noone can trace
my calls. I honestly didn't know what to tell them, Kevin. The press won't
know. But I just told the guys that we both needed a vacation and we're
going away for awhile. Of course, they were puzzled when I couldn't tell
them why or where we were going. They can call my cell phone if they need us
for something."
"What about Brian? What did he say?" "He's your blood, Kev. What do you
think he said? He knows something is wrong and got rather hostitle to me
when I wouldn't talk to him. Some best friend he is." "I'm sorry, Nick. I
know how bullheaded Brian can be. I never wanted to cause problems in your
friendship with him." "Don't worry about it. He'll get over it or he won't.
YOu're more important to me anyhow big bro."
Nick had me raise up for a second as he sat down on the sofa. Then he lay me
back so my head was in his lap. He stroked my hair. "You've become quite an
expert at this, Nicky." "At what?" "Comforting me. Keeping me here. I've
wanted to just turn in on myself so many times and go into a shell but you
haven't let me, Nick."
I thought about something then and chuckled. Nick laughed, "What?" "It's
nothing. I was just thinking about when I broke down and told you the whole
story of what was going on. You held me and refused to let me go until it
was all out." "You know, it's funny you mentioned that, Kevin. I was
thinking back to the night while I was sitting by your bed at the hospital."
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