I don't think I made it much of a secret
I don't think it's been much of a secret that I kind of didn't like "The Case of the Franks".
So I took an oc_plotbunny from millstone and wrote the following. I'm going to assume that the title pretty much sums up the story:
Life was good, Ryan thought as he sat next to Seth. Taylor and Summer were home doing “girl stuff”. Sandy and Kirsten were enjoying a dinner at another one of Newport’s newest restaurants. It was, therefore, a night for some good old-fashioned Seth/Ryan time, complete with their old PS2 Ninja game and plenty of junk food.
Ryan and Taylor were happy. Seth said he and Summer were going good. Kirsten and Sandy were beyond ecstatic. Even Julie’s new found love interest seemed to be going strong.
Yip, Ryan thought as he stabbed Seth’s Ninja again, life was finally really good.
One last stab, and Ryan threw down his controller triumphant. Seth was still shouting “rematch” when Ryan’s cell phone began to ring. He briefly wondered why Taylor would be calling from the Roberts’s house phone and answered with a simple, “hey.”
The voice on the other end of the phone surprised him. “Ryan? It’s Julie.”
“What’s going on?” Ryan knew from the tone of her voice that something was seriously wrong.
“It’s your father.” Julie’s voice cracked, and Ryan felt his blood go cold, managing only a “yeah?” in response.
“We went out to dinner - to celebrate. We only shared one bottle of wine, and I don’t know - maybe he had one or two after dinner drinks. When we got back here, he and Kaitlin got into an argument, and he…”
Even though Ryan could already guess the answer, he still asked, “He what?”
“He changed. He started to yell really loud and threaten, and he tried to…he tried to hit Kaitlin.”
Ryan closed his eyes as the walls began to close in on him. “Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. I threw Frank out before he did anything. He took my car. I don’t know where he went.”
Ryan didn’t say anything, instead taking deep breaths, his eyes still closed. He should have known this would happen.
After a quiet minute, Julie said, “Ryan, I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have called, but I didn’t know who else to turn to. I’ve never seen him like that. He was so angry.”
“Yeah, I know. Don’t worry about it.” Then Ryan paused - if he took Julie’s car, he had keys. That would mean…
“He doesn’t have keys to the house, does he?”
Ryan was relieved when Julie said, “No, just the car. I didn’t have any more house keys to give him. Good thing, I guess.”
It was Julie’s turn to pause before continuing. “But he wouldn’t come back here, would he? I told him I never wanted to see him again.”
“Julie, I don’t mean to scare you, but he will come back. He always comes back, and he’ll be even meaner. I want you to lock all the doors. The windows, too. If he comes back, do not let him in, no matter what he says or does, and then call me.”
“Ryan…I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, me too.” Ryan let out a heavy sigh as he snapped his phone shut. He really should have known.
His phone rang again, and Ryan saw it was Taylor. He decided it would be better not to answer her. He also decided not to say much to Seth - although that was going to be difficult since Seth was standing there and obviously heard the conversation.
Ryan grabbed his jacket and tried to leave without saying anything. Seth, naturally, stopped him. “Ryan, don’t. You can’t.”
“I’ve got to. He’ll go back there, and it’ll be worse.”
Seth stood in front of Ryan, blocking his quick exit from the den. “Then I’m going with you.”
“No.”
“You can’t go alone.”
“Look, Seth,” Ryan tried to explain. “You don’t know him. Right now, he’s sitting in some dive bar, drowning his ‘sorrows’ and getting nastier with every drink. If he doesn’t end up in jail for picking a fight with another angry drunk, he’ll go back to Julie’s, and he’ll take it out on her and anyone else in that house. I need to stop him.”
Seth still wasn’t willingly moving out of Ryan’s path. “No, you don’t. We call Summer and Taylor and tell them to come here. Then we call the cops, or better yet - tell Julie to call the cops.”
“And tell them what?” Ryan snorted. “That I think he might hurt someone? They wouldn’t be able to do anything, not until it was too late. Besides, this is my fault. I knew what he was like, and I still helped set Julie up with him. I can’t let him hurt her or anyone else.”
“So you’re going to stop him by finding him so he can hurt you, right?”
Ryan shrugged as he moved past Seth. “At least I’m used to it.”
Seth grabbed his arm as Ryan tried to leave. “That’s crazy! Call Dad if you won’t call the cops.”
Ryan easily pulled his arm free, but turned to face Seth in the hopes that Seth would somehow understand the gravity of what Ryan was saying.
“Seth, you can’t involve Sandy.” Ryan’s voice had an unmistakable edge to it. “You weren’t here that night. You didn’t see how angry he got, and that was when he was sober. I’m telling you, do not call Sandy. I can handle this.”
Ryan left without another word. He hoped he said enough to keep Seth from calling Sandy, but he doubted it. Ryan didn’t want to involve them - any of them. He couldn’t let it spiral out of control any more than it already had. It couldn’t become another Trey situation.
He drove around to every dive bar he could think of - all but one. His cell phone rang continuously, but since it wasn’t Julie, Ryan didn’t answer it. He almost turned it off but remembered that he needed to keep it on just case Julie did call, signaling to him that Frank had returned to the house.
After hitting the few dive bars in Newport for the second time, Ryan finally headed to the one place he never wanted to go back to. The one place he had thought he’d never have to see again.
As Ryan pulled into the parking lot, he saw it immediately. He couldn’t miss Julie’s car parked among all the junk cars. Of course Frank would be there - that was just Ryan’s luck.
The bar was just as he remembered it - dark, dingy, dirty. His old boss, Jake, approached him immediately. “Hey, kid. Good to see ya. What brings you back here? Need your old job back?”
“No, thanks.” Ryan spotted Frank over Jake’s shoulder, sitting at the end of the bar, ‘nursing’ a scotch. “Just came to see someone.”
Ryan gestured at Frank and started to walk towards him, only to be stopped by Jake.
“You know that guy?”
Ryan could only nod slightly as he moved closer to Frank. Jake was right behind him. “You may want to be careful - that one is definitely mean.”
”Yeah, I know.”
Ryan sat wordless on the stool next to Frank. He tried not to visibly shutter at the patented Atwood sideways glare Frank gave him.
Frank took a large swig of his drink before facing Ryan. “Leave. This doesn’t concern you.”
“Yes, it does.” Ryan spoke slowly, forcing his voice to stay calm.
Frank took another sip of his drink and then stood up, towering over Ryan. “I’m telling you, boy, stay out of this.”
With that, Frank shoved Ryan hard, trying to push him off the stool, but Ryan stayed planted on his seat. Trying a different approach, Frank grabbed his arm and pulled Ryan to his feet.
That’s when Jake finally intervened. “Hey, kid. Whoever this guy is, he ain’t worth it. Come on, Ryan, go home. Want me to call your father for a ride?”
“His father?” Frank’s voice boomed as he shoved Jake. “Hey, pal, I am the boy’s father.”
“First of all, I’m not your pal.” Jake got up in Frank’s face as he spat. “And second, touch me again, and you’ll have more problems then some drunken mistaken identity.”
As Jake and Frank each stepped closer to the other and began the usual sizing up, Ryan stepped between them. “It’s okay, Jake. I got this.”
Jake gave one last hard look at Frank before taking a few steps back - staying close enough to intervene. Ryan turned to face Frank and spoke slowly.
“You’re the one who needs to leave. You’ll never change, and now Julie knows it, too. She doesn’t want you here, and neither do I.” Ryan took yet another step closer. “Stay away from my family and friends.”
Ryan heard someone shout his name behind at the same time he heard Frank say, “You little son of a bitch.” He didn’t see the fist until it was too late, but Ryan definitely felt the punch. The force of the blow knocked him painfully to the ground.
After Frank hit him, everything was a blur. It seemed as if all hell broke loose. It took Ryan a minute to realize that the man who rushed passed him and charged Frank was actually Sandy. He saw Jake and another guy hold Sandy back while two large bouncers held onto Frank. They were shouting obscenities and threats at each other.
Once Ryan was able to focus on that scene in front of him, he moved quickly to stand next to Sandy - ready to get between them if either one was able to break free.
Ryan didn’t know where the police came from or who called them. They were just suddenly there. In all the months Ryan worked there, he never saw any cops, so his first thought was that they came with Sandy.
It wasn’t until after they took Frank away in handcuffs, and after Jake got him an ice pack that Ryan was finally able to ask Sandy, “How did you know?”
“Seth called.”
Ryan put the ice pack on the table and began playing with it, not looking at Sandy. “That I already figured. I mean, how did you know to come here?”
“You told Seth that he’d be at a dive bar looking for a fight. I took a lucky guess.”
Ryan nodded as he continued to play with the ice pack - until Sandy pulled it away from him and put it back on the growing bruise.
With the ice pack once again covering the side of his face, Ryan didn’t see Seth, not until he heard that familiar “Hey.”
“Hey.” Ryan had to turn his head slightly so he could look at Seth with his non-covered, non-bruised eye.
“You okay? I saw the cops leave. You need anything?” Seth pulled out the extra chair, but didn’t sit down. He seemed to be waiting for Ryan to say something.
When Ryan didn’t immediately answer and instead looked down at the table, Sandy said, “We’re fine, Seth. But do me a favor and take my car home. Make sure your mother is alright and tell her we’ll be home soon.”
Seth left with a small knowing nod, giving Ryan a brotherly pat on the shoulder before he left.
Ryan continued looking at the table for a few minutes, glancing up at Sandy a few times, but not saying anything. Luckily, Sandy answered the unspoken question. “Seth insisted on coming. I insisted he wait in the car.”
”I guess he was worried.” Ryan managed to look up at Sandy for an instant, until Sandy said, “We all were.”
“Sorry.” Ryan pulled the ice pack away again. “When Julie called, it was just like when I was a kid. He’d have a few and get mean. Then he’d leave to have a lot and come home even meaner.”
Sandy reached over and gave Ryan’s shoulder a squeeze as Ryan continued to talk. “Why did I think he’d changed? This time he said it was different. He was different. Obviously, I was wrong. Again. God, how could I be so stupid?”
“You weren’t stupid, Ryan. You were hopeful. There’s a big difference.”
“What’s going to happen to him?”
Sandy paused a brief moment, picking up the ice pack and again placing it on Ryan’s face. “Well, he violated his parole…”
Ryan nodded since he knew exactly what that meant - Frank was going back to jail.
After a few quiet minutes, Sandy stood up and waited for Ryan to get up. He put one arm around Ryan’s shoulder and gave it another loving squeeze. “Come on, son, let’s go home.”
Ryan didn’t answer as he threw the ice pack on the table.
It wasn’t until they got outside that Ryan remembered. “Julie’s car.”
“Julie can come get her car tomorrow.” Sandy tried to lead Ryan towards the Jeep, but Ryan pulled away.
“It’s a nice car. It might not be here tomorrow.”
“Then that’s Julie’s problem. Not yours.” Sandy’s tone softened when he saw Ryan’s face. “Right now my only concern is to get you home. Everything else will take care of itself later.”
Ryan handed over the keys to the Jeep and climbed into the passenger seat.
They were halfway home before Ryan finally, quietly said, “Thank you.”
“No problem,” Sandy said. “That’s what I’m here for.”
They continued home in a comfortable silence. Ryan had closed his eyes as he leaned his head against the cool glass of the Jeep but turned towards Sandy when the man started to speak.
“Ryan, you can’t help someone who doesn’t want to help himself.”
“So how come you can?”
Sandy blushed a little at Ryan’s observation - inaccurate observation in Sandy’s opinion. “No, I can’t. All I can do is try my best to keep my family safe. But kid, sometimes you don’t make that easy.”
Ryan looked back out the side window. “I know. I’m sorry. It’s just… I just couldn’t handle the idea of him hurting Julie.”
“I can understand that.” Ryan again looked at Sandy, surprised by what he heard.
“You can?”
“Sure I can,” Sandy told him. “The idea of him or anyone hurting you or Seth or Kirsten? Well, let’s just say it’s been known to keep me up at night.”
Ryan looked down at his feet. His third “sorry” of the night was barely a whisper.
“There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for the people I love. I hope you know that.” Sandy looked at Ryan, whose only response was a slight nod.
Sandy was quiet for a few minutes, glancing over to see if Ryan would look at him or in any way show some indication that he wanted to continue to talk.
When Sandy saw Ryan turn once again towards the passenger side window, he said, “Look, we don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to.”
“We don’t?” Sandy chuckled at Ryan’s apparent surprised tone.
“Well, not tonight if you don’t want. However, tomorrow is a different story. Tomorrow morning it’s you, me and coffee in the pool house. Got it?”
Ryan smirked. “Yeah, I’d expect nothing less from Sandy Cohen.”
“And Kirsten is going to want her chance at you, too. You’ve never had to deal with a hormonal Kirsten.”
“I take it that would be a bad thing.”
Sandy slapped Ryan’s leg lightly. “Kid, you have no idea. Just remember, I will always have your back… Except when it comes to a very hormonal Kirsten.”
Ryan let out a mock groan. “I thought you said you’d do anything for us?”
“Anything but that,” Sandy laughed. “The Kirsten is something you’ll have to handle all by yourself.”
Sandy continued to laugh and a second later, Ryan joined him.
Ryan closed his eyes again and laid his head back. Okay, he thought, Frank Atwood will probably never change. But then again, neither will Sandy Cohen. At least Ryan will always have one dad he can count on.
Much thanks to finlee and beachtree for their help and corrections.
As always - I tinkered, I therefore made mistakes.
So I took an oc_plotbunny from millstone and wrote the following. I'm going to assume that the title pretty much sums up the story:
Life was good, Ryan thought as he sat next to Seth. Taylor and Summer were home doing “girl stuff”. Sandy and Kirsten were enjoying a dinner at another one of Newport’s newest restaurants. It was, therefore, a night for some good old-fashioned Seth/Ryan time, complete with their old PS2 Ninja game and plenty of junk food.
Ryan and Taylor were happy. Seth said he and Summer were going good. Kirsten and Sandy were beyond ecstatic. Even Julie’s new found love interest seemed to be going strong.
Yip, Ryan thought as he stabbed Seth’s Ninja again, life was finally really good.
One last stab, and Ryan threw down his controller triumphant. Seth was still shouting “rematch” when Ryan’s cell phone began to ring. He briefly wondered why Taylor would be calling from the Roberts’s house phone and answered with a simple, “hey.”
The voice on the other end of the phone surprised him. “Ryan? It’s Julie.”
“What’s going on?” Ryan knew from the tone of her voice that something was seriously wrong.
“It’s your father.” Julie’s voice cracked, and Ryan felt his blood go cold, managing only a “yeah?” in response.
“We went out to dinner - to celebrate. We only shared one bottle of wine, and I don’t know - maybe he had one or two after dinner drinks. When we got back here, he and Kaitlin got into an argument, and he…”
Even though Ryan could already guess the answer, he still asked, “He what?”
“He changed. He started to yell really loud and threaten, and he tried to…he tried to hit Kaitlin.”
Ryan closed his eyes as the walls began to close in on him. “Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. I threw Frank out before he did anything. He took my car. I don’t know where he went.”
Ryan didn’t say anything, instead taking deep breaths, his eyes still closed. He should have known this would happen.
After a quiet minute, Julie said, “Ryan, I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have called, but I didn’t know who else to turn to. I’ve never seen him like that. He was so angry.”
“Yeah, I know. Don’t worry about it.” Then Ryan paused - if he took Julie’s car, he had keys. That would mean…
“He doesn’t have keys to the house, does he?”
Ryan was relieved when Julie said, “No, just the car. I didn’t have any more house keys to give him. Good thing, I guess.”
It was Julie’s turn to pause before continuing. “But he wouldn’t come back here, would he? I told him I never wanted to see him again.”
“Julie, I don’t mean to scare you, but he will come back. He always comes back, and he’ll be even meaner. I want you to lock all the doors. The windows, too. If he comes back, do not let him in, no matter what he says or does, and then call me.”
“Ryan…I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, me too.” Ryan let out a heavy sigh as he snapped his phone shut. He really should have known.
His phone rang again, and Ryan saw it was Taylor. He decided it would be better not to answer her. He also decided not to say much to Seth - although that was going to be difficult since Seth was standing there and obviously heard the conversation.
Ryan grabbed his jacket and tried to leave without saying anything. Seth, naturally, stopped him. “Ryan, don’t. You can’t.”
“I’ve got to. He’ll go back there, and it’ll be worse.”
Seth stood in front of Ryan, blocking his quick exit from the den. “Then I’m going with you.”
“No.”
“You can’t go alone.”
“Look, Seth,” Ryan tried to explain. “You don’t know him. Right now, he’s sitting in some dive bar, drowning his ‘sorrows’ and getting nastier with every drink. If he doesn’t end up in jail for picking a fight with another angry drunk, he’ll go back to Julie’s, and he’ll take it out on her and anyone else in that house. I need to stop him.”
Seth still wasn’t willingly moving out of Ryan’s path. “No, you don’t. We call Summer and Taylor and tell them to come here. Then we call the cops, or better yet - tell Julie to call the cops.”
“And tell them what?” Ryan snorted. “That I think he might hurt someone? They wouldn’t be able to do anything, not until it was too late. Besides, this is my fault. I knew what he was like, and I still helped set Julie up with him. I can’t let him hurt her or anyone else.”
“So you’re going to stop him by finding him so he can hurt you, right?”
Ryan shrugged as he moved past Seth. “At least I’m used to it.”
Seth grabbed his arm as Ryan tried to leave. “That’s crazy! Call Dad if you won’t call the cops.”
Ryan easily pulled his arm free, but turned to face Seth in the hopes that Seth would somehow understand the gravity of what Ryan was saying.
“Seth, you can’t involve Sandy.” Ryan’s voice had an unmistakable edge to it. “You weren’t here that night. You didn’t see how angry he got, and that was when he was sober. I’m telling you, do not call Sandy. I can handle this.”
Ryan left without another word. He hoped he said enough to keep Seth from calling Sandy, but he doubted it. Ryan didn’t want to involve them - any of them. He couldn’t let it spiral out of control any more than it already had. It couldn’t become another Trey situation.
He drove around to every dive bar he could think of - all but one. His cell phone rang continuously, but since it wasn’t Julie, Ryan didn’t answer it. He almost turned it off but remembered that he needed to keep it on just case Julie did call, signaling to him that Frank had returned to the house.
After hitting the few dive bars in Newport for the second time, Ryan finally headed to the one place he never wanted to go back to. The one place he had thought he’d never have to see again.
As Ryan pulled into the parking lot, he saw it immediately. He couldn’t miss Julie’s car parked among all the junk cars. Of course Frank would be there - that was just Ryan’s luck.
The bar was just as he remembered it - dark, dingy, dirty. His old boss, Jake, approached him immediately. “Hey, kid. Good to see ya. What brings you back here? Need your old job back?”
“No, thanks.” Ryan spotted Frank over Jake’s shoulder, sitting at the end of the bar, ‘nursing’ a scotch. “Just came to see someone.”
Ryan gestured at Frank and started to walk towards him, only to be stopped by Jake.
“You know that guy?”
Ryan could only nod slightly as he moved closer to Frank. Jake was right behind him. “You may want to be careful - that one is definitely mean.”
”Yeah, I know.”
Ryan sat wordless on the stool next to Frank. He tried not to visibly shutter at the patented Atwood sideways glare Frank gave him.
Frank took a large swig of his drink before facing Ryan. “Leave. This doesn’t concern you.”
“Yes, it does.” Ryan spoke slowly, forcing his voice to stay calm.
Frank took another sip of his drink and then stood up, towering over Ryan. “I’m telling you, boy, stay out of this.”
With that, Frank shoved Ryan hard, trying to push him off the stool, but Ryan stayed planted on his seat. Trying a different approach, Frank grabbed his arm and pulled Ryan to his feet.
That’s when Jake finally intervened. “Hey, kid. Whoever this guy is, he ain’t worth it. Come on, Ryan, go home. Want me to call your father for a ride?”
“His father?” Frank’s voice boomed as he shoved Jake. “Hey, pal, I am the boy’s father.”
“First of all, I’m not your pal.” Jake got up in Frank’s face as he spat. “And second, touch me again, and you’ll have more problems then some drunken mistaken identity.”
As Jake and Frank each stepped closer to the other and began the usual sizing up, Ryan stepped between them. “It’s okay, Jake. I got this.”
Jake gave one last hard look at Frank before taking a few steps back - staying close enough to intervene. Ryan turned to face Frank and spoke slowly.
“You’re the one who needs to leave. You’ll never change, and now Julie knows it, too. She doesn’t want you here, and neither do I.” Ryan took yet another step closer. “Stay away from my family and friends.”
Ryan heard someone shout his name behind at the same time he heard Frank say, “You little son of a bitch.” He didn’t see the fist until it was too late, but Ryan definitely felt the punch. The force of the blow knocked him painfully to the ground.
After Frank hit him, everything was a blur. It seemed as if all hell broke loose. It took Ryan a minute to realize that the man who rushed passed him and charged Frank was actually Sandy. He saw Jake and another guy hold Sandy back while two large bouncers held onto Frank. They were shouting obscenities and threats at each other.
Once Ryan was able to focus on that scene in front of him, he moved quickly to stand next to Sandy - ready to get between them if either one was able to break free.
Ryan didn’t know where the police came from or who called them. They were just suddenly there. In all the months Ryan worked there, he never saw any cops, so his first thought was that they came with Sandy.
It wasn’t until after they took Frank away in handcuffs, and after Jake got him an ice pack that Ryan was finally able to ask Sandy, “How did you know?”
“Seth called.”
Ryan put the ice pack on the table and began playing with it, not looking at Sandy. “That I already figured. I mean, how did you know to come here?”
“You told Seth that he’d be at a dive bar looking for a fight. I took a lucky guess.”
Ryan nodded as he continued to play with the ice pack - until Sandy pulled it away from him and put it back on the growing bruise.
With the ice pack once again covering the side of his face, Ryan didn’t see Seth, not until he heard that familiar “Hey.”
“Hey.” Ryan had to turn his head slightly so he could look at Seth with his non-covered, non-bruised eye.
“You okay? I saw the cops leave. You need anything?” Seth pulled out the extra chair, but didn’t sit down. He seemed to be waiting for Ryan to say something.
When Ryan didn’t immediately answer and instead looked down at the table, Sandy said, “We’re fine, Seth. But do me a favor and take my car home. Make sure your mother is alright and tell her we’ll be home soon.”
Seth left with a small knowing nod, giving Ryan a brotherly pat on the shoulder before he left.
Ryan continued looking at the table for a few minutes, glancing up at Sandy a few times, but not saying anything. Luckily, Sandy answered the unspoken question. “Seth insisted on coming. I insisted he wait in the car.”
”I guess he was worried.” Ryan managed to look up at Sandy for an instant, until Sandy said, “We all were.”
“Sorry.” Ryan pulled the ice pack away again. “When Julie called, it was just like when I was a kid. He’d have a few and get mean. Then he’d leave to have a lot and come home even meaner.”
Sandy reached over and gave Ryan’s shoulder a squeeze as Ryan continued to talk. “Why did I think he’d changed? This time he said it was different. He was different. Obviously, I was wrong. Again. God, how could I be so stupid?”
“You weren’t stupid, Ryan. You were hopeful. There’s a big difference.”
“What’s going to happen to him?”
Sandy paused a brief moment, picking up the ice pack and again placing it on Ryan’s face. “Well, he violated his parole…”
Ryan nodded since he knew exactly what that meant - Frank was going back to jail.
After a few quiet minutes, Sandy stood up and waited for Ryan to get up. He put one arm around Ryan’s shoulder and gave it another loving squeeze. “Come on, son, let’s go home.”
Ryan didn’t answer as he threw the ice pack on the table.
It wasn’t until they got outside that Ryan remembered. “Julie’s car.”
“Julie can come get her car tomorrow.” Sandy tried to lead Ryan towards the Jeep, but Ryan pulled away.
“It’s a nice car. It might not be here tomorrow.”
“Then that’s Julie’s problem. Not yours.” Sandy’s tone softened when he saw Ryan’s face. “Right now my only concern is to get you home. Everything else will take care of itself later.”
Ryan handed over the keys to the Jeep and climbed into the passenger seat.
They were halfway home before Ryan finally, quietly said, “Thank you.”
“No problem,” Sandy said. “That’s what I’m here for.”
They continued home in a comfortable silence. Ryan had closed his eyes as he leaned his head against the cool glass of the Jeep but turned towards Sandy when the man started to speak.
“Ryan, you can’t help someone who doesn’t want to help himself.”
“So how come you can?”
Sandy blushed a little at Ryan’s observation - inaccurate observation in Sandy’s opinion. “No, I can’t. All I can do is try my best to keep my family safe. But kid, sometimes you don’t make that easy.”
Ryan looked back out the side window. “I know. I’m sorry. It’s just… I just couldn’t handle the idea of him hurting Julie.”
“I can understand that.” Ryan again looked at Sandy, surprised by what he heard.
“You can?”
“Sure I can,” Sandy told him. “The idea of him or anyone hurting you or Seth or Kirsten? Well, let’s just say it’s been known to keep me up at night.”
Ryan looked down at his feet. His third “sorry” of the night was barely a whisper.
“There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for the people I love. I hope you know that.” Sandy looked at Ryan, whose only response was a slight nod.
Sandy was quiet for a few minutes, glancing over to see if Ryan would look at him or in any way show some indication that he wanted to continue to talk.
When Sandy saw Ryan turn once again towards the passenger side window, he said, “Look, we don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to.”
“We don’t?” Sandy chuckled at Ryan’s apparent surprised tone.
“Well, not tonight if you don’t want. However, tomorrow is a different story. Tomorrow morning it’s you, me and coffee in the pool house. Got it?”
Ryan smirked. “Yeah, I’d expect nothing less from Sandy Cohen.”
“And Kirsten is going to want her chance at you, too. You’ve never had to deal with a hormonal Kirsten.”
“I take it that would be a bad thing.”
Sandy slapped Ryan’s leg lightly. “Kid, you have no idea. Just remember, I will always have your back… Except when it comes to a very hormonal Kirsten.”
Ryan let out a mock groan. “I thought you said you’d do anything for us?”
“Anything but that,” Sandy laughed. “The Kirsten is something you’ll have to handle all by yourself.”
Sandy continued to laugh and a second later, Ryan joined him.
Ryan closed his eyes again and laid his head back. Okay, he thought, Frank Atwood will probably never change. But then again, neither will Sandy Cohen. At least Ryan will always have one dad he can count on.
Much thanks to finlee and beachtree for their help and corrections.
As always - I tinkered, I therefore made mistakes.