38 - One emotional visit

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Ryan

It had been two weeks since he had the knock on the door. He spent Saturday night with Will because he was leaving the next day for football practice. They walked back from the beach together. "You better update me on your season. I want to know all my training helped."

"Man, I'll text you every day."

"You do know that thing attached to your hand makes phone calls. We could talk once in a while."

"Yeah okay, old man."

"Hey, I thought I was your QB!"

Will smiled. "The best!"

Ryan felt sad, because he was cooking Will his last burger. He must have fed the kid thirty of them over the course of the summer. When he headed out to go meet his friends on the beach, he hugged him. Ryan felt a thickening in his chest. It hadn't escaped him Will was close to the age his son, Aidan, would have been if he had lived. Would he have liked football? Would Ryan have spent his summer evenings playing pass and his entire fall on the sidelines?

Like an idiot, he did something he knew he shouldn't. He went on Facebook. He had an account, but didn't use it and didn't follow anyone. He ignored friend requests. He typed in her name and saw pictures. He stared at a picture of her smiling with two children about the same age as Peter's twins. He liked to see she looked happy, but it was always the picture of her son that drew him in. He imagined Aidan might have looked like him, although obviously they had only shared the same mother. He was glad she found happiness with new babies. He knew she hadn't forgotten about her first one. A few years before, she started leaving him private messages on Aidan's birthday. He only replied once and wrote, I'll never forget.

Sunday was rainy, which was fine because it matched his mood. He watched as Will packed his things into the car, dashing back and forth into the cottage. They had said their goodbye, and he didn't expect to see him. He did text him to say he was leaving, which made Ryan smile. Ryan replied, wishing him a safe drive. He sat down and tried to focus on the Dan Brown book which he had been reading all summer. He had the game on for a while, but his team was being shut out by the Rays and did nothing to improve his mood.

He was trying to doze off when he heard a car. Jumping up, it surprised him to see his mother at the door. Opening it, Kelly breezed past him stopping to plant a kiss on his cheek.

She looked around. "What's wrong?"

Ryan followed her eyes and realized his surroundings looked like they had when he first arrived in May and Lana cleaned the first time. He didn't respond but slumped like he was a seventeen-year-old.

"Ryan honey, I thought you were having a good summer and were a lot happier than when you first arrived."

"You know me... always the screw-up."

"Sweetheart, you are not. Talk to me."

"Everything is fine now, well except... um... Lana's mad at me."

She sighed. "What did you do?"

"Funny thing is I did nothing which she views as the problem, but the real villain in this story was Adam."

"Aren't they dating?"

"Not anymore and she blames me, but Adam was the one who was seeing a girl in Boston this whole time. Jack and I..." He would not take his mother's heat alone. "... We both knew he was seeing the other girl when he showed up Memorial Day weekend. I also suspected he was still seeing her after, but he and Lana were casual. I assumed he stopped with the one in Boston until she showed up here two weeks ago. Mom, you should have seen Lana's face when she saw the girl throw herself into Adam's arms. She is madder at me than Adam."

"The poor girl has been through a lot... Just having..."

"What?"

"Nothing I was just going to say something about her mother."

"Oh yeah well, I know the woman is a piece of work. Many times this summer, I've thought how lucky I am to have you and not a mother like her."

"Well, I think she means well." Kelly was very diplomatic. "So you and Lana were friends, and she is obviously feeling hurt. Have you apologized?"

"Of course."

"You need to prove she can trust you."

"How do I?"

"Maybe you show her you trust her."

All summer, Lana was trying to find out why he had been banished and he had only told Jack.

"What else has got you down?"

"Will left today."

"You are sad because a teenage boy left?"

"We spent a lot of time together. I helped him train for football and I fed him because he was always hungry."

"I imagine he was. I raised two teenage boys. I know how set in your ways you are, but I think you would make a good father."

Ryan thought of his ill-advised visit to Facebook and his mother who had always been a mind reader looked at him with narrow eyes. Something opened up inside of him, as he looked at the woman who loved him more than any other human - unconditionally.

He took her hand and sat her on the couch. "Mom, I have something to tell you." He paused and took a breath and seeing worry on her face, he shut his eyes. "I should have told you this a long time ago, but I was young and stupid." He took another breath. "Christina had a baby, but he was born way too early and so you've technically been a grandmother a lot longer than you ever knew."

When he looked up at her, she had a sad look on her face. "He."

"Yes, she liked the name, Aidan. It was getting to where I had to tell you and then it was all over after one horrible night. She delivered him and he was so tiny and I think I blocked most of it out."

"Is that why things ended between you two?" Her voice was gentle.

"Yeah, I don't think either of us could deal with it. It was too much. We were just too young."

"I wish you had let me help you. I assume you don't want anyone to know..."

"I prefer not. I mean unless you find a need to tell Dad. I don't want you to get in trouble for keeping secrets."

She laughed. "Your father would never get angry with me over keeping someone else's secret. Is Aidan why you have chosen to be alone?"

"I haven't chosen to be alone. I have chosen not to want a wife. I was ready to have one at twenty and truthfully I felt relieved I was saved. My baby died, and I felt relieved."

"Sweetheart, you were just a child yourself. You shouldn't feel guilty over it. Sometimes even bad things happen for a reason. All you have to do is look at your brother's life to see. I don't mean I'm glad about Nicole. I just mean since it happened something good came of it. You don't have to feel guilty. I wish you would change your mind, because I would like more than four grandchildren and I think your brother is done."

It did not go unnoticed by Ryan she said four and not three grandchildren. He avoided telling his mother about Isobel which was just as well. He wouldn't put it past her to hunt Isobel down. He could see his mother telling her off on his behalf.

As she was reading his mind, she scowled. "Adam Kaplan better be prepared for the next time he sees me... to think I treated him like a son."

"Don't make a big deal out of it."

"Darling, I'll think about it, if you promise to think about letting your guilt go. I love you."

"Yeah, I know Mom... back at ya... Um, Mom, I have something else to tell you, but I need you to keep quiet about it for a few days. I don't want it getting back to Lana just yet."

"Am I going to like this?"

"Oh yeah, you definitely will. I bought a cottage on Osprey."

"You what?"

"You remember Dougie. I bought it from his father. I've already met with Alex to do some updating. I'm not doing what Jack did."

"Really?" He nodded. "Well, this has been one emotional visit. I'm so happy."

Ryan wasn't used to making a female happy.

On Monday morning, he received two phone calls. The first was from Allie who told him he had an appointment at eleven o'clock at his new cottage.

"Did you give a name?"

"No, just mine."

The second call came a few minutes before he was heading out the door. "Hey, how's the baby?"

"She's perfect. Listen, Ryan, Heidi wants to come up next week for a few weeks. It's probably time you come home, anyway."

He felt the dread creep in. He couldn't leave before he made up with Lana. He swallowed. "You're probably right."

He couldn't remember the last time he was this nervous about a meeting. He made sure he was there first and paced back and forth in the ugly kitchen. He was going out with Jen the following day. Suddenly, he was under the wire to get done what he needed to do if he was leaving. He wondered if Cam would work while he was here. If he was, Ryan could take a vacation week. He had taken very little time off all summer and he could stay at the condo. Looking around, staying at the cottage wasn't really an option.

He heard the light rap on the door and her voice calling out, "Hello, Allie..."

He watched her face as he appeared in front of her. The tension appeared before she snapped. "What game are you playing, Ryan Harris?"

"No game. Allie is my assistant. She sets up all my meetings. I want to hire you to take care of my cottage. Figure out a fair fee because I will be having a lot of work done and I'll need updates and someone to make sure it gets done according to plan. Which shouldn't be a problem because I trust Alex, but..."

Her jaw was slack as her mouth gaped open. "Is this really yours?" He nodded. "Why?"

"Because I had the best summer of my adult life. Well until I screwed up and lost one of my best friends."

"Best friend!" She sneered.

"Yeah, but I realize for more than the obvious reason, I wasn't a very good friend. I should have trusted you and I was too proud or embarrassed or..."

"What are you talking about?" She snapped.

"I should have told you why I was banished, but maybe it was just fun to watch you beg."

"I never begged."

"So are you going to take the job or are you willing to throw good money out the window?"

"I might need to inflate my prices since the client can be a real bastard."

"You do that. Now do you want to know why I came in May?"



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