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Chapter 11Sandy piled paperwork into his briefcase before yelling a goodbye to his family and reaching for his car keys. "Hey! Get back here now!" his wife growled from the kitchen, "Kiss." She said simply. Sandy jogged into the kitchen and kissed his wife goodbye, "You should really go back to the office honey. You're becoming a fierce little housewife." Kirsten glared at him, "Not until my father realises that he is an ass!"
"Ahh well I'd better get used to it then huh? Bye honey. Bye boys."
Sandy drove into the parking lot outside the office and grabbed his briefcase from the backseat. He got out of the car and noticed his colleague, Rachel, walking rapidly towards the front entrance, "Rachel!!" he yelled for her attention but she didn't seem to hear him as she sped into the elevator. Sandy waited for the next one before striding into his office feeling that today he would do something worthwhile until he found three case files on his desk. He picked up the first one to find a lawsuit against a dentist for a tooth whitening session gone awry. The next two were both noise complaints. He threw them onto his desk and put his head in his hands, "Why did I take this job?" he asked himself under his breath. He had to go and see Rachel about a deposition they both had scheduled today so he walked along the corridor and knocked on the heavy oak door. "Who is it?" came a voice. "It's Sandy." He called while trying to open the door. It was locked. "What do you want?" she called from behind the door.
"Maybe a face to face conversation. I need to talk to you about that deposition today."
"Oh uh... do you think we could reschedule? I'm not really up for it today." Sandy turned to Rachel's assistant who looked just as baffled as him. "She's rescheduled her entire week. She came in here without even looking up at anyone and asked me to change the dates for meetings and depositions for the rest of this week through the intercom." Sandy looked back at the door, "Is there any way I could get a key to this door?"
"Only custodians have keys to the offices." Sandy nodded and tried again but Rachel asked him to leave her alone. Sandy went down into the basement where the janitor's closet was and knocked on the door. It was opened by an old man with a large grey moustache, "Yes?" he asked looking rather surprised to see Sandy there with his best suit on. Sandy knew he wouldn't give him the key without a fight, "I need a key... for an office."
"Whose office? Because you know I can't give it to you if it's somebody else's office."
"Yeah I know it's... yeah it's my office. I lost my key."
"Which office is it?"
"14..." he paused trying to remember, "D! Yeah it's 14D."
"Uh huh. Well I think I'll come with ya. You know just in case it isn't yours."
"Okay I just need the door unlocked. I don't care if you're there or not."
As Sandy and the Janitor, who Sandy soon came to know as Fred, stood in the elevator he was trying to imagine what was wrong with Rachel. He stopped realising he would imagine the worst-case scenario. Instead he made small talk with Fred the Janitor. Sandy found out that he was originally from Texas and was widowed. He had three Grandchildren all of whom lived in Newport with his son and daughter in law. "Well Fred I have to say that this is fascinating but do you think you could open the door now?" They had been standing outside Rachel's office for ten minutes now while Fred searched for pictures of his family in Illinois. "Oh of course Mr Cohen it's just that I am so proud of my family I get a little carried away. Did you know that my son is a doctor in...?"
"Door Fred." Sandy said irritated. Fred unlocked the door and left. Sandy pushed open the door and found Rachel with her back to him. She was staring out the window. "You took your time." She said in a less than friendly tone.
"Rachel what's wrong?" She kept her back turned and didn't answer. Sandy came up behind her and took her elbow. She flinched and he dropped his grip, "Rachel." He said gently. She turned around slowly looking at the floor. Her blonde hair draped her face and she had her right arm wrapped around her stomach. She looked up and Sandy saw it. Her left eye was blue and purple. Her lip was swollen and she had bruises on her neck. Sandy took her arm automatically and she flinched again. "Tender." She said simply.
"Who?" he asked shocked.
"It's not important." She said hurriedly.
"The Hell it is. Tell me." He demanded.
"Alan." She said barely audible.
"Your boyfriend? You've been seeing him for months. Please tell me that this is the first time." Rachel stared at her feet again and sighed, "No."
"Ugh Rachel you should've said something I could've done something."
"What? What could you have done? He's just..."
"Don't make excuses for him. You have to break up with him."
"How can I? It's his house. Where am I gonna go?"
"Family? Friends?"
"All my friends have families of their own so I couldn't... and I can't go to my parents. I don't want them to know about this."
"Okay. You can live with us for a while."
"Huh? No I couldn't intrude and plus your wife hates me."
"What? Why would you think that? Kirsten loves you. It'll be fine." Sandy spent the rest of the afternoon reassuring Rachel that it was okay for her to stay and clearing his schedule for the day. Rachel went back to her office to get her coat and keys and Sandy called Kirsten. "Hey honey. It's Sandy."
"Hey why are you calling in the middle of the day? Is something wrong?"
"Uh well kinda."
"What? What is it? Are you okay?"
"Kirsten calm down. Yes I'm fine. I just called to check something with you."
"What is it?"
"I was wondering if Rachel could stay with us for a while," he said hurriedly.
"Why? Did she get kicked out of her house or something?"
"No... her boyfriend's been beating her. And she doesn't have any place else to go. Please?"
"Uh sure... her boyfriend's been hitting her?"
"Yeah she's in pretty bad shape so warn the kids not to mention anything to her."
"Okay. What are you doing now?"
"I'm gonna go with Rachel to pick up her stuff at Alan's place and then we're gonna come home."
"Okay. I'll have a room ready for her. Love you."
"You too. Bye honey."
Sandy pulled up outside a tall apartment block and looked over at Rachel. She smiled at him, "First time on the numbered streets? I guess it's a bit different from the manor huh?" Sandy smiled and got out of the car, "You don't have to go up with me Sandy. He's at work so..."
"So there should be no problem with me coming up then should there?"
"Uh well okay but... it's kind of a mess so I'm warning you."
Rachel pushed open the door to her apartment and apologised again for the mess, "I didn't have time to clean this morning."
"Don't apologise. I think this is how ours would look if wasn't for Rosa... our maid. Little Mexican woman she's a gem." Rachel laughed and plodded her way past an upturned table and into her bedroom, which was surprisingly rather tidy. Sandy went into the loving room, which was littered with glass and clothes. There was a lamp that had been smashed in the corner and there was a bloody handprint on the wall. "I know it looks like a murder scene but it's not as bad as it looks... hey that's my clothes!"
"What?"
"My clothes. They're all over the floor! He must've done this after I left for work. That bastard!" Rachel went to pick up a pair of jeans that were strewn over the face down television but she winced and grabbed her stomach again. Sandy went over and took her hand away and peered at her stomach, which was covered in bruises. "I think that we should take you to the hospital."
"No! No it's okay. It's just bruises no broken bones. I would know. Please I don't wanna go there."
"Okay. As long as you're okay. Now lets get your stuff and get outta here."
As Sandy went to unload Rachel's cases he realised she probably wouldn't be able to carry anything. "Let's go inside first. I'll get Ryan and Seth to help me with your cases later."
"Okay. Uh Sandy? Thanks for this. I mean you've been great and your wife is... thanks." She finished shakily.
Sandy pushed open the door and led Rachel into the kitchen where Kirsten and Seth were drinking coffee. "Summer's been acting really weird. I don't know what to do she's just..."
"Sandy! Uh Seth we'll talk more about this later okay?"
"Sure."
"Hey sweetie. Seth. How was your day?"
"Pretty good." Kirsten replied as she accepted a kiss on the cheek from her husband. "Hi Rachel. I made you up a room and you're welcome to stay as long as you need."
"Thanks. You and Sandy are great for letting me do this... I won't be here long so don't worry. Just a couple of days while I find a new apartment."
"Hey that's cool. But I'd stay away from Luke right now. I think he's in heat." Seth said. Kirsten frowned, "Luke? He's been pretty nice to me."
"Yeah I wonder why?" Seth said innocently.
"Luke? I thought it was Ryan or... Seth?" Rachel asked uneasily.
"Yeah uh. This..." Sandy answered pointing to his dark haired son, "Is Seth and the blonde one is Ryan. We have a lot of kids around the house right now helping out with Katie."
"And Katie is... Ryan's daughter?"
"You got it. Seth could you help me with Rachel's cases please?" Seth got up lethargically from his seat and dragged his feet to the door leaving Rachel and Kirsten in the kitchen alone. "So... thanks again. For this. If it wasn't for you two I don't know what I'd..." She stopped as Kirsten put her hand up as if telling her to stop, "Please don't thank us. I'm glad we could help."
"Do you have any aspirin? My head is splitting."
"Sure there's some in that cupboard behind you." Kirsten got up to get it, "No it's okay I'll find it." Rachel said as she opened the cupboard door. She saw that the aspirin was on the top shelf. As she reached up for it Kirsten saw her wince in pain. She saw her back was covered in more bruises and cuts. "Here let me get it for you." Kirsten offered.
"Thanks." Rachel said relieved. She wrapped her arms around her sore ribs and poured herself a glass of water. She took the box from Kirsten and sat at the island in the kitchen. Kirsten sat down next to her, "So as you'll probably remember from Thanksgiving I'm not much of a cook so what would you like me order in for tonight?"
Hope you enjoyed. Please leave a review and I'll have a new chapter up soon.
