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The doorbell at Grey House rang out, and Will ran to the door before anyone could stop him. "I'll get it Mama!" he yelled. He opened the door to find an unknown man standing there.
"Hi. Welcome to Grey House. Do you have a reservation?" Will asked, repeating what he had heard his mom say dozens of times.
The man shook his head and smiled down at him. "You must be William," he said. Will's eyes narrowed slightly, trying to figure out how this man knew his name. Just then, his mom came walking around the corner.
"Will, what have we told you about answering the door? That could be…"she stopped. "Ryan?!" Cassie exclaimed, shocked. "Wow. What are you doing here? How is London?" she asked, as she pulled him into a brief hug.
Ryan smiled. "I was in Chicago on business, and I thought I'd check in with some old friends," he said. "London has been great. The real estate market is booming there, and I've been making a lot of sales." His eyes drifted to Will, who was still standing by the open door. "So… is this your son? William?"
Cassie smiled. "Yes, Will. Will, this is my old friend Ryan. He used to live here in Middleton."
Will smiled, showing a single dimple in his cheek, and shook Ryan's hand. "Hi. Nice to meet you. I'm Will. William Alexander Radford," he said with confidence. "My initials spell WAR, but I'm really nice." He said with a grin.
Cassie and Ryan chuckled and Ryan bent down to examine Will more closely. "Wow. He's like a little Sam, isn't he?" he said, eyebrows raised.
Cassie nodded, smiling. "If you only knew," she said.
"You know my dad?" Will asked, looking at Ryan.
Ryan hesitated. "I know him a little. He had only lived here in Middleton for a year or so before I moved away," he said, glancing at Cassie.
Cassie gave him an awkward smile and shifted her eyes. Ryan caught her hand, squeezing it gently. "No, no. I don't want you to feel guilty about that. Things have worked out well…for both of us," he said, glancing at Will.
Just then, Sam walked into the entryway. "Cassie, have you seen…" he stopped suddenly, spotting Ryan and immediately eyeing Cassie's hand in his. Ryan dropped her hand and reached out to shake Sam's. Sam automatically shook it. "Ryan. I didn't know you were in town," he said, looking at Cassie questioningly. Cassie shrugged.
Ryan smiled, watching the nonverbal communication between the two. "I didn't tell anyone. It was kind of a last minute trip."
Sam nodded and glanced at Will, who was watching the interaction between his parents and this man with fascination.
"Daddy? What are you looking for?" Will asked.
Sam looked at his son, confused. "What do you mean?"
Will gave his dad a perplexed look. "When you came into the room you were asking Mama if she had seen something, and then you stopped. Why did you stop?"
Sam shut his eyes briefly, inwardly cursing his son's highly observant nature.
"Oh. It doesn't matter, buddy. I stopped because I hadn't seen Ryan in a while and I was surprised." Will was about to ask another question, but Cassie broke in.
"Ryan, we were about to have dinner. Would you like to join us?"
Ryan looked between Cassie, Sam, and Will, all with different expressions on their faces. Cassie looked friendly and hopeful, Sam was wary but not unkind, and Will was still trying to figure him out. He laughed.
"I'd love to. You don't mind?" he said.
"Of course not!" Cassie said. You're always welcome." She wrapped her arm around Sam's waist, and led them all into the dining room. "I hope you don't mind lasagna. It's Will's favorite," she said.
Ryan glanced at the boy, who was bouncing up and down, grinning. He couldn't help but be charmed by this kid, and he chuckled at his exuberance. Will bounced up to him. "This is my seat, this is Mama's and Daddy's. You can sit here," he said, pointing at the chair next to Sam's.
Meanwhile, Cassie and Sam had entered the kitchen to get the food and an extra place setting. Sam glanced back toward the dining room. "Did you know he was coming?" he whispered.
Cassie shook her head. "No. I haven't heard from him in a while. He's working in London now and he said he's been in Chicago on business," she said, as she handed Sam the lasagna and placed an extra place setting, along with garlic bread and salad on a tray to carry in to the dining room. "That was a little bit of a cold greeting you gave him out there," she said, eyeing him.
Sam looked at her incredulously. "How did you expect me to react? I hadn't seen the man in 9 or 10 years, and when I did, he was holding my wife's hand. It was like a weird time warp," Sam whispered.
Cassie sighed. "Sam, he grabbed my hand to tell me that he doesn't want me to feel guilty about what happened between the two of us. He said that things worked out well for everyone, which I believe as well."
Sam took a deep breath. "Sorry. Ryan brings up unpleasant memories for me…"
Cassie smiled and took the lasagna from his hands, setting it back on the counter. She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him tightly to her. "There's no need to feel like that. Ryan and I were good friends, but nothing more. You and I…are obviously something way more. Proof of that is currently sitting in the dining room, probably badgering Ryan with questions," she whispered. They both chuckled before coming together in a lingering kiss.
When they pulled apart, she lightly swatted his shoulder. "Now let's get back in there before our son gets Ryan's life story." Sam laughed and picked up the lasagna, following Cassie back into the dining room.
"So, you sell houses? What kind of houses do you sell? Are they expensive? Do you make a lot of money? Wait…sorry…Dad said I can't ask people that. Do you like it? What kind of people do you meet?" Cassie and Sam had walked into the Armageddon of questioning: Will was peppering Ryan with question after question, not waiting for a response.
"Will," Sam said, getting his attention. "Give Ryan a break. Let's eat." Ryan looked at him gratefully and he grinned.
"Will likes to know everything. Give him an evening of your time and he'll be an expert in real estate before it's over." Sam explained.
Ryan looked over at Will, who had quieted down now that dinner had arrived. He was staring at his plate that his dad was dishing up. "Do you want to sell houses when you grow up?" he asked Will.
Will looked surprised and shook his head. "No. I'm going to be a doctor like my daddy. I already have my own lab coat and stethoscope, and I'm asking for a microscope for Christmas," he told Ryan with a smile, getting his plate of food that his dad handed him.
Ryan nodded. "I'm not surprised," he said.
"Daddy even said that we could dissect a frog together when I get a little older," Will said as he was eating.
"Will, use your manners please. Don't talk with food in your mouth, and we don't talk about cutting apart dead animals during dinner," Cassie scolded, looking somewhere between amused and disgusted.
Sam hid his smirk behind his fork and decided to change the subject. "So, Ryan…what's new with you? I mean in the last 10 years or so," he asked.
Ryan swallowed his garlic bread before replying. "Oh, things are great. I am engaged to a wonderful woman. Her name is Anna. We met at work and just clicked."
Cassie and Sam both congratulated him. "I'm glad you found your right person," Cassie said with a smile. She glanced at Sam, who reached out his hand to squeeze hers.
Will looked up from his lasagna. "Mama…"
Cassie looked at her son expectantly.
"What do you mean by right person?" he asked, with a curious look.
Cassie thought for a second. "Right now, you just worry about having good friends who make you a better person. When you're older, you'll want to find that person who makes you feel like you always want to be around them."
"But I always want to be around you and Daddy," Will said, his eyebrows pushed together.
Cassie laughed and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "We want to be around you, too. Just trust me when I say that you'll find out when you're older." Will shrugged and continued eating his dinner.
Cassie looked back at Ryan. "Do you have a place to stay tonight?" He nodded.
"I do. Thanks for asking, though."
Will spoke up, "May I be excused? I'm almost done with my book, and I REALLY want to know what happens."
Cassie nodded. "Put your dishes in the sink first and come and say goodbye to Ryan before you go upstairs." He nodded and headed into the kitchen before returning a short time later. He walked up to Ryan.
"It was nice to meet you," he said.
Ryan gave him a smile and patted him on the shoulder.
"It was nice to meet you, too, Will. You seem like a pretty awesome kid."
Will smiled and half shrugged. "Thanks. Bye!" He looked at his parents and grinned before leaving the room.
Ryan turned back to Cassie and Sam. "He really is a great kid."
They both nodded. "Thanks. We think so," Sam said. He got up and began taking the dishes to the kitchen to get the dishwasher started. When Cassie started to get up, he held out a hand. "I'll take care of the dishes tonight and go get Will ready for bed. You go visit with Ryan for a bit," he said, leaning over and giving her a quick kiss. Straightening up, he walked over to Ryan and held out his hand. "It was good to see you, Ryan. Congratulations again on your engagement." They shook hands and Sam continued to clear the table while Cassie and Ryan went to the living room to chat.
A couple of hours later, Cassie had said goodnight to Ryan and went to check on Will, who was sleeping peacefully. Entering her room, she noticed that the bedside lamp was on, but there was no Sam.
"Sam? Are you in here?" she asked, as she entered the bathroom. He was standing at the sink, shirtless, brushing his teeth.
"Hey, how 'as or 'isit?" he asked, toothbrush in mouth.
Cassie wrapped her arms around him from behind, smiling when she felt his abdominal muscles contract. "It was good. It was fun to catch up. I told him all about what's going on here, and he kept saying how impressed he was by Will. He said he's getting married in a few months, and that he'd like to bring her to Middleton to visit in the next year or so."
Sam put his toothbrush back in the holder and turned in her arms, so he was facing her. "I'm glad he found someone. You know, in a way, we have Ryan to thank for us meeting and being together," Sam said.
Cassie looked confused. "Really? Why?"
Sam smiled. "Because he sold me the house next door," he whispered in her ear as he pulled her closer, "And, something WAS wrong with that combination lock."
She laughed and pulled his face down to hers in a kiss. "That number 13 ended up being lucky…for both of us," she said.
"My new favorite number," Sam said, drawing her in for another kiss.