Kyle walked into the diner and spotted Rick right away. He waved to his friend and slowly made his way to the booth. "Thanks for meeting me," he said as he sat down. The waitress brought coffee and the two men stared at each other, neither one saying much for quite a while.
Finally Rick broke the silence, "So…what did you want to talk about?" he asked. He had been suspicious of Kyle for a while now and he knew he had to find out once and for all what was going on. He was worried about Jamie and Jo.
"I'm leaving town for a while," Kyle said as he sipped his coffee. "I'm not going to be working at the studio anymore."
"You haven't been working at the studio for a while," Rick said knowingly. "What the hell is going on?"
Kyle was wringing his hands nervously. He looked at Rick, his eyes dark and secretive. "I have to leave town…that's all I can say."
"What have you gotten yourself into?" Rick lowered his voice, his tone serious. "Kyle…tell me."
Kyle shook his head, "I can't. But everything will be okay. I just have to leave. Mrs. Garrett is going to take care of Jamie until Jo gets released."
"What about Jo? What about the baby?" Rick asked.
"Jo and I are getting divorced," Kyle said with little emotion. "And she's giving the baby up…it's not mine."
"I can't believe you," Rick said with bitterness. "You're leaving her because of the rape aren't you? How dare you…"
"I'm leaving her because I love her," Kyle argued. "She doesn't need me. She's better off without me. She's safer…"
"You're scaring me," Rick said honestly. "What is going on? Are Jo and Jamie in danger? Kyle…did you do something illegal? I know Rose claimed she saw you with some drug dealer years ago in the Bronx. Was that true? Are you involved in drug crimes or something?"
"Stop asking me stupid questions!" Kyle yelled. "I have to leave…that's all I'm telling you. My life is my business and not yours. I love Jo and Jamie and I'll make sure they are safe, but I have to leave." He stood up from the table, "Do me a favor?" he asked. "Be there for Jo. She's confused. I wish I could tell her the full story, but I can't. I know she's scared. Help her okay? And bring her chocolate chip ice cream…"
"You're not making sense…" Rick stood up and looked him in the eye. "Why are you doing this to her?"
Kyle shook his head and ignored his question. "She's been craving chocolate chip ice cream…so bring her some..please? I gotta go." Then he turned and ran out of the restaurant.
