A/N: This story is now seeing a slight time jump; only because I don't want to drag it out too much with Ryder and Marley both moving on with their lives.
So we're doing an approximate six month time jump.
And as of now, I am starting to connect up a few stories; and you will notice some characters that I have mentioned before, who will be maybe playing into this one; or into that of others as well, where connections are also going to be made with this one as well.
As per normal any character you do recognize from Glee, I am borrowing for the purposes of this story and others that I am writing. However any characters you do not recognize from the show; either belong to me, or have been borrowed from other places; and therefore cannot within the realms of Glee stories, be used without my permission if they are of any similar nature as they are here.
So thank you for reading, and you know what to do at the end.
Love always,
KJ xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Chapter 14 -
Having being divorced now from Marley for six months; and it becoming a new year, Ryder was out to dinner with some of his friends from high school; and also others from their family, one day not long after the new year, enabling them to catch up with each other; something they didn't often get to do, since they all were so busy in other parts of their lives.
Sitting at the table, and listening to Andros and Zhane; who through Zhane's marriage to Karone were brother in laws, and Steven, who was married to Karone and Andros's cousin Dana, talking about how they never got any time any more to be doing any of the stuff they wanted, since they were all married; he let out a small sigh, feeling very like an extra wheel among the three couples present at the dinner; and began thinking it was only a matter of time before he would start to feel as if he wasn't even wanted around anymore.
"Everything okay Ryder?" asked Ashley, who was married to Andros and therefore sister in law to Karone and Zhane; and he looked to her with a nod.
"Yeah, just thinking that's all" he replied. "I don't have any funny married life stories to share, you know since divorced now and all"
"I guess, we've kind of spoken a little too much about us" said Ashley, giving him a small smile; and then laid her hand over top of Andros's and looked to her husband. "Maybe we could discuss something else, that Ryder could be part of"
"Sorry, man" said Andros, looking to his friend with a smile. "Guess we've kind of spoken of things that you're not going to be partaking it, huh?"
"It's fine, really" replied Ryder, with a small smile to his friend also. "I don't expect you all not to talk about these things around me; it's not like I am anti marriage or anything. Just Marley and I wanted different things"
"So you for real don't want children at all?" asked Steven, and Ryder looked to him; not really knowing that of the man that was Dana's husband, who he kind of knew through her younger brother Ryan who was the same age as him and the others with the exception of Steven, who was four years older then he was and two years younger then his wife.
"I like kids" replied Ryder, with a nod. "Just the thought of having my own, isn't something I ever saw myself doing"
"I use to think my cousin was the same" said Ashley. "And honestly I think the whole of the family did as well"
"Oh it wasn't just you who thought that" said Karone, with a laugh. "None of us ever thought Juanita would settle down"
"Yeah" replied Ashley, with a laugh. "And well you know Ryder, her and Nick now have little Matthew"
"I guess" said Ryder, with a nod; knowing that in some strange twist of fate that Ashley's cousin was that of Juanita Scott, or rather now Duval who had married Nick; who's brother Wes had been the one to assist him with his divorce from Marley. "So you're maybe saying, Marley just wasn't the girl for me and don't give up on thinking maybe on the whole kids thing"
"Well you never know how the future will pan out" said Dana, and Ryder looked to her with a nod. "I never thought I'd get married either; being so focused on wanting to be a doctor and all since like forever. But I knew when I met Steven that it felt right and I wanted that life with him"
"And to think you may have not known me, if I had continued at South Carolina" said Steven with a laugh. "Instead of deciding to come here to California and continue with med school"
"Lucky for me" replied Dana, with a smile to her husband; as Ryder looked to him.
"South Carolina?" asked Ryder, as Steven looked to him. "You went to college there?"
"College, yes" replied Steven with a nod. "As well as every other school up till I moved out here. I'm from there originally"
"Wow, did not know that" said Ryder, with a laugh also; as Steven looked at him kind of confused as to what he meant by that; and to the others who seemed to know what he was on about.
"Ryder's ex wife, Marley" said Karone, and Steven looked to her. "She's also from there as well"
"Oh, okay" replied Steven, with a nod. "Small world, huh" he continued as Ryder nodded. "You ever go there with her?"
"Got married there actually" said Ryder, with a laugh. "It was something she'd always dreamed about, getting married at this place her family had been to when they were younger; so yeah got married over there, and also visited her family there are few times as well"
"So she moved back there once you guys divorced" said Dana, and Ryder looked to her with a nod.
"She did, yeah" he replied. "Wanted to be closer to her family, which I totally understand; and since her older sister Mikki was having a baby round that time; that was one reason as to why she wanted to be close, so she'd be able to be there for that as well"
"Mikki, huh" said Steven, with a laugh. "Doubt it's that same one though that one of the guys I went to school with married"
"Kapowski, was her original name" said Ryder, looking to him. "And unless you know a Sebastian Smythe, then it's probably a different Mikki"
"Okay yeah this is just getting weirder and weirder" said Steven, shaking his head. "Seb and I went to school together, but we kind of in high school towards the end of it had a falling out when another friend and Seb's girlfriend at the time, hooked up with one another"
"Wait, so you know my ex wife's sister's husband" said Ryder, as Steven gave a laugh.
"Yeah, I do" he replied with a nod. "And I've met your ex wife's sister as well; when Seb and I kind of did start talking again our junior year of college, and I remembered the name Mikki, because it automatically made me thing of mouse when he introduced her"
"Yeah that's not something she likes" replied Ryder, shaking his head. "So I wouldn't ever mention the whole mouse thing to her"
"That is so weird though" said Karone, looking to Ryder; who she had known since high school. "That my cousin's husband would know your ex wife's sister's husband"
"I've come to not even think of things as weird now" replied Ryder, with a laugh. "Just look at how Blaine married the sister of the girl, that for while dated Sebastian, whilst Mikki was here in San Francisco. I'm beginning to think it's all just this weird crazy teen drama where everything is connected"
"It does seem like that" said Ashley, with a laugh also. "And the creator has some weird wacky imagination, if that is the case"
"Oh so very true" replied Andros, with a laugh as well; and the seven of them continued to talk as they finished their dinner together, before all heading back to their own places of residence.
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Still spending time with his friends, and having them agree to keep the talk of marriage and other stuff that he wasn't able to really partake in to a minimum, and instead choosing to go and play basketball games together and even go to and see on occasion games together; Ryder received a phone call for a job, and it being on a semi urgent nature; and was able to fit the job in on a Saturday afternoon, even though he did try to refrain from working on the weekend, as people weren't prepared to pay the extra costs involved for that.
Heading around to the address that he had been given, and pulling into the driveway behind a Toyota Pruis, he got out of his small van and grabbing his bag, headed over to and knocked on the front door of the modest one story house in Alameda.
Waiting for a few moments, and checking his watch to make sure he was still on time; something that he always prided himself in being, the door opened and a girl not much younger or older, he wasn't too sure of that, than him looked at him.
"Hi, are you Sarah?" he asked, looking to her; and she gave a nod. "Hi, I'm Ryder. We spoke on the phone about your oven"
"Yes, hi" replied Sarah, with a nod. "Please come on inside"
"Thanks" said Ryder, with a nod also and walked into the house. "So oven problem?"
"Yes" said Sarah, and she closed the front door and looked to him. "I'm not sure what is wrong with it, and it's seriously driving me nuts"
"Okay, well lead the way to the problem oven" replied Ryder, with a smile to her. "And I'll take a look at it"
"Thanks, that would be great" replied Sarah, as she started to walk towards her kitchen. "And also thank you so much for coming out on a weekend"
"It's not a problem" said Ryder, looking to the small in stature brunette with a smile. "So what exactly is the problem, on the phone you said it wasn't working"
"Well it's not that it's not working" replied Sarah, looking to him as the walked into the kitchen. "More that, when I turn it on to start cooking. It's okay for like a minute and then trips the fuse and I lose all my electricity"
"Okay, well that is definitely a problem" replied Ryder, with a nod.
"Very much so" said Sarah, with a nod as well. "My daughter has gotten quite upset that the last few times she has wanted chicken nuggets that she has not being able to have them, since I can't cook them"
"Well I'm sure whatever the problem is" replied Ryder, with a smile to her. "Your daughter will hopefully be able to have chicken nuggets tonight"
"If not, it's okay" said Sarah, with a small smile to Ryder also. "She's over at her father's place on weekends, so it's just me here. But I'm sure when she is back, she will be happy"
"She will" replied Ryder, with a nod, and looked at the oven and then to the cooktop bench, where it was clear that Sarah, was cooking something. "So if I turn this on, that won't affect what you're doing there?"
"No" said Sarah, shaking her head. "This is gas, so it's fine to check"
"Okay, great" replied Ryder, with a nod, as he placed his bag down near the oven and opened the door to it. "Whatever it is you're cooking there, smells great too"
"Thanks" said Sarah, with a laugh. "It's a peanut stew"
"Well it smells amazing" replied Ryder, with a smile to her and Sarah blushed ever so slightly; as Ryder started up the oven, and almost without fail the lights that were on in the house, turned off.
"See what I mean" replied Sarah, with a laugh. "Every single time"
"I do, yeah" said Ryder, as he grabbed some tools out of his bag; and along with his flashlight looked inside the oven.
"Please tell me it's an easy fix" said Sarah, as she stood at the gas cooktop stirring the stew she was cooking. "Because I really can't afford a new one at the moment"
"No, I think it will be okay" replied Ryder, with a nod; as he placed the flashlight band around his head and with a screwdriver started to use it inside the oven. "As to me it's looking very like the element used to heat the oven has blown, and every time you're going to turn it on; that is what is tripping your electricity"
"Is that a safety thing?" asked Sarah, as Ryder removed the element from the bottom of the oven and standing up, looked to her with a nod.
"Yeah it is" he replied. "And as you can see" he said pointing to one end of the element he was holding. "That this here has burnt out, which is causing the trip of electricity"
"So it's an easy fix" said Sarah, with a small sigh of relief; as Ryder gave a nod and laughed.
"Very easy indeed" replied Ryder. "I should have you up and back cooking the chicken nuggets for your daughter, very soon"
"Thank you so much" said Sarah, with a smile to him as Ryder nodded.
"Sure" replied Ryder, with a smile of his own to her. "Let me just make a quick call and see if my supplier has in this particular element and I might be able to get it all fixed for you today"
"That would be great" replied Sarah, with a nod as Ryder grabbed his cell phone from the bag of tools he had bought in.
"I'll just step out into your living room if that is okay?" asked Ryder, as Sarah nodded.
"That is fine" she said, with a smile to him; as Ryder dialed the number of his supplier for parts and walked through to the living area of his clients house; and upon finding that they did indeed have the part in stock, left Sarah's house to go and get the part to fix and install her oven.
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Having gone and being able to obtain the part to fix the oven for the client he was currently dealing with; after waiting around five minutes he was able to see that the element had indeed fixed the problem and was no longer causing the power to cut out, he closed the oven up and turned it off for Sarah.
"All done" said Ryder, looking to Sarah; who now was in the midst of cutting up vegetables for what she was still cooking on the gas cooktop. "Shouldn't have any more problems with it"
"Thank you so much" replied Sarah, looking to him with a smile. "And also for getting it done so quickly"
"It's not a problem, really" replied Ryder, shaking his head. "It's what my job is"
"Well thank you anyway" said Sarah, with a nod. "And if you can work out how much I owe you for doing it; then I can pay you now for it all"
"Sure" replied Ryder, looking to her as he grabbed his tablet from him tool bag; that he used to create invoices on for his clients. "But you do have seven days to pay, just so you know"
"I'd rather get it done and paid, so that I don't forget" said Sarah, with a laugh. "Don't need for Ashley telling me off for not paying one of her friends for the job they have done for me, when she is the one to have recommended you"
"Ashley?" asked Ryder, looking to her as he went into the accounting software on his tablet.
"Yes, my cousin Ashley" replied Sarah, with a nod and looking to Ryder. "Ashley Spencer"
"She's your cousin?" asked Ryder, with a small laugh as he entered in the details of the job he had done for Sarah to the invoice.
"Uh huh, she is" replied Ashley, with a laugh also. "We're related on our mom's side"
"I did not know that" said Ryder, looking to Sarah with a small smile. "And that therefore gives you the family and friends discount"
"You don't have to do that" said Sarah, looking to him and shaking her head. "Especially since you've done this work on a Saturday for me"
"It's fine" replied Ryder, looking to her with a smile. "And besides Ashley recommended me as well, and I'd give her a discount normally. So one now applies to you as well"
"Thank you" said Sarah, with a smile also. "That's very kind of you"
"No problem" replied Ryder, with a quick nod. "So surname for the invoice? I never got it from you"
"It's Scott" said Sarah, looking to him; as Ryder quickly looked to her as he typed this into the invoice.
"Scott" said Ryder, as Sarah gave a nod. "So that would make you Juanita and Wes's sister then"
"Yes it would" replied Sarah, with a laugh. "Older brother and older sister"
"Small world" said Ryder, with a laugh as well. "Your brother helped me with my divorce not that long ago; and your sister is married to a friend of mine's friend"
"Yeah, small indeed" replied Sarah, with smile. "So divorced as well, huh?"
"I am, yeah" said Ryder, looking to her with a small smile. "Are you as well?"
"Yes" replied Sarah, with a nod. "My ex Hunter and I, we tried to make it work and were married for four years; after having Zoey before we'd gotten married, although being engaged when she was born" said Sarah, looking to him. "But at the end of the day, we realized that we were much better as friends, and that staying together purely for that of our daughter; wasn't going to do either of us any good in the long run and it was better to divorce and remain friends, then to have it become a marriage where we hated one another and that hatred came through into us raising Zoey together"
"Yeah, I totally get what you're saying" said Ryder, looking to her with a nod. "Well apart from the whole kids thing"
"You and your ex wife didn't have children together?" asked Sarah; as Ryder shook his head.
"No, we were only married a little over two years" he replied. "And kids aren't something I see myself having; so that was one of the factors in why Marley and I divorced"
"I never saw myself being a Mom either" replied Sarah, with a small laugh. "At least not at the age I was. I thought I'd be much rather the age I am now, before I had my first one; not that I don't love Zoey and feel blessed to have her, it's just if things had been different I would have chosen to wait"
"Yeah, it's amazing in hindsight" said Ryder, with a laugh also and looked to the tablet to make sure that all the correct information was added into the invoice and that the discount had also been applied as well. "Okay, so all up total is three hundred and twenty seven dollars and eighty six cents"
"Sure" replied Sarah, as she grabbed her phone from the counter near her and went into her banking app. "What were you bank details"
"Umm here" replied Ryder, looking to and pointing to the details for direct depositing on the invoice on the tablet. "And I will email this to you as well, so if you have any problems then you're covered by a ninety day warranty"
"Thanks" said Sarah looking to him with a nod and smile. "I'm sure though, there will be no troubles with it now"
"Hopefully not" replied Ryder, with a laugh. "Don't want you to be telling your friends to avoid using me now"
"Believe me, I won't" replied Sarah, with a laugh also. "If anything I am going to be telling them all how wonderful you are"
"Thanks" said Ryder, with a smile. "Did you want to enter in your email to my tablet here, and I will get this invoice sent to you"
"Yep" replied Sarah, with a nod. "And you should hopefully have that payment soon for the job" she continued showing him that the transaction had successfully gone through on her phone app.
"I think I can trust you" replied Ryder, with a laugh as he passed her his tablet so that she was able to enter in her email address so that she could get the invoice sent to her.
"Well you know my family" said Sarah, with a laugh as well as she typed. "And it wouldn't be a good look if I didn't pay you for your time, work and also the part you got"
"Very true" said Ryder, with a nod as he started putting the tools he had used back into his work bag.
"All done" said Sarah, as she handed Ryder back his tablet and he took it with a smile from her.
"Thanks" he said, as sent through an electronic copy of the invoice to Sarah. "Hopefully your daughter will now be happy, since she will be able to have her chicken nuggets"
"Oh she will be very happy" replied Sarah, with a laugh. "No matter how much I try to get her to like other stuff, the chicken nuggets are definitely her favorite thing to eat"
"I'm kind of the same" said Ryder, with a laugh also. "There are some things that are just favorites and you can't beat them"
"True" replied Sarah, with a nod. "And I'm sure she will grow to appreciate my cooking as she gets older"
"Well if it's anything like what you're cooking today" said Ryder, with a smile to her. "Then I'm sure she will, because that really does smell so good"
"If you're not doing anything now" said Sarah, quickly looking to her watch and seeing that it was close to five o'clock. "Then you're more than welcome to join me, as there is definitely way too much and it's just going to be going to leftovers for lunch"
"I wouldn't want to intrude" replied Ryder, looking to with a smile. "But thank you for the offer"
"You wouldn't be intruding at all" said Sarah, shaking her head. "It would be nice to have adult company for a change; and there is more than enough here, believe me. I have a tendency to cook a little too much food, but I guess that's the chef in me coming out"
"You're a chef?" asked Ryder, looking to her; and Sarah nodded.
"I am" she replied. "I work the lunch shift at Prospects"
"Can't say I have eaten there" replied Ryder, shaking his head. "But if what you're cooking there is anything to go by, then I'm sure the food is fabulous"
"It is" said Sarah, with a smile. "Although I am a little biased when it comes to my cooking"
"Well if you know you're good at it" replied Ryder, with a smile also. "Then it's okay to be"
"Yes" said Sarah, with a nod. "So do you want to join me for dinner? It's only going to be like another thirty minutes before this is done and like I said it will be nice to have some normal conversation for once, that doesn't revolve around food and or what latest television show my daughter is into"
"Well it would be better than the pizza I was planning to order" said Ryder, with a laugh.
"Oh definitely better than pizza, yes" replied Sarah, with a laugh as well.
"Okay, yeah" replied Ryder, with a nod to Sarah. "Why not, I'll stay"
"Great" said Sarah, with a smile to him as she headed back over to the cooktop where the pot was still simmering away. "I'll finish this up and it will be done soon"
"No rush" replied Ryder, with a smile. "I'll just go and stick this stuff back into my car, so it's not in the way"
"Sure" said Sarah, looking to him with a smile as she added the last of the vegetables to the stew that wouldn't take long to cook; and Ryder headed out to put his tools away in his car, before going back inside to Sarah's house and have dinner with her; and to also get to know each other just that little bit better too.
End Note: So there are two connections as you may have figured out in this story, which are connecting up to other stories.
Steven who went to school with Sebastian and who was friends with him, is married to Dana, who is a cousin of Karone; who introduced Marley and Ryder originally. (This is based on the fact that real life these two I see in the roles, Steven was Warbler #1 in Glee, but also a Power Ranger as well; is good friends with who I see as Dana, who I have borrowed from the Power Rangers series, as they have many characters I have written over the years and thus find it easy to write!)
And then Sarah Scott; who is Juanita's sister; but now divorced also in this lot of connecting stories - and she is my own original character along with that of Zoey, who cannot be used without my permission.
All other characters mentioned, I have borrowed from the Power Rangers world - with some minor tweaking of back stories; although Karone and Andros were really brother and sister in the series they were part of (and interesting twist of fate, the actor who plays Andros has a connection to the Arrowverse as well; his real life sister is the actress who plays Alex Danvers - Chyler Leigh; and Christopher Khayman Lee is her brother...and as such they both have a karate background in real life and that is why Chyler looks believable when she has fight scenes)
Anyway, all those characters mentioned in this story; even though they do not belong to me; any characterization similar name wise or personality cannot be used without my permission.
Once again, thanks for reading and I will catch you all with a new update on something else soon!
Love always,
KJ xoxoxoxxoxoxoxooxxoxo