Kristen is standing by the pool when Ryan gets back. She looks tired. Ryan doesn't know why she bothers. Why she's standing in the cold waiting for a kid who took everything she gave, and threw it back in her face.
Ryan is going to apologize, and let her say whatever she needs to say. Because he is sorry. He's sorry for the stressed look on her face, and for what he said. So he'll apologize because of that, and because he knows he'll be a lot more sorry if she ever starts to wonder why she bothers, too.
Ryan steps over to the side of the pool. Kristen looks up, and they both just stare. She starts to speak once or twice. Reconsiders.
"We do care about you," she says finally. "You're not just another investment. And there's no money that could restore the... gap there would be in our family, if you left." She sounds like she means it, but all the emotion is sort of drained out of her voice.
"I'm sorry. I know," Ryan says. He tries to put the rest of the apology across silently, because he really just doesn't know what the fuck to say here. Kristen probably wants to hear an explanation, too, so he says, "It was just what happened in the store. It screwed with my head."
"Okay," she says, and watches him for a while like he's some big mystery.
"It's, uh, cold. You should probably go inside."
"We're on the beach in Southern California." She doesn't have the energy to make it ironic, so it just sounds a little dumb. Anyway, she's been rubbing her arms to warm up as she spoke.
"It's still cold." If it were Dawn, he'd give her his coat. But he's seen Kristen watching way too many old movies where that's all romantic, and now it really creeps him out.
"Alright," she says, heading for the door. "You'll talk to Sandy when he gets home?"
"Yeah."
"Okay," she says, giving him another concerned look, before going inside.