Usual disclaimers apply.

It was already ten in the morning and Ryan hadn't come out of his room. Kirsten suspected he was holed up there trying to stay out of the family's way, because it wasn't like Ryan to sleep in, even if it was summer. She knew there was no way Ryan would easily slip back into the Cohen household after what Sandy had done. She still wanted to throttle her husband. As it was, Kirsten was giving him the silent treatment. Sleep hadn't assuaged her anger.

Kirsten softly knocked on his bedroom door. It would be different having him live inside the house. She supposed in some ways it gave him more privacy, because three walls weren't composed of glass, but when he was in the pool house she knew if he decent or not by the positioning of the shades. If they were up, it was usually safe to come in. If they were down, he was either sleeping, getting ready, or just needed some alone time. It was a code they had silently agreed on and it had worked well.

"Ryan," she called, when he didn't answer her knock. She rapped her knuckles on the wooden door, louder this time. "Ryan. Are you up?"

He yanked open the door. "I'm up."

He was dressed too.

"You didn't come down for breakfast."

"I'm not hungry," he said with a shrug.

"Well, there's coffee."

"I'm trying to cut down."

"Well, if you're not doing anything, I'd love to have your company."

He sighed, but nodded his head, because he just couldn't refuse Kirsten. He followed her into the kitchen, his feet shuffling behind her. He settled into the stool along the counter while she sliced a bagel in half.

"Seth's out back, floating in the pool. He said he got used to waking up at first light while he was out on the Ocean."

"No window shades," Ryan offered.

Kirsten smiled. "No window shades," she conceded. "You know, he's going to be a royal pain while he's grounded."

Ryan shrugged. "Seth's always a royal pain." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wanted to switch feet. How could he say that about her son? He had meant it lightly as a joke, but it had come out wrong. So he was relieved to see her smiling. She had understood.

"I thought we'd go to South Coast Plaza and look for new furniture for your room. Then we could grab some lunch. That is if you don't have any other plans?"

"No one knows I'm back," he said with a shrug.

"Okay. Then it's settled. As soon as I finish eating, I'll tell Seth that we're going out."

"I thought I'd go down to the pier and see if I could get my old job back at the crab shack. I need to send Theresa money."

"Oh."

Last time he took the job without asking them first. She and Sandy had let him keep it, because it was summer and it would keep him busy and out of trouble. That was before they really knew him. And it was something he felt obligated to do, because he wasn't comfortable taking so much from them. But as soon as school had started they had insisted that he quit. He had put up an argument, but he had lost it and was forced to accept the same weekly allowance that Seth had. She knew it had hurt his pride, though she had hoped he liked being treated equal to Seth.

She and Sandy hadn't considered he might want to get another job. It was summer, so there was no reason to object, but she didn't like that he felt like he had to work. Especially to support his pregnant girlfriend. He was just seventeen-years-old.

"Sandy and I are planning to send Theresa a stipend each month. You don't have to work, Ryan."

"I want to work." His blue eyes pleaded with her.

"Just for the summer," she relented.

He didn't say thank you, but she read it in his eyes.

"Well, good that's settled. So, we'll stop by the pier, see if you can get your job back and then go onto South Coast Plaza."

"You don't have to get me new furniture. The room is fine as it is."

"Oh please. It's not suitable for a teenage boy. We'll find something you like. Come on," she coaxed. "It'll be fun. We'll order a new bedroom set. Some new linen. The painter is coming over this afternoon and we can pick out a color. You should really make it your own. You never got to do that in the pool house."

Ryan couldn't picture himself putting up posters. He had never done that in his mom's house, because whenever she or her boyfriends got pissed off drunk they'd go tearing through his room ripping everything off his walls. His posters never lasted more than a couple of days, so soon he simply gave up on them. But it wasn't worth arguing with Kirsten. She was determined that Ryan have his own space.

An hour later Kirsten pulled into the pier's parking lot.

"You don't have to come in with me," Ryan said when he saw her unbuckling her seatbelt.

"It's too hot to stay in the car. I won't cramp your style. I'll stay outside."

Ryan rolled his eyes, but didn't try to argue anymore. Kirsten leaned against the railing and watched him walk in to the restaurant and tried peer through the window to determine how it was going. She couldn't see and definitely couldn't hear, but she didn't need to supersonic hearing or x-ray vision to figure out that it hadn't gone well when he came out.

"What happened?" she asked with genuine concern.

Ryan hated that Kirsten was being so nice to him. It made it difficult to stay angry with her. And he was still livid with both Sandy and Kirsten. He belonged in Chino right now, looking for a job to support Theresa. So he could rub her feet after a particularly grueling day at the diner and she in turn could rub his shoulders when the heavy construction work got underway, because that was what he imagined he would do. He belonged in Chino so that he could protect her and the baby from Eddy.

"He doesn't have any jobs. Said that I should have come a couple of weeks ago."

"I'm sorry Ryan. You know, I could probably find you something to do at the Newport Group. You'd probably enjoy it. That is if you're still interested in Architecture. As long as it doesn't bother you being stuck with your mom all day long."

The words had slipped out of her mouth without thought, and she could tell they took Ryan by surprise. Especially the word mom.

His eyes slid from her face to the floor. "I guess that would be okay. I need the money. You know, for Theresa."

She sighed, not about to waste her breath trying to explain that he didn't have to work to support Theresa. They could send her the money. It was funny, because the more she thought about it the more she realized that if it were Seth she'd force him to go get a job. But children couldn't all be treated the same. Especially her two boys. Seth expected his parents to support him and to bail him out of trouble. He would need to take responsibility. Ryan took too much responsibility on his shoulders. She just wanted to give him the opportunity to be a kid.

"Let's go shopping."

"You mean let's go torture Ryan," he said lightly, but he let her drag him to the mall.

Three hours later they were back in the Cohen kitchen. The floor was littered with bags, full of linen, throw pillows, even a beanbag. It was as if Kirsten had been fulfilling her own childhood dreams, though Ryan suspected she had everything she wanted as a child. Kirsten had tried to buy him some more clothes, but he had drawn the line there, saying he still had his summer wardrobe from last year and there was no need to buy him anything else.

He knew that Kirsten had snagged a couple of button down shirts and jeans on the sly and they would end up on his bed sometime during the next week with a note to tell him to try it on and to let her know if they fit or not. She had done the same thing throughout the year. He couldn't stop them from buying things for him, but he didn't have to like it.

"Hey, how was your shopping trip?" Sandy swung around the counter and slapped Ryan on the back before he bent down to kiss his wife. He didn't miss that both Ryan and Kirsten visibly shrank from him. He wasn't going to gain their forgiveness that easily.

Ryan waited for Kirsten to answer Sandy. He didn't feel like talking to him, but when Kirsten remained silent and continued to fuss around the kitchen, putting away the clean dishes from the dishwasher, Ryan said, "it was fine." He got up from the table, grabbed a couple of bags and went up to his new room. He wished he could slink into the pool house.

"Kirsten, you can't ignore me forever," Sandy said as soon as they were alone.

"It's working fine for me."

"Honey, I know you're mad, but I did what I had to do to get him back here. We both agreed he had to come back."

"I didn't agree to what you did. Now he hates us. All the trust we built with him over the last year was flushed down the crapper because you barreled ahead without thinking." She threw a dishtowel into the sink and turned so her back was to him. She could see Seth sitting in a lounge chair. He had a book in his hand, but she didn't miss the headphones wires coming out of his ears. She thought they had confiscated his ipod. Maybe it was his discman. The kid had so many gadgets, she couldn't keep track.

Sandy stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "We'll get through this. We'll rebuild his trust as soon as he sees that being here is what's best for him."

"I had to beg him to come out of his room this morning."

"Maybe I should have stayed home from work."

"So he could ignore us both? No. At least he talked to me some. He's going to work for me at the Newport Group."

"Work?"

They still weren't looking at each other but out the window, staring at Seth who was oblivious to all the angst in the house. "He wanted a job at the Crab Shack. But there weren't any."

"Why does he need to work?"

"Sandy, this is Ryan. Why do you think he wants a job?"

"Okay. I'm being thick." He breathed out heavily. "He's really pissed at me."

"You blackmailed him."

"That's such a nasty word."

"Fine. Emotional extortion. You made him afraid of us."

They stopped talking as Seth made his way into the kitchen. "Dad, you're home early." He eyed all the packages still on the floor. Ryan hadn't returned to take anymore up to his room. "And mom, you obviously chose to spend today, rather than make."

"Ryan and I needed to get things for his room. Can you grab a couple of those on your way up and deliver it to him."

"Do I look like a manservant?" he asked glibly.

Kirsten was not amused.

"Okay. Okay. I didn't know harsh labor was going to be part of my punishment."

Seth grabbed as many bags as he could carry and trudged up the stairs. He knocked before letting himself into Ryan's room.

"Hope you're decent," he called out.

"Come in Seth."

"You know you missed me."

"It was four days, Seth."

"Four endless days."

"Because you were in middle of nowhere in nothing but a dinky little sailboat."

"The Summer Breeze is not dinky." Seth flopped onto Ryan's bed, rumpling the perfectly made sheets. He was still damp from his swim in the pool, but that didn't seem to bother him and he didn't catch Ryan's glare.

"The 'rents looked pretty intense. I know they're discussing your homecoming." Seth fluffed a pillow under his head. "So how did Dad convince you to come home?" When Ryan didn't answer, Seth took the pillow and threw it at him. "Obviously it was something big, because Dad looks miserable. Mom looks pissed. And you look pathetic."

Ryan knew Seth would eventually find out. Seth always did. So he said, "Sandy said he'd call the police and I'd be in violation of my probation," Ryan mumbled.

Seth's jaw dropped. "He what?"

"You heard me."

"There must be wax in my ears."

"You're hearing is fine."

"My dad blackmailed you?"

"He's more like your grandpa than he'd like to admit."

Seth whistled softly, trying to digest this new information. He was surprised, but sort of glad that his dad had forced Ryan to come back. If Sandy had gone to Chino and insisted that Ryan return, Ryan would probably still be there. He couldn't take Ryan by physical force, so this was what his father had resorted to. But Seth understood why Ryan was mad.

"They siced the police on me. Not fun. Try having a big burly police dude, who needs to learn the finer points of hygiene, lecture you about how no matter how bad things were at home it wasn't worth running away."

"Serves you right."

"Maybe. But as shitty as it was, Dad was just trying to make sure you came back home. It was the only way he knew how to do it. If he said, 'Ryan come home,' would you have done it?"

Ryan shook his head.

"I didn't think so," continued Seth. "It was the only way he knew how get you back."

"You don't get it, Seth. I can't be here anymore. I've got to help Theresa out. She's in Chino, so I have to be there."

"Your right. I don't get it. I know Theresa is your life long friend. That the two of you go way back. But you're part of our family now and well we don't want to give you up. I couldn't stomach the thought of life here without you. When I was in Catalina, flanked by those two burly smelling police officers, two things were racing through my mind. One of them was that I couldn't go back to Newport and face life without my brother there."

Ryan was quiet for a moment, trying to digest what Seth had said. He looked up from the carpet and asked, "What was the other thing?"

"What?"

Seth looked away, concentrating his gaze on the small television parked on the dresser. He hadn't meant for Ryan to pick up on it. He didn't want to change the subject, but he knew that Ryan wouldn't let him get away without answering the question. "I was thinking that Summer hadn't come to meet me."

"Why would you think that? Why would Summer come to meet you?"

"Because in my note, I asked Summer to meet me in Catalina so that we can sail the rest of the way to Tahiti together. I told her, that the first leg of my trip would be to prepare for her, but that I wanted her to join me. I wanted my trip to be just like I planned. Just like I told you last summer, when we first met."

Hey all, I know this may seem inconsistent from what I wrote earlier. It will be explained in the next chapter.