Title: A Note and A Bus Station
Summary: What if Sandy was the one who found Ryan's note about taking a bus to Chicago to see Lindsay instead of Seth?
Disclaimer: I own nothing related to The O.C. No profit is taken from this story.
Author's Notes: This is the end of this story. A big thanks for all the nice reviews!
Chapter 3
Sandy sat on the kitchen floor smiling to himself as he watched Ryan clean up all the tools, rags, and other stuff he'd used on the kitchen sink pipes.
On the way back from the bus station, Sandy had explained to Ryan about Kirsten losing her wedding and engagement rings, and his theory that they had fallen down the kitchen drain. Ryan had claimed ignorance about plumbing, but when they got back to the house and Sandy showed him what he'd already done to the kitchen sink pipes, Sandy could tell that Ryan had to work hard not to laugh.
Ryan took off his sweatshirt right away, crawled in under the sink, and set to work. Sandy had sat down on the floor next to him and watched in amazement. For someone who claimed not to know anything, he certainly looked like he knew what he was doing. And he looked like a real plumber pretty soon with grease and dirt stains on his face, arms, and wifebeater.
It didn't take Ryan long to take apart the important parts of the drain, clean them out and check for the rings. They found a couple of other things, like some loose change, but no rings. Then Ryan expertly put everything back where it belonged. Sandy was glad that Ryan had been able take care of this. He was sure that if he tried it, he'd probably be able to take everything apart, but not put it back together right, and they'd have to call a professional plumber to come in and fix up his mess.
Right now, everything was put back together, but Ryan and Sandy hadn't gotten up from the floor yet. They were still sitting in front of the sink, with the cabinet doors open, and various tools and rags strewn out on the floor around them.
Ryan had just started to clean up when Sandy heard the front door open and close. He figured it could only be Kirsten or Seth. Probably Seth. Unless it was Caleb coming back. Sandy was glad when he returned with Ryan to not find Caleb still at the house. Good. Hopefully he found someone else's ear to bend while he bitched and moaned about losing his youngest daughter.
After a few seconds, Sandy's question was answered when Seth appeared around the kitchen island, looking down at Ryan and Sandy in amazement.
"What are you guys doing?"
Sandy exchanged an amused glance with Ryan, then answered his son. "Ryan was helping me with a little plumbing emergency."
Seth looked alarmed. "What? Did you flood the kitchen or something?"
Seth looked around like he was looking for evidence of flooding. Sandy laughed softly.
"No, nothing like that. I thought your mother's wedding rings might have fallen down the sink and Ryan helped me take apart the drain to look."
"Oh. OK... Wait. What? Mom lost her rings?"
Sandy sighed. "Yes, unfortunately. And I'm all out of theories as to where they might be."
Seth nodded, looking concerned.
Sandy's attention turned back to Ryan at the sound of the toolbox lid being latched shut. Ryan then closed the cabinet doors under the sink and stood up, putting the toolbox on the kitchen island. Sandy followed suit and stood up as well.
Once they were up, Seth addressed Ryan. "Hey, buddy, now that you're finished being Dad's slave labor, we've got a date at the mall."
"We do?"
"Summer and Marissa are going there to pick up some clothes for charity, and we've been invited along. Come on, it'll be fun. We can go to CPK or the arcade..."
Ryan looked at Sandy uncertainly. Sandy could guess what he was thinking. They had already talked about spending time together, going to hit golf balls, although they hadn't set a specific time or anything. And now Ryan had an offer to go have fun with Seth and their friends. Ryan looked like he wasn't sure what to do. Sandy decided to make it easy for him.
"Go. Go ahead. Have fun."
Ryan looked uncomfortable. "Are you sure? Because I can..."
"We can hit golf balls some other time. Go ahead with Seth."
Ryan took a quick look at Seth, who looked a little confused, then back at Sandy. "What about tomorrow? We could do it then, unless..."
Sandy smiled. "Yeah, yeah, that would be great. The driving range will be less crowded on Sunday anyway."
Ryan gave Sandy a little smile and a nod, then turned back to Seth. "Sure, yeah, let's go to the mall."
"Um, Ryan ..." Seth gestured at Ryan's appearance. "... you really have to clean up before we can go."
Ryan looked down at himself and then laughed a little at what he saw. He gave Seth a little nod, grabbed his gray sweatshirt, and headed for the pool house. After Ryan was out of sight and earshot, Seth started in with the questions.
"Dad, how did you get Ryan out of the pool house? This morning..."
"Um, it's a long story, Seth."
Seth looked at Sandy expectantly, as if he expected him to tell the story. Sandy just looked back at Seth. He'd let Ryan explain to Seth about trying to run away, if he felt like it. After a moment, Seth must have realized he wasn't going to get any more explanation, so he continued with his next question.
"He seems to be doing better, though, huh?"
"Yeah, I think so. It's probably good that you're taking him to the mall. Have some fun."
"Yeah, about that. What was all that about hitting golf balls?"
"Oh, nothing really. Ryan and I had talked about going to the driving range later, but we can do it tomorrow."
"Oh, OK."
Seth still looked confused. Sandy was getting a little annoyed by now. Was it that hard to believe that he just wanted to spend a little time with Ryan?
When Ryan came back into the kitchen, he looked just like he did before, except cleaner. He just swapped out his dirty wifebeater for an identical clean one, cleaned his face, etc, and put his sweatshirt back on. Sandy watched as he and Seth hooked up wordlessly and headed for the front door.
Sandy sighed as he watched them go, leaving him standing there alone in the kitchen, alone in the house. Well, it was only fair, he supposed. Like that song Cat's in the Cradle, he didn't have any time for them before, and they didn't have time for him now. Well, at least there was tomorrow.
Sandy began to sing softly.
There's always tomorrow, or tomorrow night.
Hang in there, baby.
Sooner or later, I know I'll get it right.
"Dad, what did we say about singing?"
Sandy looked up to see Seth standing at the kitchen doorway with Ryan right behind him.
"I thought you guys already left for the mall. Did you forget something?"
Seth and Ryan walked into the kitchen and stopped on the other side of the kitchen island from Sandy. They were both smiling now.
"Come on, Dad, you know the mall is for girls. Ryan and I need to do guy stuff."
Ryan added, "Like plumbing and golf."
Sandy smiled back at them. "Well, then, let's go hit some golf balls."
Sandy couldn't stop smiling. There was always tomorrow, but sometimes, there was today, too.
The End.
