Sandy came home at four-thirty that afternoon. He really wanted to be home before six on the boys' first day of their senior year at The Harbor School. He put his suit coat on the back of the couch, for things were not as neat as they were when Kirsten was living there; however, it was by no means messy. He tried as much as possible to maintain what the house looked like when she was away, so that she would want to come home, and when she did come home, she would come home to a nice, clean house.
Sandy walked into the kitchen to try and start some dinner. He looked in the refrigerator to see what was on hand. "Chicken looks pretty good," Sandy thought to himself. He took it and set it on the counter. Then he went back to the refrigerator to find some vegetables. Sandy found a bag of mixed vegetables in the freezer, and thought those would be appropriate, then he looked in a cabinet, and found some Idaho potatoes, which would make a nice side dish. He did not hear any noise while he was cooking. No Playstation and no talking, which meant that Seth and Ryan were not home, most likely. Most afternoons, after school, Sandy would come home to find them in the family room playing video games or talking, of course, he usually was home later too.
About an hour later, dinner was ready. The potatoes had been mashed, the vegetables had been steamed, and the chicken had been baked. He got everything ready on the table. Sandy wanted to make life seem as if nothing had changed, so that the boys would have some sense of continuity in their hectic lives. Almost as soon as the plates were on the table, Seth and Ryan walked in the door. They walked into the kitchen and dropped their backpacks in the family room, momentarily.
"Hey, Dad," Seth said to his father, as he sat down at the table to eat. Sandy just put his plate down in front of him.
"Hey, guys. How come you were so late coming home from school?" Sandy asked of Ryan and Seth.
Ryan took a bite of his dinner, and answered, "Dr. Kim wanted to talk to all of us about what happened this past summer."
"All of you, as in the entire senior class?" Sandy wondered. He looked perplexed.
"All of us, as in me, Summer, Marissa, and Ryan, Dad. She wanted to talk to us about what has happened with Grandpa dying and Trey," Seth told his father.
"Oh... what did she say?" Sandy asked.
Seth looked at Ryan to field this answer. He told Sandy, "Uh... she wanted to know, if we felt that we were still able to attend Harbor, after all that's happened."
"And what did you guys tell her?" Sandy questioned, out of curiosity.
"We told her we could handle it, and that we had already invested this much time and money at Harbor, and we wanted to graduate from there," Seth told his father. He took another bite of the chicken.
"So what else happened today, besides Dr. Kim talking to you?" Sandy asked them, in hopes of eliciting a response.
"The D.A. wanted to talk to Ryan today," Seth told his father. Sandy looked over at Ryan a little surprised.
"Really? I didn't realize he would take you out of school," Sandy said to Ryan.
"Yeah, well, I didn't want to make a big thing about it, so I ducked out of lunch and went over to the police station, where the D.A. was," Ryan told Sandy. His mouth was dry from the chicken, so he took a drink of his water.
"Well, I don't think I could've gone with you, anyway. I mean, since I'm representing Marissa, going with you would be like a conflict of interest," Sandy explained.
"Yeah, I know. That's why I didn't ask you," Ryan replied. He finished off his dinner. He took his plate to the sink. Seth did the same when he finished his meal. They each got their book bags out of the family room, and went off to their separate rooms to do their homework. Sandy finished cleaning up dinner. He rinsed everything off, and put it in the dish washer. Then the phone began to ring. Sandy walked over to the refrigerator, where the phone was, and picked it up.
"Hello?" Sandy asked.
"Hi, it's me," Kirsten replied. She sat down on her bed in her room with the phone.
"Hey, honey! Boy, am I glad to hear from you!" Sandy exclaimed. He wanted her to know how much he missed her, and how much he wanted her to get better.
"Yeah, it's nice to hear from you too," Kirsten replied, with considerably less enthusiasm than her husband.
"So how is everything going there?" Sandy asked her. He sat down on one of the stools.
"Fine, I guess. I'm not drinking, if that's what you're wondering. How are things on your end?" Kirsten asked Sandy.
"As good as can be expected, I guess. Ryan talked with the D.A., and told him everything he knew, so did Marissa," Sandy told his wife.
"Well, that's good. Do you think they will be prosecuted for Trey's death?" Kirsten wondered. Things were silent for a minute. Since she had been gone, every time they talked, it had been harder and harder to find something to talk about.
"No, I don't. Or at least, I hope they're not. I mean, both of them are so close to graduating. Ryan has a real shot to be something, and I don't want this to screw it up," Sandy replied.
"I know..." Kirsten said, drifting off. She did not know what to say to her husband. Things were not the same between them anymore. "Well, I should get going. I love you."
"Love you too," Sandy replied. He put the phone down. He could feel the distance growing between him and his wife, and he did not know how to stop it.