Sandy took Kirsten's advice, and decided to tell Ryan about his father as soon as possible. He knew it would be hard. Probably harder for Sandy to tell, than for Ryan to hear. Sandy figured that Ryan had some idea as to when his father was getting out of prison; however, since this had happened when Ryan was twelve, he figured that Ryan did not know that much about what happened at the court proceedings.
Both the boys were not home directly after school that day. Neither was Sandy. He was at work, trying to get some stuff together about Marissa's case - trying to keep her record clean. That afternoon, Seth was with Summer. He was going to try and make a better impression with her father over dinner at her house. It was Summer's idea, and the two of them were going to cook it. It had been over a year, and he had only met the man once. Clearly, he was not much of a homemaker. Ryan was with Marissa and some of her new friends at Newport Union. He was adjusting to her new friends, which was good for both of them. This made the adjustment for Marissa that much easier. Sandy knew Ryan would be home for dinner, though, which is when he was going to talk to him.
After work, Sandy came home and walked in the house. No one was home yet. It was five-thirty at this time. Sandy opened the freezer, and threw a frozen pizza into the oven. He figured that would be a good dinner for just himself and Ryan to talk over. It only took ten minutes to cook the pizza.
Around then Ryan walked in. Marissa had to go home to eat with her family. The therapist said it would be a good thing for Marissa to do this every night, and that her family should do it, so that way she has some semblance of a family life. Therefore, Ryan came home to eat dinner with just Sandy. He walked in the front door, and threw his stuff down in the kitchen. Things had become a little more lax since Kirsten was not around.
"Hey, Kid, how 'bout some pizza?" Sandy asked. He put some plates on the table.
"Sure," Ryan replied. He got some soda's out of the refrigerator, and put them down where he was going to be eating, at the island.
"Ryan..." Sandy began. "Do you ever think about your dad?"
"Sure, I guess," Ryan said. He sat down in one of the chairs with his plate of pizza. "I never really thought about it much."
"Was your dad a nice guy?" Sandy asked. He wanted to get a feel for if Ryan even wanted to see his father again.
"Not really," Ryan answered between bites of food. "He used to throw me and Trey around a lot."
"Ryan there's something I have to tell you," Sandy began to say.
"He's getting out of jail, isn't he?" Ryan wondered.
"Yeah, he is. How did you know?" Sandy asked.
"Just a guess. We've never talked about my dad before, so I figured that it had something to do with it," Ryan said.
"Well, he's getting out, in just a couple of days from the prison in Fresno, and he is one of the people, in fact, the only person I've heard of that is fighting for your brother on this case," Sandy told Ryan.
"Not surprised. Dad didn't love me and Trey. He was stuck with me and Trey. Dad wants money - that's what he wants," Ryan explained.
"That's too bad because we love having you," Sandy said. "But it's been said that if your dad wants, he can find out where you're living exactly, in fact, your mom could have already told him... and he has the right to petition for legal custody. Now no one is saying that this is going to happen, but what is being said is that it is a possibility."
Ryan took a deep breath. This was a lot for him to take in. He replied, "Hypothetically, what are your chances of being able to keep me?"
"Good. Very good. Your father was in jail, which doesn't help his case, and the court will see how much better you've done under our care," Sandy answered. "Don't worry, Ryan. Kirsten and I will never lose you"