"I can't believe he's marrying her."

Kirsten shook her head slowly and touched the photo of the Cohen family plus Ryan that had been taken the summer before they all went away to college. She knew four years had passed since then, of course she did, but she couldn't help but think of her boys as how they were that day: young.

"I know." Sandy stood behind her with a mug in his hand, musing over his wife's thoughts. He'd known Ryan would be the first one to make such a huge commitment to a girlfirend, but he'd always assumed said 'girlfriend' would be Marissa.

"I know he's twenty-three now, just, but…" Kirsten trailed off with a heavy sigh and sipped on her glass of water with lemon. Her thoughts turned to the image of Laura and she whipped her head around to face Sandy. "Can we let him do this?"

He chuckled. "Honey, we were twenty-two when we got married."

"Oh, that's right", Kirsten smiled, then added under her breath, "Damn".

"You heard what he said at the restaurant. He's happy."

"Is he?"

The question lingered before Sandy answered. "If Ryan says he's happy, he's happy. Laura's a nice girl, she's good for him."

Kirsten stared at the photo again, her husband's unconvincing words echoing in her mind.

"Babe? My hand hurts."

"Mmm?" Ryan looked up from his newspaper and morning bagel. "What's the matter with it?"

Laura walked into their open plan kitchen and dining area, holding her left hand and wincing. "I don't know." She paused for a moment, as if deep in thought. "Maybe it's because…I'm engaged!"

Laughing at his expression, she sat on Ryan's lap and closed his newspaper, taking in his adorable blonde hair, blue eyes, and tan skin and thanking heaven she'd been the one to snare him before it was too late. "I love you."

He smiled and kissed her lightly on the lips. "Love you too."

They smiled at one another in the morning sun before Laura picked up one half of his bagel and took a bite. "Plans for today?", she asked. Ryan paused, so she raised her eyebrows suggestively. "Sex and then shopping?"

He widened his eyes at her with a small smile. "Mmm, I'd love to, but I've got work to do."

"Oh." Laura tucked a strand of ginger hair behind one ear and wrinkled her petite ski-jump nose. "You've been working a lot lately."

Ryan looked away from her, his face already far away and distant. "It's the new project we've got going on. Lot of work to do if these homes want to be finished on time. You know, I think I'm even prouder with this development that I was with –"

Laura stopped him with a kiss, bored of hearing more things about the 'wonderful' Newport Group. So he was in charge of another development. So he was only 23 (and two days). So the Cohens would be proud of him. Yadder, yadder, yadder…

"Saturday?"

Ryan shook his head and felt her perfectly manicured nails dig a little harder into the back of his neck. "We can't. It's Kirsten and Sandy's anniversary party. And Sandy actaully remembered it on time this year, so we've got to go."

Laura sighed, but didn't protest the point. "Right, right. Can't let the Cohens down…"

Something in her tone when pronouncing 'the Cohens' made Ryan tip her off his lap. "What, do you have a problem with them or something?", he asked as sweetly as possible. "They're like my parents, we can't –"

"I know!" Laura gave the slightest hint of a giggle to make sure he understood she was ok, and took a step towards him. "Babe, lighten up!"

Ryan smiled, but it had lost its sparkle. "Sorry. I'm gonna go take a shower."

"Might join you", Laura called as he walked away, shoving her tiny hands into the front pocket of her terrycloth sweater. She liked how she could manipulate Ryan into apologising when she was the one who had upset him.

Marissa ran her long finger over the white ceramic doorbell for a second before pressing it and taking a step backwards. She could hear footsteps inside the house and resigned herself to staring at the perfectly arranged topiary below the windowledge, both happy and cross that he was in.

"Oh, hey." Ryan stared at her for a second before stepping into his front porch and folding his arms. "What…uh, what brings you here?"

Marissa smiled, shrugging a little, like it was no big deal. "I came to give you these." She handed him the hard-to-come-by, incredibly expensive dark blue orchids she had spent half of yesterday trying to find. "To say I'm sorry for missing your birthday the other day."

Ryan's mouth opened and closed like a goldfish . "Uh…thankyou!"

Marissa giggled at his discomfort at being handed a bunch of orchids. "You might want to put those in water", she pointed out, and he nodded, holding the royal blue front door open for her to come in.

She hovered. "Is…Laura around?"

Ryan shook his head. "No. She went shopping."

"Cool." Marissa stepped past him into the hall. "Obviously takes after me."

They stared at each other for a minute before Ryan made the first move and went through to the kitchen. "Busy, huh?", Marissa asked to break the tension upon following him and seeing the table littered with papers and blueprints, a calculator sitting amongst them.

"Yeah, just working out the budget for the new development."

Marissa ran her fingers along the neat lines of handwriting while he turned away to get a vase, then hastily retracted them once he looked back. "I, uh…also got you a present", she said awkwardly, walking over to give him the small blue box she'd spent the other half of yesterday trying to find. "Happy Birthday!"

Ryan didn't say anything when he opened the box and saw the watch, he just half-smiled.

"Do you like it?", Marissa prompted nervously, shoving her thumbs inside her old denim skirt pockets and trying not to feel too self-concious in her attire, most of which was either bought over three years ago or was in dire need of a wash.

Ryan struggled not to notice how lithe and tan her legs were under the mini-skirt she was wearing and nodded, a little too vigorously. "It's great. Seriously, I'm always in need of a watch, and –"

They both looked down at his two-month old platinum Rolex.

" – And this one is just…" He pulled it off and thrust it at the couch. "Not as good as this one, so…"

Feeling herself flush a little, Marissa realised it was probably time to put an end to this little visit. "Well, I'm glad you like it." Her curiosity got the better of her as she leaned in and gave him a speedy peck on the cheek, inhaling to see what cologne he used. Same as always, she noted gladly, and smiled at him as way of saying goodbye.

Ryan watched her leave his house, the new watch on his wrist and a familiar feeling in his heart.

Regret.