It had been good to see Ryan and Seth especially when Kirsten had thought about how both boys had hugged her tightly and seemed genuinely thrilled to have her back. It would take time for everything to return to normal and not the normal of last year but of the time previous to that before the boys had left for the summer. However knowing that the men in her life were so pleased to see her made Kirsten put her worries to the back if her mind and concentrate on enjoying being a family again. There was no doubt that she missed her dad but she was trying hard to move forward and since she didn't want to go back to work at the Newport office she could just think of her dad as being there. Sandy was doing his best to keep her occupied, when he wasn't helping her cook or asking her if she was alright he was trying to get her to bed! Not that Kirsten minded that, it had been a very long summer without him and he was paying her much more attention than what he had last year. He was more like the Sandy of old telling her how gorgeous she looked and always wanting to be near her, touching her.
The weeks were passing quickly to Kirsten she noticed particularly because in a years time the house would be empty. She wanted to spend as much time with both Ryan and Seth before they left her. "Seth?" Kirsten yelled as she looked for him on the ground floor of the house. "Mom, I'm in the family room. Whats going on?" he replied. "There you are!" Kirsten said as she walked in, Seth gave her a duh! Look. " I was shouting you for ages! Do you and Ryan want to come shopping with me this afternoon? We could get some dinner too after." Knowing that is mom wanted to make up for lost time Seth decided it was a good idea to go with her. Plus Summer was busy doing something and Ryan was with Marissa so it wasn't like he had anything better planned. "Sure thing mom. Ryan is spending quality time with Marissa though so it will be just you and me. What's the dad doing?" Kirsten was disappointed that Ryan wouldn't be joining them but this gave her and Seth to have a mother-son bonding session on their own. "Your father is busy at work he said he would be in late tonight."
Seth was going to come out with a funny comment on how is father was now running the Newport but decided to hang fire since he new his mom was having a hard time adjusting to Sandy doing her job. At least she seemed to be getting into the whole dating agency thing with Julie he thought. He knew she didn't like sitting at home with nothing to do she had never been the housewife type.
Within half an hour of their conversation they had left the Cohen house. Kirsten had let Seth choose the music for the short journey since he would only complain the entire way there if they listened to what she wanted too. They had been laughing about school and Julie Cooper Nichol when Seth noticed that the black car behind them had been in his mirror virtually since they had left the house. "Hey mom have you noticed that car behind us as been with us all the way? Maybe the Newpsies have decided to have you tailed to keep up with your fashion sense!" Kirsten looked in the mirror, laughing to herself at Seth's comment, she couldn't really see the driver or if there was anyone else in the car. She didn't think anything of it plenty of people would be on their way to the mall now.
They pulled into the massive car park at the mall. Not really knowing were they planned to go shopping, there were shops that Seth would definitely not want to go to and vice versa, she parked in the first space she saw. Seth noticed that the black car behind them had also parked up near them but he hadn't seen anyone get out yet. Locking the door they began to walk towards the mall doors. "Kirsten. I need to talk to you." Kirsten and Seth turned around upon hearing this. Kirsten already knew it was.