It was brought to my attention that I haven't really included Seth in Sophie's life or Taylor and Ryan's for that matter. I had completely looked over that and now I realize it. So I scrapped the chapter that I already had written for this and wrote this instead. The story is completely going to be taking a different turn now. I hope you guys are still reading...and I hope this did this story justice.
Chapter 21
He wasn't sure why he ignored his young sister. Maybe it was jealously. Jealous of how his parents chose Ryan and Taylor over he and his wife. Or it was because he just missed his parents and looking at that little girl reminded him of them.
He didn't know.
He wasn't sure he'd ever know.
His wife always asked why Sophie never came by the house. She would tell him how she had two brothers not just one.
That still didn't seem to change his mind.
He wasn't sure anything would, not unless he let go of all of it. He knew there was no way for him to get closer to Sophie if he didn't let it go.
He needed to let it go, but he wasn't sure how to do that exactly.
"You okay?" Ryan nudged him startling him out of his thoughts.
"Yeah, where's Sophie?" He quickly asked. The other guy's face lit up surprised that Seth would ask about her. He hadn't shown interest in their sister since their parent's died.
"She should be upstairs with Taylor."
"Do you mind if I…" He pointed towards the backdoor that led into the house from the backyard.
"Go ahead, I can handle this."
"Thanks." He nods in a sort of daze.
He made his way past his daughter and wife in the kitchen to reach the stairs. He carefully walked up the stairs playing over in his mind how he'd handle this with Sophie.
He needed to make this right with her.
She needed to know she had more than just one brother. She had two.
"Seth?" She sounded surprised to see him standing in her room. He wasn't sure if he liked that surprise in his sisters voice.
"How are you doing today?" He walks in her room as Taylor walks past him to leave. He smiled at the woman as she gave him a nod.
"Good." Sophie nodded a little sadly before sitting down on her bed. The eight year old patted the spot next to her for her brother to sit down.
That made him smile.
He was about to express that when he heard sobs come from beside him.
He wasn't expecting that.
"Wait, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" He was panicking. He knew he shouldn't be panicking. He should know what to do. "Sophie."
"Why don't you love me anymore?" She looked up at him with tears.
He could have sworn his heart stopped seeing that sight.
"Why would you think I didn't love you anymore?"
"'Cause you never come see me or talk to me anymore."
"I…I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me, Sophie." He had no idea what else to say to her.
"Is it my fault?"
"What?" He pulled her close to him.
"You being angry with me."
"I'm not angry with you, Sophie. I just…" He didn't know how to explain to her the things that were going through his mind since their parents died. "You look like mom." He told the eight year old.
"That's what Taylor says." She looks up at him with tears still evident on her cheeks.
"Taylor's right. Look, I'm going to be around more, okay?"
"Okay, promise?" She stuck out her pinky to him. He excitedly hooked his with hers.
-
"Sorry, for how I've been acting." Seth slumped his shoulders stuffing his hands in his pockets. Ryan glanced over at his brother.
"It happens, you're dealing with it in your own way. Maybe shutting all of us off is your way of dealing." Ryan hadn't meant to say that to his brother. Really, that was the last thing he felt he should have said in this situation. It just came out.
"You're right. I've never been like this…"
"I'm freaked out that I won't be a good enough parent to Sophie, or my son for that matter." Ryan confessed, once again his voice betrayed what his mind was telling him.
"I still don't know why they chose you."
"Me either." Ryan shrugged not upset that his brother was still hung up on that. He was their biological son after all. "She loves you, Seth. She asks us all the time why you don't come to the house anymore. She asked me if you were coming today, last night when I was putting her to bed."
"I haven't been that great of a big brother, have I? I should have been around more."
"You're here now, that's all that matters." Ryan told him as he sat down in a patio chair watching as his brother did the same.
He finally felt like he was getting his brother back since the death of the Cohen's.
