I hope everyone is having a good summer. I leave today for home. Just for little over a week. Then it's off to Phoenix. I have to say that Massachusetts has not been nice to me. I've had this chapter basically written out for two weeks now, just couldn't finish it. Now that I need to sleep words are pouring out, of course. Hopefully updates will start coming more regular now. Thanks for your patience.

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"Hey short stuff, whatcha doing?" Randy asked as he spotted the girl sprawled on the front steps of Shawn's house.

"Hey troublemaker. I'm waiting for Mandy." She grinned up at him. "I think the bigger question is what are you doing here?"

"What? I can't come down and visit my favorite little sister?" He asked innocently, laughing at the look she sent him. "I need to talk to Jayden." He answered finally.

"Well they're not back from their secret shopping trip." She told him sounding slightly sarcastic. She looked up at him suspiciously. "Why do you need to talk to her? What's wrong?"

Randy frowned. "Hopefully nothing." He replied sighing. "Shawn's inside?"

She nodded as her mind raced through all the possible reasons he might be here. Not noticing her worried look Randy continued across the porch and through the door. Shawn was waiting for him in the kitchen.

"What's wrong?" The older man asked immediately.

"Dave." Randy answered slumping into a chair. "Something really bad is going on."

"What makes you say that?" Shawn asked, rising to grab two bottles of water. He handed one to Randy.

"How many times have you seen him or talked to him in the last two months?" The younger man inquired.

"Maybe once." Shawn answered, concern written on his face. "He's not been giving you a hard time about getting into trouble? Have you seen him?"

Randy narrowed his eyes. "I don't get into trouble all that often." He defended himself. He shook his head to get back on track. "He's hardly been around and when we forced him to meet with us yesterday it was obvious. Something is definitely wrong. He looked wasted."

"As in drunk?" The older man asked, confusion written on his face.

"No, as in his body is wasting away. I'd say he's lost at least ten pounds and his eyes looked sunken, like they get when you don't sleep."

Shawn looked at the worry written on his friend's face. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you at home dragging him to the doctor?"

"Dave denies anything is wrong. So according to John I'm supposed to kidnap Jayden and force her to tell me what's going on."

Shawn laughed at the pained expression on the younger man's face. "Didn't you just tell me that you don't get into trouble that often?"

Randy shrugged in embarrassment. "This is different."

"I'll be sure to point that out to Dave." Shawn said as he cocked his head, listening to the sound of the car drive up. "That must be the girls now."

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Laney stood up and crossed her arms as she spotted the car coming down the driveway. She thought it was totally unfair of them to have gone shopping with out her. And to go out of town to do it, something she would have loved. Yeah San Antonio had some awesome stores but it had been forever since she had been to Dallas.

It also made her mad that Mandy had gone with Jayden. Laney wasn't sure about the older girl yet. She seemed nice enough and they had gotten along well when she stayed at Paul's last year taking care of Steph. But now she was dating Dave and it seemed like she was monopolizing most of his time. Then she comes down here and takes Mandy away.

Deciding that she wasn't putting up with that kind of treatment Laney stepped out onto the driveway, into the path of the oncoming car.

Mandy slammed on the brakes as she stared incredulously at the teenager. Laney stared back at her with her arms crossed.

"Delaney Calloway. What were you thinking?" Mandy shouted as she slammed the door. She stalked up to the younger girl. "I could have hit you."

"Wouldn't have been a problem if you had taken me with you." The teenager responded smartly. Neither one saw Shawn step into the doorway.

Mandy looked at her in confusion. "What are you talking about?" She asked exasperation plainly written on her face.

"Our shopping trip to find my dress. We were supposed to go yesterday and instead you take her." Laney shouted flinging her arm toward the redhead.

"Think she has a problem with Dave and Jayden being together?" Randy whispered as he came up behind Shawn. They watched as Jayden narrowed her eyes but remained quiet.

"Laney, I'm sorry that I forgot about our shopping trip yesterday but that is no reason to act like this. I had something very important to take care of." She rubbed her head as her headache returned full force.

"Something more important than me?" Laney asked in shock. She inhaled sharply as she brought her hand up to hold her chest.

"Stop being so dramatic. You know damn well the world doesn't revolve around you." Her aunt admonished as she turned to get her bags out of the trunk.

"So was it something to do with the wedding?" The teenager asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

Mandy bit her lip as she looked over her shoulder. "Not exactly and it's not something I want to discuss with you."

"Whatever. Did you buy anything for the wedding?" Laney asked as she walked around to peer into the car.

Mandy shook her head as she tried to keep up with the teenager's mood swings. "Actually I hardly thought about the wedding." She muttered, unaware that her voice carried to the porch.

"Okay." Laney drew out the word. "When are we going to go buy my dress? Cause you know how picky I am."

"Not today." The older girl answered absently as she started for the house.

"But the wedding is only twelve days away." The teenager protested.

"Laney." Mandy growled as she swung around to face the younger girl. "Right now I don't care if there is a wedding." She said through clenched teeth. Randy sighed as he felt Shawn slip back into the house. He pushed through the door as the distraught woman continued. "I want you to go home and leave me alone for a while."

Randy stepped aside as Mandy slammed into the house and Laney took off at a run down the driveway. "Think we should call Mark and warn him about what just happened?" He called to Jayden.

"Personally I think she needs an attitude adjustment." She responded.

He grinned. "She has kind of turned into a monster this year hasn't she?"

"Makes me glad I'm not her mother." She narrowed her eyes at him. "However I am the closest thing you have to one so spill. What are you doing here?"

Randy winced at the look she was giving him. "I need to talk to you." He answered cautiously as he began steering her toward his car.

She tried to dig in her heels. "Why can't we talk here?"

Ignoring her words he picked her up and placed her in the front seat of his car, slamming the door on her protests. She turned to glare at him when he climbed into the driver's side.

"This seems very familiar."

Randy grinned over at her as he started the car. "John said I needed to kidnap you so I am."

"And if John told you to jump off a bridge would you do that too?" She asked sarcastically.

"Actually he asked me to about three years ago and I did." He laughed at the look she sent him. "We were bungee jumping."

Jayden couldn't help but laugh. "So why am I being kidnapped this time?"

Ignoring the question Randy continued to drive. "So how was your trip, where ever you went?"

"It was personal Randy and I would say it went better than expected I guess." She answered turning to frown out the window.

"And it had nothing to do with the wedding?" He guessed.

"Randy." She growled warningly. "It has nothing to do with you so I suggest you forget about everything that just went on."

"That's fine with me but you might be interested to know that Shawn overheard everything too. Including the part where she said she didn't care if there even was a wedding." He told her gently.

She groaned as she slumped down in the seat. "She was just upset. She didn't mean anything by it."

"That may be but it's kinda obvious she's hiding something and that you're involved." Randy pointed out as he pulling into a restaurant parking lot. Shutting the car off he turned to look at her. "You seem to be pretty good at keeping secrets."

She raised her eyebrows. "So we're finally getting to the bottom of this little excursion."

"You and Dave have been pretty close lately." He said softly.

"Well we're both at a point in our careers where we can and we want to make it count." She pointed out. "He mentioned that he had dinner with you and John last night."

"No we had dinner; he sat there and played with his food." Randy corrected her. He looked up at her with worried eyes. "He didn't look that good."

She shrugged as she avoided his eyes. "Rehab's been difficult and he's not been eating like he should. He's lost some weight."

"Don't give me that bullshit." Randy exploded. "He looks anorexic and I know it's not just rehab." He paused for a minute. "I talked to his doctor."

Startled Jayden sat up. "You're lying. The doctor would not have told you anything. There's a thing called patient confidently."

Randy attempted his famous grin. "What can I say? I can be very charming." His smile faltered when she raised her eyebrows. "Something's really wrong with him." It was a statement not a question.

"Don't put me in this position Randy. If he wanted you to know he would tell you." She answered softly.

"Is it life threatening?" His voice came out as the merest whisper.

Jayden remained silent for the longest time. "We don't know anything right now."

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"Right now I don't care if there is a wedding." Shawn heard the growled words and stiffened in shock. Ignoring Randy's outstretched hand he slipped away from the door, not wanting the younger man's sympathy. He slipped out the back door, crossing the brown winter grass to the old barn he had converted into a work shop.

Locking the door against everyone else he stood staring blindly into the room. He searched his memory for clues that would tell him what had just occurred. It was obvious to him that Mandy had been scared and hurting. He felt an ache in his heart as he came to the realization that whatever had occurred she did not trust him to handle it for her. She did not love him enough to let him handle her problems. Angry that she would do this to him he struck out, intent on destroying something.

The wedding gift he had been making for his future wife lay in splinters at his feet, torn down as an outlet of his confusion and heartbreak. Now two hours later he worked feverously to recreate what he had destroyed. He was determined in both his love and his efforts to give Amanda Calloway something special. Somewhere she'd be able to keep her hopes, treasures, and yes her secrets.