Chapter 6

"Summer? Hi, it's Taylor" she said with some panic in her voice

"Hey Taylor, what's wrong." Her and Seth had just got home and the phone was ringing. Summer had been the one to pick up.

"Nothing I hope, but have you heard from Ryan?"

"Uh, no, not exactly. We were just at Sandy and Kirsten's and I think he called to speak to Sandy, but that was it. What happened?" asked Summer.

"Well, he got home from work and then got a phone call and ran out again without any explanation at all. I've been trying for like the last hour to get hold of him, but I keep getting his voicemail." She was becoming quite worried.

"That doesn't sound like him. Do you want Seth to come over while you try to track him down?"

"No, no, it's fine, I'm sure I'll hear from him soon. Just call me if you guys here from him, ok?"

"Yeah, sure." Summer hung up and turned to Seth who had been listening to her side of the conversation. "Atwood's gone AWOL, but she said just to call if we hear from him. Do you know what he called your dad about?"

"Nah, I didn't get a chance to ask, but I can tell you that if Ryan hasn't told anyone except Sandy Cohen what's going on, it's gonna be something big." Seth was now worried too, but he looked at his wife and tried not to show how concerned he was.

"Let's just wait and see. I'm sure we'd know if he was in trouble, and besides I'm having a craving for dill pickles and ice cream." He smirked.

"Uh huh, ok Cohen, the sympathy cravings as an excuse to eat the weirdest stuff are getting kinda creepy, and besides I'm craving something else…" She gave him her most sultry look.

"Hmm…yeah, I've heard women in their third trimester could get like this." He smiled and put his arms around her waist to pull her as close to him as her belly would allow. He leaned down to kiss her gently on the mouth, but Summer wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a deeper kiss. Seth pulled away gasping for air.

"Well, ok Mrs. Cohen…lead the way." Summer took Seth's hand and let him upstairs to the bedroom. Both were secretly still wondering if Ryan was all right.

No sooner had Taylor hung up from Summer than the phone rang again. She looked at the caller ID and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Where the hell are, Ryan?" she answered rather harshly.

"I'm on my way home, honey, sorry." He and Nate had got back to the car and he'd seen 11 missed calls on his cell. He knew he was in trouble and would probably be in even more when he arrived home with Nate.

"I've been worried sick about you. You said an hour and it's been almost three! What was so important you had to run out like that with no explanation?"

"Uh well, I think it would be better if I explained when I got home, but I've got someone with me. Could you make up the spare room?" He waited for the reaction.

"Spare room? Who's with you? Ryan, talk to me!" She was getting more agitated by the second.

"Just trust me and do this, please? I'll explain everything when we get home. I love you, Taylor Townsend." He hung up before Taylor could say anything else.

"You're in trouble with the wife, huh?" said Nate.

"Probably" said Ryan "but she'll get over it and she's not my wife…yet. Taylor's a meddler by nature, so she'll be on board with this in no time. She might even say that she's rubbed off on me." He smiled at Nate and hoped he was right. They continued the rest of the drive in silence, Nate just staring out the window as the scenery changed from the projects, to the freeway, to the Bay Bridge, to the beautiful neighborhoods of Berkeley.

Taylor stared at the phone hardly believing that Ryan had been so vague and hung up on her. Who was the 'we'? She put the phone down and went to make the bed in their spare room. Their house was a three-bedroom house but they had turned the smaller of the other two bedrooms into a home office. Their bedroom was the whole right side of the house with a beautiful en suite bathroom. The spare bedroom shared the other side of the house with the main bathroom. The middle of the house was the office and gallery landing that looked down to the front foyer. She pulled some dark blue sheets out of the linen closet and went to make the bed. She felt like she was moving in slow motion not knowing why she was doing this. She went to get clean towels to put them in the main bathroom and went downstairs to wait for Ryan to get home. It really wasn't like Ryan to act like this anymore.