Shawn and Trip were just leaving the kitchen when they approached.
“Shawn, a word,” Ryan said.
“Okay,” Shawn replied.
“El, are you okay?”Ryan asked.
“I’m fine,” she chirped.
“Okay.Trip,” Ryan said to make sure he stayed with El.
Trip dipped his head in acknowledgement.Ryan led the way to his office but didn’t speak until he had shut the door behind him.
“Did El tell you why her father showed up?”Ryan asked him.
“She did.I agree with her that the chances of her father having fallen asleep are very unlikely.”
“I agree.I don’t believe in coincidences myself.Her mother’s back, and if she decided to finally come out of hiding after all this time, then something big is about to go down,” Ryan told Shawn his thoughts.
“What, though, and how to do we find out?”Shawn questioned.
“I don’t know.I’m so sick of saying those three words.It’s all I get done saying.I feel like we don’t know any more now than we did when El first walked through that damn door.”
“I agree.We have so many things left in the wind and no way of getting answers.I’ll be interested to watch the security feed.”
“If her mom’s making appearances, she doesn’t do it lightly.I’ll be shocked if we get anything from them,” Ryan said.
“We’ll have a timeline if nothing else.If those videos are cut, we’ll know when she got in and when she was safely out.”
“I don’t know what that tells us.”
“It tells us when she was in the area.She may have been able to cut those security videos, but unless she has major help, then she couldn’t have cut every single camera around that building.”
“Thank Mother for big brother,” Ryan said when he followed what Shawn was saying.
“Let’s hope we’re able to use it to our advantage.”
“I have a question,” Ryan said, changing the subject.
Shawn nodded.
“I can’t begin to know what El has gone through growing up with her father and the woman she had thought was her mother.She seems to handle it well.”
“What’s your question?”Shawn asked.
“I don’t know how to be there for her.Should I push her to open up about what she may have been feeling after her dad left, or should I let her deal with it her way.”
“I never knew what to do with that either, honestly.In the beginning, I was always awkward about it, offering a pat on the shoulder or something,” Shawn reminisced with a chuckle.
“Nice,” Ryan said sarcastically.
“Hey, in my defense I was her employee at the time, we hadn’t built much of a friendship.Later on, though, I started trying to get her to open up, but that just frustrated her and usually caused a fight.What I found works best is to let her tell you what she wants.She won’t come right out and tell you, but she has cues I always look for.”
“Cues?”Ryan asked, anxious to hear them so he could commit them to memory.
“Obviously if she was visibly upset, crying or something, I comforted her and just let her cry.If she seemed angry, I’d let her vent.”
“What about if she seemed serene?Today she walked off as if nothing had happened, even though her father had a bit of a breakdown.He apologized for being a shitty dad.The man actually had tears in his eyes.”
