Scenes From a Soap Opera

Kyle Makes a Friend

Kyle was drowning his sorrows at Society's bar. He felt terrible for leaving Summer, but there was nothing he could do for her. Besides, Nick and Phyllis were with her and he could tell that she needed that alone time with her parents. He on the other hand couldn't be with his parents; not right now. Jack and Diane were barely speaking; sitting and playing normal functioning family was something that Kyle refused to participate in.

"Is this seat taken?"

Kyle looked up from his drink to see a young woman pointing to the only open chair. He shook his head, "No go right ahead."

"Thanks." She smiled and sat down. Kyle gave her a nod and returned to his drink. Out of the corner of his eye he watched the woman pull out some cash before ordering her drink. He hated to admit it but her order surprised him.

"Whisky? You don't look like a whisky girl." He blurted out before he could stop himself.

She turned to him with an expression that was half-amused, half-offended. "No? And what kind of girl do I look like?" She put her hand under her chin as she leaned forward. "Don't be shy. Come on, tell me. What kind of girl do I look like?"

Embarrassed but knowing he had to answer Kyle took a deep breath, "Some kind of fruity cocktail with an umbrella." He winced at how condescending he sounded. To his surprise, he heard a deep belly laugh.

"You're not wrong I do like a good fruity cocktail every now and then. Today just felt like a whisky kind of day." She flashed him an amused grin to show that she wasn't angry. Kyle stared at her for a minute; something about her seemed so familiar he just couldn't put his finger on it.

"I feel you on that." Kyle picked up his glass to clink it against hers. "Here's to drowning out a miserable day."

"I'll drink to that." The woman took a long sip of her drink. "Did you want to talk about it? I'll tell you my story if you tell me yours."

The young Abbott let out a deep exhale. Part of him did need to talk about what happened, and maybe talking to a complete stranger would be better. This woman didn't know him or Summer, she had no preconceived judgments; a neutral party. But the other part of him knew that Summer would be uncomfortable with him telling a stranger their business. "I have a loved one in the hospital." He finally decided it was the best thing to say. Why he didn't mention that that loved one was his wife was beyond him.

The woman looked saddened. "Oh no, I'm so sorry. Are they going to be, okay?"

Kyle nodded, "Physically yes, mentally and emotionally I think it will take some time. What about you? What's got you running to Mr. Walker?"

That sad look turned to devastation, "My sister. She's missing and I'm helping with the search or trying to. We keep coming up short. I'm getting frustrated." Tears started leaking out of her eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to cry."

Kyle gave her an extremely compassionate look. "Don't apologize, that's definitely something worth crying over." He smiled at her soft chuckle. "You and your sister are obviously close."

She nodded, "My sister and my Grams are the only family I've ever known." She suddenly straightened up as if a major thought just occurred to her. "Oh my God, here I've been sobbing all over you and I never even told you my name. Name's CoCo, nice to meet you." She extended her left-hand while drying her tears with her right.

Kyle smiled, "What a beautiful name. Mine's Kyle." He accepted her handshake.

"Kyle's not so bad." CoCo teased. Her phone beeped and she went to check it; it was Adam asking where she was as it was getting late.

Kyle could sense something was up, "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's just my brother-in-law. I should get home, with everything that's going on with my sister he worries extra about me." CoCo apologized.

Kyle waved her off. "I completely understand. Here," he said, grabbing her phone. "Let me put my number in so we can talk again if you need to."

"I'd like that." CoCo gave a shy smile. "Thanks for everything Kyle." She gave him a hug before taking her phone back and leaving the bar.

"Anytime and thank you." Kyle shouted watching her leave. He truly appreciated her for taking his mind off of the pain for a few minutes. CoCo was really easy to talk to and he hoped everything worked out for her and her sister. If he was thinking clearer, he would've known who exactly her sister was; he'd only seen Sally's name plastered all over social media. If he was a better husband, he would've mentioned his wife. If he was a smarter man, he would've known better than to give his phone number to a woman. If only he could see the future because this meeting was going to change his entire life.