The future

Jason sits on a straw bale, his back leaning against the outside wall of the barn. It had turned out to be a gorgeous day…he should be enjoying it more. But after his brief distraction of working with Clint, his mind had wandered back to everything that was taunting him. There was just so much to think about.
He glances over to the yard where BJ and some other kids are playing. They were so happy…content…innocent. Jason could remember being that young…He could remember his elementary years…birthday parties, fun with his mom, trips to the park… then everything had changed. He had changed. Where had he gone?


Wyatt smiles as he sees Katie. She looked so much better than the day before. He knew she was going to be okay, and was so proud of her progress. He starts to question if he should really talk to her now or not, but knows he has to follow through with it before something else happens.
He nods with enthusiasm. “Yeah. Let me push you on out there – give your arms a rest.”
Once they’re outside, Wyatt takes a deep breath, unsure how to start. He eases down on a bench to face Katie, and swallows hard, taking her hand in his. “You know…I was hoping and praying that this wasn’t going to make things harder for you, Katie… my gut tells me that it might come as more of a relief though.” He offers a rueful smile. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking…about us.” He searches her eyes, trying to read her reaction. “…And…I’m wondering if I expected too much out of you. I guess somewhere along the way I started to fall in love with you, but…” he purses his lips in thought, shrugging. “I can see that even though you care about me, I can’t really hope for much more than that.”
Wyatt pauses, wanting his words to come out right. “I’m not upset or anything at all…I’m actually more okay with that than I thought I would be. And I can’t help but truly value your friendship. I just…” He sighs a little. “I just see through this recent mess that your feelings for me aren’t what they need to be if we were going to take things any further.”
He gives Katie’s hand a light squeeze. “…And that’s okay. I guess what I’m trying to say is, how would you feel about maybe calling things as they are and sticking to being friends? My feelings for you haven’t changed, but I don’t want to make things any more difficult for you by heading down a path that you really don’t want to be on.”
Wyatt offers a gentle smile. “Having you around is a bright spot in my life, Katie…and it always will be, no matter if we’re just friends or not. So…what do you say?”


Con tries to give Jamie a smile. He knows what a hard time of it she went through, and hates to see anyone in pain. But what could he say? Letting it drop, he polishes off his piece of pizza and glances at his watch. “Guess I’ll take a longer lunch today,” he grins. “It’s later than I thought. Katie might have to save her food for supper.”


“Kyle…hello….”

Kyle brings Jen’s waving hand back into focus from across the café table. “Huh?”

Jen smirks at him. “Your brain is normally on another planet, but it’s even further away today.”

Kyle gives her a silly grin and points at her plate. “Cockroach.”

“What?!” Jen jumps and stares wide-eyed at her plate of French fries.

Kyle starts to laugh, his eyes full of mischief. “You ever gonna not fall for that one?”

Jen throws her napkin at him. “Jerk.”

“Hey now!” Kyle shakes a finger at her. “Play nice.”

“Whatever.” Jen rolls her eyes, but a grin escapes. “So you were with the guys today? Did you have practice?”

“Naw…we were looking for Jason up at the hospital where his friend is. Nice girl. Didn’t see Jason though…she said he’s out of town.”

“Hmm…well I hope he comes back. He was awesome the other night.”

“Tell me about it. We were just saying how we’ve only known him, what? About a week? But he’s like part of the band already. We’re all hoping he signs on with us at least for the summer.”

“So how’s his friend doing?”

“Katie? She looked pretty good. Jason said the doctors aren’t too optimistic about her walking again, but he thought she’d pull through all right.” Kyle quirks a grin. “And you and I both know that’s possible.”

Jen smiles. “How long has she been in the hospital?”

“Few weeks I think.”

“Has she been able to get out?”

“How should I know?” Kyle stuffs several fries in his mouth, looking at them crosseyed as they don’t want to all fit.

Jen rolls her eyes. “I guess I can just empathize is all. You know I like to help people.”

“You wanna meet her?”

Jen’s eyes light up. “Sure.”

“Good. I gotta go back anyway. Forgot to see if she’d let me take that picture of hers and make a copy.”