Honest

Laura can feel herself tense as she feels Nate’s fingers on hers, but she doesn’t pull away. His touch was gentle…warm…she could trust that touch.

Her eyes stayed glued to the table as he talks. Her body language might say she wasn’t listening, but she was absorbing his words like a sponge desiring water. He was strong yet tender. He was different. Different than other men Laura had known.

As Nate withdraws and rises from the table, Laura lifts her head to watch him as he moves around the buffet. She’d known him as an acquaintance…a coworker for quite a while now. She was torn between remaining simply as such, and a strange longing deep down that had been buried…one that threatened to seep into the forefront as Nate slowly gained her trust.

When Nate gets back to the table, Laura resumes her quiet state, pushing her plate to the side, even though she hadn’t eaten everything. She had things she wanted to say…but she withheld them…for now.

Lunch draws to a close, and Laura stands, putting her money on the table and picking up her purse. She takes a deep breath, changing the topic to the whole reason she and Nate were out. “Well, are you ready to go feed that scaly critter?”

Getting to the car, Laura makes an effort to pause and allow Nate to open the door for her…she’d realized it was something he deemed important, and decided to stop rolling her eyes at him over it.

She stops before getting in though, and turns to finally look at him. “Um…thanks. For…for just being honest.”


Clint follows after Wendy, ending up by her side as they walk, but he keeps quiet until they reach the pond. Standing at the edge of the tranquil water, he starts to take Wendy’s hand, but glancing down, he realizes the oil and grease stains on his fingers and palm, so he resists. “Can I do anything for you?” he asks gently.


Sparky gives a bit of a smile to Damien. “Not to make it sound easy, because it isn’t. But…telling a six-year-old is quite a bit different than telling an eighteen-year-old. BJ’s still young…and he might be confused for a while, but with everyone else around here to keep him happy and occupied, it won’t be a trauma for him.”

He glances towards the house. “And…Mick is pretty good with him. I’m sure he’d be happy to help out with that. BJ might receive the information differently from him, though you should probably be there.”


Con looks up at the pipes under the kitchen sink, lying on his back, his broad shoulders preventing him from getting any further underneath. He taps a wrench on one of the pipes, trying to find the source of the problem.

“I told him to call a plumber when he couldn’t find the problem,” Paula comments with annoyance from her seat at the table. “But he kept saying he’d keep working at it.”

Con chuckles at the reference to his uncle Dan. “You gotta give him credit for trying.”

Paula rolls her eyes. “Well if we would have called the plumber, you wouldn’t be under there now.”

“I don’t mind.” Con reaches up with his hand to feel around a seal.

Suddenly his phone starts to ring in the other room, but he doesn’t hear it. “Uncle Con, your phone is ringing!” Seth yells from the living room.

Paula looks to Con, but sees he didn’t hear. “Con, Seth says your phone is ringing.”

“Oh.” Con shifts his head to yell into the other room. “Bring it in here, will ya?”

Seth comes bounding into the kitchen, along with Michaela and Mindy. Before he reaches Con, he flips the phone open. “Oooh, it says Jamie on the screen.”

Michaela’s eyes widen. “A girl is calling Uncle Con!”

Hearing that, Con sits up too quickly, banging his head on the pipes, catching his shoulder on the side of the cupboard. “Oh, shoot. Seth, give it here.”

Seth grins with mischief and presses the button to answer the call. By now, Con is sitting up, and reaches out with speed before his cousin has time to say anything. “Jamie?”

Wanting to play, Seth grabs for the phone while Con dodges him, finally getting to his feet, and putting Seth into a headlock. He tries to concentrate on the call, while fending off Seth, along with Michaela who tries to rescue her brother.

“Hey, how’s it going?” Con lifts an eyebrow. “Yeah, I bet that was quite the news for everyone. I can imagine the shock.” He stumbles to the side as both his cousins put pressure on him, starting to laugh and squeal.

“Children, shh!” Paula chides.

“But he’s got Keith!” Michaela argues, giggling.

Keith’s face is red from laughing as he tries to squirm out from Con’s strong hold. “Let me go!” he cries.

Con tries to hold in his own laughter, struggling to keep the phone to his ear. “So how are you holding up? What do you think of the ranch?”

“Ahh, Uncle Con!” Michaela shrieks as he pins her to the wall behind his back so she can’t help her brother.

All of a sudden, Jake appears, automatically joining in to rescue his cousin.

Con winds up keeping the headlock on Keith, able to grab Jake by the shirt collar with his hand, now holding two squirming boys and trying to salvage his phone call at the same time, ignoring the laughing and playful complaints. “Decided yet how long you’re staying?” he asks Jamie.


Carson looks up from the computer as Misty approaches, and gives her a slight grin. “The only thing fun and exciting around here is you. I feel like I’ve been demoted and am bored out of my mind.”

Rolling his eyes, he glances to his watch. “You wouldn’t want to escort a dangerous sucker like me out to get something to eat, would you?”


“Oh, hi, Katie.” Reese leans back in his chair as he hears who is calling. “Wasn’t sure if I’d hear from you or not. Wyatt said you were sleeping pretty soundly. You’re free to stay home if you want to…don’t feel pressure to come in today, alright?”