Waiting

Wyatt smiles as Aerith walks away, satisfied that this little event had been salvaged. He takes a few minutes to satisfy his appetite with the good food but finally decides he has to get back to work.

He stops by the counter first, throwing a grin to Herb and Mabel that shows humor mixed in with disapproval. “You two…just better be glad this turned out like it did. I wouldn’t recommend trying this with too many people.” He throws Mabel a wink. “But since it wasn’t a disaster…thank you.”

Leaving payment and a tip, he heads on out, giving Aerith a short wave on his way. Getting back to work, he pours over paperwork, emails and records, coming up as empty handed as ever, looking for leads on Mick.

Finally just before seven, he tells Reese he’s leaving. Not bothering to go home first, he heads straight for Aerith’s and parks by the curb to wait. He resists honking the horn…he’d figured out enough on his own to know that the less attention drawn to the fact that she was leaving with a man, the better. She didn’t speak a whole lot about her grandmother, but Wyatt had seen the look in her eye too many times not to know more than he’d been told.

So Wyatt just sits and waits, knowing Aerith will be out when she notices he’s there.


Scott looks up quickly as Katie’s voice trails off. He’s pretty sure he knows what she was going to say, or at least the context. He felt badly for her…there was a part of him that wanted to just outright ask if there was now any hope for anything between himself and her, but he knew good and well that it was totally out of line for him to even think about that right now. Katie was hurting…and all she needed was a friend and a friend only. Besides…he knew how to wait.

He gives Katie a grin as she mentions supper. “Oooh, gonna cook for the invalid, huh? I think I can handle that.” Scott squints a little as he begins to feel the effects of his recent shot. “Mm…you get to pick what it is…I don’t think I better do much thinking at all tonight, or I’m liable to embarrass myself….” He quirks an eyebrow at her, hinting that he hadn’t forgotten everything. “…more than I already did.”


Laura turns around in surprise at Nate, pleasure showing in her eyes. Calling after him, she teases. “What if I had other plans?” Laughing, she shakes her head. “Seven o’clock. Don’t keep me waiting.”

Arriving home, she showers and changes clothes, having just a little more trouble than she should, picking out what to wear. She settles for her lavender blouse and blue jeans, opting for nice casual.

Ready just a few minutes before seven, Laura exits the house and locks it behind her, knowing Katie wasn’t planning to come back, at least not for a while. Settling down on the porch swing, she waits for Nate.


Con hurries to get himself ready to go, vowing not to be late this time no matter what. He already felt like an idiot and didn’t want to twice in one day.

After showering and getting some clean clothes on, he’s even a little early, and sets out for Jamie’s. Arriving at her house, he honks the horn, knowing it’ll annoy her just a little that he was pushing her, even though he’d been the one who’d been so late before.


Trent sits down on the porch of the bunk house, watching the ranch get closed up for the night. It had been an awkward evening. Eating with everyone had been so much like old times, and so much not at the same time. He had seen Luke once across the room, but he was the only one Trent hadn't spoken to yet. Everyone else seemed to be okay with him being there, even though they were leery....and rightly so. It just felt odd...would it get better? Trent didn't know. But no matter what, for the first time in nineteen years he felt a small amount of peace.