More greetings

Wyatt waits patiently for Aerith, hoping that her grandmother isn’t giving her too hard of a time. He knew she probably wasn’t happy…not to mention that maybe it hadn’t quite looked right having Aerith spend the night at his place… But he was at peace about it. It hadn’t been wrong.

Once Aerith joins him again, they head into town, but Wyatt shakes his head at her question. “Nope. You don’t need an atm because I’m buying the license for you.”

He insists, and once everything is said and done, it seems like no time before they’ve been joined by Reese and are on their way to the river about half an hour away, all the fishing tackle and food in the back.


Scott gives Katie a grateful smile and returns the squeeze to her hand. He could keep this conversation going, but knew it was best if it were dropped so they could just move on. “Okay…it won’t take long to clean it up and I’ll head back with you.”

He’s right, and it doesn’t take much to straighten the cabin back up so it will be ready to work on later. Before he and Katie leave, he switches out his glasses for his contacts and slings a small bag over his shoulder. “Alright…let’s go see if there’s any food left after Con’s been there,” he teases.

The walk is warm and Scott and Katie walk hand in hand to the ranch yard, then to the mess hall. Entering, Scott can feel himself tense a little, but he finds the familiar faces in the room, forcing himself not to be bothered so much.


Feeling a bit strange talking to Wes, Jason tries to converse with him. The motorcycle dilemma did sound like an appealing project to keep his mind occupied. “Well, I’ve only done some tinkering, so I doubt I’d be able to find anything you or Clint couldn’t, but I can look. I can go to the shop after breakfast if you like.”

Cindy keeps herself from smiling too much. She was so glad to see Wes and Jason interacting…Wes was doing a good job, and it was good to see that Jason responded to him, even if he did feel awkward.

By now, the ranch yard is almost in sight and it only takes a few minutes to cover the rest of the distance.


Jade doesn’t hesitate to give Rosetta hug too. “Oh, thank you. Yes, I didn’t have any breakfast this morning and it was quite a long ride,” she admits.

Within minutes, she’s sitting at one of the tables next to Mick, with Rosetta and BJ, enjoying her breakfast. It’s just a short while later that she sees the door open, and looking up, her face breaks into a smile. “Jason!” She stands up and gives a little wave.

Jason looks quickly to the sound of his name and raises his eyebrows in surprise. He hadn’t expected to see Jade here.

Several others from TJY look up as well and Con glances to the door, very surprised to see Jason. So he’d come after all…

Jason’s awkwardness increases, not only with those at the ranch he was now unfamiliar with, but also with his coworkers who had thought he’d stayed in Nevada. He tries to shove his feelings aside though, and returns Jade’s wave. Breaking apart from his family, he heads to her table, nodding to a few others who greet him as well.

Jade stands up and goes to give Jason a warm hug. “I didn’t know you were here.”

Jason returns her hug, then draws away, giving a slight shrug and smile. “I didn’t know you were here either.”

“I just got in this morning to surprise my dad.”

Jason can’t help his slight chuckle. “I just got in this morning to surprise my mom.”

Jade giggles. “We need to be more original. Join me for breakfast?” Before Jason can answer though, she stops. “Oh, you’re probably waiting for Katie, aren’t you?”

Jason bites his lip. “Um, no. She’s here, but…”

Jade lifts an eyebrow. “Uh-oh.”

“Yeah.”

Jade looks up at Jason with sympathy. “Sorry. I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay…” He gives a little sigh. “It’s over and we’ve moved on.”

Before Jade can respond, the door opens yet again, and she looks past Jason to see Katie enter with another man. Her eyes shoot back to Jason with question.

Jason musters up a wry grin and nods. “Yep.”

“Come on.” Jade gestures to the table, changing the subject. “Eat with us. You look like you could use it.”

“Oh, thanks.”

“I didn’t say you looked bad.” Jade slaps his arm teasingly. “You couldn’t look bad if you tried. Sit down and I’ll be right back.”

Jason sinks down into a chair near Mick and Rosetta, feeling even more out of place here than he did when he’d first arrived so many months ago.

Jade hurries toward Katie, giving an enthusiastic wave and smile. “Katie!”

Scott steps back a little, giving the two women room to greet each other.


Ty hears the knock at the door and automatically swipes his eyes to rid evidence of tears, even though he can’t hide the redness. Hearing Wendy’s voice, he raises an eyebrow. What could she want? He’d talked to her a little bit last night with Clint and she’d seemed nice enough…but to go out of her way to check on him now?

Part of Ty just wanted to be left alone, and part of him wanted to vent. He didn’t want to make a scene…he didn’t want to get mixed up in some big mess. All he really wanted to do was leave. But if he told Wendy to go away, it might just raise more suspicion, and he might get questioned even more.

Thinking for a moment, he finally answers her. “It’s open,” he calls.

Remaining on the floor, he looks down as she enters, not knowing if he could really tell her what had just happened or not. It wasn’t like she wasn’t involved at all…she was dating his brother.


Carson grins. “If the cops come, let them. I have nothing to be ashamed of, banging on a pretty sheila’s window.”

He gives Misty’s hand a squeeze as they head slowly down the sidewalk. He wasn’t used to going at a slow pace, but it was nice this morning…he really didn’t feel like jogging anyway, and he and Misty could talk more this way, or simply enjoy the scenery more.

Instead of heading his normal route, Carson aims toward downtown instead. “How about some breakfast at Mom and Pop’s?”