Smooth

Reese hangs up the phone from talking with Sheriff Brown and sighs a little as he hears his email beep at him. Glancing at the clock, he’s anxious to go home and get some rest, but he figures it couldn’t hurt to see who was sending him mail now. Maybe I twas a reply to his email to Pete.

As he opens up the program, his eyebrows rise. Lockheart…it was probably her diplomatic decline of his invitation. Reading, however, he is pleasantly surprised. He thought she would like to see the ranch in Texas, and he knew she’d like the people there.

Hitting ‘reply,’ he types out a response, letting her know what to say at her airport to get her to Texas on TJY’s expense, where they would meet her early Saturday morning and then go to the ranch together.


Wyatt tosses Aerith a wry grin, catching her stealing one of his fries, but he lets her get away with it. He didn’t even know if he could teasingly chide her anyway.

“I don’t know about the name…for legal purposes, I’m sure we’ll be called the Elite, just like they call the FBI, the FBI. But within the staff, we’re so used to calling ourselves TJY, and we’re still in that building, we’ll probably call it that just in conversation.”

He grins at her mention of JetStream. “I was thinking about going…that is…if you go with me.”


Con shakes his head as Jamie tells him about Bret. “Man…that stinks. There’s no way he’s even remotely responsible for any of this. I can’t see how anyone can try getting away with this…or how it’s even gotten this far. I hope he does call Lockheart…at least she knows us as a connection.”

Sighing, he sticks his fork down in his remaining mashed potatoes. “You never heard this from me, but…I think I lost my appetite.” He shoves the tray aside. “I think it’s about time I went home so I could cook me up a steak.”


Bret takes down Lockheart’s number and hangs up with Jamie. Sighing, he just looks at the paper for a moment. He hated lawyers…he didn’t trust any of them as far as he could throw them…not after he’d lost everything in court to his ex-wife. But right now…he didn’t have much of a choice, and he had to trust Jamie’s recommendation.

Dialing, he reaches a voicemail…of course. Rolling his eyes, he tries to think of something to say.

“Hi, Ms. Lockheart…my name is Bret Parker, and, well, I’m in need of a lawyer. I, um…got your number from Jamie Franklin, out here in Nevada. I’m being accused of attempted manslaughter after an accident on a construction site.” Unbeknownst to him, Lockheart was already aware of this through the information of Con. “Um…I know you’re clear out in California so I’m not sure how all this can work, but I thought it was worth a shot so…” He rattles off his phone number. “I guess…I’ll wait to hear back from ya or try something else. Thanks. Bye.”


Scott can’t help but grin, and holds Katie on his lap. Her approval of his new look was all he needed. “Mmm…I think dinner sounds grand. But only if we can take a walk in the park afterward.”


Carson straightens up as he listens to Misty talk about Frankie. This really concerned him…her brother seemed to have something really strange about him…his mood swings were drastic and sudden. Enough to make Carson leery of him to say the least. “Well just be careful, alright? It might not be anything major now, but…well, I don’t want him getting upset and trying to hurt anyone like he did Aerith so…just don’t let your guard down.”

At Misty’s question, Carson sighs. He thinks for a moment before pulling Misty up out of her chair to sit down himself, then pull her into his lap. Wrapping his arms around her, he hides his face in her shoulder, just holding her…holding on to the only stable thing in his life right now. “I guess I’m just in a funk,” he mumbles.


“So…other than the concert, you got a big weekend planned?” Jason leans on the outside table, taking a lick of his ice cream cone.

Camryn laughs as she spoons out a bite of her own. “You kidding me? What would I do over a weekend?”

“Well what do you normally do?”

“Sit around…watch television...go for walks.”

“Don’t you go out with friends or anything?”

Camryn sucks on her icecream for a moment, forcing her ever-present smile. "Not really. I've been here for a summer but the only friend I've done anything with really is Sandi, and she's usually busy with her boyfriend."

Jason quirks an eyebrow. "A go-getter like you? I figured you'd have a whole following of friends."

Camryn laughs. "I'll take that as a compliment, but no. I lead a pretty boring life usually. Oh, it doesn't stop me from having fun, but I'm by myself a lot. Maybe that's how I've learned to find the joy in the little things...being by oneself sometimes makes us stop and think."

Jason could relate to that one. "Yeah..."

"Anyway, no, no real plans." Camryn shrugs. "Not like you, going off to gallivant around in Texas, flying on a private jet..."

Jason quirks an eyebrow, amused. "It's not exactly glamorous."

"I wouldn't know."

"You sound so deprived."

"Oh, I feel like it."

Jason smirks at Camryn's slyness. "You're smooth, you know that?"

Camryn laughs. "It's my downfall."

"Mm, but maybe it worked."

Camryn quirks an eyebrow. "What?"