Useful Tidbits

A new smile spread across Hunter’s lips and he backed off, giving Ryan enough space to finish what she needed to before they left. “Mmm, I forgot about breakfast, so I’m kinda hungry too,” he admitted. “I may have been thinking about Chinese. Or maybe Mexican. Italian…” He paused to think. “Or maybe just subs.” He gave her a sidelong glance. “How about we just drive and see which restaurant jumps out in front of us?” 

“Don’t run over any innocent customers if that happens.” Axel walked by with an amused look on his face. “Had that happen to me once. Barely missed an elderly couple in a booth.”

Hunter quirked a new grin. “Man, that must’ve been scary.” 

“’Bout had a heart attack.” Axel wiped his hands on a rag. “The old man, not me.” 

Hunter laughed and shook his head. “I’ll be sure to keep my eyes on the road.” 

Axel lifted an eyebrow and looked at Ryan then back at Hunter. “Uh-huh.” 

As he walked away, a little color came to Hunter’s face, but he kept smiling and put his sunglasses back down over his eyes before looking to Ryan again. “I get the strange feeling I better behave, or I’m gonna have a mob of mechanics all over me.” He led the way outside and to his car, and it wasn’t but a few minutes before they were heading across town. 

“So we’ve got subs…” He glanced out the window one way, then the other. “Or Chinese… or Mom and Pop’s pizza… or fried chicken… what sounds good?”


Looking up at Lucy, Jamison immediately spied the backpack and smiled. He wouldn’t have given her too bad of a time if she hadn’t gotten one, but it did make him glad. With just a bit of her own maintenance, it looked like it was a pretty nice bag that would keep her poor books in tact and off the ground. “Looks like you made a good choice,” he complimented. 

Given an apple, his eyebrows rose before he chuckled. “Usually takes people longer to realize most of my lunches consist of an apple or two.” He accepted it with an amused nod. “Thank you.” He gave it a quick brush on his shirt then raised it as if in a toast. “To calculus. May you survive with a better than passing grade.” 

He took a bite and nodded his approval at the crunchy tartness. “I’ve got something for you, too.” He pushed the tattered notebook over to her. “Found this last night. It’s the notebook I used when I took my own calculus class.” He reached over and flipped a few pages for her to see. “My handwriting leaves a bit to be desired, but I thought you might find some useful tidbits in here.”


“Nah, I can drive myself.” Scott nodded to Dalton. At least he could do that much, then Dalton wouldn’t have to be bothered getting him home later. “I’ll, um… I’ll be other later then.” He felt a little awkward but… it was getting better, and he was glad for that. At least he knew now that Dalton wasn’t still mad at him…

…It was five thirty. Scott sat behind the wheel of his car and scrunched his eyes shut tight, trying to bypass the data. He still hadn’t figured out how to control it. This time he’d been bombarded for several full minutes. Finally he blinked and the images started to fade. Something deep down warned him he shouldn’t be driving, but the episode was gone, so it was okay, right? He turned on the engine and pulled into the street to head to Daltons…

… “I…brought something for us.” Scott presented a two-liter of Mountain Dew as he entered Dalton’s apartment a little while later. “Just don’t tell Justin… he’s been trying to get me to eat healthier.”


Travis laughed and nodded. “Definitely movie-worthy. Especially with the whole Agency thing.” He slowed Casper to a halt near the fence and leaned on the saddlehorn, giving a little sigh. “I think… I better get back to the barn and take care of some chores before supper, so I’ll have some free time tonight.” He grinned at Ashlee. “Maybe play a videogame or something?”


“You’re quite the horseman there, Lane.” Eric had just halted Static as he watched Lane’s antics on Ginger.

Lane reined in the mare and grinned. “Naw. Just having fun.”

“No. Really. Mick talk to you about breaking in horses?”

“Uh-uh.” Lane shook his head. “Guess I’ve gotten so used to wrangling cows, I figured that’s ‘bout all I was good for.”

Eric’s brow furrowed at Lane’s serious tone. “I… think you’ve got a few other winning qualities.”

Lane scoffed as he untangled a not in Ginger’s mane. “Oh yeah. Like getting my son in trouble, lying to everyone here, and risking everyone’s lives.”

“Come on. That done been over.” Eric frowned at him. “I’d say you’ve been the best father you knew how to be, you loved him enough to try and save his life in spite of everything else, and… maybe you were misguided, but you made the right choice.” He gestured to Ginger. “And to top it off, you could be an asset around here. Talk to Mick. Dylan’s been doing the majority of horse wheeling and dealing lately, surprisingly enough, but if the rest of us picked up the slack, we might be able to really get something going here.”

Lane nodded thoughtfully. “I’ll do what I can to help around here, you know that. Last thing I wanna be is a freeloader.” Looking to the barn, he grinned. “I’ll talk to Mick. And… I’ll talk to you later.” He pivoted Ginger around, grabbed a chunk of mane and dug in his heels.

Eric’s eyes widened as Lane galloped towards the fence. “Lane!”

Too late. Lane and Ginger went sailing over the three rail fence as if it were nothing, landing perfectly on the other side to canter gently to the barn.

Eric immediately looked across the corral to Ashlee and Travis. “Don’t either of you ever even think about doing something like that!” He paused. “Even with saddles!”