scene 17

scene 16

EXT. HUNTER'S HOUSE - DAY

Tom's truck in the driveway, the Rover approaching, garage door opens.

INT. TRUCK

Hunter turns into the driveway, Chloe stares at the truck until the Rover is in the garage and the door closes. Hunter turns off the engine. 

HUNTER: Ready?

Chloe shakes her head, unbuckles, leaves frame in leaving Rover. Same with Hunter after he unbuckles.

INT. KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATER

Window over sink frames Tom sitting at patio table, hat off. 

HUNTER (O.S.) Tom?

Two beats before Hunter and Chloe enter from hall, Hunter with a grocery bag he sets on center island. They stare at Tom. 

CHLOE: Belt buckle?

HUNTER: Two linked turquoise horseshoes on silver.

Chloe gets phone, aims, takes picture. Tom turns to them as if he has heard it.

CHLOE: Here we go.

EXT. PATIO

Tom stands, watches Hunter and Chloe come out through the sliding glass door, approach, Chloe slightly behind Hunter.

HUNTER: Sorry it took so long, there was a big rig crash at the ten twenty-five split.

TOM: Ain't nothin' to apologize for, I just been sittin' here takin' in the fresh air and view. I'm the one oughta be apologizin' for intrudin' on y'all.

HUNTER: You're not intruding. Tom, I'd like to introduce you to Chloe, my daughter. Chloe, this is Tom Walker.

CHLOE: Hello.

TOM: Hello, Chloe.

HUNTER: Did you show yourself around?

TOM: I did. Ya got a real nice place here.

HUNTER: So Tom, Chloe, who is vegetarian, is making dinner, the Chloe casserole featuring roasted vegetables, spinach, black beans and tofu in the form of enchilada, if Chloe deems that a fit description of the delicacy.

Chloe nods.

CHLOE: Enchilada yes, delicacy is in the taste buds of the beholder.

HUNTER: But if you're used to meat with your meals, there's chicken that can be added to yours.

TOM: I'll stick with the original, thank you very much. Me and my wife have been cuttin' down on our meat consumption for awhile, and noticin' the difference for the better.

CHLOE: I'll get it started. If you'll excuse me, Tom.

TOM: Yes ma'am. You done excused me.

Chloe looks at Hunter, who barely nods. Hunter and Tom watch Chloe leave into the dining room, cross into kitchen out of view.

HUNTER: She's shy by nature, and nervous.

TOM: Makes two of us.

HUNTER: Three. She's also curious and might have a question or two. 

TOM: Well. I'll answer any questions y'all got. Mem'ry ain't what it used to be but my brief time with your mother's clear as the lake.

HUNTER: A recollection over dinner would go well.

Tom nods.

TOM: Mind if I ask if she's visitin' or comin' home?

HUNTER: Visiting. She lives with her mother in San Luis Obispo.

TOM: High school.

HUNTER: Starts senior year in a few weeks.

TOM: Prob'ly don't need me to tell ya she takes after her mother.

HUNTER: Not to make me aware of it. I'm confident she wouldn't mind hearing that.

TOM: Yessir.

HUNTER: Hunter. If you don't mind.

TOM: Yessir. Hunter.

HUNTER: When did you do the search that led to my mother's obituary?

TOM: Ten years ago last month. Found it in a newspaper archive. 

HUNTER: What paper?

TOM: Orange County Register.

HUNTER: What prompted the search?

TOM: Me and my wife was talkin' about takin' a trip. Lake Tahoe come up. She asked if I'd been. Told her I had. That led to me tellin' her about me and your mother. That led to us lookin' her up.

INT. KITCHEN

Chloe observes them from behind center island as she sorts through casserole ingredients. She takes a ;picture of them.

EXT. PATIO

I wrote ya a letter, care of your publisher.

HUNTER: I never got it.

TOM: Never sent it. I didn't know what all your mom mighta told ya. If anything.

HUNTER: Tom Walker from Texas. Cowboy on his way to Mexico to meet a friend. Good dancer and a gentleman. From where in Texas?

TOM: Me and my sister grew up in a town called Bandera. 

HUNTER: What's your middle name, Tom?

TOM: Travis.

HUNTER: For whom or what?

TOM: My grandad on my mom's side. Travis Buford. Travis Sawyer Buford. My sister keeps up the family tree on one a them ancestry sites.

HUNTER: Is that so?

TOM: Yessir. Yes, Hunter. 

HUNTER: What's your sister's name and where is she?

TOM: Ruth. She's lives in Ingram, Texas. That's where I'm headed.

HUNTER: Is she alright and your only sibling?

TOM: Yes to both. Me and my wife and Ruthie are goin' in on a house in Kerrville, if you're familiar with the area.

HUNTER: Hill country.

TOM: You been?

HUNTER: I'm down once a year to see a good friend in Wimberley. 

TOM: Alright.

HUNTER: Are your parents living?

TOM: No sir.

HUNTER: Do I have siblings?

TOM: Not that I know of.

HUNTER: Your wife.

TOM: Wanda. She'd be along but stayed home to be with a friend whose husband just passed.

HUNTER: How long have you been married?

TOM: It'll be twenty-five years the second a November.

HUNTER: Previous marriage or marriages?

TOM:  No sir.   

HUNTER:  Wanda and Ruth know you're here?

TOM: They do. 

HUNTER: What if I hadn't known who you are?

TOM: I'da been turned around and askin' for directions to Drippin' Springs Road.

HUNTER: Every phone has a G-P-S feature, if not your truck.

TOM: I'da been fibbin' and toldya I'd  lost it if you'd brought it up.  

HUNTER: Can I get you a lemonade?

TOM: Lemonade'd be great, thank you.  

HUNTER: B-R-B.

TOM: Pardon?

HUNTER: Be right back?

TOM: Ah. Right. B-R-H..

Hunter walks to house.

INT. KITCHEN

Chloe at casserole prep, two glasses of lemonade added, gaze on Tom, Hunter nearing. SOUND OF SLIDING GLASS DOOR OPENED before Hunter enters, stops when he sees the lemonade.

HUNTER: Mind reader.

CHLOE: I reckon we oughta thought to pick up some sarsaparilla. 

Hunter smiles, aims his gaze at Tom, Chloe turns hers to Hunter.

HUNTER: Gut feeling at first sight?

CHLOE: Probably doesn't bite. So?

HUNTER: No siblings. Sister in Texas, parents deceased. Sister, Ruth, keeps a family tree on an ancestry site.

CHLOE: Really.

HUNTER: He and his wife are selling in Laramie and going in with Ruth on a house. in Kerrville.

CHLOE: Texas.

HUNTER: Texas.

CHLOE: We'll have to take a selfie.

HUNTER: Yes we will.

He takes the lemonades, leaves into dining room.

HUNTER (O.S.) Thanks for the lemonades.

CHLOE: Dad.

HUNTER (O.S.): Daughter.

CHLOE: He's here.

HUNTER (O.S.): He is.

We HEAR SLIDING GLASS DOOR CLOSED. Chloe watches Hunter take the lemonades to the patio. A brief exchange before Hunter raises hos glass to toast. Chloe is quick with her phone and captures Tom bringing his glass to Hunter's. They sit and converse. Suddenly both cross one leg over the other the same way and in synch as if choreographed, pausing their conversation. Chloe smiles.

scene 16

scene 15

EXT. CAFE PATIO - DAY  

Jan and John at a table with a view to train and tracks at Paso Robles Depot. SEVERAL OTHER PATRONS enjoying the same. John and Jan pick at the remaining items on their Tapas plates, both sip sparkling waters. FAINT MURMUR OF INSIDE ACTIVITY.       

JAN/JOHN: And we were worried about Brian. 

(They look at each other.)

JAN: And we were wrong. Weren't we?

JAN: We were. Gut feeling?  

(John ponders.)

JOHN: A good thing. I think. I hope.

JAN: He'll have a memory of Olivia to share with Chloe.

JOHN: And Hunter.

INSIDE ACTIVITY LOUDER AND LATIN JAZZ when a WAITER, 20-something, opens the door to lead a GROUP OF THREE to their table.   

JAN: Have you told Kate?

JOHN: Tomorrow, after Barb's talk with Chloe tells us more. 

JAN: I wonder how he found out about Hunter.

JOHN: A search of Olivia's name turning something up. My best guess. Probably one of Hunter's first questions. Besides his arrival coinciding with Chloe's, it's interesting, or maybe coincidence, that it also coincides with Foglost becoming a bestseller.

JAN: That crossed my mind. 

JOHN: Hunter might have a sibling.

JAN: As did that. Speaking of bestseller, I wonder if Tom Walker has read Honda Knot.

JOHN: I think I'll read it again.

The waiter comes to them?

WAITER: Can I interest y'all in dessert.

Jan and John look at each other, shake their heads.

JOHN: I reckon we're done.

John fishes two twenties from wallet, hands them to waiter.

JOHN (CONT.) That's you, thanks very much.

WAITER: Thank you, sir, very much.

JOHN: You'll have vacant table in a few minutes.

WAITER: Y'all take your time.

INSIDE ACTIVITY, LATIN JAZZ waiter opens door.

JAN: When did you start reckonin'?

JOHN: When I heard y'all, which I reckon we might hear more of someday. 

JAN: Have you ever set foot in a cowboy boot?

JOHN: Both feet into the Roy Rogers Santa left our first Christmas in Fort Wayne.

JAN: Had I not asked. Probably not a chance there's a picture Kate might have. 

JOHN: There's have been a very good chance if not for the fire in the garage our first summer in Arbor.

JAN: What fire?

JOHN: Long story.

JAN: For on the way home.

JOHN: Ready?

Jan nods, they stand, was down the last of their plates with the last of their waters, INSIDE NOISE, LATIN JAZZ, LAUGHTER when they open the door, MUFFLED when door closes.

 DEPOT CLERK'S VOICE THROUGH SPEAKERS: For Amtrak passengers waiting for the southbound Coast Starlight, your train is a little late out of Salinas, with an updated arrival time of four-twenty.  To repeat, the southbound Coast Starlight is scheduled to arrive at four-twenty. Amtrak appreciates your patience.  

scene 15

scene 14

INT. MASTER BEDROOM - DAY

Barbara and BRIAN, fit 50-ish, entwined in bed, sweaty and naked under sheet. Masculine decor, ceiling fan in slow spin, window to backyard featuring batting cage with pitching machine.      

BRIAN: So what can you tell me about Tom and Olivia?

BARBARA: What I remember Hunter telling me. The abridged basics then more on the way.

BRIAN: K.

BARBARA: They bumped into and spilled their drinks on each other at the slots at Harrah's in Reno.  Conversation ensued and concluded with her saying yes to his invitation for a drive around Lake Tahoe the next day.

BRIAN: What were they doing in Reno?

BARBARA: Olivia to see Elvis, Tom passing through on his way to Mexico from the end of job on a cattle ranch outside Paradise Valley, Nevada.

BRIAN: Cowboy?

BARBARA: From boots to straw Stetson.  

BRIAN: Are there pictures?

BARBARA: Two. Both selfies Olivia took of them with an instamatic she picked up in South Lake Tahoe after realizing at Emerald Bay she'd forgotten her camera. Chloe has the one of them on the beach at Zephyr Cove, Hunter has the other, Olivia at the wheel of Tom's rented Corvette parked at a turnout with s view to the Carson Valley. He's in the passenger seat. Not long after that was taken they stopped in Carson City to play slots at the Nugget. They ended up spending the night at the Pony Express Hotel. Breakfast the next morning at an I-HOP in Reno, he drops her off at her hotel, drives to the airport. No exchange of numbers or addresses. Olivia met friends who'd come to see Elvia, they did, flew home the next day. Two weeks later she learned she was pregnant. 

BRIAN: No birth control?

BARBARA: Olivia's diaphragm. 

BRIAN: How old were they?

BARBARA: Both twenty-six.

BRIAN: I wonder how he found out about Hunter. 

BARBARA: I'll learn that and more when Chloe calls tonight. We should probably go.

BRIAN: We should.

They leave bed and frame. 

BRIAN (0.S.) I bet Chloe will be very interested in his recollection of Olivia.

BARBARA (O.S.) Hanging on every word.

SOUND OF SHOWER STALL OPENED, CLOSED, SHOWER STARTED.

silly interlude 2: this timeout

 

.

scene 14 in progress

scene 13

EXT. EL PASO INT'L AIRPORT - SHORT-TERM PARKING LOT - DAY

Chloe totes backpack, Hunter rolls suitcase through the lot toward the Rover.

HUNTER: Are you upset that I presumed you'd be okay with him staying?

CHLOE: No. For one, I presume you'd have called and asked had I been able to get a call.

HUNTER: Of course.

CHLOE:  And you know I've expressed curiosity about him. There must be some level of instinctive trust for you to leave a stranger with a pickup truck alone in your house.  

HUNTER: I have his plates.

CHLOE: Do we know if you have any siblings?

HUNTER: I left it at exchanging numbers in case of emergency and saving questions for later. Other than how he found out.

CHLOE: That was my next question.

HUNTER: A search for gramma got him to her obituary and my name therein. Looked me up, found my date of birth, then found my Wiki page and through that the short stories and Honda Knot therein. Did the math, end quote. 

CHLOE: And I was nervous about meeting Jackie.

HUNTER: Well Jackie's nervous about meeting you.

CHLOE: Horse day still on?

HUNTER: Still on. She'll be by around ten.

Hunter KEY-CHIRPS the Rover, the tailgate opens. Chloe places backpack, Hunter the suitcase, closes tailgate.

INT. ROVER

Hunter gets in driver's seat, Chloe front passenger's, close their doors.

CHLOE: Dad?

HUNTER: Daughter?

CHLOE: You're taking it almost like you were expecting it.

HUNTER: Which of course I was not. Stupefied seems an apt description. 

CHLOE: In case you were running low on things to talk to Doc about.

Hunter smiles, Chloe winks. They buckle up, Hunter starts engine, backs out of frame. 

FAINT JET ENGINE TAKEOFF WHINE.

scene 13

scene 12

EXT. ROADSIDE PEACH STAND - DAY

RUTH, 70-something - tennis shoes, calf-high white socks, knee-length cargo shorts, Austin City Limits tee, visor, keys in hand - and Gil walk away from the SHOPPERS at the stand toward where a few vehicles, all with Texas plates, are parked in a dirt parking area. Each cradle a bag of peaches.

RUTH: Where y'all fishing?

GIL: Tom's call. 

RUTH: Boys along?

GIL: Yep. And Dale.

RUTH: How's he doing?

GIL: Comin' along. Saw him at the V-F-W yesterday. He found a biodegradable urn in the form of water lilies he's going to put some of her ashes in and set on the pond. Karen and the kids are there 'til school starts. Looking forward to seeing Tom. Sad to hear about Clem.

RUTH: I told Wanda to tell Daisy to think about moving down. 

GIL: Maybe a good idea.  

Ruth opens the hatch of a 2000-ish Volvo wagon, both place their peaches, Ruth's PHONE RINGTONES the Willie Nelson instrumental, Bandera. She gets phone from pocket.

RUTH: Howdy.

Fredericksburg peach stand with Gil. Where ae you?

(Her face expresses surprise, Gil notices.)

My goodness, Tommy. 

Alright. 

I'll be waiting.

I'll tell him.

Love you too.

(She pockets phone.)

GIL: Well?

RUTH: He called from Hunter's guest room. He's spending the night. Hunter just left for the airport in El Paso to pick up his daughter.

GIL: Híjole.

Ruth shuts the hatch.

INT. GUEST ROOM - DAY

Navajo rug on hardwood. O'Keeffe TBD above bed/headboard, Tom’s suitcase on bed aimed at wall-mounted TV.  Lampstand with drawers. His hat on rack near open door to hall, saloon-style doors to closet. Lamp, pen and pencil on pad of paper, guestbook, globe, etch-a-sketch on desk at window to patio/yard. Tom in swivel chair, taps phone, stares out window to patio/yard, stops tapping, opens guest book to where it is page-marked, takes a brief look at mostly illegible cursive writing in purple pen, dated June 11.

He closes book, stares out window, finally gets up, takes hat off rack, puts it on as he leaves into hall, BOOTS KNOCKING ON HARDWOOD FADE to SILENCE interrupted by FAINT CLOSING OF DOOR moments before Tom walks into frame made by desk window. He stops at the low stone wall, gets a cigarette he pulls from a pack he gets from shirt pocket, lights it with a lighter he gets from other shirt pocket, puffs, puts pack and lighter back in pockets, takes another puff, gaze toward the mountains.