INT. ROVER - DAY
Hunter driving northeast on Hwy. 70 nearing White Sands National Monument.
TOM: When's the last time you were on a horse?
CHLOE: Does a mule count?
TOM: Yes ma'am.
CHLOE: Then three years ago at the Grand Canyon. Before that the pony ride at the county fair when I was seven.
HUNTER: When were you last on a horse, Tom?
TOM: May. We got friends with horses near Sheridan.
CHLOE: Wanda rides?
TOM: She does. Ran barrels back in her day, if ya know what that is.
Chloe nods.
CHLOE: Did you do rodeo?
TOM: When I was a kid.
CHLOE: What event or events?
TOM: Tie-down ropin'.
CHLOE: That's the one the calves like so much.
Tom smiles.
TOM: I wouldn't say it's their favorite thing.
CHLOE: I'm guessing that would be being branded.
Tom chuckles. Chloe's eyes meet Hunter's in the rear-view mirror. She winks.
TOM: My experience indicates otherwise.
CHLOE: Did you do any pro tie-down ropin'?
TOM: That was the plan. Uncle Sam had a different one..
CHLOE: Vietnam?
TOM: Yes ma'am.
CHLOE: Drafted?
TOM: I was.
CHLOE: Army?
TOM: Yes ma'am. When's the last time you were on a horse, Hunter?
HUNTER: The same mule ride. And horseback with my grandfather on Catalina Island when I was eleven.
TOM: I been there.
HUNTER/CHLOE: Really?
TOM: Yessir. Not long after I came home from Vietnam I went to L-A with a friend to do some wranglin' on a movie set in Simi Valley.
CHLOE: What movie?
TOM: It was called Palomino Pat Rides Again.
HUNTER: I don't know that one.
TOM: Didn't get finished. Ran outta money. But not before we had a good day in Avalon.
CHLOE: What did you do?
TOM: We drank.
CHLOE: Do you drink now?
TOM: Me and Wanda will split a beer and watch Fourth a July fireworks and a glass of wine with supper when we're at Ruth's. Wanda and I met at an A-A meeting, married a year to the day later.
CHLOE: How long have you been married?
TOM: It'll be twenty-five years October eleven.
CHLOE: Plans?
TOM: We're goin' to Hawaii.
CHLOE: Cool. Which island?
TOM: Oahu.
CHLOE: Have you been?
TOM: No. First time for both of us.
CHLOE: Had either of you been married before?
TOM: No for me, yes for Wanda.
White sand dunes come ino view.
CHLOE: Does she have kids from that marriage? If you don't mind me asking.
TOM: Y'all can ask me anything. Wanda had a son who drowned when he was twelve. She and the boy's father divorced a couple years later. He had passed before Wanda and I met. There's your white sand dunes.
HUNTER: I thought we'd stop in on the way back for sunset.
CHLOE: Yay.
JACKIE So Tom, my cousin's girlfriend is bringing along her movie camera so I hope you're not camera shy and are okay with what she shoots being posted to her blog.
TOM: Fine with me so long as I link to show my wife and sister, who are both hopin' for pictures.
Chloe is quick with her phone to take a selfie that includes Tom. She readies phone to add a contact, hands phone to Tom.
CHLOE: Would you mind being a contact?
Tom shakes head.
TOM: I would not mind.
He adds his number, hands phone to Chloe.
CHLOE: The three-oh-seven.
TOM: The whole state.
Chloe sends the selfie. Tom picks up when his PHONE RINGS. He smiles at the picture, then at Chloe.
TOM: Maybe we can get a coupler more a these before the day's over.
Chloe nods. Tom forwards the selfie to Wanda and Ruth, pockets phone.
TOM (CONT.) Wish I could see their faces.