Wrong Impression

Kirk came back to grab his bag and keys, and slipped his wallet in his back pocket. "Tell them if they don't get that hot water fixed soon, an FBI agent is gonna show up at their door." 

He grinned and tossed Adison a wink. "Stay as long as you need." Opening the front door, he paused to glance over his shoulder. "Oh - I gotta do laundry, but there should be a clean towel in the hall cupboard. Help yourself to whatever." 

Stepping outside, movement caught the corner of his eye and he realized an elderly woman was peeking out her own front door. Her scowl was enough to kill someone. Kirk just grinned. "Good morning, Mrs. Trindelmire." 

She peered over her glasses and shook her head at him. "You ought to know better, young man," she reprimanded. "Disgraceful."

"But Mrs..." Kirk let his sentence trail off as she disappeared and slammed her door shut. Laughing and rolling his eyes, he just continued his route to his car. She was a dear woman...who had a very wrong impression about his relationship with Adison. He admired her conservative nature, but if she'd turn up her hearing aid, he might be able to get through to her that even if Adison spent the night, there was nothing else going on. 

Once in his car, he slipped on his sunglasses and turned up the radio. This day...was going to be interesting. He honked the horn as he pulled away, knowing Adison would hear it. And it made him smile. 


Laura thought for several long moments and gave Nate a leery glance. Would it really be okay to leave Maggie in here? What if she startled Garret? What if he reacted like he had with herself? Would Maggie be able to recover from something like that? But last night, she'd seemed okay with him. And he wasn't fighting them this morning - he was too out of it. 

She looked back at Garret with sympathy in her eyes. Nate trusted him enough to have him in their home. She needed to afford him the same. So she would. If anything happened...they'd deal with it. If Nate thought there was any chance at all that Maggie would get hurt, he wouldn't have even considered this an option. 

She finally nodded. "It's okay with me." Her eyes went to Maggie next. "When the cloth isn't cold anymore, take it off and put it in the ice water. Take one that's already in the water and wring it out, and put it back on him. That's all you have to do, okay?" She smiled. "And if you need any help at all, or you think Garret needs help, just holler." 

Hearing his name, Garret managed to partially open one eye. What exactly was going on? He couldn't remember ever feeling quite so hot. But whatever they were doing to help sure felt good. He thought he said, "Thank you," but when Laura chuckled, he gave up. 

Laura put a hand to her mouth - she couldn't help it that she thought it was funny. "He's not speaking English right now," she explained to Maggie. Maybe...that was a good thing. They might not want to know what he was saying in his state of mind anyway.


"I...would love to help with chores," Travis agreed. "That is...if I can." He glanced to his wrapped arm - and didn't mention his ribs. "I could probably help with some feeding at least." He liked horses a lot and always loved helping his dad whenever he spent time with him at the cattle ranch. This would be fun. 

Walking back with Ashlee, he followed her lead to where she and her mom lived, and stopped at the bottom of the porch steps. Turning to her, he smiled. "Thanks. My day was kinda crappy so this was nice. I'll, um...see you in the morning then?"


A couple bunks down, Dylan sat stretched out over the top step of his own porch. He'd seen the two walk by and had seemingly gone completely unnoticed. Where had they been anyway? Not that it was any of his business, but he found it a little interesting that Ashlee seemed so drawn to the newcomer. Travis seemed alright enough, but what was so intriguing about him? He shrugged it off. Ashlee was nice to everyone.