INT. HUNTER'S KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATER
The window over the sink frames Tom in a chair at the patio table, aimed at the mountains, hat on the table.
HUNTER (O.S.): Tom?
Hunter and Chloe enter from hall, find Tom, stare at him from behind the island.
CHLOE: Yee haw.
Tom turns his attention to the kitchen window as if he heard her.
HUNTER/CHLOE: Hmm.
Hunter goes to door, Chloe follows.
EXT. PATIO
Tom stands, watches Hunter and Chloe come through the door and approach, Chloe shyly behind Hunter.
HUNTER: Hey there.
TOM: Howdy.
HUNTER: Sorry we took so long, there was a crash at the ten twenty-five split.
TOM: I just been enjoyn' the view, and I'm the one oughta be apologizin' for intrudin' on y'all.
HUNTER: You wouldn't be here if I thought you were intruding.
TOM: Yessir.
HUNTER: Tom, this is my daughter Chloe. Chloe, meet mister Tom Walker.
Chloe steps forward, extends hand.
CHLOE: Good to meet you.
Tom extends his hand, they shake.
TOM: Good to meet you too. I'm sorry to be interruptin' your time with your dad.
CHLOE: No worries.
HUNTER: So Tom, do you mind if I ask what in Texas you're traveling to?
TOM: Y'all can ask me anything ya want. I'm on my way to my sister's house in a town called Comfort. Me and my wife and her are goin' in on a house in Kerrville. Just gettin' started with some looky-looin' at a couple open houses. Normally my wife would be along but she stayed back to be with a friend whose husband just passed.
HUNTER: What are their names?
TOM: Ruth's my sister, Wanda's my wife.
HUNTER: Other siblings?
TOM: No sir.
HUNTER: Do I have any?
TOM: Not that I'm aware of.
HUNTER: Your parents?
TOM: Deceased.
HUNTER: What's your middle name?
TOM: Travis.
HUNTER: For whom, if anyone?
TOM: My grandad on my mom's side. Travis Howard Buford. Ruth's got it all goin' back quite a ways on an ancestry website.
HUNTER: Really.
TOM: Yessir.
HUNTER: I'd love the link.
TOM: I can send it to you.
HUNTER: Ruth and Wanda know you're here.
TOM: Yessir. Both pretty surprised. So am I. Plan was to just take a picture of your house. But when ya seen me...well...I didn't wantcha to think ya had a stalker or somethin' like that.
HUNTER: How did you find out about me?
TOM: Found your mother's obituary online.
HUNTER: When?
TOM: Couple months after she passed. Me and Wanda were talkin' about where to go for our tenth anniversary. She suggested Lake Tahoe and asked if I'd ever been. Told her I had and to be honest woulda been fine with keepin' it at that. Ain't like she twisted my arm but her curiosity about the specifics introduced your mother. I told her everything I could remember. We went online and there it was. Looked you up, found your Wiki page, seen your date a birth. Did the math.
HUNTER: The math.
TOM: Carson City?
Hunter nods.
TOM (CONT.): I wrote a letter to ya care of your publisher.
HUNTER: I never got it.
TOM: Never sent it. Didn't know what your mother mighta said about me, if anything.
HUNTER: Tom Walker, cowboy from Texas on his way to Mexico. Taught her to two-step and how to tie a Honda knot.
TOM: Yessir. And your short stories had just been published. Didn't wanna seem like I was comin' outta the woodwork lookin' for somethin'. And I didn't know whether or not there was or had been someone like a father in your life. Figured there was a good chance I'd just be gettin' in the way. And yet...sometimes it seemed like somethin' you oughta know.
HUNTER: What became of this letter?
TOM: It's in a file at home. And I have a copy on my laptop.
HUNTER: Why don't we go inside lout of the heat for some lemonade and further introductions?
Tom nods. Chloe leads the way back to the house. Tom gets his hat, follows Hunter following Chloe, who opens the door for both to enter and walk out of view. She closes door, does same.
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