EXT. HUNTER'S HOUSE - DAY
Tom's truck in the driveway. Cover of recycling bin is open. Hunter's Rover nears from the direction Tom had come. The garage door opens, Hunter arrives at the driveway.
INT. ROVER
Hunter pulls into the driveway, Chloe stares at the truck. Hunter turns off the engine, they unbuckle, the garage door closes.
HUNTER: Ready?
Chloe shakes her head.
CHLOE: What's your first question after how he found out?
HUNTER: Siblings.
Chloe nods. They open their doors.
INT. HUNTER'S KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATER
Tom, hat on, sitting at the patio, aimed at the mountains. We HEAR A DOOR OPENED AND CLOSED.
HUNTER (O.S.) Tom?
Hunter and Chloe enter, see Tom, stare.
CHLOE: You weren't kidding about cowboy. Buckle?
HUNTER: Silver with a turquoise horseshoe.
Chloe gets phone from pocket, aims camera at Tom, takes a picture. Tom turns to them as if he heard the quiet click, puts his hat on, stands, waves. Hunter waves back.
HUNTER (CONT.) Here we go.
He leads Chloe to the door.
EXT. PATIO
Tom watches them come out the house and approach, Chloe somewhat behind Hunter.
HUNTER: Hey there.
TOM: Howdy.
HUNTER: Sorry it took so long, there was an accident at the ten twenty-five split.
TOM: That's alright, I just been sittin' and enjoyin' the view. And I'm the one oughta be apologizin'.
HUNTER: No need. Tom, I'd like you to meet my daughter Chloe. Chloe, Tom Walker.
CHLOE: Hello.
HUNTER: Hi, Chloe. Sorry to interrupt your time with your dad.
CHLOE: No worries.
HUNTER: So Tom, Chloe's a vegetarian and dinner tonight is her casserole special.
CHLOE: If that's okay with you.
TOM: Well Chloe, peanut butter'n jelly'd be okay with me, thank y'all very much. Me and Wanda been eatin' less meat for awhile now and noticin' change for the better.
CHLOE: Cool.
HUNTER: Wanda your wife.
TOM: Yessir.
CHLOE: I'll get started on it, if you'll excuse me, Tom.
TOM: Yes ma'am.
Chloe looks to Hunter, who nods. Chloe goes into the kitchen, out of view.
HUNTER: She's a little shy.
TOM: How old is Chloe?
HUNTER: She'll be seventeen in March. She starts her junior year in a few weeks. She lives her mother in San Luis Obispo. How did you find out about me, Tom?
TOM: I was in a bookstore in Cheyenne taggin' along with my wife doin' some Christmas shoppin'. Seen Water Feature on a table a books just out in paperback. Was the cover that caught my eye, the trickle a water in the arroyo. I reckon ya know what the cover looks like. Anyway, that drew my eye to your name, Hardyn, and that me to thinkin' to see what I might be able to find out about your mother. Found her obituary in a Orange County Register archive. Seen she was survived ber son Hunter.
HUNTER: Did Wanda know about her?
TOM: Not til then. She keeps a family tree on one a them ancestry sites. Bein' curious, she did a search and found the tree Chloe keeps. Seen your date a birth. Did the math. I wrote a letter to you care of your publisher.
HUNTER: I never got it.
TOM: Never sent it. I didn't know what your mother mighta said, if anything.
HUNTER: Tom Walker, cowboy from the Texas Hill Country. On his way from ranch hand work in Grass Valley to meet a friend in Mexico for a fishing vacation.
TOM: Yessir.
HUNTER: Where in the hill country?
TOM: Me and my sister grew up in a town called Bandera.
Chloe appears at the center island in the window over the sink.
HUNTER: What's your sister's name?
TOM: Ruth. She lives in Kerrville.
HUNTER: Are your parents living?
TOM: No sir.
HUNTER: Do I have siblings?
TOM: No sir. Not that I know of anyway.
HUNTER: How long have you and Wanda been married?
TOM: It'll be twenty-five years the first a November.
HUNTER: Prior marriage or marriages?
TOM: No sir.
HUNTER: There were and still are a lot of Tom Walkers in Texas.
TOM: I've meet two others myself.
HUNTER: What's your middle name, Tom, if you don't mind me asking?
TOM: You can ask me anything ya want. Middle name's Travis.
HUNTER: For whom, if anyone.
TOM: My grandad. My mom's father.
HUNTER: Where in Texas is Ruth
TOM: Kerrville. Her, me and Wanda are goin' in on a house and just beginnin' the lookin' around. Normally Wanda's be along but she stayed back help a friend with some medical appointments.
HUNTER: They know you're here.
TOM: They do. And both mighty surprised.
HUNTER (CONT.) Water or lemonade?
TOM: I'll take a lemonade if it ain't too much trouble.
HUNTER: It ain't. B-R-B.
TOM: Pardon?
HUNTER: Be right back.
TOM: Oh. Right. B-R-H.
Hunter nods.
TOM (CONT.) What's your middle name, if ya don't mind me askin'.
HUNTER: Carson. For the city in Nevada.
Tom nods, Hunter walks to the house. Tom sits at the table.
INT. KITCHEN
Chloe at center island with casserole ingredients keeps her gaze on Tom as Hunter enters.
CHLOE: Well?
HUNTER: Saw Water Feature in a bookstore. Hardyn got him to look her up. Found her obituary and your ancestry page.
CHLOE: Really.
HUNTER: No siblings that he knows about. Middle name Travis.
He gets two glasses from cupboard, adds ice from dispenser, then lemonade from a pitcher in the refrigerator. He stands next to Chloe, looking at Tom.
CHLOE: He has kind eyes.
HUINTER: Yessirs and no sirs.
CHLOE: His hands have seen work.
HUNTER: Yep..Call mom?
CHLOE: Sent a picture. I'll catch her up tonight.
