scene 18
INT. HUNTER'S KITCHEN - DAY
Hunter and Chloe at the center island, looking through window over sink to Tom where he was in the picture she sent Jan and John. Her backpack, bag of groceries, his keys on center island. Chloe pockets phone.
HUNTER: Who did you send it too?
CHLOE: Gramma. They're on their walk.
HUNTER: They might be a little concerned.
CHLOE: Gramps texted to get his middle name.
HUNTER: That's on my list of questions.
CHLOE: Belt buckle?
HUNTER: Linked turquoise horseshoes on silver.
CHLOE: Bet he's got a pair of spurs.
HUNTER: If not a horse.
Tom turns from the view, walks to patio, looks up, sees them.
HUNTER: Showtime.
He waves, leads Chloe to door to patio.
EXT. PATIO
Tom arrives at patio, Foglost on the table. He sets hat near it, watches Hunter and Chloe come out through the door and approach, Chloe slightly behind Hunter, a partial shield.
HUNTER: Hey there.
TOM: Howdy.
HUNTER: Sorry for the delay, there was an accident at the ten twenty-five split.
TOM: Ain't no delay. And I'm the one oughta be apologizin' for intrudin' like I am.
HUNTER: No worries. Did you take a look around?
TOM: Yessir. Ya got a real nice place.
HUNTER: Tom, I'd like to introduce you to my daughter Chloe.
CHLOE: Hello.
TOM: Hello, Chloe. Sorry to interrupt and intrude on your time with your dad.
CHLOE: It's okay.
TOM: If ya don't mind me askin', where did ya fly in from?
CHLOE: San Francisco, with a layover in Denver.
TOM: Alright.
HUNTER: Are you thirsty, Tom?
CHLOE: I'll make some lemonade. If you'll excuse me, Tom.
TOM: Yes ma'am. Thanks for excusin' me.
Hunter and Tom watch her return to the house and leave view in the kitchen.
HUNTER: She's a little shy.
TOM: Well, got every reason to be wary, me landin' as if from outer space. How old is she?
HUNTER: She'll be eighteen in November and a senior in high school in a few weeks. She lives with her mother in San Luis Obispo. What if I hadn't known who you are?
TOM: I'd'a been turned around and askin' for directions back to Drippin' Springs Road.
Through the window over the kitchen sink, we see Chloe arrive at the center island, attention aimed at Hunter and Tom.
HUNTER: So one day seven years ago you decided to look up my mom.
TOM: Mostly like that. I'd thought about her and wondered over the years, did go online a a couple times to see if I could find somethin', but I never did. When we found her obituary I knew why I couldn't find nothin'. Not that I couldn't a tried a little harder. Me not bein' the savviest with a computer and navigatin' the internet prob'ly didn't help. Anyway, way it come to be is, me and my wife was lookin' for a place to spend a week to celebrate us both retirin'.
HUNTER: From what, sorry to interrupt.
TOM: You just jump in anytime ya want. Wanda worked for the post office, I retired as what's called a ranch foreman, or manager.
HUNTER: Maybe more on that another time.
TOM: I'd be more'n happy to.
HUNTER: Vacation location.
TOM: Yessir. Wanda mentioned Tahoe, she'd never been and wanted to. Asked me if I'd ever been. Told her once, a long time ago. I didn't exactly volunteer a whole lotta details but she picked 'em outta me, knowin' of course that she was diggin' toward some sorta news she hadn't heard before. So I just told her everything I could remember about it, most of that bein' about your mother.
HUNTER: Whom she'd never heard of.
TOM: She had not. Wasn't like it was a secret. Just never came up. Anyway, we told my sister, who tends to our family tree on the ancestry website we used to find your mother's obituary.
HUNTER: They know you're here.
TOM: Yessir. And both of 'em more than a little surprised. Didn't have no plans other than ta take a picture. Then when I seen ya, when you seen me, I decided I'd be askin' for directions. Didn't want you to think I was some sorta stalker type.
HUNTER: How's the book?
TOM: Lovin' it. I'll finish it tomorrow night at my sister's. We've read everything ya've written. Wanda too. Including Honda Knot.
HUNTER: What did you think of that?
TOM: Plenty.
HUNTER: What's your sister's name and where in Texas is she?
TOM: Ruth. Two years younger. She's in Bandera, the town we grew up in.
HUNTER: Where are you planning on moving?
TOM: Kerrville, Half hour north.
HUNTER: I've been through.
TOM: We're gonna looky-loo a few open houses, get the ball rollin'. Wanda would be along but she stayed home to be with a friend whose husband recently passed.
HUNTER: Other siblings?
TOM: No sir. We had an older brother who drowned when he was thirteen. Colby.
HUNTER: Parents.
TOM: Next to each and Colby in the Bandera cemetery.
HUNTER: There are a lot of Tom Walkers in what constitutes the Texas hill country.
TOM: Yessir. Met two myself.
HUNTER: What's your middle name, Tom?
TOM: Travis. For my grandad on my mom's side. Travis Randall Meredith.
HUNTER: A branch on the family tree Ruth tends to?
TOM: Yessir. That side as far back as Travis's great grandparents. Dad's a little farther. Or higher on the tree I guess you could say. .
HUNTER: Tom, it seems maybe a little warm even in the shade to take lemonade outside. How about we take it inside and you introduce to me this tree.
TOM: We can do that.
Tom gets book, puts on hat, Hunter leads them to dining room, neither noticing Chloe retreat out of view. They enter dining room, leave view in kitchen.