EXT. HUNTER'S PATIO - DAY
Hunter introductions. Chloe soon excuses herself to start the vegetarian casserole.
WITH HUNTER AND TOM, PATIO SHADE.
HUNTER: She's shy by nature, and nervous.
TOM: Makes two of us.
HUNTER: Three. She's also curious.
Chloe enters dining room.
TOM: Well. I'll tell ya that I'll answer any questions y'all got. Mem'ry ain't what it used to be but my brief time with your mother's clear as the lake.
HUNTER: A recollection over dinner would go well.
Tom nods.
TOM: Mind if I ask if she's visitin' or comin' home?
HUNTER: Visiting. She lives with her mother in San Luis Obispo.
TOM: High school.
HUNTER: Starts senior year in a few weeks.
TOM: Prob'ly don't need me to tell ya she takes after her mother.
HUNTER: Not to make me aware of it. I'm confident she wouldn't mind hearing that.
TOM: Yessir.
HUNTER: Hunter. If you don't mind.
TOM: Yessir. Hunter.
HUNTER: When did you do the search that led to my mother's obituary?
TOM: Ten years ago last month. Found it in a newspaper archive. Orange County Register.
HUNTER: What prompted the search?
TOM: Me and my wife was talkin' about takin' a trip and Lake Tahoe come up. She asked if I'd been. She had not. Asked if I'd been and I told her had. That led to me tellin' her about me and your mother. That led to us lookin' her up. I wrote ya a letter, care of your publisher.
HUNTER: I never got it.
TOM: Never sent it. I didn't know what all your mom mighta told ya. If anything.
HUNTER: Tom Walker from Texas. Cowboy on his way to Mexico to meet a friend. Good dancer and a gentleman. From where in Texas?
TOM: Me and Ruthie grew up in a town called Bandera.
HUNTER: What's your middle name, Tom?
TOM: Travis.
HUNTER: For whom or what?
TOM: My grandad on my mom's side. Travis Buford. Travis Sawyer Buford. My sister keeps up the family tree on one a them ancestry sites.
HUNTER: Is that so.
TOM: Yessir. Yes, Hunter.
HUNTER: What's your sister's name and where is she?
TOM: Ruth. She's lives in Ingram, Texas. That's where I'm headed.
HUNTER: Is she alright and your only sibling?
TOM: Yes to both. Me and my wife and Ruthie are goin' in on a house in Kerrville, if you're familiar with the area.
HUNTER: Hill country.
TOM: You been?
HUNTER: I'm down once a year to see a good friend in Wimberley.
TOM: Alright. Anyway, a recent decision. We're just gonna drive around, maybe drop in on a couple open houses.
HUNTER: Other siblings?
TOM: No sir. It was just us.
HUNTER: Are your parents living?
TOM: No.
HUNTER: Do I have siblings?
TOM: Not that I know of.
HUNTER: Your wife.
TOM: Wanda. She'd be along but stayed home to be with a friend whose husband just passed.
HUNTER: How long have you been married?
TOM: It'll be twenty-five years the second a November.
HUNTER: Previous marriage or marriages?
TOM: No sir.
HUNTER: Wanda and Ruth know you're here?
TOM: They do. Both hopin' I can get a picture to send.
HUNTER: We"ll take a few. What if I hadn't known who you are?
TOM: I'da been turned around and askin' for directions to Drippin' Springs Road.
HUNTER: Every phone has a G-P-S feature, if not your truck.
TOM: I'd a lost it.
HUNTER: I'm all out of Sarsaparilla, would you be okay with a lemonade?
Tom smiles slightly.
TOM: I'd be more than okay, thank you.
HUNTER: B-R-B.
TOM: B-R-H.
Hunter walks to house.
INT. KITCHEN
Chloe at center island casserole prep, looks past Hunter to Tom.
SOUND OF OPEN AND CLOSED SLIDING GLASS DOOR before Hunter enters.