Palomino Ch. 17

Lance seemed in a good mood as he chucked hay up onto the feed truck the following morning. He couldn't seem to stop smiling. Wesley just watched him rather curiously. Something had happened and it was something big. He came back with the keys for the truck, leaning against the back as the cache was being loaded. "What's got you in sucha perky mood, Lance?"

Lance glanced up for a moment, wondering what Wesley was talking about. Stilling his work for a moment, he thumbed his hat back and looked at his friend. "Huh? What cha talking bout? I'm jus doin my job ... ya know, work? That thing I'm paid for?" He grinned good-naturedly, his mood infectious as he resumed chucking hay up into the feed truck.

"Uh huh.. ya been smilin' like a Cheshire cat all mornin'." He opened up the truck and crawled in, throwing open the back windows as Lance settled and put the key in the ignition. Soon enough he drove out of the barn and around up the hill toward the upper pasture. "So... spill." He looked at his friend through the rear view mirror

Lance just kind of grinned as he half sat, half crouched in the back of the truck, hanging one elbow through the open window. Shrugging a bit, he hated to admit that his friend had been right but he couldn't exactly sit here and say nothing was up either. "I called Teresa last night."

Wesley just grinned. Lance had moved faster than he thought he would... but it was good for him. "...And?"

Lance just kind of shrugged and drummed his fingers along the seal of the open window, catching his friend's gaze in the rearview mirror. "And ... it was good." He sat there for a moment, glancing up over the cab of the truck towards the upcoming gate. "And ... we're gonna go to lunch on Friday." He hopped out of the truck as Wesley pulled to a stop and opened the gate, closing it after his friend pulled through and then hopped back up in the back and settled once again at the open window.

"So... in other words, ya need a couple days off work?" Wesley asked gently with a grin, peeking at him in the mirror.

Lance laughed and shook his head. "Hell, I doubt Teresa's gonna be THAT glad to see me ..." He rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand for a moment and then added with a chuckle, "But hell yeah, just in case, yeah ... I'll take 'em!"

Wesley just grinned as he parked the truck. Already the cows were ambling over for their breakfast. "Ya got 'em then, cowboy." Things had been pretty much mended between the two friends over the last couple of weeks. They'd worked it out in their normal way of just talking it out without really approaching the issues at hand.