Lou walked to the kitchen with heated rollers in her hair to grab a cup of coffee. She needed all the energy she could get to face her nemesis, Mary Jane Sutka, tonight at her high school reunion, and this cup of java would help her with it.
Maybe MJ coming back to Hudson was why she was so early with getting ready too as she wanted to look absolutely fabulous and as successful as she could when Mary Jane would arrive to the Maggie's, the venue they were now stuck with when the plan with Dude Ranch had not worked out.
Lou had thought a black dress would signal confidence and ambition, but then eventually she had settled on a white dress because nothing said confidence like wearing a white clothing in a diner full of possibilities to get it stained.
"Can you believe Tim?" Mitch's angry voice reached out from the porch just before he and Jack entered the house. "Changing his mind like that. I swear he enjoys this, pushing and pulling me back! Should've just gotten him to sign when I had the chance."
"Yeah, I agree with you there", Jack said calmly as he put his hat to one of the racks in the mudroom. "Can't say I'm surprised, though. This is classic Tim."
"I made a reasonable offer. Not my fault that he decided to give up his share as well", Mitch continued, and Lou couldn't help but start eavesdropping as she sipped her coffee. "I mean, I realize that him just giving his share was too good to be true, but I wasn't going to question it, especially because he was so eager to give it all up."
"Well, you don't have to worry, I'm sure we'll figure something out. Maybe I'm able to sweet talk him a little," Jack said, walking inside. "Hey. Any coffee left?" he asked Lou when he saw her.
"Yeah," Lou said, nodding and counting two and two together, "Did Dad do something stupid?"
"Stupid is an underestimate..." Mitch said from the doorway, taking off his working gloves, "He backed out from my offer. Now he wants to negotiate."
Lou frowned, glancing at Jack, simultaneously wondering what had gotten into Tim and was it what she assumed it to be, "What? I thought it was a done deal already?"
"So did I..." Mitch scoffed, "Apparently not."
"He'll be coming here later, and we'll figure it out", Jack informed Lou and assured Mitch at the same time.
He didn't want to speculate too much why Tim had made such a rash decision all of a sudden, because his decision to give up his share - and a lot of other things - had been rash too. Maybe when Tim would come around, he could try to find out the reason, not that he was too optimistic about him getting an inside look into Tim's brain just like that...
"I could talk to him," Lou suggested, "He could listen to me." Lou knew she had a special bond with Tim and she was sometimes able to change his mind about things. If she could help both Jack and Mitch, she wanted to do it.
"It's okay, Lou, I don't want you to get involved," Mitch said, appreciating Lou's offer, but at the same time feeling like maybe it wasn't a good idea to get involved with her because every time he did, something always came crashing down, "Thanks, though."
"Are you going to that reunion of yours?" Jack asked as he placed back the coffee pot and brought the cup to his mouth.
"Yeah, I'm early, though. It's still few hours away," she replied, glancing at the clock nervously and then taking a sip of coffee before she placed the cup aside so she could get back to finishing her make-up.
"That rival of yours still coming?" Jack was curious.
"Oh, unfortunately, yes," Lou said, rolling her eyes. "The party don't start till Mary Jane Sutka walks in..."
"Did you say Sutka...?" Mitch checked, leaning against the frame now.
Lou nodded. "Yeah, why?"
"She doesn't happen to have a brother, does he?"
The more Mitch asked questions, the more intrigued Lou got. "Yeah, a few years older than me. I think his name was something like... Will? Wade? It started with W."
"Wesley," Mitch answered. "Wesley Sutka, right?"
Lou's mouth started to form a sentence out of confusion, but she was almost too astonished to say anything. "How-"
"Served the same time Zach and I did - was real pain in the ass," Mitch explained. "There was no end to his practical jokes."
Jack chuckled at the irony, "Sounds like you've both been blessed to have met a member from the Sutka family..."
"Huh... What are the odds," Lou commented and thought how some people shouldn't have been able to breed as it seemed like they only gave birth to gremlins, "Anyway, I better get back to getting ready. Good luck with dad."
"Gonna need it," Jack said and watched as Lou went to the ranch house bathroom. He then looked at Mitch who was lost in thought.
As he sipped his coffee, Jack was wondering how he would reason with Tim, because it seemed like his old ex-son-in-law was back to his old self and when he acted like this, there wasn't really reasoning with him. Not to mention, it was hard to keep up with him altogether.
"Listen, Mitch... I'm not feeling very well. Do you think we could postpone the meeting with Tim?" he asked, because he needed more time to figure out what was going on with Tim and he didn't want to do it in front of Mitch as he had promised to leave telling about his situation to Tim himself, and Mitch was probably the last person he wanted to know about his diagnosis.
"Yeah, of course. I mean, I've waited long enough, what's another day, eh?" Mitch said, not wanting this to weigh on Jack.
If it wasn't for the older cowboy, he probably wouldn't have agreed and would have demanded Tim to come to the ranch right now because he was done playing games. But he could remember Lou telling him about Jack's weak heart and if it this situation with Tim was adding unnecessary stress on Jack, he didn't want to keep pushing him. Unlucky for Jack, he was caught in the middle of this mess even though he only wanted to help.
"I'll promise we'll try again tomorrow," Jack said with an assuring smile.
"Yeah, no worries," Mitch replied. "Hey, mind if I use your bathroom?"
"Go ahead. Lou's over there, but I'm sure she can excuse herself for a while."
Mitch nodded and headed to the bathroom. Inside, Lou was adding eyeliner and making sure the make-up looked even on both sides. Even though Mitch wasn't sure how to really feel about the woman after the day they had had, he could still appreciate the beauty of her.
"You look nice," Mitch commented and made Lou turn her head.
"Thanks." She smiled and felt like she should say something. "Sorry about the earlier. It was weird, I know. I guess I just get kind of crazy whenever Mary Jane Sutka is somehow involved. Some people just know how to push your buttons, you know."
"Yeah, know what you mean. Your dad is one of them," Mitch added, getting a look from Lou. "No offence."
"None taken. I know he is. He can drive me crazy sometimes too," Lou admitted. "But hey, if things come to that, I can always forge my dad's signature to your papers. Wouldn't be the first time," she added, jokingly, making Mitch laugh.
"Pretty sure that's illegal, but I'll keep that in mind," Mitch replied, grinning a little. "Listen... Do you still need that plus one?"
Lou looked at him, surprised.
"Uh, I guess, but I've kind of accepted that I'm going alone, so..."
Neither Marnie or Scott were coming, as far she knew, and no matter how much she really wanted to do it right now, she could not bail out anymore as she had organized the reunion for the most part and didn't want to give Mary Jane the pleasure of not going. She just had to work twice as hard to convince MJ that she too had had some success even though the situation wasn't ideal in any way.
"Well, my plans just fell through," Mitch explained. "I could come, if you want."
"Really...?"
Mitch shrugged. "Yeah, I mean, if you want."
"But... earlier you said-"
"That was before I knew you were going to face the sister of my old nemesis, who sounds just as charming as her brother," he offered an explanation. "And before your dad pissed me off. I guess I need the distraction."
Lou thought about it for a while. The offer was tempting, but she didn't want to make Mitch feel uncomfortable. His words from before still haunted her. "It's okay. I don't need you to play my husband; I've kind of come to accept the fact that I'll just go there as a divorcee..."
"Husband, boyfriend, lover, escort, I don't care at this point," Mitch listed, "as long as we won't allow that Mary Jane Sutka person walk in and to think she owns this town."
Lou smiled a little. "I, uh, didn't realize you were such a vengeful person."
"Well, let's just say that her brother peed in my shoes way too many times and turned me into one of those vengeful people," Mitch said, making Lou giggle a little and then instantly feeling bad about it.
"I mean, sorry... That's awful."
She tried to keep a straight face, but even Mitch thought it was hilarious at this point, especially since he knew they were given a chance for a revenge.
"So... what do you say?" Mitch asked.
Lou gave it a thought. "Okay. But you need to get changed."
"Good thing we still have time!" Mitch commented. "Because I need a shower too. I smell like cows. If you were worried about the smell of a gym, you probably wouldn't appreciate the smell of maneuver either!"