A/N: Thanks all for bearing with me as I intermittently update these stories. I write what comes to mind; and lengthening truck beds is what is currently on my mind; because, well… we're driving to Salt Lake to get my husband's truck bed lengthened. And well, I'm really not looking forward to attempting to park the behemoth after it gains another two feet (well, one point five feet).

In other news; this probably would have gotten written a little sooner; but, I passed the PE exam and have been celebrating. Big Deal in my little life!

Thank you so much reading, reviewing, favoriting, alerting and all that stuff. I really appreciate it: afrozenheart412, jinx-tiger-13, jsmudge, Lindsay1234, LMooD7, madmush, Mackenzie L, Runner043, and of course to my Montana; because without you I wouldn't have anything to write about.

PE PE PE PE PE PE

"Hey ma. What's up?" Lindsey grabbed the phone off the kitchen counter where she'd been tying Lucy's shoes.

Danny walked into the room because he heard the phone ring and didn't want Lindsey to have to juggle Lucy, the phone, and whatever else she was doing.

"Huh, yeah." Lindsey had the phone smashed between her shoulder and ear and was trying to put Lucy's coat on. "What are we doing today? Not too much, we're not working and that good Farmer's Market is open." Danny counted, he could pretty much time Lindsey's conversations with her mother. "Yeah, the one I emailed you about. We're taking Lucy. I'm hoping to get some apples, and make applesauce, and applesauce cake."

Danny took Lucy from his wife and helped her with her coat, hat, and mitten things. The had had come from one Lindsey's many cousins. He swore up and down she was related to the entire state of Montana! Lindsey just laughed at these declarations, and said 'nah, just the western part of North Dakota.' It amazed him at how close Lindsey's family was; his family talked a few times a year – if that. Lindsey talked to hers every day or so over email and at least two or three times a week on the phone. The phone calls were usually with her mom; but, often other people called.

"Yeah; so is dad's truck going to be longer?"

"Uh, huh."

"Yeah. That cracks me up."

After a couple of minutes where Danny listened to the one sided conversation, watched Lindsey put on her coat, and gather their cloth shopping bags and a wire shopping cart (which she'd laughed at until she'd used his neighbor's once) she finally hung up and shook her head.

As he locked the door behind their little family Danny asked "What was that about?"

They walked out to the sidewalk; it was a beautiful fall morning. Kind of crisp; but, not too cold and Lindsey breathed in the air smelling the city on it. "Not much; ma and dad are driving down to Salt Lake tomorrow."

"Salt Lake City? Isn't that kind of far?" The whole Montana thing was still weird to him; even though he'd been out there a couple of times.

"Not that bad." They paused at a corner and waited for the light to change. Lucy was walking pretty well now; but, it was a lot easier to cross with traffic instead of running for it. A big change for Danny. "Four, five hundred miles or so. Depends on the route."

Danny's eyes got big. "Four or five hundred miles!" He did some mental calculations in his head. "That would put you in like… Ohio or something." He really couldn't grasp the idea of people willingly driving that far. "What are they going down there for?"

They started walking again. "Pop's going down to get the bed on his truck lengthened. And mom wants to see some friends from college. So they're leaving tomorrow with Meyer."

"Why're they taking the dog?" Danny knew who Meier was; he was the new puppy. "I figured he'd stay with one of your cousins or something. Don't they have Oscar?"

"Yeah, you'd think he'd be staying with the cousins; but, apparently he gets anxious when he isn't with mom or pop so they're taking him."

Danny switched his train of thought back to Lindsey's earlier comment. "Why's the truck getting lengthened? Isn't it already the size of an aircraft carrier?"

Lindsey looked at her husband; he was adorable – but, clueless about so many things. "It's a 2006 Dodge."

"Huh?" This drove him nuts when Linds would give him half the explanation. And expect him to just know and understand weird ass crap. "What's that got to do with anything?"

She shook her head; you'd think he'd know stuff like this. He worked in a lab and they worked with a lot of vehicles. "Pop's got a 2006 Dodge Mega-cab." She threw in "Diesel" as if that made any difference to Danny.

"So."

"The 2006 Mega-cab is built on the extended cab long bed frame; but, because the cab is longer they can only put a six foot bed on the truck. A six foot bed really limits what you can do with it." She thought for a second realizing that Danny really had no frame of reference. "Like when we went to Ikea and got that bookcase for the living room. That bookcase is eight feet tall; you can't lay it down in the bed of the truck. So you've gotta strap it down; with a longer bed you can just lay it down in the bed. No straps necessary."

Straps. That started Danny's mind going in directions. "Hmmm…" He waggled an eyebrow at Lindsey picking up Lucy who was starting to get a little tired.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Danny Messer!" She playfully smacked him on the shoulder.

"My mind in the gutter? Never." Danny said with a big grin splitting his face. They walked another half block or so. "How on earth would you park a truck that long?"

"Huh? Park it? Oh, it'll take up two spots. Right now it's about twenty-two twenty-three feet long 'cause Pop's got a cattle guard and winch on the front of it."

"Wench. Heh." Danny wagged his eyebrows at his wife again. "Will you be my wench?"

"Winch, silly. Winch." Lindsey rolled her eyes "That thing you use to get things like ohhh…" She paused to think for a minute "Logs out of coulees. Stuff like that." They crossed another street. "It won't be that longer; another foot and half."

Coulee, wench. Montana words. When Lindsey talked about Montana he could hear a little bit of her accent come out. It had some Scandinavian in it. You would really hear it in her mom's voice. "Coulee. Love that word." Danny chuckled a little as they reached the Farmer's market. Coulee what was wrong with saying gully, ditch, or valley. Some recognized word. Nope, Montanan's had to be special and have their own language. It was cute. "You're talking all Montana again."

Lindsey chose to ignore her husband; he could be such a child sometimes. It was one of the things she loved about him. "Probably the most important thing to dad is that his truck will be longer than Steve's." At Danny's blank look over Steve; she could see him going through family tree in his head; it was funny watching him do it. "He's not one of my cousin's; he's dad's hunting buddy. They both have black labs; you met him when we were out there last time. Remember?"

"Uh yeah sure." Danny nodded and watched as Lindsey made a beeline towards a stall with apples.

"Apples, I want apples. Plus we need stuff for dinner. Beth and her new boyfriend are coming over." She looked over at him; he had Lucy on his shoulders. It was so good to see him doing so well. And he was distracted by a booth selling fresh donuts and cider. Donuts of course, he was a cop.

"Yep, Linds. I heard you."

It was mornings like that Lindsey treasured. Mornings where there wasn't a huge hurry. Mornings where they could both play with Lucy. Life was wonderful!

E/N: Beth is an OC, I added her in the chapter on rosemaling. She's supposed to be the neighbor.