"You got everything?" Bryce asked when Mitch stepped out of his truck at his ranch after running some errands in the town. The other guy's grin stretched from ear to ear as he put on his gloves and went to unload the cargo he had at the back.

"Yup. Now we just need to set them up", Mitch said. "Will you give me a hand?" he quickly tilted his head on the left, gesturing toward the tail.

"Sure", Bryce said, moving closer, his lap ready to carry whatever he could fit in. "This could be a beginning of a beautiful partnership", he joked, but at the same time being somewhat excited about what they were going to try. This was going to be an experiment based on the idea they had come up with last night while having this year's first barbecue.

Back then they had laughed it off at first, but the more they had thought about - and since it still had seemed like a pretty great idea this morning - the more they had wanted to go through with it.

"Alright... So, we have all the little stuff here. Fermenter, air lock, funnel, sanitizer, auto-siphon, stir spoons, ingredients...", Mitch said as he handed it to Bryce. "And then, of course, the brewing kettle", he grabbed that himself before closing the tailgate.

Bryce adjusted the box on his lap and looked at the different equipment and ingredients with a joyful sparkle in his eyes. "Next time we have a barbecue, we'll have our own beer."

"Hope not", Mitch laughed as they started moving towards the house. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves; this will take one to two months before we have any results. Surely we'll have plenty of barbecues before that."

"Okay, fair enough", Bryce replied, chuckling. "But I can't wait to try this. Brewing our own beer was a good idea. - You're not just using me for the space, are you? I'll get my share, right?" he joked.

"You know you can kick me out whenever you want", Mitch reminded. "That's what we agreed." He didn't want to stay anywhere he wasn't welcomed.

"I know. But, I gotta admit, you ain't half bad if you come up with these kind of ideas", Bryce figured. "And you help around the ranch and do a killer steak, so..."

"So it's a win-win for both of us then?" Mitch checked.

Bryce nodded. "Absolutely. Besides, nothing says a Bachelor Ranch quite like making your own beer."

"Maybe that's what we'll name our brand?" Mitch joked. "Bachelor Ranch Brewery."

Bryce laughed. "Not bad. Band of Brothers Brewery was going to be my pick."

"Oh, nice!" Mitch commented. "I like that, too."

He carried the brewing kettle into the room they had decided to use for the project in order to keep everything as isolated and clean as possible. It was at the back of Bryce's house, but close to Mitch's trailer, so they could always both check how the process was going without having anyone else go in and out.

Just as Mitch was about to put the kettle on the table, his phone rang.

As Bryce laid everything from the box to the table, ready to be sanitized, Mitch picked up his phone and glanced at the caller ID.

"Garland", he said, giving Bryce a look. "Wonder what he wants."

"Only one way to find out."

Mitch walked on the side to have the phone call. He felt nervous about getting a call from his meat buyer, especially because everything was still in a limbo with Jack and Tim, but also because he felt like he had let the guy down after turning down his last offer. Hopefully he wasn't about to drop them now because of that.

"Hey, Fred", Mitch said to the phone as casually as he could.

"Hey, Mitch. Is this a bad time?" Fred on the other end asked. That also didn't help him be more at ease, but Mitch figured whatever it was, he would just have to face it at some point. It was not like he hadn't suffered consequences for his actions lately and still lived through them, so if this was another one of those things, he would just have to come up with the next thing to do.

But, he was getting ahead of himself.

"No, it's fine. What is it?" Mitch tried to assure him.

"Well, it's about your business. I called Jack, just to check on everything with the upcoming summer season, but he informed me that he is no longer in business with you or Tim", Fred said. There was a brief pause that was long enough to give Mitch a little bit of anxiety. "I have to say I'm surprised no one has said anything about it to me."

"Oh, uh..." Mitch felt awkward. Jack and Tim weren't exactly the best people for handling things in a timely manner or in an orderly fashion, especially when it came to something they took so personally, so as someone who managed a lot of the paperwork side of their business, it was a balancing act for Mitch to keep everyone happy. "Yeah, about that. That's still kind of... open."

"Didn't sound like that to me", Garland explained. "He said he's retired and as far as he's concerned, the business is now yours and Tim's."

For Mitch, it was clear what Jack wanted to do, but for Tim, the issue was harder to grasp. The younger man had tried to talk some sense to his partner, but because Tim didn't want to do it, nothing had been finalized.

"Sorry about that. It's pretty recent thing, and we've tried to make it official with Tim, but you know how it is... Transfers like this never go as smoothly as you hope they would. But we'll got it under control, you have my word."

Mitch was trying to cover Tim's ass by showing him to Garland in a good light when really the hold-up and confusion was all his fault. But as far as partnerships went, he didn't want to throw his partner under the bus, no matter what was going on on a personal level.

"Okay, I get that, but if there are changes like this happening, I would like to be up to date", Garland pressed.

"Of course, absolutely", Mitch assured he had understood the message.

"Anyway..." Garland moved on. "Since it's just you and Tim then, I would like to invite you to for a business meeting tomorrow. How does 4 o'clock sound?"

Mitch's nervousness reached another level, but he tried his best not to show it. "Sounds good. Should I tell Tim or...?"

"Yeah, that'll save me a phone call", Garland said. Mitch could hear the sound of traffic behind his phone call and was reminded, once again, that Garland was a busy guy and he didn't want to waste his time more than they already had with him calling to Jack. "My assistant will send you the details. I'll see you then."

"See you", Mitch said before they ended the phone call.

He moved the cell phone from his ear and stared at it for a while. He felt he had been really close to screwing things up again, but was now given a second chance - and he wasn't about to blow it. If he was going to be in business with Tim, they would have to be on the same page.

And make the separation from Jack official.

Tim was mucking the stalls at his place when his phone rang. He put the cart aside and picked up, glancing over at Casey who was already spreading the bedding on the other, clean stall.

"Yeah?" was Tim's reply after picking up.

"Garland called", Mitch said through the line, and Tim realized he hadn't even checked the caller ID before picking up, but now hearing Mitch's voice and the name Garland quickly gave him an idea about who was calling.

"What'd he want?" Tim asked, taking a break from cleaning.

"He had called Jack and had been told - by him - that he is out. The cat's out of the bag, Tim", Mitch reviewed. "Besides, it's what Jack wants. I know it, you know it. You just have to accept it. - Look, I know you're struggling with this, but we can't go back now. If we don't go forward, I'm afraid Garland will drop us. I already had to sweet-talk a little so he wouldn't be too angry about us not keeping him in the loop."

Tim scoffed. "Well, you're the expert in that..." he said, buying himself more time.

"Tim", Mitch tried to not let his words get to him, so they wouldn't get sidetracked. "You gotta go to Jack, get those papers from him and get this over with. Garland wants to meet us tomorrow and it sounds like it's important. We have to take care of this business if we still want to have it."

"Yeah, yeah, fine, I'll do it", Tim promised grumpily. It wasn't just about him accepting the fact that Jack was ready to retire he was struggling with, but also the fact that Jack stepping out meant he was then alone in business with Mitch, and they were both holding the same share. That was probably the thing that annoyed him more than Jack's plans right now. "I'll call you later."

He didn't even give Mitch time to say anything else before he hung up.

Sighing, he looked around, watching as Casey was working. He had the plan B, but he didn't know how she would feel about it, especially because he had not been able to give her any time to mull it over like he had hoped.

But he was on a schedule here.

"Case...?" Tim said, stepping out of the stall.

"Did you finish already?" she asked, in a full on working mode. "That was fast."

"No. Not yet. I actually have to talk to you about something", Tim said, putting his phone away. "It's actually something I've been meaning to talk to you for a while now, but I just didn't know how, I guess."

Casey stopped what she was doing, waiting for what he was going to say. It's about time, she thought. She had to give it to Tim, he was improving. Slowly but surely, he was. The faith she had put into him was finally getting paid off.

"I'm listening", Casey said when Tim was taking his time.

"How would you feel about... getting into business with me?" Tim finally let it out. "In the beef business, I mean."

Casey stared at Tim for a long time, as if waiting for something more. He looked back at her, wondering what it was. After giving it few seconds, he thought he had figured it out.

"We could either be in the business with Mitch, which I'm not happy about, but just so we can get things moving. I know we're both busy with other things too", Tim continued, not wanting Casey to think this would take over her whole life. "Or we could buy him out."

"Are you serious...?" Casey asked.

Tim nodded. "Yeah, very serious."

"Really?" Casey said, walking closer. "That's all you have to say?"

"I don't-" Tim shook his head, "I don't know what you want me to say."

He was lost. What discussion were they having?

"How about you start with "I'm sorry"?" Casey suggested, looking Tim in the eye. "I'm sorry I clammed up and didn't talk to you and been acting like an ass these past few days? - Did any of that even cross your mind before you'd suggest us going into a partnership together?"

Tim opened his mouth, but was so caught off guard that he was almost speechless. "Well, I am sorry, of course, I just-"

"You seriously think I would be happy to be in a partnership with a person who doesn't even know how to be in a relationship?" Casey asked. "How do you even think that would work?"

"I guess I just figured it was forgotten already", Tim shrugged. "That we've moved on."

"No, it's not, and I haven't. I'm surprised you seem to have moved on and in doing so, decided we both were. - I'm glad you had that moment with your girls and I'm glad if you finally feel like you can talk to them about your father, but how do you think that makes me feel? You never discussed about him with me, not when I asked and not after Lou and Amy left the other day", Casey explained her side. "I moved in with you, because I figured our relationship was getting somewhere. I really thought we were building a future here together, but now I don't know what I was thinking. I know you've had it bad this year, that you went through a surgery, and none of that's your fault, I was happy to be by your side and help you - that's what I promised to do - but the least you could give me is an apology for treating me like I wasn't - or I am not - welcomed in your life."

"But you are", Tim insisted. "You are. So welcomed. You think I would've moved in with you if you weren't?" For him this was a big step to take and he didn't like how Casey couldn't see that.

"Then why don't I feel like it?" Casey said and felt her eyes water. "I don't want to beg for an apology, so I've given you time and space, but I can't just stay quiet anymore and not let you know how all of this has made me feel."

Tim sighed. He knew Casey was right, but at the same time he was scared to let her in because just when they had a good thing going on, he didn't want to remind her who he really was. How he had treated his own father all these years. Why would Casey want to be with someone like that? His girls... that was different. They already knew what a loser he had been, that was no news for them, and so it had been easier to talk to them than it was to talk to Casey.

"And don't think for a second I'll think you asking me into the partnership makes me feel like you're genuinely asking me to join you. I can see through you; you're only asking because it's convenient for you, just like I guess all of this", she said, gesturing around her, "seems to be. I'm happy to help you with whatever struggles you may have, but I also know my worth and won't be taken for granted."

Casey waited for Tim to say something, but it was like he was suddenly all out of words. They stared each other for a while, and while Tim was calmer now than when she had asked about his father, somehow it was almost worse that he didn't express any emotion as he looked at her back.

"I guess you can finish up in here", Casey said, storming out of the barn.