At first I didn't know why Ann was dragging me out of Jack's house. Pulling me along, she, or should I say, we, broke out into a run. Finally we stopped when we reached the crossroads.

"What's the deal?" I asked.

"Don't you see?" she asked, like I was the stupidest person in the world. "Karen…and…Jack…make such a perfect couple!" she finished with a squeal.

I nearly fell over. "So all this is, is some big setup?" I asked, amazed at her craftiness.

She shook her head. "No, we could really use Jack's help." She started. She then proceeded to confide in me her worries about Karen.

I listened intently, and when all was said and done, thoroughly agreed with her. "The missing piece of the puzzle," I mused, quoting her. "You just might be right…but you have other reasons, don't you?"

She reddened slightly. "Just like you to ask," she laughed nervously. "I was also hoping to uhh, 'drop' Jack so you might say, this would be beneficial to me too…"

Our talking was cut short, because Karen breezily brushed by us, shooting dart looks at Ann.

When Karen was out of sight, I turned questionably to Ann. "Looks like your perfect plan has it's flaws," I commented.

Ann sighed. "I wonder what went wrong…"

She didn't have much time to wonder, because Jack came walking out. I thought he was chasing Karen, for a moment, but he looked around, and saw us, and immediately headed over.

"Hey, you guys are just who I was hoping to bump into!" he said, cheerfully.

It was now Ann's turn to look confused, at me. If he and Karen got into an argument, or something, wouldn't he be upset or something?

"I just got done inviting Miss Karen to dinner. We were hoping you'd come, too?"

Ann shrugged. So it appeared Karen was just angry at Ann for dumping her there. "I'd love to," Jack, Ann began sweetly. She then looked at me hastily, hinting she didn't have a good enough excuse to refuse him.

"-But we're going out to dinner ourselves," I finished for her. I looked at Jack, expecting him to be angry, at least a little, but he just grinned slaphappily.

"Heh, heh, I see," and he winked at us, causing Ann to blush, and me to stammer. "I'll see you two later then," he said, still grinning. I had no idea what he was so happy about, but if he didn't wipe that grin off his face, I would die of embarrassment.

Turning around, he walked back to his Ranch without so much as casting a glance back towards us. I looked at Ann, but she was clearly as confused as I was.

"About that dinner…" I began, nervously. "Would you join me for an evening meal?"

Ann faltered. "Sure," she finally said, shyly. It was my turn to grin. "But I really better get to work now, or dad might not let me go,"

I nodded, and we said goodbye. Spontaneously, I leaned over, and gave her a quick hug. For some reason, I was treating out friendship, and our quite possibly romance, lighter, and less dramatically, then normal.

I turned on my heels with a determined look on my face. Time to find out what Jack was really up to…

Luckily, he hadn't gone inside yet. He was sitting on his porch, tuning a black guitar with red and silver flames, and wispy smoke.

"What's the deal?" I asked, for the second time in less than fifteen minutes. He looked up, not really surprised to see me.

"I really was just inviting you two to dinner along with Miss Karen as sort of a peace offering," he said innocently.

"Peace offering?" I repeated, confused.

"I…I stopped with the Ann deal," he told me. "I still love her," he admitted. "I always will, but…just not in that way…" he trailed off.

"I…I see," I said, thinking. My face hardened. "You…you're not just saying this because you might have a slight crush on my cousin, are you?" I asked, with narrowed eyes.

He shook his head. "I do like your cousin a little, but still not enough in that way for me to come forward with it. And no, I'm not just dropping Ann, and moving on to something 'better'. I just think…that…you and her would do better as a couple,"

My jaw dropped open. "Me, and…Ann?" I squeaked, pretending it was preposterous, even though I had just asked Ann to dinner, and hugged her, a little while ago.

Jack looked worried suddenly. "You don't think…that Karen will think I'm lying, do you?" he asked, anxiously.

"She might think it suspicious," I admitted. "I can write you a formal declination though," I grinned. Jack smirked, thinking I was joking.

But I actually pulled out a small pad of paper, and a charcoaled pencil, and scribbled, 'I, and Miss Ann Green will be unable to attend the so generously offered dinner, as we are going out for one of our own. In regret of our unavailability, we'd like to offer to take you all out at a later time. Cliff'

I handed it to Jack with a wide smile. Taking it into one gloved hand, his eyes scanned it, reading. "You sure got a way with words, Cliffie," he laughed. "Never expected an old wanderer like you to have such talents," he joked.

I smiled back. "I try!" I called over my shoulder, leaving, then heading up to the mountains to pass the time.