Chris was standing inside the music store, looking for a couple CD's that he wanted to buy. When he was feeling bored on his ranch, sometimes he would turn on some music, and just listen to music for hours on end.

He had finally found the Beatles compilation he wanted, and went to grab it. Just as he went to grab it, someone else did as well, and Chris looked up to see Stephanie. His face wore a surprised expression at seeing her there.

It had been a few weeks since she had stayed at his house. He would have figured she would have been long gone by now, but here she was. Stephanie looked at him, a surprised expression on her face as well.

"Stephanie, what are you doing here?"

"Looking for some CDs," she told him.

"No, not here, but here, in town? I thought you'd be long gone by now."

"Um, no, I actually decided to stay a little longer."

"Oh...did you want to go to lunch?"

"Sure, I'd like that."

As soon as they paid for their CDs, they walked a little ways down the uneven sidewalk to a small café. Chris held the door open for her, and she smiled as she walked inside. They found a small table by the window, and sat down across from one another. They decided on what to have, and the waitress came and took their orders.

Chris turned to Stephanie after the waitress had left, "So what made you stay?"

"I don't know, I just really love it around here."

"Is your husband with you?"

"Um," Stephanie gazed around uncomfortably, "No, he isn't."

"Oh, is he coming down later then?"

"I'm a widow Chris," she told him, looking him straight in the eye.

Chris looked at her in embarrassment, "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't know. I didn't mean to keep bringing it up."

"It's ok, you didn't know, and I hadn't told you. I don't tell many people."

"If I can ask, how long has it been since he passed on?"

"A year and a half. It was a car accident."

"I'm so sorry."

"Thank you," Stephanie said, looking out the window, tears coming to her eyes as she thought about her husband.

Chris felt terrible for bringing this up, "I really didn't mean to make you cry."

She turned back to him, "It's ok, sometimes it's good to discuss things with other people. I haven't really discussed Hunter that much since his death. It just hurt too much you know."

"I know exactly how you feel."

"You do?"

"Well, not exactly. The love of my life left me a little over a year ago."

"I'm so sorry, that's terrible."

"Yeah, it's why I live alone on that ranch, just want to be by myself."

"I understand, I sold my house after Hunter died, I just couldn't bear to be there anymore."

"Same with my house, I sold all my old furniture too."

"Yeah. It's hard you know...to move on. I loved Hunter so much, and then he was taken from me."

"It sucks royally doesn't it?"

"It sure does."

"So where are you staying?" Chris said, changing the subject.

"Oh, the local Motel 6 or something."

"You're staying in that dump over by the highway?"

"Yeah, that is until I find something better. I don't want to live out of my car."

"What kind of place do you want?"

"Something like yours, somewhere where I can just be away from people. I just need space and a darkroom, and I'll be happy."

"Why don't you live with me?" Chris blurted out, not knowing where that came from.

Stephanie looked at him shocked, "Excuse me?"

Chris realized a moment later that he didn't regret asking her that, and he didn't want to take it back. If he was honest with himself, he did get lonely living all by himself. Even with a broken heart he needed some sort of human contact. And Stephanie seemed to be in the same position he was in, and he seemed to get along with her fine.

"Well, I mean, if you want to of course. It's just that sometimes it gets lonely by myself. And I have such a huge house, so many rooms that I don't even know what to do with. And then we can be outcasts together."

"But Chris, you barely even know me, I could be some serial killer or something."

"Well, we seem to get along, and if you were a serial killer, I highly doubt you would just come right out and say it," he said laughing.

"I guess not, but still, I couldn't ask you to take me in, that wouldn't be fair."

"It really wouldn't be a problem, and I know you like the land and the house."

"But still, we don't know each other all that well."

"So we get to know each other."

"You think this will actually work?"

"Well, we can see, besides, do you really want to live all alone, it does tend to get boring sometimes?"

"Are you sure I wouldn't be putting you out?" she asked concerned.

"I'm positive," he said, throwing her a smile.

"Well...then I guess I'm moving in," she said, smiling back.

"Ok, when can you move in?"

"Today. I only have the things in my car, clothes, and developing equipment."

"Great, we can move you in right now."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that."

Their food arrived, and they ate silently. Chris paid the check, much to Stephanie's protest, and they left the café. They walked back towards Chris's car, and stopped right beside it.

"Why don't I drive you to your motel, we pick up your car, and you can follow me back to the ranch."

"Ok," she nodded. They got into the car and were off.

"I really appreciate this Chris," she told him as they pulled into the parking lot of the motel.

"It's ok, I'm doing this for me as well, it'll be nice having someone else around."

"We can be the deserted lovers together," she said wistfully.

"See, we already have so much in common already."

They got out of the car, and Stephanie gathered her things from her motel room, and checked out. She loaded up her car, and followed Chris back to the ranch. She couldn't believe that she was accepting to live with this man she hardly knew, but it seemed right. He seemed like a nice man, and she needed a friend.

As soon as they arrived back, they began to unload all of Stephanie's things. They moved her stuff into the room that she had stayed at before when they had first met. They decided they would choose a dark room for her later.

Stephanie had arrived home.