The first game begins.

"All right, boys! Come here." Dad says and walks onto the grass. I went to him, but so did the rest, except for the women. Billy came to me and I smile. He pats my back. "You're ready for this, cuz?" "Always, you know that." I chuckle about it. "We're with nine men this year, which means we're one person short." Dad looks at us. "Why don't you be the referee, dad? Then we do four versus four." Jamie says with a smile. "No, I'm gonna play, for as long as I can, I'll play along, and your mother will be the referee." We chuckle about it. Dad looks at mom and smiles. "You make the teams, Cath."

"All right, I will." She says and looks at us. She walks to dad and stands next to him. He smiles and gives her a kiss on her cheek. "We need a tenth person." Mom looks at him and smiles, then she looks at women. Philip is sitting next to Britney. I turn my head and see them. "Who of you girls want to join?" Mom asks. Frances stands up and came to us. "I will." "You're sure, Baby?" She looks at me. "You're scared that I'll hurt you?" The others start to laugh. I inhale deeply. Mom smiles. "All right, the teams… I want Bryan, Sean, Jack, Baby and dad to be a team… the rest will be the other team."

"You really gonna put the strong men in one team?" Dad looks at mom, she look at him with a teasing smile. "They might be strong, but your team is smart." Dad looks at Jack, Bryan, Sean and Frances who went to him. "Hmm…" "Look, you know I always need to put Jack and Johnny against each other. Baby is a good distraction." Mom winks. Frances chuckles about it as Jack came to stand next to her. "Bryan is a professional football player for his young age, and he has learned Sean. But those men there, they'll be careful with the kids. And you, pa…" He looks in her eyes. "They just don't dare to hurt you." He starts to laugh and gives her a kiss. "I love you, you smart woman."

I walk with Billy to the other side of the garden. Carlos, Jamie and Jamaal are following us. "We can win this." Carlos says with a smile. I look at Frances and see Jack standing next to her. He's talking to her and she's giggling. Billy sees my face changing, he looks at them as well. Then he looks at the two boys and back at me. Jamie is watching them as well. "Ma has been really smart with the teams this year." Jamaal says with a sigh. Jamie nods in agreement. "Oh, yeah, we'll never hurt dad or the boys." Jamie says. "What about Baby?" Billy asks. "You really think she would have put Dancer and Baby in one team?" Jamie asks. They start to laugh, and I grumble a little.

"Look, cousin…" Jamaal starts and lays his hand on Billy's shoulder. "Dancer will never hurt his son or Baby's son. He and Jack are always against each other, because of their egos. Hurting dad isn't an option." Jamaal explains. Billy looks at me and I sigh deeply. "And Baby?" Billy asks. "She's just the distraction." Jamaal replies. "So, basically, our brother is useless?" Jamie asks. "Yep, but let's do this." We went to the others so we can start the game. I look at mom and see her smiling. I'm sure she did it on purpose. When I was a teenager, these things happened all the time. They made me feel left out.

The rest is sitting at the table, watching us all. "Ready? Team dad may start." I went to my quarterback position. I used to be a quarterback in high school. I know where my son has it from, that's why I try to encourage him to pursue a career in it. Jamaal came to stand behind me. Jack stands in front of me. I look at his grin. "I've got no mercy for you, cousin." "We'll see about that, Dancer." "Oh, honey, here's the whistle." Dad quickly went to give it to mom. "Thanks, sweetheart." He gives her a kiss and went back to his place.

As soon as mom blew on the whistle, the game starts. Jack throws the ball to Frances. Jamaal went to block her. I ran after my son. "Give me the ball!" Bryan shouts. Frances aims and throws. I jump and grab the ball. I stop running and turn. I look at who is standing free when Bryan and Jack jump on top of me. Mom whistles and they get off me. "You two did that on purpose." They chuckle. "It's football, dad. Get use to it." I look at his face and chuckle. I look at my shirt. It's not too dirty yet. I better take it off before it gets too dirty. Everyone stands in position again while I'm taking my shirt off. "Johnny?" "One sec, ma." I walk to the table as I pull my shirt off. I lay it over a chair. Britney makes a sound of disgust when she sees me.

I run back and stand in position. "You don't wanna get dirty, Dancer?" "Oh, I don't mind getting dirty." I say with a wink. I look at Frances and she rolls her eyes. Jack makes little eyes. Mom whistles and I pass the ball to Billy. "Run, Billy!" Penny shouts and points. Billy starts to run. Jamaal see Jack going for Billy and starts to run after him. Billy throws the ball to Carlos. Bryan and Sean jump on top of me. Jamaal jumps on top of Jack. Frances jumps to Carlos' legs, he avoids her by jumping aside, but then dad bumps against him. Carlos let the ball go as he falls onto the ground. Jamie is quicker than Frances and takes the ball. He makes a touchdown.

"Damn it!" Jack exclaims. "You're a sore loser, cousin." I say with a grin. "You watch your tongue, Dancer." Jack points at me. "Let me stand there, Johnny." Jamie says as he came close. I move away and went to his place, which is right in front of Frances. She looks at me with a teasing grin. "You're going down, mister." "You wish, Baby." I wink at her. She rolls her eyes but gives me that little smile. I know she likes the flirts. Mom whistles again. Sean got the ball and starts to run really fast. Bryan is backing him. I watch how Frances wants to run around me to get to her son. I move quickly and grab her legs. I lift her over my shoulder. She shrieks as I start to run the other way.

"Not fair, Johnny!" She shouts while she's laughing too. Billy stops dad. Carlos tries to get Bryan and Sean while Jack tries to get me. Jamaal sees him running to me and quickly runs after him, but so does Jamie. Jamaal jumps forward, trying to grab Jack but misses. "Damn it!" Jack laughs about it but didn't stop running. Then Jamie jumps on top of him. They fall on the ground and Jamie stands up. "Damn it!" Jamie laughs at him. I lay Frances down. She looks at me. I grin as I look at her face. "You're so typical." I jump on top of her. She shrieks and tries to push me off. Jamie jumps on top of us. We laugh about it.

Mom blows the whistle and came to us. "What the hell are you three doing? The ball is at the other side." We look at her and see her smiling. I look at my son and see him passing the ball to Sean, who scores. I get off Frances and lift her up. She warps her legs around me as I walk to my son. Britney makes little eyes as she looks at us. "Mom! Did you see that? I scored!" Sean runs to his mother. Frances got off me. "Yeah, you're doing great, son." Frances says as they hug. Bryan looks at me. I see his face. He shakes his head and walks away. Frances has seen his reaction as well. "What's going on?" Frances asks. "I don't know. I think my son hates me." She looks at my face. "I can't imagine that." "I should talk to him."

I walk to my son, who is standing at the far edge of the garden. I kneel in front of him, laying my hands on his shoulders. He crosses his arms as he looks at my face. "What's bothering you, son?" "You… you're bothering me." "Why?" "You're acting like a child. I should be acting like a child, not you, dad." I sigh and nod. I look down for a second. "You're right, son… I'm gonna behave more mature from now on, okay?" He looks at my face. "I understand you're changing, dad, and honestly, I like that you're a cowboy, but it's just these little things." "What little things?" "Can we talk later?"

I look around and see that everyone is looking at us. I inhale deeply as I back at him. I see his face and try to give him a smile. Then I nod and stand up. "Okay, we'll talk later." Bryan grabs me in a hug. I hug him back, push my face in his hair as I close my eyes and smile. He let me go and runs back to Sean. I watch them high five as I walk to Jamie and Billy. "You two don't seem to be on one line." I look at Billy. I look at Britney for a second. "It's because of Britney, he hates her. He told me I've changed too much to her liking… now he finds me childish, but he seems glad about me changing back again." Billy pats my chest and smiles. I rub my chest. "It will be fine." "I hope so."

An hour later, it's five against four for my team. I stand on the quarterback position again. "One more game." Mom says. We look at her and I look back at Jack. "You're going down." I start to grin. Mom blows on the whistle and I throw the ball to Jamaal. I start running. Dad and Jack run to Jamaal who throws the ball to Jamie. The two boys jump on top of him and he starts to laugh. He throws the ball to Carlos who smiles and throws the ball to Billy so he could avoid Frances. "Cuz!" Billy looks at me and smiles, but then he starts to run. I run with him.

Billy throws the ball to me, at that same moment, the two boys ran to me and jump on top of me. I fall on the ground and misses the ball. "Take the ball Sean." "Good one, son." Bryan looks back at me and smiles. Sean runs to the other side. Jamaal wants to block him, but Sean throws the ball to dad who scores a touchdown. Bryan gets off me. "It's a tie!" Mom says out loud, holding her hands up in the air. "No!" We all say at the same time. Mom chuckles. "We're not doing an extra round. We always do max ten rounds. I'm not gonna change that." Dad walks to her and gives her a kiss. "You hear your mother, it's over. Let's have a drink, dinner will be soon." They walk away hand in hand.

I smile as I look at Frances. She's hugging her son. I smile and exhale deeply. Bryan comes to me and I look at him. "It was great, dad." I smile as I lay my hand on his head and he hugs me. "It was, indeed." I whisper. Jack came to us and extends his hand. I look at it and then at his face. He smiles. I start to smile and shake his hand. "We never had a tie before, well done, Dancer." "The same to you, cousin." Jack looks at my face and starts to smile wider. "Want a beer?" I nod. He walks away. "Dad?" I look at him with a smile. "Can we talk?" I nod.

"Yeah, come, let's have a little walk." He nods as I lay my arm around his shoulders. We walk towards the woods. "Is it about me changing?" He looks up at me and puts his hands in his pockets. "Not really, I like this version of you. You seem to be more yourself now. I think you should stay like this." "Thanks, son." I smile, he starts to smile as well. "There are a few things." "Tell me, you know you can tell me everything that's on your mind." We stop walking. I turn to face him and put my hands in my pockets. "First, I really want you to dump Britney." I inhale deeply. I get him, and it's a thing I've been thinking about since yesterday.

"I'm finding the right moment, son." He looks at my face. "Alright, but don't wait too long." I smile a little. "Second, will you please teach me to ride? Pawpaw said he has no time, and Jamaal is busy too. I really want to learn to ride." I look at his face. "I will, we'll start tomorrow morning." He starts to smile widely. I lay my hand on his head. "Third, what's up with you and Baby?" "What do you mean?" "Please, don't act like you don't know what's going on. I know I'm only twelve, but I can see how you look at her, plus I heard you and Jack talking this morning." Bryan crosses his arms as he keeps looking at me.

"What did you hear?" I think about that moment. "That Jack said that you've been dirty, and he saw you and Baby walking out of the woods together." I kneel and lay my hands on his upper arms. I, honestly, didn't know how to tell him this. "I know it's wrong what I did, but it felt so good, it felt as if I was at home, that I belong… I don't know how to explain it." I sigh and look down for a second. I close my eyes as I think. "You don't have to, dad, but I want to know, did you go dirty? Like Jack said?" "Yeah, when we were at the creek." "Do you love her?" I look at his face as I think about Frances.

I start to smile. Bryan keeps watching my face. "Yeah, I do, very much." After a moment I see him starting to smile. "How long?" "Since I was ten. I never thought that she would have the same feelings for me." Bryan snorts a little. "The whole family is talking about you two having a crush on each other." I chuckle about it. He starts to laugh. "I would love to see you being happy with Baby, dad." He says after a few moments. I look at his face and sigh. "You mean that?" "Yeah, and Sean would love to see his mother happy too, we talked about this last night." I smile again. "So, you would like to have him as your step-brother?" "Yeah, I like him very much."

I smile and hug him. He hugs me back and I close my eyes. "I love you, son." "I love you too, dad." I let him go and we smile. "You got something else on your mind?" I see him thinking. "Yeah, can we move here?" "Don't you miss your friends and school, and football?" He shakes his head. "Honestly, dad, I thought I would, but since we got here, I feel like I'm at home. Sean told me that the school here has a football team as well." I see his determination. "I can look into it. Middle school and high school are in the same building here. It's not a big school, because Pampa isn't that big. Maybe you can see if you can get to go to UCLA or so." I'm brainstorming.

"Dad." I stop talking. "College is still far away. I love football, but I don't want a career in it. I know it's your wish, but it's not mine." "What do you wish to become?" He starts to smile. "I want to become a vet… or have my own ranch." He looks at the house with a smile. I can see his face. He's for sure a true Castle. "You're a real Castle, son." He looks back at me and sees my smile. "What do you say, dad?" "Being a vet gives you more stability in your future. But I can't decide this instant on moving here. I need to arrange everything, your school switch, a place where we can live, cancelling my show. So, I need to go back to arrange some things first."

Bryan starts to frown. "You want to cancel your show?" "Well, the show will be recorded in Hollywood. I don't want to commute every week for the show." I explain. "That's not all, is it?" I smile and turn a bit. I look at my family. "It's not, do you know my old dream?" He sees my face and starts to smile. "A dance school?" I nod as I think about it. It was my biggest dream. Maybe I should start to have something stable here in Pampa instead of the fame I have in Hollywood. "Yeah, I'm gonna look into opening a dance school here in Pampa, it gives me stability. I'll be at home every day. We can have breakfast together every morning. Wouldn't that be great?"

"You're not saying this because of what I want, right?" I chuckle and lay my arm around his neck. "No, son, since we arrived here. I feel like not leaving anymore. I've been thinking about this the whole time. My family wants the old me back, we're around people that loves us for who we are. I'll be out of the picture." Bryan grabs me in a hug again. I chuckle and lift him up. I walk back to the house. "You can put me down now." I start to grin and tickle him. He starts to struggle. We laugh and I eventually let him go when we arrive at the table for dinner.

Mom and Frances are looking at us. "He's back to himself." Frances smiles. "Yeah, and it's really good to see him like this." Mom looks at her. "I know you're not looking forward to say goodbye again next week." "I know, but he has his life in LA now, he's a big star and has his own show." "If you want him to stay here, you can make him stay." Mom winks at her. Frances looks at her smiling face and then looks back at me. I look at her and smile. She smiles back at me and I can see the twinkle. I'm sure she's mine. I want to be hers. Jack may win the stupid bet because I know Frances has already chosen me.

Britney looks at me and stands up. I see her coming to me. When she's close, she lays her arms around my neck. "You look sexy." She whispers. I exhale deeply as I put my hands in my pockets. "Don't you want to hug me?" She pouts, making her puppy eyes. I look at her face, and it doesn't do anything at all to me anymore. "I don't want to hug now." "It's because of Baby, isn't it?" She asks as she let me go. She looks at my bare chest for a second. "What do you mean?" She crosses her arms as she looks at me with a sarcastic expression on her face. "You know what I mean." "No, I don't. I just don't feel like hugging, cuddling, kissing and all that. I'm enjoying my time here." "Come on, Johnny." She moves her leg impatiently. "Brit, I'm loving it to be back at home. I'm enjoying the outside air, the walks through the woods, the games. Just please let me be."

"How can you like all this?" "One must be born in Pampa to understand what I'm saying. I even love sleeping in my old tent. I haven't felt so relaxed in the last four years as I do since the last few days." She keeps looking at me with that expression. Then she turns, flicking her hair, and walks to the table to sit down next to Philip again. I inhale deeply and look back at Frances. I see her smiling at me. I wink at her. Penny came to me with a beer and press it against my chest. I take it as I look at her. "Wanna dance?" She asks. "Here?" I ask as I take a sip.

She chuckles and takes my hand, pulling me with her to the terrace. I put my beer on the table. "Billy?" He looks up and she nods. He takes his phone out and starts the music. "Let's go dirty." I chuckle as I shake my head. When the music got more upbeat, I twirl her away and pull her back. She grins at me and I made her dip deeply. We start to dance the Mambo. I chuckle as I see her smiling teasingly at me. "You haven't changed one bit." "I can say the same." She chuckles. I push her up in the air and the family starts to clap. Frances smiles as she watches us. She can see the bond we have.

"Woooow!" Sean says. Bryan smiles. "You go, dad!" He shouts. Jamie whistles on his fingers when we did a little dirty dancing. Kaylie giggles and runs to her mother. "Mommy!" I look at her and twirl Penny away. I turn and lift Kaylie up. I start to dance with her, she giggles as she looks at me with a big smile on her adorable little face. "You're like your mother." "I wanna dance like mommy!" She shrieks as I turn around and around with her. I chuckle and stop dancing when Penny came back. She looks at us with smile. Kaylie looks at her mother and reaches out to her. I hand her over.

"It feels good to dance with you again, Johnny." I lean in and give her a kiss on her cheek. "Yeah, I've missed it too." Billy came to me and we hug. I pat his back. "I've missed these things, cuz." Billy says. I let him go. "I'm thirsty now." I walk to the table to get my beer. I see my son and sit down next to him. "That was amazing, dad, I've never seen you dancing like this." I take a sip. "I used to dance like this a lot before you got born." I wink and smile. "Why don't you do it anymore?" "Because I've got no one to dance with me like this. I've always done this with Pen." Bryan leans in. "You should teach Baby, then you can dance like that with her." He whispers. I start to laugh and let my hand go through his hair. He smiles at me. I look at Frances as I sip again. She smiles a little as I wink at her.