Tim was asleep, having a weird dream involving Lyla and Buddy and some kind of fancy dress ball where everyone was wearing masks, like something out of a Disney movie, when he was awoken by the slam of the front door and shouts in the other room. He frowned, rubbing his eyes blearily.

"I don't want you workin' there, Min. End of story."

Billy and Mindy were home, and they were obviously in the middle of an argument. Tim hoped they didn't wake Jordyn – it had taken him forever to get her to sleep. She'd be fine when he put her down in her crib, but every time he tried to leave the room, she would start to wail. It was the kind of thing babies did that was cute exactly once before it became incredibly frustrating.

"No, dumbass, it's not the end of the story. We need the money. Besides, we've been through this – you do inot/i tell me what to do. You don't own me."

"I don't own you, but you're my wife, and I get a say in this. Anyway, we're fine for money."

"We are not fine for money, Billy. Don't bullshit me. Don't you dare! I'm not stupid. What am I supposed to do, sit on my ass at home with the baby while you bust your hump and we barely make ends meet?"

Tim grimaced, wishing not for the first time that the walls in their house were thicker. Overhearing the fighting in the other room made him feel like he was eight years old again, sticking his fingers in his ears to muffle the sounds of shouting and breaking glass.

"No, but what kind of man lets his wife and the mother of his daughter strip so we can put food on the table?"

"Is that what this is about, the stripping?"

"Damn it, Mindy! Of course it's about the stripping!"

"In case you forgot, Billy Riggins, we got together because I work at The Landing Strip," Mindy bit out. Her voice suddenly changed from angry to sweet, like the flip of a switch. "Remember that night, monkey? Jimmy cut you off and they kicked you out, and I tripped over you when I went to take out the garbage?"

"I remember," Billy replied. There was a long pause, and then Billy spoke again, softer this time. "Just don't want my wife having to work that way."

"I stopped doing that VIP stuff when we got together," Mindy replied quietly. "You know I did, right? You believe me?"

"I believe you, baby. But what about Jordyn, Mindy? You want her to grow up watchin' her mama do that?"

"I'm not ashamed of what I do, Billy. It's just a job. Besides, what the hell else am I supposed to do? I've been working at The Landing Strip since I was 17."

"Too bad Tyra ain't still working at Applebee's, she coulda gotten you a job, maybe."

"Maybe. Except they don't let you dump drinks on customers when they get handsy."

Billy sighed harshly. Tim could picture how he must look, rubbing his face in agitation.

"What are we gonna do, Min?"

"Nothing right now. Dave said he'd try to get me back into the rotation, even if I'm just serving drinks."

"What are we supposed to do about Jordyn while we're working, Mindy? A strip club is no place for a baby. Even I know that."

"I don't know... Maybe you and Tim could take her to the garage?"

"I don't think a garage is a great place for a baby, either."

"We'll just have to get somebody to watch her, is all. It'd only be for a few hours a few days a week from when I leave until when Tim gets home."

"Yeah? Who's gonna watch a baby all afternoon for next to nothing?"

Tim sat, listening to the silence that fell between his brother and his sister-in-law, wracking his brain for some kind of solution to their problems. Maybe he could get another job in the evenings so he could help out with the bills and Mindy wouldn't have to go back to stripping? That would help. Tim suspected, though, that Mindy was determined to go back to work whether they needed the money or not.

But who did they know who could watch Jordyn for them in the afternoons, who was trustworthy, knew babies, and would do it out of the goodness of their heart, given that Billy and Mindy couldn't afford to pay them much?

Tim rolled over, burying his face in his pillow with a frustrated sigh. He was going to have to help them figure something out. If he didn't, who else would?

***

Julie sighed, staring out the window. She was stuck in American History, going through the motions of the last days of classes, while everyone else was out there, enjoying everything else the world had to offer. That's how it seemed to her, anyway.

Her thoughts were interrupted not by the class she was supposed to be paying attention to, but by a low buzz coming from the backpack leaning against her chair. With as much subtlety as she could manage, Julie eased a hand down into her bag and retrieved her phone. Checking that the teacher was occupied elsewhere in the room, Julie flipped it open under her desk.

NEW MESSAGE FROM MATT

Frowning, Julie opened the message. We need to talk. You free?

Usually Julie would have texted him back to call her later, but they hadn't talked in ages. Something was obviously up. Sighing, she raised her hand and waited until the teacher noticed her. After getting permission to go to the bathroom, she slipped her cell into her pocket and left the classroom, hurrying towards the nearest exit. The day outside was just as beautiful as it had seemed from indoors, and Julie found a secluded, shady spot up against the school where she wouldn't be noticed. Pulling her phone out again, she quickly dialed Matt's number.

"Hello?" Matt's voice sounded quiet and far away.

"Hey, it's me."

"Jules, hey." Julie could hear the hesitation in his voice and frowned. Like he didn't have call display and knew she would be calling him anyway? Immediately she became frustrated.

"Hi, Matt. Good to hear from you," she said.

"I know," Matt replied, voice belying his guilt, "it's been forever. I'm really sorry, it's been crazy busy here with finals and all."

"Sure," Julie replied, although her first response was more along the lines of, Too busy to drop your girlfriend an email? "So, what's up?"

"I just sorta thought maybe we should talk," he said.

Julie slumped against the brick wall of the school. "Okay," she said, "But I'm actually supposed to be in class right now, so..."

"Oh, right," Matt said. "Okay, well. Here's the thing, um..."

"Yeah?"

"I'm not coming home to Dillon this summer," he said. "I got a summer job here in Chicago, and since Grandma died and Shelby went back to Oklahoma, I guess there's just really not much point. You know?"

"Not much point in coming home to see your girlfriend?" she asked, unable to keep the hurt, pleading tone out of her voice.

"We're not..." she heard Matt sigh. "We're not even really together anymore, Julie. Not really."

Julie inhaled sharply, waiting for the pain to hit her. Several seconds passed.

"Jules?"

Ah, yes, she thought as her eyes filled with hot, angry tears. There it is.

"Did you meet someone?" she whispered, hating herself for even asking.

"No, no!" he replied, and Julie believed him. "No, that's not it. It's just... We're in such different places, and who knows where we're going to be after this... I mean, I think maybe it's just better this way. It's not fair to either of us, having these expectations of each other. I didn't... I didn't want it to be true, but it is."

Julie thought of Matt, a thousand miles away in Chicago, meeting new people and getting a job and setting down roots. When his grandma had died, money was so tight that Matt hadn't even been able to get home for the funeral, relying on his mother to make all the arrangements. Julie only knew a little of how hard it had been on him; he barely talked to her about it. She tried to imagine him coming home to stay in that empty house for the summer, just to work at the Alamo Freeze and see her.

"No, you're right," she said. "It's too hard, and I can't expect you to come back here just for me. Not with everything that's happened."

"I'm sorry," he said softly. There was a long pause, punctuated only by the sound of their tense breathing. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Julie replied, her voice breaking. "I guess this is goodbye, huh?"

There was a long pause before Matt whispered, "I guess so."

"I'll always love you," Julie said, unable to help herself. "No matter what happens."

"No matter what happens," Matt repeated, a smile in his voice at the shared memory of their kiss in the middle of that muddy cow field, more than three years earlier. Julie smiled back at him, although he couldn't see her.

"Goodbye, Matt," Julie said, and before she could think better of it, she clicked her phone shut.

Staring out at the football field with her arms crossed over her chest, she took several deep breaths to steady herself. So that was it. They gave it a try, and it didn't work out. That's life.

It's okay, she thought, walking back into the dim, air-conditioned school and swallowing the painful lump in her throat. I never wanted to be the kind of girl who married her high school sweetheart, anyway.

***

"Where we going?" Gracie asked, her voice exasperated as she tugged fitfully at the hand held securely in her older sister's.

"I really don't know," Julie said. "Maybe this is the right one."

She turned down aisle twelve of the grocery store, trying to find scouring pads. Her mother had decided that a late spring clean was better than no spring clean at all, but had run out of supplies at a crucial stage in the cleaning of the kitchen. Julie had been commissioned to get more. Once upon a time she would have griped about it, but these days she was grateful for any excuse to get out of the house. It beat sitting around feeling sorry for herself. She was also aware that her mother was eager to get Gracie off her hands now and then, so bringing her little sister along only served to earn Julie more brownie points.

"Aha!" Julie said, leaning down and picking up a bright yellow box from one of the bottom shelves.

"Afternoon, ladies."

Julie stood up abruptly, Gracie's hand still in hers, to find Tim Riggins standing next to them, shopping basket hanging loosely from his hand, looking as casually, unintentionally handsome as ever.

"Hey," she greeted breathlessly, feeling a little lame being caught in the cleaning products aisle with her baby sister and a box of SOS pads on her day off. Not that Tim was any more of a rock star – his basket contained three boxes of Hamburger Helper and a can of baby formula. She stood up straighter as Gracie, who had been very shy around strangers lately, shuffled closer to her, almost hiding behind her leg.

"Gracie," Julie said, trying to gently urge her sister forward again, "this is Tim Riggins, he's one of Dad's old players. He used to play with Matt. You remember Matt, right?"

Gracie looked up at Tim with large, suspicious eyes for a moment before shaking her head.

Julie grimaced. "It's been a while," she mumbled to Tim. He nodded and bent down to look Gracie in the eye.

"You probably don't remember me," he said, "but we go way back. We used to hang out when you were just a baby. But you're a big girl now, huh?"

Gracie shrugged, still shy.

Tim looked up at Julie, smiling ruefully. "Guess I've lost my touch," he said, standing up and scratching his head.

"Don't beat yourself up, she's pretty shy with everyone but us these days."

"Guess so," Tim replied. There was silence for a moment, as he stood there looking at her with a strange expression on his face. He glanced down at Gracie, and then back up at Julie once more. "Hey, when do you work, usually?"

"Sorry?" Julie asked, frowning in confusion at the abrupt change of subject.

"Do you ever have shifts during the day?"

"Uh, no. They have me on evenings and weekends since I'm still finishing school," she replied.

"Are you free in the afternoons?"

"Yeah," she replied, hesitant. "I only had a couple of credits to finish this semester, so my schedule's pretty open. Why?"

"I was just thinking... You've got a baby sister."

"Yeah, and?" Julie replied. What was Tim getting at, and why was he looking at her like he had just won the lottery?

"So you know about babies."

"Uh, sure. I guess."

"Would you want to babysit Jordyn in the afternoons, maybe? Thing is, I'm supposed to start working with Billy at the garage, and they really need the money from Mindy's shifts at The Landing Strip right now, but there's no one around to watch the baby, and they can't afford daycare."

"Oh," Julie said, eyebrows raised.

"Look, you don't have to answer right away. I know it's weird, and they can't pay you much, but they could really use the help."

"No, it's fine. Actually, I'd like that. As long as I can study and stuff while I'm there."

"Sure, whatever," Tim shrugged.

"Then, okay."

"Great," Tim said, smiling widely. Julie smiled back, a bit bewildered – she couldn't recall ever seeing Tim so pleased before.

"So, when do you need me to start?"

"Uh, Mindy has a shift tomorrow afternoon. That too short notice?"

"No, that should be fine. What time?"

"Around two, I guess?"

"Okay," Julie said, shrugging. "I'll come by around two."

"Sweet," Tim grinned. "See you ladies later." With that, he continued down the aisle of cleaning products before turning the corner and disappearing. Julie turned back to her sister, who had been silently examining the pattern on the laminate floor tiles during their conversation. Gracie looked up, squinting in the direction Tim had gone.

"Tim?" she asked, peering up at her big sister.

"That's right," Julie replied, bending down to pick Gracie up, the box of scouring pads tucked in the crook of her other arm. "That was Tim."

The two sisters made their way through the store to the checkout before walking back out into the hot afternoon. While she was buckling Gracie into her car seat in the family SUV, Julie caught a glimpse of Tim's black truck pulling out of the parking lot. She watched it disappear before looking down to see Gracie once again contemplating her very seriously.

"On the one hand, I have another job, which means more money," Julie said to her, fastening the last strap on the car seat. "On the other hand, this means I'm Tim Riggins's babysitter."

"Riggins?" Gracie offered, her slight speech impediment making it come out as "Wiggins."

Julie smiled, brushing the dark curls up off Gracie's hot forehead.

"I wonder if mom will let us add 'Tim Riggins' to our 'Words Gracie Knows' list on the fridge."

***

Tim parked his truck haphazardly in front of Riggins' Rigs, stopping only to greet Chop Block, the enormous black Texas longhorn steer who had taken up residence in the paddock in front of Riggins' Rigs. The large animal lifted his head and lowed half-heartedly at Tim before turning his attention back to the dry, yellow grass he was stripping off the ground.

He headed into the garage, where he found Billy's legs sticking out from underneath an old Bonneville.

"Hey Billy," he said quietly, trying to avoid a repeat of an incident which had happened several days earlier, when he had surprised Billy and made him crack his head against the undercarriage of the car he'd been working on.

"Hey, little brother," Billy replied, a hand coming out from under the car to grope for a wrench. "What's up? You get something for dinner? Mindy won't quit calling about it."

"Yeah, I got something," Tim said, crouching down next to his brother. "I got a couple things, actually. I've got a surprise for you."

"Surprise?" Billy asked, distracted. "Hand me that wrench."

Tim placed the tool in Billy's oil-smeared, outstretched hand.

"Sure, a surprise. I was at the store, and I found the answer to all your problems."

"What, someone left a duffel bag full of hundreds in the middle of the aisle?"

"No," Tim grinned, almost bouncing with excitement. "Even better. I found Julie Taylor."

"Julie Taylor," Billy repeated, unimpressed.

"Sure, Julie Taylor, Coach's daughter."

"Well, I'm real glad you can still get a date, Tim. Enjoy it while it lasts."

Tim scowled. "What I meant was I found an answer to your problem with Mindy and the baby. Julie's gonna babysit in the afternoons so we can work and so can Mindy."

Billy was quiet for a moment, and then he rolled himself out from under the car to look at Tim. "What are you talking about?" he asked, frowning.

"I'm talking about how there's not enough money and we all need to be working to make ends meet and how this is going to help," Tim said. He took in the sour look on his brother's face. "What?"

Billy stood up, wiping his hands on a rag. "What the hell's wrong with you?" he spat, his face red with anger.

Tim frowned, standing slowly. "What?"

"Did you hear me and Mindy fighting about her going back to work?"

Tim shrugged.

"Damn it, Tim, that's private. Our money stuff – that's between me and Mindy, not you. That's family business."

Tim scratched his head, still not sure what Billy was upset about. "I'm family, Billy," he replied.

Billy looked taken aback for a brief moment before recovering, running a hand through his hair in aggravation.

"The point is, Tim, you had no right to go around telling people our business and trying to find a babysitter for Little Jay."

"I'm sorry," Tim shrugged. "I just thought maybe this was a way to make everybody happy."

"Don't you get it, Tim? I don't want Mindy going back to work at all. I want her to stay home with Jordyn, like a normal mom. Like a normal family."

Tim watched his brother closely, but didn't reply.

"You remember what it was like," Billy said softly, looking down at the dusty garage floor, "coming home from school or wherever and Dad'd be gone on a bender again and Mom'd be passed out on the bathroom floor, if we were lucky. I want Jordyn to have a normal family, a real family."

"That's never gonna happen, Billy," Tim said vehemently. "You're not Dad. You were never Dad. Just look at you. You... Billy, you're ten times the father Dad ever was."

Billy looked back at him for a long moment before clearing his throat. "Thanks."

"Listen," Tim said, exhaling loudly. "You wanna know what I think?"

"What?" Billy asked, crossing his arms over his chest and regarding his brother seriously.

"Seems to me that it'll make Mindy happy to go back to work. Julie can come over and watch Jordyn in the afternoons while we bring in some bacon. Everyone's happy. What good's it gonna do Jordyn to grow up listening to you guys fight about money all the time when you don't have to?"

Billy silently considered this for a moment before glancing up at Tim. "You know, you can be kinda smart when you try," he said.

Tim shrugged. "What do you think? I told Taylor we couldn't pay her much and she still said sure."

"Probably not gonna get a better deal than that," Billy mused, scratching his chin. "Besides, if we put out an ad for a babysitter, we're just gonna get fifty rally girls calling our house so they can have a crack at digging through your underwear drawer."

"Probably," Tim agreed mildly.

"All right, then," Billy said, resigned. "We can try it out, see how it goes."

"Sweet," Tim said, grinning at Billy.

"But if one single guy comes into this garage and tells me how he saw my wife's cans the night before, I'm gonna lose it. For real," Billy grumbled.

"I know, Billy," Tim replied, grimacing. "I know."