Julie made it over to the Rigginses' by two o'clock on her first day of babysitting, arriving to find Mindy with her hair up in foils and a screaming baby resting on her hip.

"Thank god you're here," she said, shoving Jordyn at Julie. "I think I left the goddamn bleach on too long." She dashed off to the bathroom, leaving Julie and Jordyn alone.

Soothing the red-faced baby as best she could, Julie took a look around the house. It was a disastrous mess; a combination of frat house and nursery. Dirty dishes, beer bottles, pizza boxes, laundry, and open containers of food were everywhere. Not only was it messy, but it was dirty, too; an open bag of garbage was sitting next to the breakfast bar, and the whole place smelled like stale beer and diapers.

Trying not to show her disgust, Julie patted Jordyn's back and marveled that anyone could live like this. She wasn't exactly a neat freak, but this was ridiculous.

Mindy emerged from the bedroom a moment later, her hair up in a towel. She must have caught Julie's expression, for she crossed her arms over her chest and held her chin up high.

"It's hard when you've got a newborn and you can't just stay home all day and play with her and do laundry and all that. Not everyone's husband has a job that pays the bills," she said, her voice defensive.

"I know," Julie said, regarding the other woman warily.

"Good," Mindy replied defiantly, her bottom lip trembling. Suddenly, she sat down hard on the coffee table and began weeping, her body wracking with great sobs that sounded as though they came up from deep inside her.

Julie stood there for a moment, stunned, before walking over and sitting down next to her, Jordyn still tucked in the crook of her arm. The baby was quiet now, looking just as alarmed by this turn of events as Julie felt.

"Um, it's okay," Julie offered, patting Mindy awkwardly on the back. "It's a lot for one person to handle, even with help."

"Thanks," Mindy gasped, sniffling. She turned and looked at Julie properly. "I'm sorry, this is so embarrassing. You must think I'm crazy."

"I don't think you're crazy," Julie replied. There was a pause as Julie tried to think of something to say to make amends. "You want to know something?"

Mindy nodded, wiping at her smudged eye make-up.

"When my mom had my baby sister Gracie, our whole family nearly fell apart. It was way too much for her to deal with on her own. My dad was in Austin at TMU and I was... not around, and it was just too much. I thought my mom was seriously going to have a nervous breakdown. So it's not like other moms have it all figured out, you know?"

"You're real sweet," Mindy said after a pause, blinking her tears away. "I can see why Tyra likes you."

"Thanks," Julie replied, blushing.

"Okay, enough with the pity party," Mindy said, standing up just as abruptly as she had sat down. "I'd better get going. Don't worry about the mess, just try to work around it."

Mindy disappeared back into the bedroom to finish getting ready, and she left only a few minutes later, shouting instructions for Jordyn's routine across the room as she made for the door. In the meantime, Julie had gotten Jordyn changed and temporarily settled on the couch.

The door closed behind Mindy, and Julie and Jordyn were left alone. The baby regarded her sitter with some trepidation.

Taking a long look around the room, Julie decided to start with the garbage, and go from there.

***

Tim pulled into the driveway of the house, shutting the engine off with a sigh. It was hot, he was tired, and it had been a long day. It beat studying all day, especially given the pleased smiles Billy kept shooting him, but his entire body ached like Coach had just made him run twenty suicides.

After dropping Billy off at The Landing Strip to hang around while Mindy finished up her shift, Tim was looking forward to an evening of beer and ESPN.

"-and that's why men are pigs."

Tim stood in the doorway of his house, staring at Julie, who was stretched out on the couch with Jordyn resting quietly in the crook of her arm. He was about to complain about what Julie was telling his niece when it dawned on him that the house did not smell like dirty diapers, or garbage, or beer, or vaguely like something had died. Confused, he looked around and found that the place was spotless, or as close to spotless as it could be.

All the garbage and empty beer bottles had been put out, all the dishes washed and put away, the windows opened to let some fresh air in, the floors swept, and both the clean and dirty laundry dealt with. The kitchen had been cleaned, and the living room dusted. Tim could barely believe what he was seeing.

"Hey," Julie greeted from the couch, with a little wave of her free hand.

"Holy crap," he said.

"What?" she asked, muting the TV.

"You cleaned up," he said.

"Yeah."

"You didn't have to do that," he said, closing the door behind him and putting his keys and his sunglasses down carefully on the table by the door, feeling a bit like he was in a museum.

"I know," Julie said. "But I felt so bad for Mindy, she was practically beside herself when I got here."

Tim frowned, sniffing the air. "Is that spaghetti?"

"Yeah," Julie replied, sitting up carefully and scooping Jordyn into her arms. "I wasn't sure who'd be here for dinner, but there's enough that you can stick it in the freezer for later."

"Wow," Tim said, wandering into the kitchen, where a pot of spaghetti sauce was bubbling on low heat on the stove. "Billy and Min are probably gonna have dinner at The Landing Strip. You shouldn't have gone to all that trouble for me."

"I didn't really do it for you," Julie smiled, coming into the kitchen and handing Jordyn to Tim before checking the sauce. "It was more for Mindy. She's really got a lot on her plate, now that she's working again."

"Yeah, I know," Tim replied, making a face at Jordyn and smiling when she laughed. "I feel bad, not being around to help them out."

"You're working with Billy at the garage," she said, stirring the sauce. "That's helping out."

"Yeah," Tim replied, unconvinced.

"It is!" Julie insisted. "You're helping Billy get his business off the ground. That's a big deal."

Tim shrugged, looking away. He wondered if Julie knew how much like her mother she sounded when she talked like that.

"Okay, well," Julie sighed, leaving the kitchen and grabbing her bag. "Jordyn ate about an hour ago and I've changed her, so she should be fine for a while. Just boil the pasta and you're good to go. Tell Mindy I'll be back tomorrow around the same time, I just have to run an err-"

"Where are you going?" Tim asked.

Julie blinked at him. "Uh, home?"

"Aren't you gonna stay for dinner?"

Julie hesitated for a moment, looking a bit confused. Tim supposed it was a little strange, but it felt wrong just letting her leave after everything she had already done.

"Sure," she replied, dropping her bag on the floor. "Why not?"

Julie put Jordyn to bed while Tim finished up the spaghetti. Although he usually ate in front of the TV, he made use of the uncluttered table and the clean cutlery, and set the table. He'd eaten with the Taylors, and knew that they nearly always ate together at the table.

When Julie came out of the master bedroom, she stopped and looked at the table for a moment, perplexed, before smiling and coming over to the counter.

"All ready?" she asked.

"Yeah," Tim said, handing her a plate piled high with a big serving of spaghetti. Julie's eyes went round at the Riggins-sized portion, but she said nothing, carrying the plate over to the table.

"This looks great," Tim said, sitting down across from her. "I can't thank you enough for this, and for the house, and for looking after Jordyn. Seriously."

"It's fine," Julie shrugged. "She's a good baby, and besides, I have nothing else to do in the afternoons except check my email over and over."

"Yeah?" Tim asked, through a mouthful of spaghetti.

"Yeah. It's been kind of a dull year around here. None of my friends are around, you know?"

"What about what's-her-name?" Tim asked. "The one with the thing for me."

"You'll be crushed to hear that she moved to Kansas City a few months ago," Julie laughed, rolling her eyes. "I've been flying solo ever since."

"Damn," Tim said, reaching for his beer. "I was gonna ask her out, too."

"I'll be sure to let her know," Julie replied. "She'll be just devastated."

"I'll bet," Tim smiled.

"So, seriously," Julie said, prodding her spaghetti somewhat listlessly with her fork. "You still haven't told me; what's college like? I'm dying to hear all the boring details."

"It was okay," Tim said simply, shrugging.

Tim could feel Julie watching him contemplatively. "So you hated it?"

"No," he replied, glancing up at her with some surprise. "No, I didn't hate it, I just... I dunno, I didn't get to play much football, you know? First-string was this senior from Waco, so they sorta let him have the season, since it was his last year. Only fair, I guess, but it was a bummer."

"That sucks," Julie nodded. "Did you get to start at all?"

"Not once," Tim replied, frowning down at his plate. "I'll probably get to next year, but it's not the same as here in Dillon. It's big, and nobody knows anybody else, and Coach isn't there, and all my classes are real hard..." He looked up at Julie suddenly, realising that he had said all this out loud. "Sorry," he said gruffly, blushing a little. "Didn't mean to whine about it."

"No, it's okay," Julie said. "It's kind of refreshing, actually. I've spent most of this year hearing about how great and wonderful college is, so I certainly don't mind."

"Yeah," Tim replied, twirling a forkful of spaghetti. He wondered if he stopped talking, Julie would eat something, which would mean he could also eat something.

"So, Matt dumped me," Julie said, after a pause, obviously trying to fill the awkward silence with something. Tim stared. They needed a topic of conversation, and she picked that?

"Oh."

It wasn't a question, but Julie didn't seem to notice. "Yeah, I mean, I guess it was kind of mutual, really. He got a summer job in Chicago so he was phoning to tell me that he wouldn't be home this summer, and it just kind of evolved from there, you know?"

Tim nodded, unsure what kind of response she wanted. She didn't sound very upset, just sort of resigned, so she probably wasn't fishing for any Matt-bashing from him. He ate another mouthful of spaghetti while he thought it over.

"It sucks," he ventured finally, "doing the whole long distance thing."

"Right?" Julie replied quickly. "I mean, we talked about breaking up before he went away, only neither of us really wanted to. But maybe it wasn't worth the trouble."

Tim frowned at her, at the bitter tone in her voice. "It's always worth the trouble," he said.

"Do you really believe that, even after everything with Lyla?"

Tim shrugged, looking down at this plate and twirling another forkful of pasta. "Yeah, I think I do."

"You're more of a romantic than I would have guessed, Riggins," Julie said wryly, the serious look on her face disappearing to be replaced by a teasing smile. "Jordyn told me that you were a big softie, but I was skeptical."

Tim laughed, relieved that the mood had been lightened. "She's always tattling on me."

"She's a good baby," Julie said, leaning her elbows on the table and watching him. "It must be pretty weird to be an uncle, huh?"

"I dunno," he said, studiously wiping his plate with a piece of garlic bread and considering going back for seconds. "About the same as becoming a big sister when you're nearly old enough to have your own."

"Old enough to have my own?" Julie grimaced. "Technically, I guess, but oh god. Please no."

Tim glanced up at her. "You don't want kids?"

"I don't know," Julie replied, looking surprised by the question. She shook her head and looked down at her plate. "I guess I never really thought about it."

"I figured that was something all girls wanted," Tim shrugged.

"You've got a lot to learn about girls."

"I think there are some gals around here that'll agree with you on that one."

"I think so," Julie agreed with a smile.

They finished eating, Julie catching Tim up on all the Dillon gossip he'd missed, including a rundown of the football season and the heated rivalry that had arisen between the Dillon Panthers and the East Dillon Lions. Tim was surprised at the amount of detail Julie went into about the football; he had always assumed that she was one of those girls who looked down her nose at football, like Tyra. Whether she was or not, she still knew a hell of a lot about it. It was probably hard to avoid, growing up with Coach for a father.

Late that night, after Julie had left and Billy and Mindy had come home, Tim was stretched out in bed, on the verge of falling asleep. That was when it hit him that dinner with Julie had felt more like a date than anything Tim had experienced since he went away to college.

***

Julie sat at her laptop, watching the cursor blink at her. She was working on her last paper for English Lit, and unfortunately, it wasn't going well. She knew the material and knew what she wanted to say, but the words just weren't coming.

She was happy to be interrupted, then, by the beeping of her phone. She retrieved it from her bag and flipped it open, finding a new message from Tyra: Free for a chat?

Abandoning her paper, Julie stretched out on her bed and called Tyra's number. She picked up on the second ring.

"Hey, stranger," Tyra greeted her. Julie smiled, happy just to hear her friend's voice.

"Hey," Julie replied. "How's life as a working girl?"

Tyra made an inarticulate sound of frustration. "Let's just say that I'm starting to identify a little too much with Dolly Parton."

"'9 to 5' or... 'Dumb Blonde'?"

"'9 to 5', although 'Dumb Blonde' has always been a personal favourite," Tyra replied, laughing. "Anyway, the business world really is sort of a boys' club, as it turns out. But my boss is pretty cool. She's been in marketing for thirty years and she's got tons of good advice. I'm learning a lot, so I think it'll be okay."

"That's good."

"How about you? Counting down the days still?"

"Yeah, of course. I'm keeping pretty busy, though."

"Oh yeah? Hope they're not working you too hard at good old Applebee's," Tyra replied. Julie could picture the roll of the eyes that must have accompanied her words. She grinned.

"Naturally. Jeff, that one guy in the kitchen? Still a total perv."

"You say that like you're surprised."

"I guess I just never realised how much of a perv-blocking shield you were," Julie said, laughing.

"Oh, jeez. I'm really flattered, Jules, thank you."

"You're welcome," Julie said, and then paused. "I've actually just gotten a second job."

"A second job?" Tyra asked, surprised. "Where?"

"Um, babysitting for your sister and Billy."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment before Tyra spoke again.

"I'm sorry, did I hear you right? You're babysitting for Mindy and Billy?"

"That is the situation, yes."

"Right. Now, was this before or after your personality-altering brain injury?"

"After, obviously," Julie replied dryly.

"Of course."

"It's not that big of a deal," Julie laughed. "It's a little extra cash to line my pockets, and anyway, I think they really needed the help."

"I know," Tyra said, her voice becoming more serious. "That's good for them, I guess. Mindy's been worrying about money ever since the baby was born."

"It's tough right now."

"So, how'd you get roped into that?"

"It was kind of weird, actually," Julie said, rolling over onto her stomach and leaning on her pillow. "I ran into Tim at the grocery store one day when I was there with Gracie, and I guess the thought sort of occurred to him, in whatever way thoughts occur to Tim Riggins."

Tyra guffawed. "Well, consider yourself flattered, because they don't occur often."

Julie laughed, then immediately felt bad for making fun of Tim. "Don't, he's nice."

"He's 'nice'?" Tyra repeated. "Oh, please. Tim Riggins is many things, but I'm not sure that 'nice' is one of them."

"He is. He's really worried about Billy, and Jordyn, and Mindy, too. Cut him some slack."

"All right, all right," Tyra grumbled. "I guess you'd know better than I would, being his babysitter and all."

"Oh god, I am not Tim Riggins's babysitter."

"'Tim Riggins's babysitter,'" Tyra repeated thoughtfully. "Sounds like the title of an amateur porno produced by the Dillon High rally girls."

"Gross," Julie grimaced. "Not that the rally girls seem particularly interested in him, these days."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah," Julie replied. "I mean, he hasn't been home long, but it's not like girls are molesting him in the streets or whatever. Maybe the women of Dillon are finally over Tim Riggins."

"Incredible," Tyra said. There was a pause, and then Julie laughed.

"What?" Tyra asked. "What's funny?"

"I was just thinking – here we are, on a weekday night, sitting up on the phone talking about Tim Riggins. It's just like the high school experience we managed not to have."

"Speak for yourself," Tyra said, laughing. "That is one experience I wish I hadn't had."

"God," Julie replied. "How weird is it that his brother is married to Mindy? You're family."

"Please don't remind me," Tyra groaned. "The nicest thing about Austin is not having to be reminded of that at every turn. Don't rob me of that. I'm begging you."

Both girls laughed, and then fell silent. Julie stared down at the pattern on her bedspread, suddenly overcome with a pang of loneliness for her friend. She and Tyra weren't usually too gushy with their feelings, but Julie couldn't help herself.

"Hey," she said softly. "I miss you."

"I miss you too," Tyra replied, her voice quiet. "You know, I was so hell bent on getting out of Dillon, and I've had an amazing year, but sometimes... I don't know. Sometimes I wish I could just go back and go to a stupid football game with you to cheer Landry on, and then go back to my place to watch a movie and eat too much ice cream. It's stupid."

"It's not stupid," Julie said, smiling. "It's not stupid at all."

Silence fell again between them, and then Tyra sighed on the other end.

"Ugh, hate to be a buzzkill, but I have to get up for work tomorrow."

"Yeah, I've got school."

"Okay, I'll let you go. Talk to you soon. Say hey at your mom for me, okay?"

"I will," Julie replied. "Don't let The Man get you down."

Tyra laughed. "I definitely won't. Bye, Jules."

"Bye."

Julie hung up the phone, then rolled over to look at her bedroom ceiling. She stared up at it for a long time, just letting her mind wander over everything that had happened recently, and everything that was going to happen soon. Everything she was waiting so impatiently for.

Standing up, she walked over to her desk and shut her laptop with a click. She climbed back into bed, curling up in a ball underneath the covers, despite the heat.

Julie wondered about her plans, about how badly she wanted to get out of Dillon and go to college. She wondered whether she would get there and be disappointed.

She wondered whether sticking to your road map and never deviating from your path was really so smart, after all.

***

"I just cannot even believe this place," Billy said, popping two slices of bread into the toaster and looking around the great room in awe.

"I know," Tim agreed. He was seated across the counter, trying to convince a cranky Jordyn to take her bottle while Billy made them both breakfast. "I thought I walked into the wrong house."

"Seriously. I don't think it's looked this clean since... Ever."

Mindy wandered out of the master bedroom, yawning sleepily. "Not my fault I don't have time to take care of the baby, work, and clean the bathroom," she griped, planting a kiss on Billy's cheek as she moved around him to get to the coffee.

"I know, baby doll," Billy replied, buttering Tim's toast and passing it to him. "So what's Julie's deal, anyway? Y'all used to date?"

Tim frowned, passing Jordyn off to Mindy so that he could eat. "No," he replied.

"Oh," Billy said, preparing his own toast. "I just wasn't sure how you knew her."

"I dunno," Tim said, "From around. Dillon's not that big, and she's the coach's daughter. Everybody sorta knows her. We kinda hung out when I was staying with them."

"Staying with who?" Mindy asked, burping Jordyn and trying to sneak a sip of coffee here and there.

"The Taylors," Tim replied.

"The Taylors? Why'd you live with the Taylors?"

Billy and Tim shared a look. "Just a little misunderstanding a couple years ago," Billy replied, glancing down. "Tim moved out for a while, but we got it sorted out."

"It was right after Tyra let me stay with you guys," Tim offered.

"The Taylors let you stay in their house, with their daughter? For real?"

"Your mom let me stay in your place with you and Tyra," Tim pointed out.

"Yeah," Mindy guffawed. "That was kinda different."

"Anyway," Tim said loudly, glaring resentfully at Mindy. "We're just friends."

"Good thing," Mindy said, rubbing Jordyn's back. "She's real helpful and everything, but she's always been kind of a snob."

"Kind of? Isn't she heading off to one of those fancy colleges, like Vanderbilt or whatever?"

"She's going to Rice next year," Tim replied, looking down at the crumbs on his plate.

"Well, there you go. Already had one of those blow through you, right little brother? You gotta meet yourself a nice girl from San Antonio State next year."

"Yeah, guess so."

"Come on, Tim," Billy said, smacking a hand on the counter. "Gotta get a move on. Garage won't open itself."

Billy and Mindy disappeared back into the master bedroom, leaving Tim sitting alone at the kitchen counter. He glanced around at the general disarray caused by the morning rush, blowing out a frustrated sigh. He'd been feeling fine this morning until Billy had brought up Julie and college.

He wished everything in life was like fixing cars and trucks: you figure out what's wrong, and then you fix it, and that's all there is to it. That's all there is to it.