Smiles watching her walk off with a pep in her step. As he is sitting there waiting a mother with her kid walks in. Tyler stands up.

"Welcome. Anything I can help you find?"

He asks speaking to the mother.

"Yes, I was told you would carry rc helicopters, I am looking for one to keep my son occupied."

Tyler nods.

"We certainly do but I don't think any of them would be proper for a young kid?"

She looks up at him.

"Why would you think that?"

"Because they are actually gas or nitro powered, I carry only the big ones that are very expensive as far as toys go. Mine start out at $400 and can be as much as 8 grand."

The woman looks at him with a shocked look on her face.

"...You're serious, aren't you?"

"Very serious. But if he likes electronics and toy cars and stuff I do have a kids appropriate slot car track. No programming required and just 2 race cars in it. 30 bucks."

She smiles.

"I would love to see that."

He takes her over to the slot cars and pulls out a box with the set in it. She looks around at all the other tracks as well.

"Hold on. $500 for a slot car set?"

"Yeah, it is an actual quarter mile of track length, comes with 8 cars and controllers. You can program the tracker to do announcing and limit the cars speeds and everything like that."

"A slot car that advanced?"

"Yeah, slot cars are something else now, the only thing in common with the old style is the slot."

She looks at the $30 one and nods her head.

"Yeah, I will get this then."

Tyler picks up the set and the boy saying nothing reaches out for the box. Tyler smiles and hands the boy the box, the boy carries it up to the counter and sets it up there waiting for his mom. Tyler walks behind the counter and starts ringing it up.

"Alright, that will be 31.79."

She hands him 41.79. Tyler grabs a 10 out and hands it over to her with the receipt and bags up the set. He hands it over.

"Come again, we have an ever changing line up here."

"Thank you, I will be back some time."

She walks out with her son carrying the bag happily.

In the arts store, Ele was browsing the aisles, holding a model engine in her hand for size comparison. She wanted the get the set just right, and have it be as close to her painting as possible. The cart she was pushing was slowly filling up with bits and pieces she thought she would need until Ele had to convince herself to stop. Going to the counter, Ele charged the amount to her credit card and carried out six bags of supplies. Going back into Tyler's store, Ele huffed when she set everything down by her table,

"I am so happy that you were literally ten feet away! These were heavy!"

She said, kneeling down and unpacking the bags. There was flocking grass, trees, moss, stones...

"And I have another idea, but I need different supplies."

"Oh boy, that is a lot of stuff."

He said with a chuckle.

"But you know, you could have had them call and I could have come over to help."

He looks at her.

"What could you possibly have in mind next?"

"Like I said,"

Ele smiled as she stood up and moved pieces around on the table,

"Literally ten feet. Even my noodle arms can handle that,"

Giggling, Ele flexed her slender right arm. With some of the decorations in place, the table was starting to look fuller and more put together and Ele was feeling more and more excited for how it was shaping up to be. A little while later, Ele went up to the checkout counter and leaned on the cool surface, her hands stained green from the flocking she had been setting,

"So, what's the plan for tomorrow? It's your day off, what do you do to cut loose?"

"Retail therapy."

He says with a smirk then a chuckle.

"We are gonna go shopping for the Miata. Wheels, tires, body kits, see what we can get together."

"Okay, but that's like, you're everyday cutting loose. For you I mean, cars are your hobby. What do you do in the evenings? What does this country boy do to loosen up and shake off the week?"

Ele pressed, raising an eyebrow. If Tyler wasn't going to get the hint, Ele was about to make a giant sign that said,

LET'S GO OUT AND HAVE FUN!

"Well, middle of the week needs that little bump to get you over the hump and to the weekend. I will sometimes hit the bar and have a few drinks or go cruising, try to find a rowdy crowd and kick up some dust on the back roads."

He smirks.

"Somewhere the cops don't usually go and people like to put their cars through their paces."

"Now that sounds more like it!"

Ele cheered, leaning back and nodding. She had been in a fantastic mood all day, and since opening up to Tyler, she didn't feel like she needed to hide anymore. Her fun loving, silly side was coming out, the side very few people got to see.

"I knew you had a bad boy streak in there somewhere!"

"Hey, the fact that I drink and make moonshine didn't say I was a bit of a bad boy already?"

He laughs.

"I am a country boy, I don't always show my wild side but it is definitely there in spades."

He looks over at her and smiles.

"It is just early in the year and we have not many things going down yet. If you came here a month later you would see me in full country boy mode."

"A lot of people drink, and you make moonshine for your car."

Ele quipped back, sticking her tongue out at Tyler.

"So is square-dancing and two-stepping an actual thing for country people, or is that just a stereotype?"

"I don't make it only for my car."

He laughs.

"Well, lots of my family do line dance and two step. Have a good amount of friends that do as well. Especially at mud bogs."

"I've only seen it done on TV, or at fake country bars in the city. Do you not dance then?"

She asked, leaning her elbows on the counter.

"I dance every now and then though if you get half a jar of shine in me, you won't keep me off the dance floor though."

He laughs.

"I heard a song playing one night when I had been drinking quite heavily at a party earlier in the night and started dancing by myself."

Ele laughed, she had never been drunk but she knew what Tyler was talking about,

"There's no shame in that! Sometimes you just have to dance like no one is watching!"

"I had fun. Listening to hick hop and drinking lots of booze."

He laughs.

"One time I was at one of my friends houses and we started drinking bacardi ciclon, it has been discontinued for years but it was rum and blue agave tequila. I knocked off half a bottle in like an hour then went up for a 4th of july fireworks show. I was cracking up at every little thing. I ended up laughing so hard at my friend for something I physically collapsed cuz I couldn't stop laughing."

Rolling her eyes and shaking her head, Ele couldn't imagine being that far gone,

"You're liver is going to call you up one day and tell you it quits. Seriously, no weeks' notice or anything!"

"I don't drink that often, just when I do I make sure I can feel it."

He chuckles.

"But that time I danced alone I had started drinking like 4 hours earlier in the day and was drinking lots of stuff including jello and pudding shots."

Raising her hand, Ele put her thumb to her ear and extended her pinky to her mouth like a phone,

"Hello? Yes, Tyler this is your liver. We haven't talked in a while, and you know, we used to have some real good times. Lately though, you've been really putting me through the ringer and... I think its time we went our separate ways."

She teased and held out her phone hand to Tyler,

"Anything you'd like to say before your liver hangs up?"

"I'm not as think as you drunk I am!"

He yells into her fingers then immediately collapses.

"DO IT AGAIN, BROTHER RUNNIN'!"

Laughing Ele shook her head,

"You're ridiculous!"

She gasped, holding her stomach as it ached from laughing. Taking a breath, Ele calmed herself as another customer walked in,

"Well, I will leave you to it then."

Ele winked at Tyler and turned to go back to her table work.