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Tina was riding the horse around the property for what seemed like the millionth time today, she was hoping that maybe she could ride until some kind of answer came to her. Still the only thing that came to mind was Bette’s well being. Some days she could still feel the warmth from her tears meeting her face and the sting on her wrists from pulling away from Bette with force. Despite how she still felt Bette was still her friend and she knew how emotional she could get. Tina’s eye was caught by the rise of a cloud of dust following a car heading for her brother’s house. She was all the way down at the end of the property so she rode the horse hard in order to see who it was, plus she liked riding fast, to her it was almost as thrilling as doing over 150 in her brother’s car. Tina raced up fast and saw her father’s 1971 Plymouth Barracuda. She smiled as she thought about all the times her father spent his days off washing and waxing his car, that truly was where Tina and Jackson got their love of old cars. Tina quickly hopped off of the horse and ran towards her dad. He swooped her up and swung her around as he always did.

“Hey Teeny Baby.” his deep voice reverberated in his chest vibrating in his warm hug. His familiar scent of cigars and soft cologne were like a welcome home banner to Tina.

“Mmm, Daddy I missed you so much.” Tina said hanging onto her father a lot longer than she intended to, the emotions were about to overwhelm her when she realized that she did not want to have explain to her military father why all of a sudden she was crying like a baby. She diverted her eyes over towards her mother who was now coming out of the car after hanging up her cell phone.

“Nehemiah! Boy get out here and give yo Daddy a hug, boy.” his loud voice drew Miah outside and into a manly embrace with a handshake combination hug. “Teeny baby where’s the car?”