Walker

Hey. Hey.

Went by The Side Step. Yeah, it's pretty early.

Not open yet?

I'm about to head over.

Uh, just been looking at vendors.

Yes, I know.

I'm the one who said I wanted to get back to normal,

and I know that-that running this place

is the best way to do it.

But turns out there's, like,

an art form to this whole

running a business thing.

Look, I'm...

I'm worried about you.

Liam... I'm worried about you.

I'm doing better, I just...

We all need to recover after what happened.

It was a lot to take.

Yeah. And a lot to lose.

But, I mean, the kids are finally going

back to school, and you're sitting here listening

to a police scanner or...?

No, that-that's, uh, just a baseball game.

Yeah? Yeah.

Who's playing?

Okay, I get it.

Look...

I'm just saying

you chose to turn in your badge. Mm-hmm.

To take a breather.

And it just feels like you're not

really breathing.

I am breathing. I'm breathing.

I mean, this morning, I did yoga with Stella

right there... it was very, very cleansing.

Okay. Yeah.

If you can keep your mind occupied

on something other than solving a crime

for one day, then I'll believe you.

Prove it.

Are you serious?

A-A-A Rubik's cube?

You just happened to have this on you?

No, I got my old one from Augie's room.

He doesn't think that you can do it, by the way.

Good luck.

Wow. Hey.

This is not at all what I thought

this place would look like once you took over.

I was expecting, um

customers.

To what do I owe the honor, Ramirez?

Some case you need help with?

A witness... you want to crack?

Uh, maybe, a piece of evidence you need to link to someone?

Breakfast. Breakfast?

Trey still out of town? Yep.

He's visiting family. How did you know?

Well, you're up a lot earlier than usual.

And he and I text a lot. His mom says hi,

by the way. Yeah, I should've gone

with him, but navigating moms is still a sore subject for me.

Oh, I thought you reached out to your

uh, to Mercedes.

Yes, I did call

my runaway, drug addict birth mother.

But I left a message saying

we actually had met before.

You think she knew it was you that day?

No. Adriana told me

that she lied about her being her therapist

because she saw a Ranger and got spooked

and was just trying to cover up the whole DWI mess.

Yeah. Anyways, I don't even want to talk to either of them.

Wow, okay, uh... Well, what?

She's right behind you. Good morning.

Someone at the station told me maybe I could find you here.

You know what, I'm gonna go ahead

and make us a cup of coffee.

You need to believe how sorry I am, Nina.

Micki.

My name is Micki.

And you had 30 years to say that.

So if you can't offer me

one good reason why it took you so long to be sorry,

for basically selling me to your sister and never coming back.

I don't think this conversation can go anywhere.

That's fair.

I was expecting you to greet me with four stones in hand.

"Four stones in hand"?

It's an expression.

It means that you're already prepared for attack,

even if you don't know that you're gonna be threatened.

You used to say that.

I used to say that, when? When I was three years old?

Not you. I mean, at the time, I thought it was you.

A few years ago, I was clean and looking for you.

I found someone who told me that they were my daughter.

And I believed them.

Turns out I was being scammed.

Micki, that's why she wanted to see you.

To make sure it wasn't happening again.

I'm sorry, don't you have a kitchen to clean?

Not until I hire a cook.

Okay, I don't know what you want from me,

but I am not the person to help you get it, okay?

So good luck trying to fool whoever else

you want with this story.

Please, stay.

Now that sounds like something

three-year-old me would've said to you.

Do not get in the middle of this.

Uh...

No Attenborough today?

: If they walk 16% slower,

the Walker siblings may be able to skip first period as a whole.

I know.

I can't handle having to explain to people again

why they should feel sorry for us.

Not when the last thing I want them to actually be is sorry.

No one's gonna get it, except you and me.

But

if you ever want to talk...

I don't.

But, hey,

on the bright side, uh, at least being invisible

to the entire school will finally work to my advantage.

Stella, oh, my God! Tell us everything.

You poor thing. I can't believe you're back in school already.

Mm.

Augie, how are you?

August!

You're so brave.

Do you need anything?

You know my name? Of course I do.

Maybe I'll find you after class.

Suddenly I'm brave.

Oh, come on, it's better than "oh, his mom died"

or "it's that quiet A/V guy we keep on referring to as 'Arlo'"

"for whatever reason." Hey, not everybody calls you Arlo.

Look, our life has screwed us up so many times, all right?

Why not take advantage of just one tragic thing?

: Don't get involved.

You know the rules, Cordell.

Do not get involved.

Okay.

Hey.

Didn't mean to scare you. I just...

You all right

in there? I'm-I'm fine. Thank you.

Okay.

Ma'am, just a concerned citizen here. That's all.

Um, can you tell me anything

about the person who scammed you?

She said her name was Nina Ruiz.

Or he said. I mean, it could've been anyone.

"Could've been anyone"? Uh, didn't you two meet?

All we did was write letters to each other.

But things were good between us. What was their angle?

I mean, there are easier ways to find a pen pal.

One day, Nina or whoever they were

reached out asking for money for a surgery.

I sent her what I had

and never heard from her again.

Eventually,

I drove down there.

But the place was empty.

Wow. That must have been painful.

It didn't last long. I numbed it.

Yeah. Years of sobriety

gone in a second.

Didn't even tell the cops.

I mean, what's the rush in helping

a low-income addict with no evidence?

Well, the letters would be evidence.

I burned them all.

Not my smartest move,

but you probably understand by now

that I wasn't thinking straight.

I get it. Um, you know what?

I'm gonna take your case.

Except let's not call it a "case"

since I can't officially be on a case.

It's-it's my decision. Don't worry about it.

But let's just call it a "personal favor... quest"

just in case your daughter asks.

Which she will.

Eventually. Um...

Tell me.

What's the mailing address?

Stop! Hands where I can see them!

Randall. Yeah. Walker?

Hey!

What in the hell are you doing here?

Stretching. You know?

Sightseeing. Uh... I'm in the market.

This how you greet me?

Well, we had a complaint next door, and then I saw you

hopping the fence. Yeah, j-just a

a series of unfortunate events. Uh...