she watched as her son went away with his nanny, smiling as she had finally some time for herself and quickly went to the nearest booth that sold some drinks, buying a bottle of beer - might as well treat herself one while she’s here. taking a sip from it, lili texted jake to meet her up at the barrel racing place and then put her phone back in her pocket before making her way over to it. they had agreed to meet up even if it was not for a long time, since she came to the rodeo with javi and maybe that’s why she had decided to doll herself up a little bit instead of her original plan: bare-faced with a cowboy hat covering half of her face. smiling at the familiar faces passing by her, she finally arrived at their meeting point and took another good swing from her beer, glancing around, fighting the urge to take a quick smoke to calm down her nerves somehow.

“Stef!” Jake greets his friend with a large smile on his face, wrapping him into a warm hug before he pulls away and strikes a pose to show off his newest purchase — a brand new cowboy hat. “So, how do I look? Does this make me look better or it’s just not for me? Because I personally think I look fine as hell.” He chuckles. The perks of not having to look after his daughter was that Jake was able to enjoy a few more beers than his usual limit which meant he was most definitely tipsy by now. “That brings me to question: why aren’t you wearing a cowboy hat right now?”