Mattyboy

Lovely moment with some depth to it re: Alex's feeling about his voice. p.s. what chapter was the pool party referenced here?

Well, you know them better than I do

And they really love "camping." Celia thinks it's booze. Maybe, but there's other stuff can go on while camping that maybe you don't wanna do in Mom's house (or your boss' house. )

It's also still very early days for the story. It's looking to the readers at this point that Joel is going to be Lacey and Colt's foster- brother, but it's not really known to Joel or the household for sure that he's not just Trace's houseguest for a few days. I'm kinda guessing that Davin may have been told NOT to press Joel. The only guess he made was one he was pretty sure wasn't it. I think he may know what guess not to make, and he's politely trying to push this along without doing what he was told NOT to.

That and the crack about Colt and Gavin not showering together adds up to something, I think. One of Colt or the Keplers is bi or curious or something and it's on their minds. Minimally, Davin's stepped up from indifferently friendly to actually friendly.

Nice start. I like the description of the intra-game dynamics and how players sort out by temperament.

There's really not much substantive to go on for Colt so far. Joel has worried that he's upsetting Colt and the Keplers. Colt's done some mild grumbling about being told his schedule's being changed, but hasn't done anything negative to Joel so far. The Keplers have done not much but their interactions seem to be done with a smile of some mild friendliness at each instance. The smiling could be taco-based, but I'd actually go so far as to say I think the Kepler bros think Joel will be good for Colt, but we don't have anything on why. 🌮🌮 😄

That can't be right. Why would she do that to us? @Wildone we may need an intervention here. What's the point of having it all done (and sawn apart and stitched back up) if not to post it?

Tuesday will do just fine. Thank you, ma'am.

There are so many ways this could go. I expect Colt does care a lot for the farm , but can he really be this into fence-maintenance? Feels like he's into being out of the house and getting a chance to hash it out with the Keplers? I'm kinda feeling perhaps Colt is open to Joel but maybe suspicious of what his father is up to, but won't air that at the lunch table. Looking forward to the chapter 7, which is scheduled for when did you say?

I may not feel this way by chapter 40, but these seem to be right-sized portions of the story. One Colt-bros entrance and exit per chapter gives us something to chew on in the comments section while leaving some options and suspense open.

Not being eligible and so not playing in his senior year would definitely jam up Joel's recruiting. Joel self-describes as an "average" student, so no bonus points there. Rich schools are in a different world now in the post-Alston world, but very few baseball players get full scholarships. D1 teams have 11.7 rides they fraction out to the roster; on average D1 baseball players on scholarship get .5 of a full ride (and there's usually a few walk-ons getting nothing). Everyone's always juggling their fractions, and not many places are going to chase players if they can't get to see them play.

Obviously not.

Krista does do a great villain-Mom.

Nailed it! But there's some great lines in the chapters ahead, so do keep reading.

It's much more an issue for the comments-section assessment of Lisa than it's likely to matter for the rest of the story, which I'm guessing is going to involve Joel going to live at the Connley's and find his way through high school with his new foster-brother and the Kepler bros. And the comments-section has already concluded on some pretty solid evidence indeed that Lisa is an awful person and mother. So it's just an add-on that it's Phil's childhood home on the old Benton farm that she's referring to when she snarls that it's her house. I see she uses "why we kicked him out" though.

Oh yeah I see there's a bit on this in chapter 1, although that says Dad bought it from the grandparents that owned it. And of course "it's my house" can be said by someone who expects to be the boss of what goes on inside, whether or not their name is on the deed.

Yet, here we are, living in a world where that doesn't always happen.

It's often a money thing. Lisa claimed that it was her house and Joel says Grandpa used to own the land (but wasn't clear on which Grandpa). Phil might have "married up" and if there's a "my house" vs "our house" dynamic going on, that can change a lot. Yep, it's tiring, and can in fact drive people completely around the bend - and that doesn't matter urban or rural.

Trace's expectations that Mrs Benton would be more reasonable and more motherly than she is were not met. In a fairly awful way - but Trace now knows a lot more (and first hand) about why Joel figured he was done there. But Trace was quite right that having done this, Joel is now not trapped in his own mind by guesses and maybes. He has a LOT more information now about how done he is with his mother, and that Cody and Dad are possible-to-real allies. And Trace established a lot, legally; he's been told by a parent (while the other parent was present) that Joel is thrown out, and he's countered by bringing up child protection law. If Joel's going to go live at Connley farm and go to school over in wherever-land, this had to happen. (and they've gotten Joel's phone and clothes and stuff, which it's become clear will be needed).

Who didn't behave as expected? 1: Joel giving Trace an orientation briefing in the truck seemed like a thing that could have happened. 2: Westley didn't play the "I didn't-know-she'd-go-this-far" card. 3: Cody showed a lot of strength in swimming against the household current (that was foreshadowed, but it wasn't a sure thing). 4: Mr Benton showed weakness, but also that the Missuss' approach isn't his own. That last is quite believable, but I didn't guess at it at all (we didn't have much baseline). 5: Mrs Benton was exactly as crazy as she was the night before, and in front of an adult she didn't know. None of those items are hard to believe, just pointing out there were a lot of variables in how that scene could have gone.

Interesting, not everyone behaved the way I expected. (well, Trace more or less did, I can't tell if he'd actually guessed Mrs Benton's issues or had a short list). Also interesting that you've finally named the places your characters live in. Although it seems Joel's only got a few more minutes in Temp Town.

It's a High Commission(er), Canada can't have an embassy (or an ambassador) to its own head of state.

Cal standing up for himself is an excellent development, though.

Great chapter. I've had a similar experience to Gray's with the photos. Different in every detail, but similar in those traces of history where there actually was some potential and something positive in relationships that later rotted out completely. When you're left wondering why you were so foolish to try to hang on so long, it's healing to be reminded there was actually something there for a while.