Wade returned to the Gallatin Valley for senior year at Belgrade High after a summer in the sticks, and when Madeline walked under the flashing lights of the ’06 Homecoming Dance, time slowed. He had to meet her. Instead, he spent the night posturing and peacocking around the dancefloor hoping she’d take note. But on the drive down the dirt road home, he was lost in his headlights. He couldn’t wait for the bell on Monday to elbow his way through the throngs of backpack-wielding juniors and sophomores down to freshman hall to find her at her locker. After a nervous introduction, he asked her to lunch. She’d have to ask her parents and would get back to him. He was not accustomed to girls with such custom. The next day Madeline fought her way through backpacks to senior hall to confidently inform Wade that her parents had denied her request to ride around in a car with a senior boy. It turns out her father and mother too had been in high school and Nate had been the type of guy who spent most of his time like Wade - in the woods hunting and fishing, and the rest of his time racing cars and chasing Sue. Sue told Madeline, “If it’s meant to be it will be. Maybe you’ll run into each other again in ten years. Who knows.” Ten years later, Madeline returned to the Gallatin Valley to prep for veterinary school with an animal science degree from Oklahoma State and job experience from San Antonio. She saw on social media that Wade was back after school in Pennsylvania and a law degree from Montana and was now working with his father running their fly fishing lodge. She reached out suggested they get a drink sometime. Not fully understanding the significance of his situation, Wade got out of the mountains later than expected from elk hunting and called to postpone their date. Madeline’s sweet but stern reply? “I don’t do rainchecks.” He shaved, dug out clean clothes, and drove to Bozeman to get them a seat at the Bacchus Pub. When she walked in their worlds changed forever.