As Buck Would Have It

Eugene Meltsner has been up all night inventing a phone app that can control every function of the family car, and Katrina discovers this the hard way when her windshield wipers, sunroof, and heater all switch on by themselves as she drives. She knows exactly what this means: Eugene always goes "inventor crazy" when he is nervous, and today they have a very important meeting. At their lawyer's office, the Meltsners hear wonderful news - the paperwork is ready, and they can finally petition the court to adopt Buck, their foster son. They have not told Buck yet, but they plan to that very night. Then their social worker, Edna Platt, unexpectedly drops in with startling news of her own. After years of fruitless searching, a biological relative of Buck's has surfaced: Candice Fitz-Gibbins, a cousin on his father's side, and she wants to adopt him. Since the agency's priority is placing children with biological family, arrangements will be made for Buck to meet her. Though heartsick, Eugene and Katrina promise to cooperate.

Meanwhile, Buck receives a mysterious text from an unknown number: "Harlanville Times, page 1, 14 years ago today." Since Buck was born in Harlanville, he and his friend Jules dig up the old newspaper in the school library. The front-page story is about his father, Cash Oliver, a thief who drowned in a single-car accident. But one detail stuns Buck: his father was buckled into the passenger seat, and investigators believed a second person had been driving. Buck has never known anything about his history, and he tells Jules that not knowing where you came from is like walking around with no ground beneath you. Jules agrees to help him investigate.

That evening, Buck comes home to talk to Eugene and overhears part of a conversation - Eugene remembering how he was fostered by a family for ten years who never once mentioned adoption, and saying that some people foster without ever feeling bonded. Buck slips away before hearing the rest, convinced that Eugene and Katrina do not want to adopt him. "I don't really need anyone anyway," he tells himself. He never hears what Eugene says next: that his own experience is irrelevant, because he and Katrina love Buck and want him in their family. They decide to tell Buck the next day over his favorite meal. Eugene also confesses he has researched Candice, who works at a diner near Harlanville, and the two talk themselves into a "coincidental" shopping trip that just happens to end with lunch there.

The next morning, Buck and Jules travel to Harlanville, where newspaper editor Walter Greentree remembers Cash Oliver vividly - because Cash's job interview was the only one ever interrupted by an arrest. In a flashback, Cash pleads for honest work, explaining that his wife is expecting a baby and he wants to turn over a new leaf, just as Sheriff Adam Stone arrives to arrest him for driving a stolen car to the interview. At the sheriff's office, Buck introduces himself, and Stone is amazed to see his old friend's son, declaring that Buck looks just like his dad. The sheriff reveals that only weeks earlier he found a key to a storage unit full of Cash's belongings, which he has moved to his garage. He invites Buck to come see it all the next morning, giving directions to his hidden driveway out past an abandoned gas station.

At the diner, Eugene and Katrina discover their waitress is Candice herself - warm, cheerful, and kind. A flustered Eugene panics and orders a biscuits and gravy burger. When Candice returns Eugene's forgotten credit card, she reads his name and realizes exactly who they are. Instead of being upset, she graciously thanks them for caring for Buck, explains that she and Buck's father were close as children, and promises she will be good to the boy and give him a good life. Driving home, Katrina admits she has to trust God to place Buck in whatever home is best for him, even if it is not theirs - but she was not prepared for Candice to be so likable. Shaken, she asks, "Did we just meet Buck's new mom?"