He turns his attention to her daughter, focusing his eyes and his gaze on her - green on blue - then he glances at her father.

"It's all right," he murmurs quietly, nodding his head once before he addresses the young woman. "I didn't go into minin' because I couldn't stand the thought of bein' stuck underground, workin' down in the dark all day. You go down there and it's the same thing, day in, day out."

He pauses a moment.

"I like the way each day outside's different, be it the weather or the folk workin' next to you, or the cattle you're loadin' into the pens, it's different every day. Fresh. It ain't stale and dark, because it's always changin'. I like that too much to ever consider goin' underground like my daddy did."

Jay nods, once, respectfully, after finishing the answer to her question.