Missing Each Other

At 5:00 am, the sun started peaking over the foothills and in a few minutes, Amy was stirred awake by sunshine streaming in her window. She quickly pulled on some work jeans, started a pot of coffee in the kitchenette, and went downstairs to clean out stalls and feed and water the Arabians. This routine was something other people found mundane, but Amy treasured from her Alberta horse ranch.

As Amy thought of her life at Heartland, she lost herself to memories of the past several years since her mom had passed on and Ty had come to become a huge part of her life.

As Amy stared into the mountain scenery, her focus drifted to memories specific to Ty coming back to Heartland last fall, his maturity in letting Amy find her way to trust again. Amy thought of the lawsuit during Thanksgiving and how she had felt like a failure. Ty had not given up and had let her steal a kiss at her lowest point last winter.

A noise startled Amy. Instinctively she said, "Ty?"

"No, its just me", said Brigitta. Confused at first, Brigitta remembered the name Ty and asked Amy, "Were you daydreaming a bit about home?"

Embarrassed at letting her thoughts be spoken out loud, Amy said, "I'm sorry. My mind is wondering a bit this morning."

"Looks like chores are under control here. Want to change clothes for school? And how about we grab breakfast at Vern's at the canyon road exit, before heading over to CSU for classes?"

"Vern's", Amy asked quizzically.

"Vern's... well, its a bit of a tourist trap restaurant and gift shop along the highway to Laramie, Wyoming, but they have great giant cinnamon rolls."

"Sound great... let's take our coffee to go", said Amy as she headed to cleanup.

Amy and Brigitta got changed for the school day, grabbed their coffee mugs, books and backpacks. They hopped into the SUV and drove down the mountain canyon road through Bellevue and over the Poudre River to arrive at Vern's. After enjoying the giant cinnamon rolls with their coffee, they headed down Taft Road toward CSU.

At Heartland, Ty and Caleb worked to muck out the stalls, feed and water the horses, and exercise the horses. Ty even tried a join up with a new horse - Raven. Ty's technique was improving as he recalled Amy's teaching him the process over the years.

Raven did finally join with Ty in the center of the paddock. Ty knew Amy would have been proud to see him complete another join up. Working with Amy was much more rewarding than doing things alone. Ty missed Amy, though she had been away less than a week.

"You know Ty, I can help out more here, as the rodeo circuit does not start up again until this fall", said Caleb.

"Thanks man! Jack and I have been pretty strapped with work. Its great Tim decided to stay and work the cattle ranch and Soraya and Lou have the dude ranch in hand. But the work is never-ending", noted Ty.

"Maybe you can get away for a trip to Colorado and see Amy this summer?" Caleb knew his friend Ty was crazy for the Heartland horse whisperer girl.

Ty sighed, "When would that be? Jack has work for me until the winter freezes the ranch over. A road trip of 1000 miles is no small matter. Besides, I do not want to mess up Amy's summer school... her chance to be away and learn... to be away from me.

"Ty, do you really think... I mean do you really feel Amy would not love to see you? Caleb waited for an answer, but it did not come from Ty.

Hey, don't give up on the idea, OK?" said Caleb.

"Maybe... but it's not happening anytime soon, if at all", said Ty dejectedly as he continued to work.

Dean Richards and his wife Ann were enjoying morning coffee on the front porch of their mountain home, located in the meadows up the canyon about 3 miles from Brigitta's horse stables.

"Did I tell you I saw Brigitta to deliver hay last evening? Seems she has a new student / stable hand - a sweet gal by the name of Amy Fleming."

"That is good to hear; Brigitta always needs a hand with her horses and her last fellow left her in a lurch and on bad terms."

"Yes, well perhaps we can have them over for supper some evening..."

"I'll try to make it a point to invite them this week."

"Great... well, I have work this morning, then back to hay making this afternoon. Those pine beetle trees that are dead need to be removed in the next couple months. And we need to spray the trees we don't want the beetles to spread too. There are times I wish I had some extra help."

Ann said, "If you could use my help, dear... I'll be ready when you get home."

"Yeah, right." was the reply with a smile.