Chapter 12
The clinic was almost over and everyone had thoroughly enjoyed doing the join-ups. The lads had all been engaging well in the clinic and all seemed to be going well. The lads were engaging in a last chance Q&A with Amy so she could answer any more of their questions before she left.
"So, do you think that my horse will start listening to me properly now?" Paul asked.
"Well… yes but you can't take the trust you have for granted. It works both ways, you need to ensure you are calm and not allow yourself to keep things bottled up because your horse will sense your anxieties and troubles, so you can't basically just do a join up today and it all be okay every time. There will be some days that it's not going to go well. But if there ever are any days like that, just think to yourself 'what am I doing differently' because 9 times out of 10, it's the rider, not the horse that is having difficulties," Amy explained.
"Thanks, that makes a lot of sense," Paul replied.
"Any more questions for Amy?" Dave asked the group, and everyone shook their head, "Alright then, that's us done then. Thank you, Amy, for everything you have done. Also to you, Ty – thank you for coming down to help out with everything."
"Yeah, it really has been great. Right boys, its back to work after lunch, so you need to go and put your horses away and make your way over to the dining hall," Dave instructed them.
The lads all said their goodbyes and took their horses back to the back field and Ant took Spartan back to the barn.
"You two are more than welcome to stay for some lunch if you want?" Marge asked, as her, Dave, Amy and Ty walked back over to the office.
"Thank you for the offer, but we have said we would go to the café near our hotel," Amy replied, "Are you sure it's okay to leave the horses over here one more night? I know it's last minute and all?"
"Yeah, it's fine! They don't cause any bother. What time do you think you'll be round tomorrow to pick them up?" Marge asked.
"Erm, we have to be out the place around 11, so it will probably be around 11:30, if that's okay?" Amy replied.
"Yeah that's fine, we will all be here and around so if we aren't in the office, we will probably be in the shop or the barn," Dave replied, opening the door to the office for everyone to walk in.
Everyone sat down and Marge said, "Wow, I am so glad we heard about you. You have managed to help us so much! I can't believe you managed to get through to Ant. You, Ty, managed to get the Ant that me and Dave knew was inside there to come out of his shell. I know we still have a long way to go – but I think we are getting there."
"It's no problem, I just remember being in the same kind of place that he is in, so I kind of understand how he feels. I never really knew who I was or what I was going to do with my life until I got to heartland. Which was a place where I thought I was just going to go, do my time and leave. Kinda glad I didn't because god knows where I would end up. I just hope Ant manages to get through all this, he went through a lot but with the right kind of people behind him, like you two, I'm sure he will do well. He just needs to believe in himself," Ty replied, "I'll probably speak to him tomorrow before we leave properly, just to make sure he's okay – which I'm sure he is. Also, just to see if he has any questions or anything about everything."
"That's a lovely idea, thank you so much. I'm sure Ant will appreciate it. I know we both do, this is one of the reasons we opened this place to begin with, just to help people and I'm glad we are doing that," Dave replied, "so you said you would be here just after 11 tomorrow?"
"Yeah, if that's okay?" Amy replied.
"That's fine, we will all probably still be here anyway. Like I said before there will always be someone around here. I'll have the lads sort the horses out in the morning for you," Dave said.
"Alright, we shall see you tomorrow," Ty said standing up and shaking Marge and Dave's hands.
"Yep, see you both," Marge replied as Dave went and got the door.
Ty and Amy walked over to their truck and set off back to the town centre, where they were staying.
"So, for our lunch, I don't want much seeing as we are out again tonight. What do you suggest we do after lunch?" Ty asked as he pulled out of the entrance to the ranch.
"Yeah, I'm the same," Amy replied, "as for after our lunch, I think we could just explore the town and see what there is. Maybe go for a walk in the woodlands? I know we do that a lot when we are at the trailer but I really enjoy it."
Ty smiled, "Yeah, so do I. It's going to be a busy couple of months so we probably won't be able to get much time together like this until, well, after we're married!" He laughed, "wow that sounds so weird!"
"Oh, so the thought of being married to me is weird, eh?" Amy teased.
Ty laughed, "Oh come off it, you know what I meant. Just the fact that when we are married we will be able to just be ourselves, do what we want and stuff. Plus, we won't have to say goodbye to each other every night, we will just have to say good night, instead."
Amy turned to him and smiled, "Now that does sound exciting," she replied, "Thank you, again, for coming with me for this clinic."
"Amy it's no problem, I had to use up my holidays with Scott anyway before the end of the year, and I couldn't think of a better way to spend them. Me and you, on a road trip down to a clinic, alone," he laughed.
"I sense the 'alone' was stressed there, I would have thought you would have wanted my dad, or grandpa, to come down with us? I mean, they did offer plenty of times," She teased.
"Yeah, I'm sure that would have been ever so fun… you, in a room of your own and me sharing with jack. Or even worse, your dad. Yeah, erm no. I much prefer it this way!" He laughed, "besides if one of those two came down, we wouldn't have been able to wrangle an extra night here! We would have wanted to go back straight away rather than spend more time down here. Sooooo I think this way, is much better."
"Yeah, I prefer this way too," She replied as they pulled into the hotel car park.
When they parked up, they both got out and began walking down to the café, hand in hand.
Once inside the café, they both took a seat in a corner near the back and started reading the menus, "Hmm, there's so much to choose from," Amy observed, "I don't think I want anything too much, seeing as we are out tonight… so, I think I'll just have a cheese and onion toastie with a portion of chips. What are you going to have?"
"I'm going to have the BBQ chicken panini with a side of chips, like you say, we don't want to be eating too much between now and dinner. Do you want a chocolate milkshake, too?" He asked as he went to get up, "I'll go and order."
"Yes please," Amy replied.
"Okay; I'll be back in a minute," he said as he went over to the counter and waited to be served.
"Back again, I see? Was this morning's breakfast just too good?" The waitress asked.
"Yeah, something like that," Ty laughed, "We have decided to stay another night so you'll probably see us tomorrow morning before we set off back up to Hudson."
"Sounds good, right what can I get ya?" She asked. Ty gave her the order as she entered the items into the till, "Okay, that's $15.72."
Ty grabbed a 20 out of his wallet and handed it over, "Keep the change," he said.
"Thank you, I will be over with your drinks once I've served this man," she said as Ty walked back over to the table.
Ty and Amy sat and talked about anything and everything during their lunch, they really were enjoying the fact that they were having some much-needed time together after the few months that they spent apart.
Once they had finished their lunch, the waitress came over to clear the plates, "Do you have any plans for this afternoon?" She asked.
"No, nothing set in stone. We were just going to go for a walk round town and maybe in the woods," Ty replied.
"Well, there's this neat little market about a 10 minute drive from here, it has loads of little shops and stalls full of stuff. It's worth a look if You're interested. It's only open 2 days a week, today and Saturdays." She informed them.
"That sounds good, what do you think, Ty? We can get some stuff for Katie and Georgie? Oh, and Lou seeing as we have been messing her about all day," Amy laughed.
"Yeah, that does sound good, thanks for the information! We would have never found it otherwise," Ty said as they both got up.
"It's no problem, right, if I don't see you tomorrow, have a good drive back home," The waitress said.
Ty and Amy said their goodbyes and walked out to the truck and jumped in.
"Okay, so the market?" Ty asked.
"Yeah, it sounded pretty sweet, plus it's something for us to do, isn't it. I'm sure we can find some gifts for people… We should get Lou something because we have messed her around a lot this week," Amy laughed.
"Yeah," Ty laughed, "We really have. Right then, belt up and let's get going."
They both put their belts on, and Amy plugged her phone into the radio and put some music on.
Once they reached the market, they got out and looked around. It was such a lovely place, there were stalls full of food, which was Amy's favourite, there were tack stalls, jewellery stalls and toy stalls.
"Wow, this place is amazing," Amy said, taking a bite of her apple pie.
Ty laughed, "Yeah, it really is. I take it you're enjoying that pie then?" He asked as she took the last spoonful.
"Oh, I'm sorry, did you want a bite?" She asked, as she threw the paper plate in the bin.
"No, it's fine. Besides, it's a little late now," He joked, taking her hand, "So, who's present should we get now? We have a stuffed horse for Katie, a belt buckle for Georgie, a fridge magnet for Lisa – although it will probably just go on the fridge at the ranch, a new Swiss army knife for Jack which is identical to his old one that is falling apart, as to not cause too much "change", so we only really need something for Lou and your dad..." Ty sighed.
"Why my dad?" Amy asked.
"Well, he did lend us his truck for these couple of days… so it's only nice, really. Plus, I need to keep him in my good books! I do not want to turn out like Peter "the general" Morris!" He exclaimed.
Amy tried to hide her laugh, "Alright, alright. Well, why don't we get dad a new belt or a shirt from that stall over there?"
"You know your dad better than I do," Ty replied, "It's up to you what we get him though."
"Okay, let's just go with a shirt – you can never go wrong with one of those. Plus, these ones," She said, pointing to a selection of shirts, "Are on sale, 25% off… Who's the real winner here then?" she laughed.
"Obviously, us. Right let's hurry up here and get back to the hotel so we can start getting ready for tonight," Ty said.
The pair of them looked through the shirts and finally found one that they thought Tim'd like, so they quickly paid and made their way back to the car.
The ride home was peaceful, with just the radio for some background noise, Amy caught herself staring at Ty. She was so happy that they'd managed to put things from the past few months behind them and carry on as normal. This trip had helped them get back to their usual selves, she really couldn't imagine life without him.
Ty caught her staring out of the corner of his eye, "You know I can see you staring at me, right?" He smirked.
"I don't care, you know, I really couldn't imagine my life without you. I love you," she smiled.
Ty took her hand that was on the arm rest in the middle and smiled, "I love you too, I really couldn't imagine my life without you, either."
They pulled up in the hotel car park and parked up, Ty leant over and gave her a kiss before getting out. They walked hand in hand over to the entrance of the hotel and made their way to the room.
"Okay, so we have a few hours before we absolutely need to start getting ready, do you want to watch a film or something?" Ty asked as he sat down on the bed and kicked off his shoes.
Amy yawned, "Yeah, I think that sounds good, although I bet I will fall asleep so it may be best we set an alarm?"
"Yeah, good idea," Ty replied and set the alarm on his phone, "So what film do you want to watch?"
"Erm, I think we should ditch the film, I am honestly way too tired to think about what to watch, just put the comedy channel on," She said, getting into bed.
Ty lay down beside her and opened his arms up for her, he too was extremely tired, their late night talk by the river and his early rise had really taken it out of him, "Oh Amy, I'm sorry for keeping you up last night," He sighed.
"There is nothing to be sorry about! You are going through a hard time, and I am just glad I am here to help you through it," She explained, "Just don't try and do it alone, you know I'm always here for you."
"I know, and that is one of the million and one reasons as to why I love you," He replied and kissed her forehead, "Come on, let's see what's on the telly." He said, grabbing the remote and turning over the channel to one of the comedy channels. They both lay there, watching the TV and they weren't even 10 minutes into a program when Ty realised that Amy had fallen asleep, he smiled at her and kissed her forehead and turned the telly off. He lay back and held her tighter, just having her in his arms, made him feel like he was well and truly the luckiest guy in the world.
AN: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Sorry for the long wait, to be honest I'm surprised I managed to get one done this week. I have 6 weeks left of my degree and in that time I have to write a 10k dissertation, a 2.5k essay and do two presentations, so unfortunately I doubt I will have any chance to write anything until after that. So It could be an even longer wait than it was for this one.
