When Bryce closed the door of one of his stalls, he looked at the horse inside, settling in, with whom he had just worked with earlier that day. Never would he have imagined that he would be homing Maverick later that night for the time being.
Next to him, Mitch slid the latch close and sighed. He felt embarrassed to be here, but he had not known who else to call in such short notice.
"You good?" Bryce asked.
"Yeah, I just... I'm sorry about this", Mitch apologized, squeezing the lead in his hand.
"I was talking to the horse, but might as well ask you the same thing", Bryce said, lingering by the door to make sure the horse would be fine for the night. This was a strange new environment after all and some horses found changes extremely stressful, and he didn't know Maverick well enough to know if he was one of them. "You gonna tell me why you interrupted me getting ready for my beauty sleep so I could haul your horse here? - You didn't pay the rent, or what?"
"Wish it was that simple..." Mitch said, looking after his horse. "Let's just say I was evicted. Figured that meant I would better take Maverick with me as well. Not sure if I'm even welcomed back there anymore, so..."
"Well, shit", Bryce said candidly. "Now you got my interest. What did you do? Should I be worried about getting bunch of cops around here too?"
"No, nothing like that", Mitch wanted him to know he wasn't going to bring any trouble with him. "I don't even really want to know if I want to get into it... It's been a long day." He dragged his palm across his face, stretching its skin from tiredness.
"Okay. As long as you're not getting me involved with something bad, maybe I don't need to know", Bryce gave him some space, seeing the distraught on his face. "But maybe you'd feel better after talking about it."
Mitch hummed. "Now you sound like a therapist."
"Well, technically I am", Bryce said, smirking.
"Touché", Mitch replied, feeling like around Bryce, he could get a breather. The man knew no one was perfect and everyone needed time to deal with their problems. It was a blessing to have such a friend. "I'm not using your hospitality for too long. Just until I figure another place to park my truck and trailer. You were the only place I could think this fast that has a stall for Maverick too."
"Yeah, no worries. I can spare a stall - and a little piece of land for your trailer", Bryce said, moving out from the barn. "Let me show you where you can park it so you can get some rest."
"Thanks, I really appreciate it", Mitch said.
"Don't worry about it", Bryce comforted. "I'll figure a way for you to pay me back", he added cheekily.
Something about Bryce's way of making light of everything was a thing Mitch needed right now. It wasn't as if the man couldn't take things seriously - he definitely could - but he knew when to play up that trait of his, and this was one of those times. It helped Mitch break out a little from the mood he was in and give a little room for hope. Maybe everything wasn't going to end up in shambles.
"I'm sure you will..." Mitch hummed.
At Heartland, Amy was brushing her teeth and looking herself from the mirror after she had cleaned her mouth with water and placed the toothbrush in the glass next to the sink.
She looked pale and her eyes appeared empty. Like there was no emotion behind them. It almost scared her. Is this how she really looked? How long had she looked like this? When was the last time she had really stopped and thought how she looked or - more importantly - felt?
Felt anything else than numbness? Sadness? Despair?
Well, what was there to feel happy about, she thought as she walked out from the bathroom and flicked off the lights. Besides Lyndy, of course, she added when she looked at the girl sleeping in her bed. She stopped by her and brushed her blonde curly hair.
Is this how Mom had felt? Amy thought to herself. When Dad had left and she was spiraling into the darkness, not knowing what the future would hold - for neither her or for the family?
Had she stopped by her and Lou's beds at night and found her strength in them, without neither of them knowing? And in the morning, after a long sleepless night, did she put on the brave face like it was her make-up routine and continued to work until the hurt wouldn't hurt so much anymore?
Amy couldn't recall any time she would have seen Marion unhappy. Her days had been usually spent around horses anyway, and around them, she couldn't have been miserable no matter how much she would have tried. Still, as far as Amy remembered, Marion had not been depressed after her divorce, but maybe she had always just been good at hiding it. Or maybe a kid her age couldn't have picked those signs from her behavior since she had had no experience about being divorced. But now... she definitely saw things in a whole new light. She no longer knew if Marion had spent hours upon hours at this barn because there was always so much work to do or because it had been her escape.
Amy sighed and walked over to her side of the bed, even though it didn't even matter anymore, because there was only one person sleeping in it in the first place.
Lyndy and horses.
That was what had gotten her this far and that was what would pull her through too. Just like mom. Her daughters and horses. It was like a blessing Mom had bestowed upon her by living on a ranch like this and giving her the experience she had with horses.
As she pulled the cover on her, Amy felt as content as she did with loneliness. It was just easy to get under it and feel like nothing could hurt her there.
At least that's what she kept telling herself.
The next morning, Lisa and Lou were driving to the Dude Ranch to take the guests their breakfasts and new towels. By now, Lisa knew she could do it alone, and tried to tell that to Lou as well, but the younger woman had insisted coming along anyway when she had noticed Lisa putting the boxes ready. Lisa knew that for Lou it wasn't just about helping her out, but seeing how the business had been taken care of during her absence and more importantly, if Mitch had actually left the lot like she had told him to.
While driving, Lisa couldn't help but feel like this was maybe an opportunity for her to warm up Lou to the idea that she could take over the business completely since Lou was planning to go and move to New York altogether. The more Lisa spent time at Fairfield, at the office, away from the outside and horses, the more she realized the time to change things was now. The only thing that held her back from directly suggesting the business proposal for Lou was not knowing how this new development with Mitch was going to play out. She didn't want to seem like a vulture who would take advantage of the unfortunate situation, but the thought of this whole thing had come to her even before she had known about Lou's situation and the Mitch twist. She would hate to let go of the dream now only because of something she had no control over.
Lisa was hoping to prove that when Lou would see the place, she would be impressed how well organized everything was and how Lisa had taken care of things. Maybe then introducing the idea would come easier.
"Okay, so you take the breakfast to cabin one and two, and I can handle the cabin three", Lou laid out the orders, and Lisa felt like the position of the cabin three definitely played a part in why Lou insisted taking care of them. The cabin had a clear view to the spot where Mitch had kept his trailer and it would give Lou a sneaky opportunity to make sure the man was no longer around.
"Sure, sounds good", Lisa just replied with a smile as she didn't really care how they would handle this anyway. She was here to serve all and any of the guests.
When Lisa parked her car and stepped out, she could see Lou eyeing the area as if to look for things to complain about. Even though she tried hard not to, Lisa couldn't help but feel discouraged. She liked to think that she had taken care of the place the best to her capabilities and during her absence when Jack had been in the hospital, Mitch had taken good care of the place, its horses and the guests as well. For her eyes, there really was nothing to complain, but for Lou it could be about splitting hairs.
Lisa brushed up a smile onto her face as she started making her way to the first cabin with the breakfast delivery. Meanwhile, Lou grabbed one of the boxes with the breakfast from the backseat and tossed towels around her arm before she made her way to the cabin number three. Much to her disappointment, the path to each cabin was taken care of and there was no danger of slipping. Of course usually this was a good thing, it was exactly what she wanted, but in a way she had hoped there had been at least something she could pin on Mitch.
As she knocked on the door, Lou leaned back to scan the spot where Mitch usually kept his trailer. He noticed it was gone and there were tire marks in the partly-melted snow which told her that he was gone. While she felt relieved, she also felt bitter and sad that it had come to this. Hardworking people were hard to find, and she had been fortunate to have Mitch still working at this place even after their split.
When the door to the cabin opened, a middle-aged man looked at her with a curiosity. "Oh, you're new", he commented, smiling in a friendly manner and looked at the box. "That must be the breakfast."
"Yes. Good morning", Lou said, handing it over and trying to focus the task at hand. "Actually, I'm the owner of this place, Lou Fleming. I'm just here visiting from New York and I wanted to personally welcome you here and make sure everything's been taken care of during your stay."
"Absolutely. No complaints from us", the man said, looking at the box. "This is the vegetarian version, right?" he checked since a new person serving could leave room for mistakes.
"Uh, yeah, I'm sure it is", Lou replied but not knowing it for sure since Lisa had packed the breakfasts. She did, however, have full trust that if Lisa had done her job correctly, it would be the vegetarian version the guests had most likely ordered to be served for them when they had booked their stay.
"Excellent", the man said with a pleased tone.
"Here's some extra towels", Lou handed them over.
"Great, thanks. I'm sure we'll be needing them when we are done with that trail ride of ours. Something tells me a warm shower is needed after that", the man chatted, laughing lightly at the end of his sentence.
"Trail ride...?" Lou echoed.
"Yeah, the one we are supposed to have in..." the man talked, checking his watch, "in about two hours. My wife and I have been looking forward to it for days now. It's all she's been talking about. She would really love to see some wildlife. I've been telling her not to get her hopes up, but you know..."
"Oh, yes, that", Lou said, as if she was just recalling what the man was referring to, but inside she was panicking; she had not known about any trail ride. The problem was, the trail boss, Mitch, was now fired and she had gotten Amy upset too. Jack was out of the question since he would have to rest, so she really only had her dad and Caleb to ask. But that would require some arranging on her part. "I'm sure those towels will come handy after that. Anyway. Enjoy your breakfast - and your stay!" Lou grinned so wide it almost hurt her cheeks. She hoped the man would not see the desperation behind her eyes.
"Thanks", the man said, waving his hand and then closing the door behind him.
As Lou turned around, the grin dropped and she was already pulling out her cellphone from her pocket. She looked up Tim's number and called.
"Hey, honey. How are you feeling?" Tim answered the phone not too long after. He was still worrying about Lou's emotional response to whatever Mitch had done yesterday to upset her.
"Hey. I'm fine. Listen, I need to ask you a favor", Lou said.
"What is it?"
"Would it be possible for you to be a trail boss for couple of Dude Ranch guests in couple of hours?" Lou said, holding her breath as she waited the response.
"I would, but... I have the scan today, remember?" Tim said at the other end. "In fact, I'm on my way to the hospital right now."
The words "scan" and "hospital" weren't exactly something Lou liked hearing, especially after Jack's recent heart attack."The scan...?"
"The one where they make sure everything's still okay in my brain", Tim reminded. "The follow-up to my surgery."
"Oh, right... That", Lou now remembered. "Sorry, I forgot it was today."
"I will let you know what they say", Tim promised, knowing Lou would worry. "So I guess this means Mr. Cutty is out of the picture now then."
"It's not official yet, but I'm not planning to bring him back, no", Lou replied. "But it leaves me in an awkward situation where I have guests eagerly waiting for a trail ride but I have no trail boss."
"Why don't you ask Amy?" Tim suggested.
"I would but..." Lou said, but remembering Tim didn't know the whole story and she didn't want to upset him now, especially before his brain scan. "She's not available", she said, when in fact she had no idea if Amy was busy or not. But her pride would not allow her to ask from her right now, after the betrayal she had revealed last night. "I might just call Caleb."
"He's in Okotoks, visiting his dad", Tim knew to tell.
Lou sighed. Of course. Of course everyone was now busy and she had just lost her last option for the whole thing.
"Why don't you just call it off?" Tim suggested. "Say the trail boss got sick, or something."
"No. We need the good reviews. Winter's so quiet around here", Lou insisted, trying to think clearly. What options did she really have available. "I'll just do it myself", she then decided, even though she had not been on a horse in a while and had never actually been a trail boss. Lou knew she didn't have the easy-goingness of Jack, the charm of Mitch nor the knowledge of Amy working for her favor, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
"Are you sure?" Tim asked from the other end.
"I mean, how hard can it be?" Lou said, trying to convince herself that pretty much anyone could do it.
