Inside the barn office, Amy was sat at her desk and browsing through Heartland's website, making sure it was up to date. She had added Cassandra's information to the site, made sure old "horses on sale" ads were taken down and cleared the online calendar for possible clients.
Currently, all the possible slots were open, and looking at all that space made Amy feel a knot in her stomach. This situation was unusual for her. If anything, she liked to keep herself busy, even if it was sometimes very stressful for her, but the more horses she could help, the more purpose she felt like she had in life.
A part of Amy wanted to tell herself that maybe there just weren't horses needing for her help, but she knew that not to be the case. Unfortunately - or fortunately, depending how you looked at it - there was always a horse needing for help. All those horses needed was to find her, and that's why she had the website.
Even though deep down Amy knew what she wanted from life - to some extent - she still couldn't help but stop to think if she was happy with her choices.
She damned Lou for making her even think about this, but then again, maybe by doing this she could just reaffirm it to herself, that she was moving to the right direction, and thus proving her sister wrong.
But... what indeed had happened to her after she had graduated?
Her business had really taken off, but she had always thought it was because she had had more time for it and the timing had worked out for her otherwise as well after the Ring of Fire tour. Things had been solid, but then they had once again taken another level after Ahmed has "discovered" her.
She had put her name out there in Europe and more importantly made those connections that she had hoped to help her take her business even further, maybe even outside Hudson. When she had dropped him as a connection, it had been a steady decline from there to where she was now. Surely people had still talked about her after that, but not in the flattering way they once had when she had been working for Ahmed. There was no doubt in Amy's mind that the prince had made sure that after the humiliation he had faced here in Hudson, no one would want to work with her anymore if he could help it.
Suddenly no one remembered who Amy Fleming was. No one was asking the Miracle Girl to save the day anymore. This website was pretty much the only place on the internet where Amy even wanted to see her name anymore, because that whole mess with the gossip sites had left her traumatized and feeling anxious about any media presence.
But was that going to be enough? Would the local posters, flyers and word be enough to help her get back on her feet? Was it time for her to stop being afraid for existing on the internet? After all, that's where everyone else was these days.
"Hey, Georgie?" Amy hollered to her niece who was on the other end of the barn, brushing Phoenix.
"Yeah?" Georgie said back, already feeling like Amy wanted to talk about something, so she exited from the stall and started walking toward the office to hear her better, placing the brush she had had in her hand aside.
"You have that... Instagram, right?" Amy asked, feeling a little embarrassed she wasn't even sure it was called that.
"Yeah, I have an account there", Georgie replied, frowning briefly. Amy wasn't usually interested in that, but of course she had asked from her aunt if she could post pictures of Lyndy online when there had been couple of pictures of them she had been dying to share with her followers. "Why?"
"I was just thinking... do people post about their businesses there?"
Georgie leaned on the doorway and nodded. "Oh yeah, all the time. There's even business accounts."
"So what do they post there? Those businesses."
"I mean, depends." Georgie shrugged a little. "If it's like a shop, they might tell about their sale or if it's like a bakery, they might post pictures of things they've baked. And then if it's like a lifestyle thing, it can be every day life things."
"And people like looking at that?" Amy checked, wondering what had made the whole thing even that big of a deal these days. What did people wanted to see? Her experience, for the most part, was that everything that was negative drew people in. But the things Georgie had just listed didn't fall into that category, at least it didn't sound like it.
"Yeah, I would say so. Why?" Georgie asked, wondering why Amy was so curious.
"I was just thinking after I checked the analytics of my website... there aren't many people coming in. I don't know if it's the website or... if websites are kind of old fashioned, to begin with."
"Well, for what it's worth, I don't really even go to websites, I just put something on Google and find the social medias I'm looking for. That's where everything usually is", Georgie admitted, giving Amy some more insight.
"Okay, so let's say I would make myself an Instagram account", Amy began, feeling like she was suddenly hundred years old and not knowing what she was even saying, "could you help me set it up?"
"Sure, of course. It's really not that hard, though, I'm sure you could figure out that yourself too", Georgie gave Amy some credit.
"Maybe. But it's not just about that", Amy added. "You post something on your page like daily, right?" she checked, recalling seeing Georgie fiddling her phone a lot every day.
"Among other things", Georgie admitted, not wanting to get into Snapchat or other apps she used, just because Instagram alone seemed to be overwhelming for Amy. "People like it when I post daily. Or many times a day, depending on the day. Like, when I was in New York, I posted a lot because there was just so much to see, and my followers were loving it. It was kind of like being there with me."
"Would you help me with that?" Amy asked. "The content, I mean. If I would start posting things about my daily life. Or you know, my daily business life. Whatever you said people do there. To appear more approachable, or something."
"Do you mean I would kind of be like your social media manager...?" Georgie asked, smirking.
Amy chuckled. "Something like that, I guess." She rolled her eyes, not sure what that even meant, but she figured Georgie would tell her. "I could pay you for it, of course."
"Yeah, sure. I could do that", Georgie agreed.
"So..." Amy said, taking out her phone. "What do I do?"
Georgie walked up to Amy and started looking over her shoulder as she proceeded to pass her the instructions to download the app, get started and go over the basics when it came to the platform's possibilities.
As she followed Georgie's guidance, Amy felt her heart racing. She felt nervous being back online. She had, of course, had a Facebook account back in the day, but she had shut it after the whole prince fiasco and had since then lived outside that realm.
But time had passed. Maybe the good thing about being such a nobody these days was that no one didn't remember you, so you didn't have to be as afraid about being back out there. The internet always found someone else to bully when the previous target was out, didn't it? No one even remembered who you were after few weeks. The reality of the whole thing was much more fast paced than Amy was used to.
And this time, Amy reminded herself, she wasn't on some gossip site, being ripped apart for entertainment, this was her being a business woman and taking back her own narrative. It was time to move on and rediscover herself.
The next hours were spent taking pictures of the farm and the horses, and making videos about Amy performing a join-up and telling about the herbs she used with the horses, just to give her something to post on the page and get started. These were, after all, pretty basic things that could help a lot of people all over the world.
After that Amy followed some of the people she knew from the real world or who Georgie knew to post similar content to hers, just to get herself out there. Georgie told her that Instagram wasn't like Facebook in the sense that you didn't just follow people you knew, you followed the whole world and the whole world followed you back. It sounded overwhelming for Amy, but she was trying to be open to it.
When all that networking was done, Amy offered Georgie a cup of hot chocolate in the loft while her new social media manager pinned some of her stories to the highlights so they wouldn't disappear after the 24 hour timeframe.
"Okay... I think we're done", Georgie said as Amy handed Lyndy her her own little cup of hot chocolate and then another cup for her niece who put down her phone.
"We have officially launched on Instagram", Amy stated feeling both excited and terrified. "Thanks for all the help."
"No problem. Oh, you should probably also add a link to your Instagram on your website too - and your business cards", Georgie advised. "Just to get the word out."
"Thanks. I probably wouldn't have been able to do this all without you", Amy said, sitting down next to her daughter. "Or maybe I could have, but much, much slower", she hummed.
"I'm glad to help. And I guess since I'm staying here now, you'll always have me available if you have any ideas for this", Georgie asked, smiling a little.
"So it's official then, you staying here?" Amy checked and looked at Georgie after making sure Lyndy didn't drink the whole sippy worth of her drink on one sitting.
"Yeah. I mean, for me it is, at least", Georgie pointed out. "I think mom's struggling with it, even though she said she gets it. But I have more going on here than I have out there."
"Not many people would say the same about Hudson", Amy replied. "So... how's things with Wyatt...?" she asked carefully, having a curious smile on her lips.
"They are good", Georgie let her know, blushing a bit. "In fact, we are back together. When I was in New York, we kept texting back and forth and I don't know... I guess it kind of gave us an opportunity to really talk things through without anything else getting mixed into it. But it's not like I'm only back here for him, I guess I just... missed all of this. I missed my home."
Amy nodded, understanding where Georgie was coming from.
"I'm glad to hear that. I guess Lou was hoping you could feel at home there, but you can't just force it, can you?" she said rhetorically, making Georgie nod. "Since we are kind of in the topic today... I guess I never really asked you how things went with that whole online bullying thing... I assume things are better since you're back here."
Georgie felt a little embarrassed about it and blushed again, but for a different reason.
"Yeah... It's better. I mean, I deleted all my socials after that and just focused on experiencing New York. Then, after a while, I came back online, because I missed seeing what my friends were up to, and I slowly inched back in. Only this time my account is private", she added firmly.
"I'm sorry that happened to you", Amy said, knowing from experience what that was like. "And I'm sorry I wasn't there for you back then. My life was just... a big mess back then."
"I get that", Georgie assured, holding her cup between her both hands. "And I'm really sorry for what happened with you and Ty. I just can't believe everything that went down or what I've heard... I guess I always kind of looked up to Ty, seeing we've kind of both had a similar background, and thinking where he is now... It's just hard for me to understand. I mean, I've known him such a long time now and he was kind of the first person I met here... I don't know", she stuttered, in disbelief.
"Yeah..." Amy nodded, thoughtfully. Georgie and Ty had always had a close relationship and as much as Amy felt bad for her niece for losing that, maybe for forever, she couldn't change the way Ty had chosen to behave and how it affected the people close to him. "Well, it is what it is, I guess..." That was all she could say at this point.
Georgie nodded and drank a little, thinking.
"So, you've made Jade your babysitter", Georgie said, trying to think of all the things they had not had a chance to talk about.
Amy smiled and nodded. "Yeah."
"And Lyndy's still alive", Georgie joked. "I'm surprised."
"She's actually pretty good with her - and things overall", Amy wanted to say.
"Really?" Georgie was genuinely surprised. "I mean, I love her, she's my best friend, but I think even she would be the first person to admit she's not very organized or responsible."
Amy laughed. "And yet... here we are."
They spent a couple more hours in the loft, just talking and catching up with everything, and Amy was feeling like the life was slowly finding its way back to her. As introverted as she was, she realized she had missed having these connections and relaxed moments with other people, especially now that she was at the crossroads.
She needed other people, those connections, to reflect herself back to her and make sense of everything. And it seemed like Georgie had really missed being back too and having these sort of conversations, which made it all even better.
Maybe there really was light at the end of the tunnel.