A/N: the uncle in this story is not Jay the surfer that Ava knows. it was just a random name from the top of my head. this Jay is just a made up character.

Kay sat on her bed one morning trying to forget everything and introduce the ranch to some freshmen in high school. She didn't really like giving tours of her ranch. The kids always hurt a horse one way or another. Kay couldn't deal with having a horse getting hurt, especially if the horse was Bandit.

"Kay, sweetie," her uncle said knocking on the door, "Breakfast is ready."

She wiped her eyes, got up, and opened the door. "I'm not hungry," she said walking passed him.

"Kay, what's wrong?" he asked.

"I'm just not hungry," she said to her uncle. Jay sighed. He was really starting to worry about his niece. He walked up to a window and saw Kay walking to the stables. The only thing he loved about Kay is how happy she was whenever she was around Bandit. If anything ever happened to that horse, Kay would take it terribly bad.

He felt as if he wasn't doing his job of taking care of her like his brother wanted him to. He was losing touch with her. She didn't even know how her father died. She was just sitting home that night and got a phone call saying that her father died.

"Jay," his wife said walking up to him, "How is she?"

"Terrible," he said turning around, "She won't eat. I found her crying in the middle of the night. She'll only talk to her horse, Bandit. I can't stand seeing her like this."

"It will take her a while to get through it," she told her husband, "But, did she know that her father was in the war?"

He shook his head. "She just knew that he was out of town."

Kay walked up to Bandit's stable and noticed that the door was open. Her heart rate increased several beats per minute. She ran out of the stables. "Bandit!" she yelled looking around, "Bandit!" Then, she heard Bandit's nay. She looked in the direction of the sound and saw numerous trees. "Oh god...BANDIT!" she yelled running into the woods.

"Kay!" she heard her uncle yell. She didn't stop. She just kept sprinting until she found Bandit with another horse. Her uncle finally caught up to her panting.

"Bandit...Come here boy," Kay said softly trying not to startle any one of the horses.

"Wild Mustangs?" her uncle asked out loud, "This isn't right. There are no wild horses out this way."

"Shush," Kay said. She took little steps towards Bandit and the other horse as she kept calling Bandit's name. Bandit finally began walking up to Kay and going at her jacket. The Mustang ran deeper into the woods.

Kay and her uncle arrived back to the ranch just as the high schoolers were getting off of their bus. She looked at her uncle and moved her mouth to speak when he cut her off.

"I'll talk to them. I know that you're not ready to talk about it yet."

"Thank you," she said softly.

Kay walked bandit back into his stable. She closed and locked the door after he wa placed inside. He stock his head out and rubbed his snout on her face.

"Why did you do that?" she asked, "Why did you run out?" She laughed at herself because she was still talking to a horse. Tears formed in her eyes and one escaped. She wiped it away and walked to the house.

"Sweetie?" she heard. She turned around and saw her aunt there. "Are you okay?"

She shook her head. "Everything is falling apart. I don't know what to do anymore."

"Talk to me. Please," her aunt begged, "Everyone on this ranch is worried about you."

Kay wiped her eyes. "Aunt Denise, I can't do this. I can't make this ranch into what it was before my father died. I'm only eighteen. I don't know what I want to do with my life."

"All I can tell you is to do what your heart wants."

Kay walked into her house and went to her room where she cried her eyes out. She didn't know what to do with her life anymore. Everything was falling apart. Even Bandit wanted to get away from her. She should have known her life would be messed up when she found out that her mother abandoned her for some male stripper she met. After about half an hour, Kay was calmed down and headed back out to the stables to do some work. She wanted to do her best to avoid the high schoolers that were there. As she walked into the stable, she saw a boy there. He didn't look like a freshman in high school. He looked more like a senior. He was looking at the horses.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

He looked over at her. "No," he said softly, "I'm sorry. I'm just remembering the memories I had on my old ranch before I moved here."

"Are you here with the group of high schoolers?"

"No. I'm a freshman in college. I know the guy who feeds these horses and he brought me here today."

"You know Hank?"

He smiled at how many questions she was asking him. "Yes. I'm Bradin," he said extending his hand.

"Kay," she said shaking it.

"So, you're the owner now?" he asked. She nodded. "You're lucky. I'd give anything to own one of these again. I'm sorry to hear about your father."

"It's fine," she said.

She watched as Bradin walked up to Bandit's stable. "Who's this beauty?" he asked.

"That's my horse, Bandit," she said, "My father got him for me for my...eleventh birthday. Even though he may seem old, he's in amazing condition. He's my best friend."

Bradin looked at Kay and back at Bandit. He saw Bandit start walking towards him and Kay. He saw the horse go to Kay's shirt and bite at it making her smile.

"I don't have any for you," she told him. She looked at Bradin who was looking at her. "You can touch him."

Bradin raised his hand and placed it on Bandit's mane. "He's gorgeous. Kay," he said looking at her, "Do you think I can come by a few days a week and help out around here?"

"I don't know how much you're going to get but-"

"You don't have to pay me. I want to help out here because I love ranches. I just miss being around them. Being here can help me out as well."

"Sure you can help out. But, I don't know what kind of work you're going to be doing and I don't know how long you're going to work the days you are here."

"It's fine," he told her, "I just need to work on a ranch again. And, I'm off of school for a while, too. So, you might be seeing a lot of me for a while."