"Is it just me or have Amy and Ty been acting a bit strange?" Lisa asked as she cleared the dinner dishes.
"I've noticed it too. They're quiet one second then all lovely dovey the next." Jack said. "I can't keep up."
"You don't think they had a fight?"
"They seem okay. But something's definitely up with them." Jack grabbed the left over dishes.
"Amy taking this Mr Raybrook thing a bit too personally?" Lisa asked as she started to load the dishwasher.
"Could be. She does have a way of doing that." He scratched his head.
"Should I talk to Amy?"
"No, I'm sure she's get over it. We know how she hates being babied."
"I've noticed Ty likes to come to her rescue."
"Yeah, I've warned him about that. But he's been his mother's protector for years as a kid I think that kinda stuck." Jack said as he put the leftovers into the fridge. "I promised myself I wouldn't get involved."
"Well I didn't." Lisa said.
Amy and Tim road along the ridge admiring the scenery of this time of year. It'd been a few weeks since Tim had been around. He went straight to Moosejaw after Vancouver. And then headed east for a rodeo. It was first he'd been back in Alberta. "Can I ask you a favor?" Amy asked breaking the silence.
"Sure. Anything."
"It's Ty's birthday is coming up and I wanted to surprise him."
"Yeah." There was hesitation in his voice.
"Can you try to be civil? This is his first birthday since we've been together."
"And who's fault is that?"
"Dad. He's allowed to do whatever he wants. He'd just finished his probation and was gotta be 18. His plan was never sticking around."
Tim nodded. "The doesn't excuse his behaviour." He bit his tongue not wanting to upset his daughter. But he had hated seeing her so upset after Ty disappeared.
"He sold his truck a few years ago and I know it meant a lot to him. I'd like to try to get it back."
"That's a hard favor." He said as he looked at Amy.
"I know but it's important to him. And grandpa doesn't like us driving his motorcycle."
Tim sighed. "I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you. I have some money saved up and I never spend it on myself. It always goes back to the horses."
"Your welcome but I can't guarantee anything."
Amy smiled. "I know but just the fact that you'll help."
Tim smiled one of his famous smiles as if he had just saved the world.
"Aren't you late for doing the chores?" Amy teased referring the bet he'd lost against Jack. She kicked Spartan into a run Tim doing the same with his horse.
Lisa was doing some cleaning the next morning while everyone else was out of the house. Jack and Tim had went into town to the feed run. Ty was at school. And Amy was out somewhere. It was hard to keep track of her. She went to toss the garbage outside when she seen the pink box that caught her attention. It could only belong to one person and since it was thrown away out here she figured Amy hadn't wanted to share the news with anyone. And she didn't blame her. Lou had found out the same way. Amy had been acting different but not exactly showing any signs of being pregnant. She looked over at the barn to see Amy just riding back. She picked up the box and put the garage away before heading over to Amy. She smiled as Lisa approached. "Hey."
"Hey, sweetie. Can we talk?"
"Sure. What's up?" She hoped off the client horse.
"He's coming along." Lisa said making small talk.
"Yeah, he is." She patted his neck before looking at Lisa.
"Jack and I have noticed you seem a bit off lately. Everything okay with you and Ty?"
"Sure why wouldn't it be?" She shut the gate behind her.
"You know you can tell me anything?"
"Yeah. But there's nothing to tell." Amy started to walk away. "There's another horse I have to look at before lunch."
"Sweetie, I found this." Lisa said causing her to stop in her tracks as she caught sight of what Lisa was holding.
"I thought Ty got rid of that." She had anger in her tone.
"So it is yours?"
"Of course who else's would it be?" She tried to joke but Lisa's serious expression wasn't changing. "I was late."
"And?"
"It happened after we came back from Vancouver. I thought it was just cause of the stress and travelling." She paused. "But after another week went by I started to freak out. I told Ty right away."
"Why didn't you come to me?"
"I didn't want anyone to know until we were certain." Amy had tears.
"It's okay to be scared."
"We've not. I'm not pregnant." Amy sniffed.
"That's good isn't it?" Lisa was confused.
"Yeah. I'm just happy to finally talk about it. Sure I talked to Ty but I don't think he was as honest as I wanted him to be."
"Oh sweetheart." She pulled Amy into a hug.
Amy was eating breakfast at the kitchen table as Tim came into the house without knocking. Jack looked up from the toaster annoyed. "Don't you ever knock?"
"No." He stated. Jack sighed and turned back to his toast. Tim grabbed Amy's other half of bagel of her plate. He tipped his head toward the door as he took a bite.
Amy was confused for a second until it hit her. She grabbed her cell phone off the table and jumped up taking her bagel with her. "Thanks for breakfast Grandpa." She said running out the door following Tim.
Jack turned around to see the blur. "What the heck was that?"
"Was that Amy?" He asked finding it weird. They had plans to hang out today.
"Yeah. Tim was here for just long enough to get her apparently."
"New record." He said both men laughing.
"Well it looks like it's just us today. Knowing Tim he won't be back until dinner." He sighed and joined Ty at the table.
"Yeah, guess so. No offense Jack, but I am kinda disappointed. Amy and I were gonna have a picnic lunch." He sipped Amy's coffee she left abandoned.
"I gotta get the hay stacked before the snow. Do you mind?" He asked knowing it wasn't Ty's favourite job.
"Sure. Why not, looks like Amy bailed." He said showing Amy's text to Jack. "Something must have been more important." He was more then a little disappointed. They had been in a good place lately. But he did notice Amy seemed to be pulling away a little more. She was always working or busy with something else when he wanted to do something. It had become a trend. Now that he finally had a day off school Amy choose to be away. He sighed resting his chin on his arm.