"Grandpa!" Amy said following after him hardly keeping up. He was usually fast this morning. "This is not a good idea." She shouted after him again. But he wasn't listening. He kept gathering supplies and getting his horse ready.
"It's two days." He finally said stopping to face her. "Amy, I will be fine."
Amy sighed. "Can you at least wait for Dad to get back from wherever he said he was going last week." Honesty he was hardly ever around and she couldn't keep up with his schedule.
"No, the cattle have to be moved now." He busied himself again throwing items he needed on the nearest hay bail. Before turning toward the house to get an extra coat and his camping gear.
Amy stood there brining her hand up to her face to sign loudly. She had tried everything she could to get him to postpone this cattle drive. At his age he shouldn't be going that far on his own. Lisa was out of town or she would have put a stop to it before now. She knew this was part of the reason he was doing it. It was the whole herd he had argued her the day before when he told her about it. She sat down on the bail and pulled out her phone. She clicked on contacts and let her finger hover over Ty's name. Debating if telling him what was going on was a good idea. After some debate she finally clicked his name.
"Hey." He finally said when he picked up.
"Hi." She tried to sound happy but he had a way of noticing. She never got away with anything.
"What's wrong?" He asked his voice laced with concern.
"I have done everything I can think of short of hiding his horse to get Grandpa to reconsider this cattle drive. But he is insistent."
Ty laughed. "Reminds me of someone."
"Hey no way. I am not persistent."
Ty raised his eye even though Amt couldn't see it over the phone. "Have you met you?" He asked trying to sound serious but ended up laughing.
Amy put her hands on her hips. "I really need some advice here, Ty. Stop kidding around."
"What about your Dad?"
"He's not back yet. And I offered to go but he needs someone to watch the horses."
"Caleb?"
"No, he's at a rodeo in Montana."
"I'm sorry I'm not there." He sighed.
"It's not your fault. This was a huge opportunity for you. Plus a nice little payout to help with the wedding." She smiled. "How's it going?"
"Amazing." He beamed. Ty had been asked to go along with the bike shop owner to a motorcycle competition to help with repairs. It had been like a dream come true. Not to mention to finally have the owners approval.
"That's great." She smiled. "I'll see you Saturday." She made a kissing sound and ended the call. Setting her head back against the stall door.
Jack was shoving some sandwiches into his cooler when Amy come through the door. "There's I can say to change your mind?" She asked leaning against the door frame.
"I'm sorry honey. It has to be done before the weekend. There's a storm moving in." He shut his cooler and met her gaze. "I never needed anyone's permission before."
Amy gave a half smile. "I know that."
"I will have my cell phone." He gave her a kiss on the top of the head.
"I am allowed to worry."
"So am I. But it's my job. Not yours." He pointed his hat at her. Amy smiled nodding as he pulled her in for a hug. "I will be back Saturday."
"I'll be okay." She reassured him.
"I know you will." He put his hat on. "Can you grab that while I get the trailer loaded."
Amy struggled to keep her mind on the task at hand. And it showed as she was shoved forward something hitting her right shoulder. She turned at the sudden movement it startling her. Turning to face Ranger, a medium build black horse. She laughed as she reached up to pet him. "Guess I needed that didn't I?" She smiled as she spoke to the horse. She glanced around to see the owner walking quickly toward her.
"Amy?" The women in her 40's said. Her voice not sounding happy.
"Yes, Mrs Mitchell."
"Are we making any progress?" The progress she was talking about was saddling. The horse was overly friendly but for some reason refused the saddle.
"Not yet. But these things take time."
"Well, we don't have time. We have a schooling show in two weeks. My daughter needs the horse ready." At that the women turned and marched away leaving Amy and Ranger in the round pen. The women had been a problem from the start reminding her of Val. She had refused due to the lady's attitude and refusal to allow the horse to come to Heartland. But once she had met the horse she fell in love. She shook her head before drawing her attention back to Ranger.
"You're not a trouble horse at all are you?" She said letting the horse nuzzle her arm. She took a deep breathe to clear her mind and worry about her grandfather.
Amy awoke the next day to a loud knocking at the back door. She turned over to glance at the time. She had slept in. She sighed throwing the covers back and grabbing a sweater from her desk chair. Hugging it around her she made her way to the door yawning as she did. "I'm coming. Hold your horses."
"Amy! It's me. I forgot my keys." The person shouted.
Amy got to the door and unlocked it coming face to face with Lisa. "Lisa?"
"I'm so sorry if I scared you." She said kissing her cheek before reaching behind her to grab her suitcase. "Where's Jack?"
"Uh..." Amy hesitated. But luckily for her Lisa had continued walking into the house and basically out of earshot. She bit her bottom lip as she followed after Lisa knowing the subject couldn't be avoided.
Lisa was already setting the suitcase on the bed. "Hey, honey can you get my other bag from the car?"
"Sure." Amy said from the doorway. But before she could turn to leave the question she'd been dreading was asked again.
"Where's is Jack? I've tried calling but he isn't answering."
"Oh, he's not?" She asked pretending to be shocked. "Reception is always spotty out here." She answered as if Lisa was a first time visitor to the country. And Lisa raised her eyebrow having caught the funny answer.
"I know that. Thank you." She laughed.
"He went on the cattle drive. You weren't supposed to be home until tomorrow." Amy rambled off guiltily.
Lisa's smile faded slowly as the words processed. "What?" Her raised tone was obvious not for her Amy knew that. But somehow she felt the sting of it anyway.
"I am so sorry. Believe me I did everything. Even offered to go with him."
"It's okay, sweetheart. It's not your fault." Lise put her hand on her shoulder. "He's stubborn." Both letting out a sigh. Amy gave a half smile.
Lisa set her fork down letting it lay in the pasta as she glanced at her watch again. She'd lost count of the number of times she had done so. She tried not to look worried for Amy's sake but by now that was getting hard to do. She looked up at Amy who nibbled her garlic bread forcing a small smile. "He should have been back by now." Lisa finally said needing someone too vent too.
Amy nodded not finding any words of encouragement.
"It's getting dark. He's never stayed out past now. The cattle would have been moved long ago." She looked at Amy for confirmation.
"Yeah, of course. Unless for whatever reason they stayed another night."
"It was only to take 2 days?" Her desperation itching at her words.
Amy felt bad for her worrying. There really were a lot of factors to consider when moving cattle at such a distance. A lot of reasons to have to spend a second night. But all of that didn't matter when her grandfather was due home almost 2 hours ago. His pasta getting cold in the kitchen. The sun would be setting in a few short hours. To her it meant it was still possible he would come riding over the ridge at any time. But she could help but feel the ping of worry creeping into her chest. She wished Ty was here to hold her hand and tell her it was going to be okay. That maybe Jack was just trying to prove that he could still do this at his age. That he was just a little late as he was enjoying himself with the other cowboys. That he had earned it. But Ty wasn't here. And neither was Jack.
Amy bit at her finger nails as she leaned against Spartan's stall. She pushed herself off the door. Opening it and grabbing his lead. She had waited enough. She was tired of just sitting around. She needed to do something. She jumped on Spartan and started to ride away when she was stopped by Lisa. "I can't wait around anymore."
"I know. I'm going crazy too." Lisa said frowning.
"I'm just going to ride up the ridge." She said.
"Okay, at least take a flashlight." She said handing it to her. Amy smiled. "Please be careful."
"I will." Amy said. "I'll call when I reach the ridge whether I see anything or not."
"Okay and I'll keep trying his phone." He was now 4 hours late and both women had had enough. Amy smiled nodding and rode off kicking Spartan into a run.
Lisa sighed as she grabbed her phone hitting Jack's name and waited as it rang. "Hey, honey. It's me again. Please call me when you get this. I'm starting to get worried." She ended the call as a tear slid down her cheek. She hoped Amy found him.
The loud music blared in the background as Ty stepped outside for a minute to check in with Amy as promised. The chill of the night air hitting his face. It's something he liked about Alberta that his hometown of BC didn't have. Summer nights things cooled off aside from the blazing sun and heat from all day. He was tired and exhausted from the day of helping at the race track. But it had been rewarding. As a way to celebrate the team went out for drinks. They had an early morning drive ahead of them and he was happily anticipating his reunion with Amy. He was pulled from his thoughts as Amy's voicemail came on. Thinking it was a little odd. They had talked every night at his time. Even if she had still been in the barn. It was too early for her to have fallen asleep. "Hey, Amy. The horses more interesting then I am?" He said laughing. "Okay, call me back. Love you." He hung up making his way back inside the bar.
Amy rode along the ridge the way she seen her grandfather take off from just the day before. She had spoken to Lisa about 10 minutes ago who still had no luck getting ahold of Jack. She sighed pulling Spartan to a stop. She rubbed his side as she scanned the horizon. The sun was setting slowly behind her in the east. She needed to start heading back if she was going to get back to the ranch by nightfall. Jumping off Spartan to stretch her legs she paused at the sound of something. Turning around to see what it was or where it was coming from was unsuccessful. Reaching into her pocket she pulled out her phone. One missed call from Ty. She rubbed a hand over her face. She had completely forgot about their scheduled call. Then again she really didn't need him to know what was going on if she had answered. Giving up she hopped back on and turned Spartan toward home. A few steps in and she heard the sound again. It was definitely a phone ringing. But again it wasn't hers. She paused listening quietly as she followed the sound before it stopped. Jumping back off she ran toward a clearing in the trees. Her breathe hitched as she picked up the phone. Her grandfather's phone. 10 missed calls and numerous texts all from Lisa. Pocketing the phone she tried to steady herself as her emotions threatened to break. "Grandpa!" She shouted. "Grandpa?" She yelled again her voice breaking.