Story set around Season 3 early on in Jack and Lisa's relationship.
Jack and Lisa have been seeing each other for the last three years. Before Lisa left for this trip to France, she had asked Jack to accompany her, of course he denied stating the ranch was too busy and he wasn't big on traveling. The time apart seems to be getting harder rather than easier for both of them. There was another week and a half before Lisa was set to be back, both counting the days.
Meanwhile at the ranch, Val Stanton arrived for her daily jumping lesson with Amy. She decided to get back into show jumping, but wanted to be under the radar with her own trainers so she enlisted Amy's help in training. She has been at Heartland on a daily basis, and seems to be hanging around more and more before and after her lesson to talk to Jack. She's always been interested in Jack, but the feelings have never been mutual. He's committed to Lisa but Val didn't believe that he and Lisa would ever work, so she was anxiously awaiting to sweep in at the first sign of trouble.
One afternoon, Jack was in the barn unsaddling Paint when Val came in "Hi Jack." Jack looked over at Val walking up "Hi Val." Val stopped next to Paint's head, "Have you heard from Caleb lately?" Jack put his saddle on the rack "No, I can't say I have. Are there problems between him and Ashley?" Val sighed "Well he's been down pretty bad since he got busted up at the last rodeo. I don't know where he's going to go next." Jack finished brushing Paint. "Well if there's anything I can do, let me know. He can be pretty hard headed, I guess it comes with the territory of Rodeo though." Lou came into the barn talking not realizing Val was there yet "Grandpa, dinner is about ready, are you coming in soon? Oh hi Val, sorry I didn't know you were here yet." Val turned to look at Lou "Hi Lou, I was just on my way out, I know you all are about to sit down to supper. Thanks Jack." She walked out. Lou looked at her grandpa "What was that about?" Jack closed Paint's stall door "She's worried about Caleb. Nothing to worry about." He walked to the house with Lou. As they were headed up the steps "oh Grandpa, Lisa left a message on the machine for you, she said she'd call back." Jack hung his jacket and hat up, sitting down to take off his boots. "Thanks, Lou. I'll ring her after Supper." He washed his hands as Lou finished putting supper on the table. They all sat down to supper. Lou looked across the table at Amy "How many more lessons does Val have scheduled with you? She seems to be here daily." Amy took a bite "I don't know, she has been. She wants to be ready to compete in a few weeks, hopefully not that many more." Lou looked at her then over to Jack "Well she seems to be spending additional time before and after her lessons, especially since she found out Lisa is out of town." Jack put his fork down "Don't look at me, I didn't invite her to spend additional time. I'll be glad when Lisa is back. Speaking of which, I'm stuffed. Y'all can clean up, I have a call to make." He got up, grabbed the cordless phone and went to his bedroom to call Lisa back.
Amy, Lou, and Ty looked at each other. They finished eating in silence before cleaning up. The table was soon cleared and dishes cleaned up. Lou went to lock up at the Dude Ranch, Amy and Ty went to do night check. Amy came back in and saw Jack sitting in front of the fire with a cup of tea. "Hey Grandpa" She sat down by the fireplace. "Hey, everything ok at the barn?" Amy nodded "Yeah, did you get to talk to Lisa?" Jack shook his head "Yeah, briefly. She'll be home at the end of next week." Amy got up and sat next to him on the couch "Grandpa, I don't want to upset you, but did you tell Lisa about Val being around a lot?" Jack looked at Amy "No, I haven't because it's not a big deal. There isn't anything going on to tell. She's taking lessons with you." Amy laid her hand on his arm "ok, but I do think you should consider telling Lisa before she comes home. You know how Val makes Lisa feel when Val's always hanging around you." Jack patted her hand. "I'll think about it." Amy kissed his head and retreated to her room.
In France, Lisa was sitting at her desk. She glanced at the picture of her and Jack she had on her desk. They didn't have many, but the ones she did have she cherished. She had been busy with clients, so she hadn't talked to Jack in a couple days. She had been gone a couple weeks now and was really missing him, she knew he felt the same even though he would rarely admit it to anyone besides her privately. She was able to wrap up early and booked an earlier flight home. By tomorrow afternoon, she would be back in Hudson. She had plans to drive straight to Heartland from the airport in hopes of surprising Jack.
A couple days later Val didn't have a lesson, but found her way to Heartland anyways. Jack was fixing a cup of coffee when she knocked on the door. "Hi Jack, hope you don't mind me dropping by." Jack poured his coffee "Val, what brings you by? Do you have a lesson with Amy today, she ran to town with Ty but she should be back soon." Val stepped inside the kitchen "No, I came to see you about Caleb." Jack set his cup on the table "Coffee?" Val took a seat at the table across from Jack as he set her cup down. "Thanks, Jack I don't know what I can do, Ashley is determined to stay with Caleb. She claims to love him, but he's so busted up and they only have that trailer. He won't take any help I've offered. So I was wondering if you would be able to talk to him?" Jack took a sip of coffee before speaking "I suppose I can try to talk to him, I don't know how much good it'll do." Val got up. "Thank you Jack." Jack also got up, Val stepped up to hug him. As they were embraced in their hug, the screen door opened "yoohoo" Lisa stepped around the corner. Jack surprised "Lisa, I thought you weren't coming back until next week." Lisa stopped in her tracks "Yeah, I came back early to surprise you, and it seems I did." Val let go of Jack and turned to look at Lisa "Hi Lisa, I was just on my way out. I know Jack's missed you. Thank you Jack." Jack looked at Val then Lisa. Val walked out and Jack stepped towards Lisa "Hi" He took her in his arms and kissed her "Hi Cowboy" She kissed him again "I've missed you." Jack held her "I've missed you too." Lisa pulled back with an apprehensive look "So what was that?" She took a step back. He knew she was unsettled with what she walked in on "Lis, she's worried about Caleb, came over and asked for me to call him." She sighed "Jack, she had to come over for that, she couldn't have called?" Jack slightly frustrated "I didn't invite her over, she just showed up. Now come on Lis, you just got back, I'm glad you are home. Tell me about the rest of your trip." He was doing his best to steer her away from thinking about Val Stanton. He got her a cup of coffee and motioned for her to sit at the table. She started to tell him about the rest of her trip before heading home to unpack and check on things at Fairfield.