The next morning Jack got up and started his coffee. While it was brewing, he thought about the previous evening and how strained things were between Lisa and himself. He was so glad she was home earlier than anticipated, but it was spoiled because she walked in on the hug that Val was giving him, even though he considered it harmless. He knew it was still early and probably not a good idea to call Lisa this early. He decided to give it some time before calling her, but knew they needed to work things out. His coffee had been consumed and soon he was out the door to get his daily chores started. Mid-Morning he heard a car drive up behind him as he was working on the tractor. He turned around and saw Lisa exiting her car. He walked to greet her, "Hi." He kissed her cheek and wrapped his arms around her. She welcomed his hug "Hi, I was wondering if you had some time to go look at a couple horses with me." Jack gave her a small smile "Yes, let me get cleaned up and we can go. It'll give us a chance to talk and clear the air too." Lisa didn't have a chance to respond before Val Stanton drove up and exited hastily "Hi Jack, Lisa, nice to see you again. Well Caleb is back. You'll never guess where he's staying, the trailer." Jack kept his arm around Lisa "Hi Val, glad Caleb's back. Maybe we should invite them over for supper, it might do him some good." Val smiled at the invitation "Great, I'll ask them, I'll bring my shepherds pie. You liked it the last time. Thanks." With that she walked off towards the barn to find Amy. Lisa however was still hanging on Val's comment about the Shepherds Pie and turned to Jack with a questioning look "She sure seems to be here a lot lately." Jack wrapped his other arm around her "She's taking lessons from Amy for show jumping, she didn't want to use the trainer's over at Briar Ridge. Now, I will go get changed so we can go look at those horses on one condition." Lisa gave him a smirk "Oh what's that?" Jack pulled her closer "You stay for supper also." He leaned down so his head met hers for a kiss. "Oh I get an invitation also, do I?" Jack smiled "Always."
Jack went and got changed, meeting Lisa back in the kitchen. "Ready?" He took her hand and she handed over the keys to her car. They got in and headed out to the stables she was inquiring on the horses at. Once they were on the main road, Jack looked over at Lisa. She was staring out the window, he reached for her hand getting her attention. "Lis, what's wrong?" Lisa left her hand in his and looked his way "What makes you think anything is wrong?" Jack smirked and squeezed her hand "Well you're a million miles away and haven't said too much." Lisa sighed "The whole time I was gone, I couldn't wait to get home to you, then when I did get back I couldn't wait to surprise you. I did in fact, but it wasn't in a good way." Jack knew the conversation and the hug between him and Val, she walked in on yesterday was unsettling to her yet. "Lisa, there is nothing going on between Val and I. We have been friends for ages, she came over uninvited yesterday and was talking about Caleb and Ashley." Lisa was frustrated he was missing the so obvious point "It seems Val has been over quite a bit since I left, she likes to swoop in as soon as I'm out of the way and you don't even see it." Jack knew Val got under Lisa's skin so to speak but didn't expect this sort of reaction. "She's taking jumping lessons from Amy, I can't ask Amy to turn a paying client away. I don't know why this is so upsetting to you. I love you and I have missed you the last couple of weeks." Lisa removed her hand from his and crossed her arms "Jack, don't you get it, you never mentioned any of this when we talked, it's like you wanted to act like everything was normal. I don't know why you aren't seeing my side of things." Jack was at a loss for words and pulled the car over for a minute so he could look at Lisa. He reached over and held her face in his hands as he talked. "I didn't mention it, because there wasn't anything to mention. I see now I should have mentioned Amy giving her lessons so when you got home, you weren't shocked to see Val at Heartland. There is nothing between us, never has been. I love what we have and I don't want to lose that." He leaned over and kissed her. "Please believe me when I tell you, I wasn't keeping secrets from you." Lisa held his hand "I do, it was not what I was expecting for a homecoming though. I love the life we have together." She smiled at him "Come on, we need to go look at these horses. We have to be back by supper time." Jack pulled out onto the road again.
Jack and Lisa are on their way back to Heartland, he reaches over to hold her hand as they drive back. "You got a good deal and a couple of nice horses. What day are they supposed to arrive back at Fairfield?" She glanced up from some of the papers in her hand "I am happy with the way it worked out today, I haven't arranged Transport. I need to check to see if Harry can get them one day though." Jack quickly glanced her way "If Harry can't get them, we can take a ride back and pick them up. You know I wouldn't mind and it would give us a chance to spend some more time together." Lisa squeezed his hand "I may have to take you up on it and thank you for coming with me today." Jack as they were almost back to Heartland "I don't mind at all, I know we don't get much time to ourselves. I was thinking we need to take a ride and have a picnic. The weather looks like it will be good this week." Jack parked her car next to his truck. Lisa got out and Jack came around to her, wrapping his arm around her "The trail ride and picnic sounds lovely." Before they could start to walk up to the house, Val pulled up. She exited with her Shepherds Pie. "Hi Jack, Lisa." Jack could feel Lisa tense up at Val's presence. "Hi Val." He looked down at Lisa "You will stay for supper?" She looked up at him "Yes." They all walked into the house. Ashley. Caleb, Ty, and Amy all soon followed with everyone seated around the table. Lisa was next to Jack and Val right next to her.