Stepping into Maggie's had been pretty much as Amy feared as just about every pair of eyes landed on them and followed them through the diner until they took their seats in the far corner. Amy took the seat with her back to the wall, disliking the idea of people staring at her from behind. She'd rather be able to see their faces as opposed to feeling their gazes. They both made an effort to ignore people, only looking up when a waitress appeared to set silverware and menus in front of them. Her sympathetic glance darted between them with a soft smile before she walked away to give them a few minutes to decide.
"You okay?" Ty asked, turning his menu around and opening it, though he didn't immediately look at the options as his eyes fixed on Amy who shifted a little uncomfortably but nodded.
"Mhm. Just feels like we walked into a fishbowl is all," she commented, taking a peek around before hiding herself behind the menu. She didn't lower it again until the waitress returned to take their orders and took the menus away with her, leaving Amy to stare out the window to avoid meeting anyone's eyes.
Ty spun his rolled silverware slowly on the table in front of him, his green gaze catching his wife's when she looked at him upon feeling it on her. "What?" she asked with a little smile.
"I'm glad you didn't take that offer," he told her in a low voice, knowing there were probably some ears on them. "We don't need his money. We'll be fine." He nodded in emphasis.
"Will we? Ty, the money we've been saving is for our ranch. We don't know how much this is going to set us back, or how long it's going to take to build it up again. We've been working toward this for years and it's starting to feel like we're spinning our wheels and not getting anywhere." They'd been sitting on their savings for a long time now just waiting to find their new dream ranch after the first fell out from under them. It wasn't like they were still struggling to make ends meet. They were ready for that next step and had been searching to take it. This accident was going to take them right back to where they started two years ago with Ty working extra shifts and Amy taking on more clients and clinics to contribute to their future.
"If you felt this way then why didn't you just accept it?"
"Because you had already told him no and… and I wasn't sure I'd be able to face him again. I just wanted it to go away so we could move on."
Ty sighed and leaned back in his chair. He felt like they made the right decision in declining Charles' offer, but Amy did have a point. They waited for years to make it this far and in one instant it was all ripped right out of their hands. Their child and their savings and hope of getting out of the trailer sooner rather than later. It was all gone, but it didn't have to be. Their child they couldn't bring back, but they could save their dream of owning their ranch and starting their business together, which had been their primary goal before the news of Amy's pregnancy came to light. It was a terrible tragedy and an agonizing loss that they would never forget, but they could still have their family. There was still time for that after they settled into the life they dreamed of for years.
"Maybe I was a little too quick to tell him to shove off," Ty admitted after thinking the whole thing over again. He thought it made them seem selfish to take this man's money so they could hold onto theirs instead, but he was beginning to have second thoughts. The accident was an accident but it wouldn't have happened at all if not for an avoidable, careless, mistake. There were legal issues at play that, if they were to take Charles Young to court, they'd end up be awarded compensation anyway, but at the expense of additional time and pain and money from their pockets being placed for lawyers in the courtroom. It wasn't worth the time or energy to bother with it, even if they would have every right to. Mr. Young seemed to realize that and took the issue into his own hands, coming to them to face his mistake and take on the consequences at his own accord.
Amy lifted her blue eyes to Ty's. "You seemed pretty adamant about not agreeing to it. I've never seen you so upset."
"I know. I was. I still am or… I want to be, but now I can't help but think that maybe it'll go away faster if we let him foot the bill. If we did payments, any time that envelope comes in the mail it'll just be another reminder. Even if we were to pay it all at once, if we even could, any extra shifts I take where I'm away from you will still be a reminder." Amy was nodding at Ty's words, understanding perfectly what he was saying. While she feared any interaction with Mr. Young would be painful, it would be just as hard to see those bills every month and their empty bank account.
"It may be too late now." He came looking for Amy after being shot down by Ty in hopes that she'd feel differently, but after she too declined the offer, he really didn't have any choice but to just accept it and leave them be. "Anyway, we didn't even get a bill yet. It may not be as bad as we think."
But it was. It wasn't until a week later that dreaded envelope made its appearance in their mailbox. For a couple of days she and Ty had hesitated to open the box for fear of it being there, but eventually they decided not to worry about it until it actually came. The rest of that week had gone by better than it could have. Some days were harder than others and the nights were still just as bad, but at least it was all bearable. There was no longer any rift between them and any time Amy began to fall apart she no longer retreated inside of herself, but reached out to her husband and they would cry together. On one occasion when he was working a shift at the clinic, Amy called her sister to keep her company for a while. She couldn't stand to be alone anymore when for so long that's all she wanted, but since realized that all it did was make her feel alone in her grief. She wasn't at all and was now able to talk a little more openly about the accident and all of her fears prior to that about the pregnancy and becoming a mom. Even her excitement and how devastated she'd been when it had all been taken away. It wasn't easy to talk about, but at least she was doing it and getting it out – helping herself and her husband to continue moving on.
"Ty." Amy returned to the trailer with the small stack of mail in her hands, having rifled through it and pulled out the envelope with the return address for Foothills Medical Centre printed in the corner. She looked up at him apprehensively, letting him take the envelope from her hand to get a better look at it.
"Well, let's see the damages." This wasn't something they could simply set aside or toss as junk mail. They probably could ignore it for a few months until that final notice forced them to deal with it, but that didn't make it go away. Ty stuck his finger under the flap to tear the envelope open and pulled out the papers within. There was a good three pages that he quickly shuffled through until locating the one with the dark bold dollar sign at the bottom. He stared at the number – the very high number – for a long moment.
Amy was afraid to look for herself, instead focusing on her husband's face as it tensed. "How bad is it?" She almost didn't want to ask, but needed to know how far this was going to really set them back.
"Uh, probably about as bad as we anticipated." He handed her the bill while taking a gander at the other two pieces that came with it, one being a simple cover letter and the other a double sided break down of payment options.
Amy could feel her heart sink upon glimpsing the number. "This is almost as much as what we've saved up to put down on the ranch." She slid down onto the bench seat, feeling the weight of their dreams crashing down around her.
"I know," was all Ty could reply in concurrence. "But we can pay in installments so it's not like the rug is being completely ripped out from under us. Not yet. I'm back to work full-time and once your ribs are healed you'll be able to take on more clients. We'll be okay, Amy. We just have to think about cutting costs – eating out at Maggie's less, carpooling- What?" he stopped when she looked up at him.
What Ty said made sense and Amy wanted to believe him. She'd been trying to remain positive about the whole thing since it happened but now that the bill was staring them in the face she was finding it difficult. "I'm just… I'm not sure how we're going to come back from this one." She shook her head and set the bill down, covering the total with her hands, though it was already burned into her retinas. "We kept our wedding small to keep costs low – even with Lisa insisting to contribute – and we skipped a honeymoon entirely to hold onto that money for the ranch. The ranch that just keeps remaining out of reach. All we do is try to save money, but it never feels like we're ever going to be able to use it for what it's intended. I don't want to be stuck here forever, Ty. I want to be able to see you more than a few hours before we go to bed at night. I feel like this last week is the most time we've been able to spend together since you started vet school." And while it was nice, the circumstances that made it possible were not. Amy would be the first to admit she wasn't a fan of change, even feared it, but sometimes it just needed to happen. Life couldn't remain the same forever, and she was more than ready to start taking on those new life changes that she and Ty had been planning for over five years. It was time.
Ty sighed and fell into the recliner across the table from his wife. "I'm just not sure we have any other choice, Amy." There was a beat of silence between them as they mulled over their situation before Ty spoke up again. "Do you think we should maybe try to get a hold of that Mr. Young?" Ty still cringed at the thought of allowing that man to take responsibility for the bill. It wasn't like they would be left in the poor house paying it off, but right where they were as a young couple with big dreams that turned into a game of cat and mouse. But he was getting restless just as much as Amy. Facing parenthood was a real wake-up call and despite Tim's approach to a reality check, he was right in one thing: they couldn't raise a family in the trailer. It would have been doable if left with no other options, sure, but not ideal and certainly not easy. They would have made it work, but for how long before it overwhelmed them? They'd surely be more careful now with their sex life, but they couldn't completely control if and when Amy got pregnant again. He wanted to be able to welcome their child to a decent home where he or she would have room to grow and learn and where he and Amy could have the space to raise and nurture him or her.
Silence fell again while Ty waited for Amy to respond. He watched her closely, trying to gage her reaction for himself. Her eyes lowered from his as her brow creased into a slight frown as she moved her hands away from the paper and lifted it in front of her as she leaned back against the bench. She chewed on her lip for a moment. It would make everything easier if they just went ahead and accepted that offer, but it had been over a week. The statute of limitations on the deal had probably since worn out. "No." Amy finally answered, setting the paper on the table and looking up at Ty with the same crease in her brow but a new look of determination glinting in her eye. "No, you're right. We don't need him. We'll figure it out, just like we've been doing." Things were finally starting to go back to normal despite the nightmares and occasional ache in her ribcage.
Ty nodded, still glad Amy could believe that, even with these setbacks, they'd still make it in the end. It was just going to be a little bit harder now than they originally hoped. "Okay." He reached out to grab the bill to fold back up with the rest of them, but before he did his hand took Amy's instead. "We'll get there, Amy. No matter what my happen to slow us down, there's no way in hell we're going to give up, okay? I won't let that happen." The struggle to reach their goals and achieve their dreams was perhaps the greatest lesson about life a person could ever learn. It tested their limits and challenged their relationship, sending them to the breaking point until there was no where left to go but forward. Through sheer determination, perseverance, and a little help from love, they would always come out on top. Eventually, they would reach that pinnacle of success when they could look down at the mountain they climbed on the foundation they built together and smile.