Katy was the next to stand, shoving her chair back so it made a loud screeching sound on the floor. Jack and Gus watched wide-eyed, wondering what little drama they had stumbled upon this time. Whenever Katy was around there was always something the spirited girl was being passionate about.

"Katy," said Rob, not rising from his spot. "Calm down. It'll be alright."

"Did you not hear him?" shouted Katy. "He's gonna ruin everything!"

Everything she and Flicka had worked for, everything Rob was now working for, all in vain. Because this man, this family Katy's considered as friends, were crushing their dreams. The walls Katy had built for herself were crashing down.

It was times like these Katy wished more than anything that she had her brother around. Howard would be optimistic, even if there wasn't an immediate solution at hand. He would make her feel better about what seemed like a dire situation.

Nell sighed and stood too, putting a comforting hand on her daughter's shoulder, but Katy shook it off. "I'm going for a ride."

"Not too far Katy!" called Rob, but she was already out the door.

It was times like these when Katy needed to be alone, to clear her head. And riding was the best way to do that. She bridled Flicka and got up, not worrying about a saddle. She'd ridden thousands of time bareback, anyway. It was better than a saddle – she liked feeling the horse directly beneath her, the way she moved and sailed out beneath her when they galloped together, one person. There were times when Katy wasn't aware of where she ended and Flicka began. That's what she needed now.

She was galloping before she reached the wide open fields. She had a feeling of recklessness stirring deep down, which she knew was dangerous and could get her into a lot of trouble. But she didn't often listen to her brain – she was a heart girl through and through.

She galloped into the space she and her father had visited that very morning, where the quarter horses were grazing. Katy had the urge to scatter them, which she did. She doubted it would have much effect, seeing as fences were underway and the horses couldn't go anywhere, but she was wrong.

A few of the horses tore away from the main herd and galloped, frightened, towards the fence construction. It was planned to be a sturdy fence, created for this sort of thing, but it wasn't ready yet. Katy could already see what was going to happen before it happened. The horses crashed through the weaker section, causing bits of wood and other materials to go flying. The quarter horses were still frightened of Flicka, still didn't accept her as one of their own.

Katy was unsure of what to do. She began to panic. She couldn't ride after them because they would just continue to run because of Flicka. She had to ride home, get her father to help. She hated that. Katy believed she was capable of doing anything herself. Those months when she had been sick were the worst, because she was so completely helpless.

She decided to chase them. Stupid, perhaps, but she could maybe herd them back into the fence boundaries without her father ever knowing. Of course there was the matter of the fence, but Katy could only deal with one thing at a time.

The rest of the herd had followed the few that had crashed through the fence, and now they were galloping further towards the cliff that Flicka had once almost gone down. It wasn't dangerously close though, so Katy took chase. She went around the side and put pressure on the herd, getting closer until some of the horses gave shrieks and began turning. Katy smiled almost triumphantly – you just had to get a few to turn and the rest would follow.

It took a while to get them back to where they were supposed to be, but finally they were there. Katy stopped by the fence, dismounted and got a piece of twine out of her jeans pocket, tying Flicka to the part of the fence that was still remaining. It was safer than just tethering Flicka with her reins because then if Flicka spooked, the twine would snap and she'd be free to bolt. If it were the reins, though, Flicka could do herself a serious injury.

Katy inspected the fence. A whole section needed to be reworked, most certainly by her because no way was she inviting her father to inspect this thing. He'd never let her out riding alone again.

Katy mounted up again, leaving the twine on the fence for later, and galloped Flicka towards the ranch. She took a different route back, not wanting to draw attention to herself. She planned to slip in, get fence supplies and slip back out so nobody would ever learn of her return and think she had just gone for a long, peaceful ride.

Yet the different route consisted of the trees, bushes and shrubs where she'd almost been attacked by the mountain lion that one time, until Flicka had saved her. And Katy had a difficult time navigating quickly through it. Then a tree was directly in front of her, and Katy didn't have time to react with Flicka. The horse swerved around it but Katy didn't, and she came off, flying a few meters before hitting the ground and rolling, only stopping when she hit another tree to her left. She lay there for a few moments, assessing the damage. She was conscious, which was a plus. Her entire body ached but it didn't feel like anything was broken. She slowly sat up. The world spun a little before coming back into focus. But she ruled out concussion. She stretched out both arms, exercising her wrists. There was a sharp pain in her right one, but nothing she couldn't handle. She did the same with her legs, and discovered she had a very painful ankle sprain. As she stood, using the tree for support, she could barely put weight on her right foot. That was going to be hard to hide from her parents. She tried walking. She could disguise it if she could put up with the shooting pains. Besides, she'd had much worse.

Flicka was grazing a few meters away, having stopped when she felt she no longer had a rider on her back. Now she looked to Katy as if asking her why she was taking so long.

"I'm comin'," Katy muttered, limping over. She mounted by using a tree stump as a mounting block and managed to ride back without too much hassle, seeing as there were no stirrups to cause her any discomfort. She tethered Flicka behind the stables and crept in to the supply shed, though she made quite a bit of noise because her bad foot kept scuffing. How much wood would she need? How was she going to carry it? Katy supposed this was why most people thought things through before they did them. Maybe she should learn from those people.

"Whatcha doin'?"

Katy almost screamed, but instead just gasped and turned as fast a lightning bolt to see Gus in the doorway. "Gus! You scared me."

"Sorry," he apologized. "But what are you doin'?"

Katy considered lying, but thought better of it. "I broke part of the new fence."

Gus chuckled. "Course you did."

He pushed past Katy and began gathering up tools and materials.

"What're you doin'?" said Katy, watching him.

"What does it look like? Helpin' you." He walked past with wood. "I'll put it in the truck."

Katy was touched by his readiness to help her, and decided not to argue against it because thinking about it, she really did need his help. She told him where the fence was and that she would meet him out there, then mounted Flicka and set off.

Gus arrived shortly after Katy did, and she went to help him unload the truck. But he noticed her limping. "You come off, did you?"

"Yeah," admitted Katy sheepishly.

"Go sit down, I'll carry it over," Gus said. Katy went, because her ankle really was hurting. She didn't want to take off her boot and examine it though, because it would probably swell so she couldn't get the shoe back on. She'd probably have to sleep in it if she wanted to keep the injury from her parents. Oh well. It wouldn't be the first time.

Once Gus had everything by the fence, he set to work, and Katy went to help him. They had barely picked up a thing when galloping hoof beats were heard. They turned at the same time and saw Rob and Jack.

"Aw, damn," said Gus, standing up.

Katy just sat on the grass. Her father stopped and dismounted. Jack stayed on his horse. "What the hell is goin' on here?" said Rob, looking directly to Katy for answers.

"I'm sorry Daddy, it's my fault."

"I know it's your fault," said Rob. "How'd this happen?"

"The horses spooked," said Katy.

"Why?"

"Because I scattered them."

Jack let out a short laugh but was silenced by Katy's death stare. She didn't appreciate being made fun of, especially by Jack.

But Rob didn't yell. He just sighed. "Katy, I know what Miranda's dad said upset you. But we'll deal with it. We've got Miranda on our side."

"It won't make much difference," said Katy.

Rob sat down next to Katy in the grass, something he rarely did. He looked odd, sitting cross-legged next to his teenage daughter by a broken fence. "We'll convince him to stop."

"Dad, that's never gonna happen," said Katy, a smile on her lips. "You, me and mom always get way too fired up."

Rob laughed, but said: "That's why I called Howard. He's got a break. Don't know what the hell for but he can come back. He'll negotiate. After all, he and Miranda were pretty hot 'n' heavy for a while!"

"Dad, don't say that," said Katy. But she was overjoyed. "So… Howard's coming back?"

"Yup. He'll be here by tomorrow night." He stood up and grabbed Yankee's reins. "You're welcome."

Howard was coming home!