Chapter 9

Several days later, Lou is working at the diner, filling in for a few hours because one of her waitress had called in sick. She's serving a customer at the counter who asks, "Excuse me, but I was wondering if you know of a place nearby that's available to spend the night. Apparently, all the rooms in town are full."

"Yeah, that tends to happen whenever there's an event at the rodeo grounds, but you're in luck. I happen to own the Equestrian Connection...it's a three cabin dude ranch and I have one available. Meals are even included."

"Meals won't be necessary, I just need a place to sleep for the night."

"Just passing through then?"

"Yeah, I thought I'd stop for the day and see a friend of mine. So how do I find the Equestrian Connection?"

"It's actually on the Heartland ranch."

"Heartland? I've heard of that place. You wouldn't happen to know Ty Borden?"

"Yes I do...is that who you're here to see?"

"It is...I'm sorry, let me introduce myself...I'm Troy Johnson, but everyone calls me T. J.. Ty and I went to vet school together. I heard he was here and thought, since I was in the area, that I'd stop by and see him."

"I'm happy to meet you. I'm Lou Fleming Morris."

T. J. Pauses for a moment thinking and then says, "Fleming...that name sounds familiar...any relation to Amy Fleming?"

"She's my sister. I suppose Ty talked to you about her?"

"Not really. He mentioned her a few times and that was about it. So, how do I find this dude ranch?"

"Give me a moment and I'll get you one of our brochures with directions. Would you be heading there now?"

"I will...I went by the clinic Ty's working at, but was told he'd be out for the rest of the day. So, I thought I'd relax for a few hours and then hook up with him later."

"Okay, I'll call ahead and have someone waiting to meet you there."

Lou thinks to herself, "This is someone Amy may want to talk to."

...

Setting down the phone, Amy tells Lisa, "I'm going to head down to the dude ranch. That was Lou on the phone and she said that she has a last minute guest checking in."

"I can handle that..."

Amy interrupts, "No, that's okay. I don't mind doing it myself. Besides, I was planning to go by and check on the horses anyway."

"Okay, if you say so. Don't forget the key though and have them sign in. You should bring down some fresh towels too."

"Got it...i'll be back in a little while."

Having been told by Lou that the guest is a college friend of Ty's, Amy sees it as an opportunity to possibly find out more about his time away at college. She has mixed feelings about prying further into Ty's life, but some of the questions Ashley posed are still in the back of her mind and, most of all, she's still curious about the woman Ty mentioned.

...

Amy's checking on the horses in the pen, across from the cabins, when she sees a blue suv pull up and park. She walks over and says, "Hi, I'm Amy. You must be Troy, my sister Lou called and told me you would be arriving."

"Pleased to meet you and you can call me T. J."

"Okay, T. J. it is then. Your cabin is right over here. C'mon and I'll show it to you. Here's the key and I left fresh towels for you."

After showing T. J. the cabin and while having him sign in, Amy brings up the subject of Ty. "So, I understand that you went to college with Ty, I guess that means you're from Colorado. Did you come up here just to see him?"

"No, I was visiting some relatives in Edmonton and heading back home. I was planning to stop in Fort Benton to see him on my way back. Fortunately, I called ahead and was told he was here in Hudson."

"So, how long are you staying?"

"Just for the night."

"Does he know you're here?"

"Not yet...I was going to surprise him. When I went by the clinic, I was told he was going to be out on calls all afternoon, so I hope to see him later when he gets back."

"I guess then that you knew him pretty well back in college."

"Well enough to know that you're the "Miracle Girl". I never thought I would meet you."

"You know about that?"

"Yeah...Ty showed me the video once."

"I hope you don't think I'm prying, but Ty didn't say all that much about his years in college, especially about where he was living or much about his social life. How well did you know him back then?"

"Pretty well...I was one of only a few friends he had after he first arrived."

"Only a few friends?"

"Yeah...he kept pretty much to himself. Several of us even started calling him the "Mystery Man" because he was so reluctant to talk about himself. He didn't seem to mind it though. One of the professors then started calling him "Doctor Dolittle" though. Ty thought he was teasing him for his approach when conducting an examination with live animals. The professor even asked him if the animals ever talked back."

"Doctor Dolittle?"

"Yeah...you know, that movie where the vet talks to the animals. He didn't like that nickname."

"That wouldn't have been the professor he pulled the joke on would it?

"It was...he told you about that?"

"He did. I thought it was pretty funny."

"We all did, but Ty was worried afterwards that the professor would find out it was him, although I think he new anyway. I suppose he still does that...talks to the animals?"

"Yeah, he does and it seems to work well for him."

"I know...some our classmates even started doing it, but none of them had the success that he had."

So, if you don't mind me asking, where did he live? Was it on campus?"

"I don't know where he lived before he shacked up in a room behind the repair shop he was working at. All I know is that the owner took a liking to him and offered him the room to stay in. Ty joked about it being just slightly better than the last place he lived.

As far as his social life...he pretty much stuck to himself, working on motorcycles and studying...at least for the first year or so. It seemed like it would take a force of nature to get him to do anything else. It was nature that got him out of that cycle though."

"What do you mean by that?"

"We finally convinced him to come along with a bunch of us skiing a few times during the winter breaks. He liked it right away and caught on pretty quickly."

"It doesn't sound like he had much of a social life then."

"No he didn't, not at first, but that didn't mean girls weren't interested in him. It was almost like a challenge for some of them to get him to go out with them, but I think he kept reminding himself of you. I do know a little about you."

Surprised by the admission, Amy asks, "What did Ty tell you about me?"

"Not much really. We all could tell he had something bottled up and we thought it probably had something to do with a girl. I eventually found out it was about you."

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but how did he come to talk about me?"

"It was one evening early on. We had a few beers and I managed to get him to open up and talk. That's when he showed me that "Miracle Girl" video. He went on about how he worked as a ranch hand and lived in a loft. By the time I got around to asking him about you, all he would say is that he screwed things up. I didn't press him about what happened and the next day he seemed embarrassed about it. He never talked about you again."

"That's all?"

"Yeah"

"Sounds like it was kinda rough for him."

"I suppose so. He seemed like he was on a mission though, burying himself in his studies. It was obvious from the start that he had a special talent for being a vet and he helped me and Sarah, another classmate of ours, quite a bit with our studying. That's one of the reasons I decided to drop by. I wanted to see how he was doing. So, I suppose he told you about Sarah?"

"He did mention a girl, but he didn't say very much about her."

"I can understand why. He really loved her."

Amy thinks, "Loved her?" and then asks, "So, what happened?"

"I don't know if I should be telling you this. Maybe you should hear it from Ty."

"I'm sure you know Ty well enough to know he doesn't like to talk about some things, so if I promise not to say anything..."

T. J. interrupts, "Okay, I guess there's no harm in telling you, but it would be a good idea if we kept this conversation to ourselves. I don't think he would appreciate me bringing it up."

"I know what you mean. I won't say anything."

T. J. continues, "He and Sarah seemed to hit it off almost right from the start. She was the one who got him completely out of his shell...less serious and more out going. She was the type who wouldn't let him keep things bottled up and she forced him to go out and enjoy life. She was strong willed and wouldn't take no for an answer.

After time, it was obvious that they had fallen for each other and they talked quite a bit about going into business together after graduation. It was during the last semester, before graduation, that I think Ty was going to ask her to marry him."

Stunned by the surprising and unexpected revelation, Amy asks, "What made you think that? Did he say something about it?"

"No...but it was no secret that she loved him too and everyone else who knew them thought so."

"What happened? I assume they didn't get married."

"No, they didn't and that's what's sad. It was almost a year and a half ago. Ty was going to take her to this popular country restaurant outside of the city for a romantic dinner. That's when I think he was going to ask her. He was suppose to pick her up, but then she ended up having to work late. Ty wanted to wait, but she didn't want to lose the reservation, so she insisted that Ty go ahead of her and she would meet him there. He didn't want to argue with her and eventually agreed. She was driving to the restaurant, probably in a hurry, and lost control of her car for some reason. She swerved off the road and hit a tree. Apparently she was killed instantly."

Stunned even more so and recalling how she felt when her mother died, with tears in her eyes, Amy gasps, "Oh my god..that's horrible! I can imagine how devastated he must have been!"

"Yeah, he was. He blamed himself for what happened and he withdrew, crawling back into his shell. We, the rest of his classmates and I, did everything we could to get him out of it. We kept on him and made sure he didn't ignore his studies. It wasn't easy and it took a lot of courage on his part to pull himself out of it. It took time and he somehow managed to focus again and graduate."

Unable to hold back the sorrow she feels for Ty, Amy quickly excuses herself. She sits in Jack's truck crying until she feels she can manage well enough to drive back to the ranch.

...

Lou walks into the house and asks Lisa, "Do you know where Amy is? I checked in the barn, but she wasn't there."

"She's in her room. When she got back from the dude ranch she said she wasn't feeling very well, so she was going to lie down for awhile. That was almost a hour ago. I was meaning to check on her..."

Lou interrupts, "That's okay, Lisa. No need to... I'll check on her right now for you."

Lou knocks lightly on Amy's door. With no answer, she opens the door quietly and sees Amy awake and curled up on her bed. It's immediately obvious that she had been crying. "Amy, what happened? Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not. I should never have gone down to the dude ranch."

"Did T. J. say something that upset you?"

Still curled up on her bed, she answers, "It's what he told me about Ty. I should never have pried!"

"Care to talk about it?"

"uh huh."

Amy sits up and wipes her eyes as Lou takes a seat on the bed next to her. She then tells Lou some of what T. J. told her about Ty's time in college, ending with the story about Sarah.

"...Oh my god! That's terrible!" Lou exclaims. "I'm sorry I ever told you about him."

"It's not your fault. I should never have tried to find out more about her. Ty told me he had moved on and met someone, but he didn't say anything more than that. I should have left it alone."

"Well, for now I suggest you try the best you can to pull yourself together. You should keep all this to yourself too. If you want to talk some more later, I'll be happy to listen. Lisa was concerned about you, so I'm going to tell her that your beginning to feel a little better, but you're going to take a nap for awhile, so she'll leave you alone."

"Thanks, Lou. I think I'll be alright in a little while. I just need some more time."

...

Lou leaves Amy alone with her thoughts. Although being warned not to get involved and expecting the lecture that's sure to follow, Lou seeks out Jack to let him know what happened. She spots him walking out of the Quonset hut and asks him to follow her back inside. "Okay Lou, what's so important that you need to talk to me privately?"

"It's about Ty...no, actually it's about Amy."

"What's going on now? I hope it's not something you said."

"It kinda is...not directly...I mean, it's something I suggested she do."

"Spill it, Lou...what happened?..."

Lou tells Jack about T. J., suggesting to Amy that she might want to meet him, and what he told her about Ty.

"...so, she's upset now." Tempering his anger the best he can, Jack exclaims, "Damn it, Lou..this is exactly why I didn't want you or anyone else to interfere!"

"I'm sorry, grandpa. I thought it might help if Amy knew a little more about Ty. You spoke to him, so did you know about this?"

"Yes...I knew. Ty told me, but I kept it to myself and you have to as well. From now on, anything Amy wants to know she'll have to find out from Ty herself and if there's something he wants her to know, he'll tell her himself. No more getting involved."

"Are you insinuating there's more?"

"I'm not saying anything of the sort!"

"Just to let you know, she might want to talk with me about this some more later."

"Fine...I would expect that, but be careful what you say. Let her figure everything out for herself...no pushing."

"I think she has already...at least some of it."

"What do yo mean?"

"She didn't say anything directly, but I don't have any doubt now that she loves him."

"Well, I can't say I'm surprised..."

...

Having composed herself, Amy decides to call Ashley. "Hey, hun...I thought I would hear back from you sooner. Have you talked to Ty yet?"

"I have, but that's not why I'm calling."

"You sound upset. Is everything alright?"

"No...actually it was, but then..."

Amy goes on to tell Ashley everything that happened since they last spoke.

"...Wow! I can see why you're upset."

"I don't know what to do now, Ashley."

"I wish I knew what to tell you." Ashley pauses for a moment and then says, "Actually I do. I don't want to sound insensitive, but basically not much has changed. It does explain why he said what he did. After something like that, he's probably turned off to getting involved in another relationship anytime soon."

After pausing again, Ashley continues, "From what you told me, it sounds like he doesn't harbor any hurt feeling over what happened between you two. He's over it and that's a good thing. So, whatever you do, don't try to bring up anything that happened in the past. Leave that up to him. If he does bring it up, be honest yet sensitive in how you answer. My last piece of advice and this is the most difficult..."

Amy interrupts, "Difficult? Can anything get any more difficult than it is right now?"

Ashley doesn't answer the question, instead she continues, "I was going to say, if you want him then you have to figure out a way to get him to fall in love with you all over again..."

...

To be continued...