Chapter Four

"Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same."-All at Once by: The Fray

Amy checked the girth one last time before lifting herself into the saddle. She gently squeezed her calves against Rockefeller's sides and he walked forward. A good start so far.

She walked him into the round pen. Since he bucked so badly, Amy just planned on doing walk-trot-canter transitions with him and see how he did

They had just started trotting with no bucking so far when Amy looked up at the sound of a car. She felt her face go pale. It was Ahmed's car. As he pulled up beside the round pen, she continued trotting. Taking a deep breath, she ignored the figure of Ahmed coming to stand against the side of the pen.

"Hello, Amy," he called to her. "Ahmed." Amy acknowledged his presence, but didn't look towards him. She felt uncomfortable in a way she never had before with him observing her riding.

She tensed up, her hands becoming tight around the reins and her legs pressing against Rockefeller's sides, inadvertently telling him to canter.

Rockefeller took off in a canter, just as Ahmed started speaking to her. "Amy," he said, "I...I came to apologize." She kept her eyes up as the horse kept cantering. "Ahmed, I don't really want to talk about this right now."

Her voice was cold, and Ahmed sighed in frustration. "Please hear me out then." He said. "I..." Ahmed cast a glance around to make sure no one was listening, "I am sorry for what I did. I wasn't thinking clearly."

Amy shook her head in disbelief. Just then, Rockefeller let out a buck, his back legs flying into the air. Amy struggled to keep him under control as he bucking became progressively worse.

She grasped at his mane with one hand and the reins with the other, trying to stay on. "Easy boy," She said, but once he got started it was hard to get him to stop. "Whoa..." Ahmed stood at the gate of the round pen, looking on with concern and helplessness.

When Rockefeller gave one final buck, Amy fell to the ground with a thud. Rockefeller trotted off, head held high.

Before she could get up, Ahmed was right beside her, kneeling to help her up. He put a hand on her back as she stood and brushed herself off, adjusting her helmet. "Are you alright?" He asked, his hand still resting on the small of her back.

"I'm fine." Amy snapped. She left Ahmed standing there and went to catch Rockefeller. When Amy looked back a few minutes later as she was leading the horse to the barn, Ahmed's car was backing out of Heartland.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she went inside to get some lunch.

Georgie was sitting at the table, eating a sandwich when Amy walked inside. "Hey," Amy said, heading for the fridge.

Georgie didn't reply. In fact, Amy wasn't sure Georgie had even heard her from the expressionless look on her face. "Georgie," Amy prodded as she said down with her soda, "What's up?"

"Not much." She said. They sat in complete silence for a few minutes. "What happened to your bulletin board?" Amy asked." I went upstairs to put some laundry away in your room and all the pictures were on the floor...shredded."

Georgie had made a bulletin board full of pictures of Amy and Ahmed at the World Equestrian Games. Georgie shrugged. "I just decided to

take it down." She said. "It didn't seem right anymore."

Amy watched the young girl carefully. "Georgie..." She said. "Is something wrong?"

Georgie shook her head. She paused for a moment and said, "Well...yeah, I guess." "What is it? Something at school?" Amy guessed, getting up to fix herself her own sandwich.

"No." Georgie said. "I don't think I should tell you...err..show you." Amy thought that was an odd thing to say. "Oh, come on, Georgie." She said. "Don't keep me in suspense. Maybe I can help you."

Georgie sighed. "I don't think so." She said. "Come here." Georgie grabbed Lou's iPad and clicked around for a little while until she found what she was looking for.

Amy sat her sandwich on the table and licked her finger, coming to stand behind Georgie. When she saw what was on the screen, she froze. "Ahmed's mystery girl" was the heading of a small video.

"Georgie...what is this?" Amy asked, revealing the fear in her voice. Not answering, Georgie clicked play. Amy watched the video in horror. It showed Ahmed and Amy sitting on a couch, talking in a friendly fashion.

Then Ahmed had leaned in and kissed her. The video cut off at that point. Georgie looked up at Amy to gauge her reaction. "Georgie," Amy said, feeling like her heart would beat right out of her chest, "I...it's not what it looks like."

"I don't think I can believe you." Georgie said seriously. "Georgie! It was the last night and...it wasn't anything really...he apologized."

Georgie stood up and said, "You'd better not let Ty find this."

Amy stood there in the kitchen after Georgie had left. Flashbacks of that night kept sending her heart pounding in her chest. She gulped down the rest of her soda and headed for her bedroom.

Amy knew what she had to do. She had to tell Ty the truth-what had happened that night-before he found out some other way.

She made plans to go to his trailer for dinner that night. Standing in front of her mirror, she touched the ends of her curled hair and looked at her reflection.

Her eyes looked scared, in a way that had never looked before. She looked away and shut them tight. All she could hope was that Ty would understand.

They were sitting in his trailer, eating beef stew that Ty had made later that night. "Wow, I'm impressed. This is really good." Amy said, trying to make the situation a little lighter.

She had the feeling that Ty had picked up on her tenseness and nerves, as he hadn't said much and seemed concerned for her. "Thanks." He said. "I'm glad you like it."

"Ty," she said, squeezing her napkin in her lap, "I have something to tell you." He looked up from across the table. "I'm listening."

"I...I don't know how to say this. Please try to understand." She said, feeling very nervous. "Go ahead, Amy." Ty said. "What's wrong?"

"That last night of the WEG tour," Y began, "I was having a great time. There was a going-away party for the team, and I was there. As well as Ahmed. We were just chatting-about horses. The paparrizi were always around-they were snapping pictures like crazy."

Ty listened, seeming a little puzzled. "And...like I said, Ahmed and I were sitting on the couch, chatting. He gave me a gift from the team-it was a really pretty horseshoe necklace. He put it around my neck and I thought nothing of it. I thanked him, and..."

"And what?" Ty prodded. Amy swallowed hard, feeling hot tears begin to form at the corners of her eyes. "He kissed me, Ty. On the lips. I had no idea it was coming. It shocked the hell out of me."

Ty sat very still, trying to maintain his calm. "I mean, he had been so nice as polite the whole time. I never thought he'd do that."

"What happened after he kissed you?" Ty asked, his voice flat. "Well...I tried pulling away from the kiss. I was trying to back away and he...put his hand on the back of my head and wouldn't let me back away. He kept kissing me until finally I stood up and walked away."

Amy blinked furiously, trying to keep the tears at bay. "Oh Ty, I feel so bad. He apologized later but I don't think I can work with him again. I was so scared you wouldn't understand or you'd find that stupid video on the internet before I had time to tell you..."

"I didn't want him to kiss me; I never thought he would. I feel so stupid and naive."

In a moment, Ty was over to Amy and had her wrapped up in his arms as she cried quietly against his shoulder. He was completely taken aback and angry at Ahmed. He could just feel his blood pressure start to rise. He didn't know what to feel towards Amy.

He felt completely conflicted. He wanted to punch Ahmed's lights out for kissing his fiancée and then not letting her break up the kiss! But he also felt completely out of the picture regarding Amy and her time at WEG.

Sitting there confused, he held Amy.