Where were his trucks? Jack stood in the yard, dumfounded and frozen in place. His truck were gone, and he was certain of the culprit. He hadn't even been back 12 hours yet, but Jack had already started to notice Tim's influence or takeover of the ranch.
"Grandpa are you okay?" Amy asked, opening the door from the house as she shrugged into her coat. She tilted her head at him, "What's wrong?"
"My trucks-" his voice dropped off, and he pointed to the empty spot where they'd sat. Goldie, his favorite-gone, all the truck memories gone.
"Oh," her eyes widened, and before she could say more, Lou opened the door.
"You okay, Grandpa, are you in pain?"
Jack dropped his head in disgust, and he could hear the girls whispering, and even if he couldn't hear exactly what was, he had an idea the discussion.
"Ahh, well breakfast is ready. Come on in, Grandpa. We'll talk about the trucks."
Jack walked to the house, but his eyes were trained on the empty spots where his trucks had sat. Where were they? He wasn't dead, yet it seemed like things were running like he was. Before he reached the steps, he turned at hearing a truck coming down the driveway. He frowned and looked to both girls who had guilty looks on their faces with the approaching trucks.
"Listen, Grandpa, Dad has taken over in your absence-" Lou started to say, but Jack raised a hand in the air and cut her off.
"I'm here, in the flesh. My trip to Arizona was not my idea, doctor's orders," he huffed and glared at them before turning his attention on the truck coming toward them. "Now, what is this coming?"
"Ahh, Dad worked on some deal-"
"You've got to be kidding me," Jack grumbled, shaking his head. "If I had a dollar for every time I heard that, I'd be rich. Tim and his schemes."
"Yes! My flock of sheep are here!" Tim stepped out of the house, coffee cup in hand. He handed that to Amy who looked surprised he'd done that and started to put on his coat.
"We don't keep sheep on Heartland!" Jack bellowed, and Tim just grinned and patted his arm as he stepped around Jack. "Oh, we do now. I've been running the place."
"Exactly what I was just pointing out!" Jack exclaimed. "I'm not dead."
"You are stepping back though, Grandpa-" Lou tried to offer.
"No, I'm not! I'm back. Doctor wanted me to go rest in Arizona. I did. It was miserable, but I did. I'm back, and I just want to get back to normal, back to work."
Tim bound down the steps toward the truck. Jack's phone rang, and he sighed, pulling it from his pocket, squinting to try and read the small display on flip phone. Lou was standing right next to him, saw his struggle with reading the number, and she looked over his shoulder.
"Montana number," she told him.
"I'm ready to chuck this thing in the road and run over it," Jack grumbled as he answered the phone. "What?" Jack was less than cordial answering the phone, and it only took a few moments for him to reply, "No, I'm not interested in donating to the American Heart Association! I live in Canada. This is a Canadian number, and I just had a heart attack!" He snapped the phone shut and eyed the girls who were staring at him, both wide eyed.
"Grandpa," Amy nodded at him. "Please, let's go inside and sit down to eat."
"Grandpa, I'm really worried about you, snapping at the phone like that."
"It's been ringing nonstop for the last two days!" Jack exclaimed.
Amy grimaced, "Your number must have gotten on some call solicitation list."
"Just my luck," and he turned when he heard the sheep.
"Get rid of the sheep!"
"No can do, old man," Tim grinned, rubbing his hands together. "I'm going to make a fortune on these sheep."
"Come on, Grandpa," Amy gave him a soft smile. "I'm hungry too. We can deal with Dad later." Jack allowed the girls to nudge him into the house, where he realized just how hungry he was with the smell of breakfast. He dropped his head and sighed, realizing his heart felt like it was racing. Tim always got him worked up. The girls seemed to realize just how irritated he was because they left him alone to take off his boots, and by the time he had, they'd put down a plate of food for him at the kitchen table. Lou was bringing him a cup of coffee, and he nodded his appreciation to the girls. He knew they were trying. It was good to see them; he'd missed them.
"Grandpa, we have a nice decaf coffee here-"
"Lou, stop right there," Jack put his hand up and shook his head. "I will not drink a decaf coffee."
"Grandpa, just try it-" Lou held it out. "Please."
He did, and he coughed it back into the cup, grimacing at her, "No, it's not just decaf. What is that?"
"It's a healthier brand of coffee-"
"Healthier coffee?" Jack looked at her like she was crazy. "No, I'm not drinking that. Where is my coffee."
"Ahh," she glanced at Amy, and Amy jumped in. "Look Grandpa, we are worried. The doctor wants you to make some dietary changes."
"I am," he said with a shake of his head. "Not coffee, though. I'm not changing that. I'm only eating bacon once or twice a week, not every morning. I've mostly eating eggs and am eating wheat bread. Those are my changes-NOT coffee."
"Fine, Grandpa," Lou held up her hand in defense as she sighed loudly. "We just want you around as long as possible."
"I did too until I came home to my trucks gone and now sheep showing up at Heartland. This is not how I run this place."
"I'll get your coffee when I run into town to get Georgie after school," Lou said, hugging him from the side. "She's really glad you are back."
"Hopefully, she's done nothing for me to be irritated at her about," Jack grumbled, taking a bite of his eggs. "
"Oh, Grandpa," Amy said, frowning at him as she sat down next to him, "you love Georgie. She's been a huge help around here, finally taking on some responsibility."
"That's good to hear," he said with a shake of his head as he continued to eat. His phone rang again, and he groaned, pulling it out of his pocket. He squinted again.
"Looks like it's Maggie," Amy told him, leaning over to help. "Where are your glasses?"
"Don't' know, don't want them. Maggie," Jack said into the phone. He listened and shook his head, "No, no, I am back, and no, I did not order any of that feed. That has Tim written all over it. Please DO NOT charge that to the Heartland account. No, that's all Tim. He's trying to add a herd of sheep, but I'm not having it."
"It's a flock!" Tim now called from the doorway where he had just come inside. "Flock of sheep, Jack. Come on. You're supposed to be a rancher."
He hung up with Maggie and put his hand up in the air, "I am a rancher, not some sheep herder. Tim, get those off my property, and why was Maggie calling me asking about feed for YOUR sheep?"
"I'll pay for it," Tim rolled his eyes. "It was just easier to tell her to put it on the farm account."
"No sir, not on my watch. Thankfully, Maggie had the good sense to call me and double check. You will have to pick up your own feed and settle up with her. At least someone in this town cares enough to check on things-"
"Well, you ran off the other woman who tried to check on you-" Tim said before he took a sip of the coffee he'd just poured. Lou, who was there at the stove, widened her eyes at Tim and smacked him.
"Dad!"
"What? Lisa. I'll say her name. She's the elephant in the room. She's been around for over six years, and all of a sudden, nothing. Jack gets sick, she comes home, and suddenly, she's gone again, and he takes off."
Jack wiped his mouth and threw down his napkin as he stood, angrily glaring at Tim. He then pointed at him, "Keep her out of this. My ranch. My business. My, my," he started to get flustered, "personal life, and I will not be talking about it, I mean, her," he was shaking his head now, his face flushed from being flustered. "No more talk of my personal business and get the sheep out of here."
"Should be in a week," Tim grinned, not at all phased by Jack's outburst. The girls were just watching things unfold. Jack started to storm off, but before he did, he whipped around.
"Tim, where are my trucks. You had no right to do anything with them."
"They were a rusting mess, Jack. Someone had to do something. It's like anything or anyone else you are attached to-you just let them sit there and assume they will always be there. Well, guess what, they aren't," he said with a smirk. Jack started toward Tim like he was going to almost hit him, but Lou stepped between them.
"Let's all just sit down and start over, talk about the ranch going forward.
"Nothing to discuss," Jack snarled, his anger directed at Tim. "It's my ranch, my responsibility, my call. Right now, I'm leaving-"
"You just got home, Grandpa," Amy called to him.
"I'm going to head to town and find anywhere I can sit in peace and have a meal without everyone looking over my shoulder at my diet and telling me what I should or shouldn't be doing." Jack's phone rang again, and he yanked it from his pocket, smacking it down on the table. "I will not be taking this with me while I go to town. Do not tell me otherwise." At that, Jack spun around, grabbed his coat, and he stormed out the door, completely frustrated with his family.
Not even 12 hours home. Jack had driven that long, long road home to this? He was fed up, disgusted, and irritated at everything. To be fair, he had good reason to be irritated at all the supposed changes at the ranch.
For now, he knew he needed to cool off. He also knew he needed to eat, and while breakfast had tasted good, there was no way he could sit there in that house right now and take one thing after another from the family. No, he'd go to Maggie's and lament by himself. He'd sit there and think about all the lovely times he'd enjoyed a meal there with his favorite person.
Well, maybe that wasn't a good idea either. Maggie's did sound like a good idea until it brought back too many memories. It would also bring Maggie to the table to chat, and as much as he liked and respected her, she was a friend of Lisa's, and he didn't want her asking if he'd talked to her. No, maybe Maggie's wasn't a good idea. He could easily run into plenty of locals, none of whom he wanted to see.
Jack would head to town, but he'd have to head to the run-down diner on the edge of town where he rarely went just to get some peace and quiet plus a cup of hot, regular coffee.
He'd do that in town too, coffee-stock up on his favorite brand because he was back, and no one was going to tell him how to run his life or his ranch.
It felt good to ditch the phone. He might just do that on a regular basis, leave that total annoyance at home because anything was better than a phone constantly ringing.