The Trainer Pt. 02

Welcome back! This is the continuation of the slow-burn story The Trainer. If you haven't read the first part yet, you'll really want to do that first. You'll be a bit lost without it, I'm afraid. Thanks to everyone who has written to me about part one. I love hearing from you! Thanks also go out to my wife and to Broken Spokes for their comments on this story and helping me make it better. I hope you will enjoy reading this second part as much as I enjoyed writing it. Let me know your thoughts by dropping me a message or leaving a comment. Happy reading!

* * * * *

It took a little while for Charlie to appear at the gate after Amy had hooted her car horn. She opened the gate so Amy could park her car inside. There was no one else yet, it seemed. Yet, the clock on her dashboard told her it was just after six. She thought she was late.

"Am I the first one? Where are the others?" She asked Charlie.

"Well, you're a bit early. Training only starts at seven. You're quite keen, hah?"

"What? You told me it started at six!" Amy burst out. She was sure she hadn't misremembered that.

"Did I?" Charlie said with a twinkle in her eyes that suggested she knew very well that she did. "My bad, must have gotten my times mixed up. Oh well, I'll give you a tour since you're early. You want a beer while we walk?"

She was so casual about it. And why wouldn't she be? She had no idea that Amy had left work early and rushed over here through the island's modest but still existing evening rush hour, certainly driving faster than the speed guidelines in an attempt to make it by six.

"Aren't you supposed to be working?" She asked tersely, not sure why she felt annoyed about the casual offer of a beer.

"I'm a dog trainer, not a pilot. I'll grab you one." Without waiting for a response, Charlie walked off towards the house with Jamie following her excitedly.

"So this is obviously my house, the pool, terrace," Charlie said casually as she indicated each location in turn. Amy couldn't help but be impressed at the size of the home and surrounding land a girl her age managed to have and maintain. However, it seemed rude to ask about that.

"And what's that?" She asked instead, pointing at the smaller building on the other side of the pool.

"Oh that's a little holiday home. My sister runs it. She really wanted to do that but didn't have the space, so we converted that little outbuilding into an Airbnb. She lives down the road and comes over to do the cleaning and check-ins and stuff. Although obviously I still get a lot of the questions, since I'm right here." Charlie pulled a face that suggested she wasn't all that pleased about that.

"People aren't really your thing, are they?" Amy teased.

Charlie looked at her in surprise for a moment, gauging Amy as if to see if she should be amused or offended. Then she laughed. "You're right. I'm more of a dog person than a people person."

"I hadn't noticed," Amy said with a grin.

"Shut up!" Charlie pushed her shoulder playfully. It was the first time the other girl had initiated physical contact with her since they'd danced together.

"Speaking of dogs... this is my pride and joy." Charlie gestured for Amy to follow her through a gate in the fenced off area. They entered a large field with various agility obstacles: a seesaw, a bridge, a tunnel, a few jumps, some hoops, various plateaus at different heights, cones, and a row of small poles, which dogs were meant to zigzag through.

"This is the training field, completely equipped for anything from basic training to agility. We've even got the ball pit and the snuffle wall over there for scent games." Charlie beamed excitedly. Even if she hadn't said it, it was clear this was her pride and joy.

"Wow, you really do have everything."

"Yeah, you don't get this anywhere else on the island. You can't even buy these things. I've had to make most of the obstacles myself."

"Really? And I thought my dog bowl stand was quite impressive."

Charlie laughed. "It was. So was that black nail you gave yourself. First DIY project?"

So she had seen that and connected the dots. "We can't all be DIY goddesses like you," she said embarrassedly. "At least I tried."

"Yes, you did. You can always come practice over here if you want. There's always loads to do. This weekend that fence over there needs fixing."

"You do everything yourself?" Amy asked, impressed.

"Not everything. I had some guys in to build that wall over there, but anything I can do with nails and screws, yes, I do that myself."

"And you live here all by yourself?" Amy's cleverly worded question - if she thought so herself - aimed to satisfy her curiosity about if indeed Charlie was solely responsible for the entire property, and if she had someone she shared her life with.

Charlie paused for a moment, looking into the distance thoughtfully. Perhaps she realised she'd be telling Amy much more than the face-value answer to the question. Or perhaps there was more to the answer than she wanted to share.

"Yep, just me here," she said eventually. "But my sister pops over at the most random times and obviously there's holiday guests often, so it never quite feels like that." Again, her facial expression suggested she wished it did.

"But how? I mean, it's such a big place. You must be roughly my age. I can't even own a tiny flat in England."

"It's not the same here, I think. It's not that difficult to get a mortgage and buy a place if you're not too picky. I had saved up some money from my odd jobs while I was in school, which helped. But this place was a dump when I bought it. It was dirt cheap. I had to fix up literally everything. And then there was obviously building up the business alongside that. It was hard work. I don't think I slept much at all for a few years, but it was worth it. It's going well now."

"That's amazing. Most of my friends who own their homes had help from their parents to scrape together a deposit."

Charlie laughed bitterly. "Oh yeah, that happens a lot here too. A nice, comfy beach condo as a graduation present, or a lump sum to get their child on the property ladder. Lucky for them. Not a chance in hell my parents would do that."

Amy sensed there was more to that story, but she never got a chance to ask. Two women with dogs on leads walked onto the training field and Charlie greeted them with a wave.

"Best you put Jamie on a lead now too. We usually at least start off that way until we know how the dogs behave in the group," she said to Amy, all business once again. Amy called over her dog and did as she was told.

Three more people with dogs arrived not long after, completing their little class of six dogs - all of them of the island's own 'pavement special' mixed breed variety - and their handlers.

Charlie had everyone introduce themselves and their dogs and told them all a bit about the outline of the course. The focus was on building a communicative relationship between dog and owner and getting to dog to respond to basic commands, such as sitting, coming over, staying, and following. Depending on how quickly things were picked up, they would continue looking at things such as searching, fetching, tricks, or agility.

"You may not see the purpose of tricks and agility at first, but you'll be surprised to see how much your dog will love it. It really exercises their brain, which helps to tire them and relieve their stress." Charlie concluded. At the last part, she looked pointedly at Amy.

Next, the trainer handed every one of them a treat bag filled with what she called 'high value treats', which turned out to be pieces of sausage, and a small device that made a clicking noise when you pressed it. Clicker training, she explained, was centred on the idea of pointing out the exact moment of the desired behaviour with a click and a treat to help the dog learn quicker. She gave some background information about the technique and Amy couldn't help but be impressed with her knowledge. But then again, if someone asked her about tax legislation, she could also wax lyrical.

The first exercise Charlie had them do seemed completely impossible. Without using any words or guidance, the dogs were supposed to sit exactly inside a hoop on the ground. The only encouragement the handlers were allowed to give was a click when the dog was doing it right, for example putting a paw in the hoop or walking through it.

Amy got to work sceptically, and by going to work she meant doing absolutely nothing. Jamie just stared at her for a while and then lay down, next to the hoop.

"Come on, girl, don't embarrass me again," Amy whispered as she saw Charlie approaching, checking in on each person one by one.

"Just get her up and walk around a bit with her. And remember, as soon as she puts a toe inside that hoop, you click and give her a treat."

Of course, now that Charlie was near, Jamie seemed a lot more cooperative and she actually walked through the hoop with one of her back legs. Amy fumbled with the clicker but eventually managed to make a sound, which she followed up with some sausage.

"A bit quicker next time, but that was good," Charlie said, "keep going!"

One by one the dogs miraculously got the hang of what they were meant to be doing and Amy was pleased when Jamie was the first dog to sit down triumphantly inside the hoop.

"Very good, Jamie!" Charlie said. And Amy, Amy thought. "Now keep going until her behaviour is absolutely consistent and she sits inside the hoop every time."

This took a little longer but Amy was just amazed how the dog had just gleaned what was expected of her without any commands or guidance. This turned out to be the next step, linking the action to a verbal command. In this way, Charlie explained, they could send their dog to a dedicated space, such as their bed. It was their homework to practice this at home with a spot of their choice.

Amy was surprised to see that they had been going for over an hour when Charlie called the end of the lesson. Jamie seemed quite happy for the lesson to be over. Amy had never seen her this tired.

"So, what did you think?" Charlie asked her, as everyone started leaving.

"I really liked it," Amy said honestly. Charlie clearly knew what she was doing and she was clearly in her element as the teacher. It showed her in quite a different light. "I can't believe she just knew what to do."

"Amazing, isn't it? The key is rewarding incrementally. Once she gets the hang of the first thing, you shift your marker of what you click for and she'll understand she'll need to do a bit better to get that treat. And that's how you build up a new behaviour."

"Very impressive."

"So, you'll be back next week?"

"Yeah, I'd like to. You'll need to let me know how much it is for the course."

Charlie nodded. "Will do. And don't forget to do your homework."

"Yes, Miss Charlie! Will this be on the exam?" Amy joked.

"No, but I may give you detention if you don't do it." Charlie replied with a wide grin, her pale eyes sparkling with amusement at their bantering. Somehow the thought of detention with Charlie brought a flush to Amy's cheeks and she rushed off to her car to hide it.

"See you next week," she called out as she drove past Charlie on her way out. That prospect did not seem so daunting anymore.

July

"Only four weeks until we come visit!" Megan shouted into her phone as a way of greeting. The shout reached Amy before the video stream had even appeared to show her pink-haired friend and her girlfriend Jordan filling the screen.

"Oh my god, I'm so excited! I can't wait to show you around!" Amy beamed. She'd been chatting to her friends regularly over the past six months and they had gotten so excited about her stories that they had decided to spend a ten day holiday in the Caribbean. Amy had missed hanging out with them and was really looking forward to their visit.

"Dude, we are so ready. We got snorkels and goggles and a family pack of sunscreen, and flippers, and new bikinis, and... What else, babe?" Jordan paused to consult her girlfriend.

"I think she gets the picture." Megan smiled. "Point is, we can't freaking wait. It's been nothing but grey clouds here, so bring on the sunshine!"

"We've got plenty of that." Amy laughed. "It's bloody hot at the moment. You'll regret coming in August!"

"No, we won't. And it's perfect timing: I read it's Pride when we're there," Jordan said.

"Oh yeah, Lucas told me. Do you guys want to go? I wasn't planning on it, to be honest."

"What? Of course we want to go! You have to, Ames. You need to experience Pride wherever you can. Plus, it's one of the only Caribbean islands where they actually have a Gay Pride. It's really quite a big deal."

"But there's practically no gay culture here at all. I really can't imagine Pride will be very big."

"That doesn't matter. We should definitely go," Jordan insisted. Megan nodded in agreement. "I'd love to see it if we can."

"Okay, sure, we can go," Amy said. It was their holiday after all.

"So, what else has been happening in your world?" Megan asked then.

Amy started to fill them in on the past few weeks since they last spoke, most notably her progress with Jamie in the dog training and the embarrassing encounter that caused her to go to the training in the first place.

"And then Charlie did this whole agility demonstration with her dog Diego. It was incredible. He just did all the tricks. It was like Crufts," she concluded her story.

Jordan and Megan both grinned widely and didn't say anything, just beaming at the camera.

"What?" Amy asked, wondering for a moment if her video stream had frozen.

"Oh nothing... Just that this Charlie seems to have left quite the impression," Megan said, that grin still plastered on her face.

"You know, it's almost like she's got a bit of a thing for this girl," Jordan chipped in.

"Hmmm, I think you may be right," Megan agreed, playing along as if that wasn't what she'd been thinking all along too.

"I do not have a thing for Charlie!" Amy shouted out.

"One does protest just a little too much," Jordan said. Both of them were laughing now.

"I don't! She's rude and disinterested and she doesn't even like people. She's business-only most of the time. She blows hot and cold..."

"Oh, but when she blows hot...," Megan piped up. "Don't think we've forgotten what you've told us about dancing with her. How you'd met this amazingly hot girl who was an incredible dancer, but she was a complete asshole? And now she turns out not to be such an asshole after all, so that leaves... amazingly hot girl, incredibly sexy dancer. On whom, my friend, it certainly sounds like you have a bit of a crush."

"I do not...," Amy insisted, but she heard a shadow of doubt creep into her own voice. It was true that she'd gotten a new appreciation for Charlie, seeing her in her professional role as the trainer, seeing her so passionate about working with dogs. And, as much as she probably wouldn't want to admit it, with people.

There had been one handler in the group who had seemed quite sceptical and not really willing to try very hard. Charlie had gradually gotten her to be more receptive and make more of an effort with each exercise. It had proven to be true that she trained the people as much as the dogs. She had taught all of them to look at the cues their dogs were giving them and learn to understand them better. Amy could really imagine that if more people were willing to work with dogs in this way, they'd be much less inclined to chain them, beat them, or abandon them.

And yes, it was attractive when someone was passionate about something, and good at something. Of course it was. And of course it pleased Amy when Charlie complimented her or, more likely, complimented Jamie, when they were successful in an exercise. And of course she'd been very diligent with her homework. For Jamie. That her dog was turning into the star student, and they were getting more and more attention and compliments from it, was an added benefit, certainly not the main reason. A big added benefit, though, that was true.

And thus it was understandable that she looked forward to the lessons each week, to show Charlie how much better Jamie had gotten. Just last week, Charlie had told her how pleased she was to see how much work Amy was putting in. Amy had smiled from ear to ear the whole way home.

"We just connect over how well Jamie is doing, that's all," she concluded, trying to convince herself as much as her friends.

"Suuuuure..."

"Guys, I don't even know if she's gay!"

"Of course she's gay! She was all over you on the dance floor!" Jordan exclaimed.

"Yeah but that's maybe just how people dance here? Girls too, I mean? In Latin culture it's also really normal for two women to dance together. That doesn't mean she's gay."

"And she's never said anything?" Megan asked.

Amy shook her head. "I've tried a few times but she's managed to avoid the topic every time."

"Try in a way she can't weasel her way out of," Jordan suggested. "Hey, what about Pride? Ask her if she's going to Pride!"

"I don't know... What if she thinks I'm asking her to go with me?" Amy got nervous even thinking about that possibility. What if she thought that and she wasn't even gay? That would be the most embarrassing unreciprocated come-on ever.

"So what if she thinks that?" Megan said. "First date sorted. And we'd get to meet her."

"That would be a baptism of fire! Besides, I'm not trying to date her! I'm trying to figure out if she's gay. And even if she says she's going to Pride... I'm sure that even here straight people go to Pride."

"Oh come on Amy! Then you ask some follow-up questions. Release your inner researcher," Jordan said, of course ever the researcher herself. "It will work, trust me."

"Maybe..." Amy conceded. She couldn't picture herself breaching that topic with Charlie at all. Every time a conversation with the trainer had come even remotely near a more personal topic, it had been swiftly steered into safer waters. And now she was supposed to just casually ask Charlie if she was going to Pride?

"But even if I do ask her, and it turns out she's gay... I do not have a crush on her," she reaffirmed. Better make that crystal clear to her friends, given that there might be a slim chance they would actually get to meet her.

They ended their conversation to guffawing protests from her friends.

"You better keep that spare room free until we come visit. No U-Hauling before then!"

Clearly, she hadn't been that crystal clear.

* * * * *

Amy grabbed the last cones and handed them to Charlie, who was putting stuff away in the shipping container she used to store her training equipment. It had become a bit of a routine for Amy to stick around after the lesson and help Charlie clear up. She figured it was nice for Jamie to spend some time with Charlie. After all, those two had history.

"Thanks. Do you have time for a beer or do you need to shoot off?" Charlie said as she emerged from the container, wiping her hands.

It had also become a bit of a routine for Amy to stick around after clearing up and have a beer with Charlie. She didn't do it every week, but, admittedly, quite regularly. Maybe that part wasn't so much for Jamie.

"I could have a quick one," she said. She wanted to talk to Charlie. She'd stalled for a couple of weeks, trying to find the right way to weasel her question into conversation but it had proven impossible. Now Megan and Jordan were due to arrive next week and Pride was not long after. Her friends would not be impressed to know she had not managed to make any progress on finding out if Charlie was gay or if they might bump into her at Pride.

Amy quite wanted to know these things for herself too obviously, if nothing else because she always seemed to bump into Charlie everywhere. If this was likely to happen at Pride, she wanted to be prepared. Prepared for what, she didn't quite know. But she did know that she did not want to make a fool of herself again. No walking around topless!