A Hopeful Kind of Love (Kinds of Love 1.5)

“Nope. Carter just said to come and look pretty,” Ethan told him with a shrug. “I'm just here as eye candy for all you big donors.”

“You can join us. We're supposed to be in the arena after the ribbon ceremony,” Jace replied. He looked over at his wife loving on the baby and Emma waiting patiently to get her son back from her. “I'm going to go save the baby from my wife. We'll meet you there.”

“Sounds good.” Ethan smiled at him. It would be nice to hang out with Jace and Ella. They'd always gotten along well.

Ethan turned and started walking toward the barn and arena. With every step, he realized he was heading into Laura's domain. Nervousness started to snake its way into his stomach and his footsteps slowed. He shouldn't be anywhere near the barn.

Laura wanted nothing to do with him. She had made it incredibly obvious, or rather her boyfriend had when he had picked up the phone. Still, he definitely didn't want there to be an issue, especially not at something Mia was working so hard to make work. He wanted to support Mia, and being around an angry Laura wasn't going to do that.

He stopped walking and sighed. He should just back out of seeing the horses with Jace and Ella. He could go find another part of the camp that Laura wouldn't be at. There were plenty of other places he could go.

“Well, that was easier than I thought,” Jace said, clapping him on the back as he and Ella caught up to Ethan. “I'm looking forward to catching up.”

Ethan gave him a weak smile. It was too late to back out now. Ethan decide it was just best to smile and go with it. Besides, it wasn't like Laura was going to personally be attending to him. She'd probably be too busy to do anything but glare at him.

He could do this. So, with a smile, he joined his friends as they headed into the barn.

Chapter 3

Ethan

The arena smelled like sawdust and hay, punctuated by the smell of horse. It wasn't necessarily unpleasant, but Ethan preferred the outdoors to being inside with horses. Horses were not his thing. He could see the appeal, but he'd never understood the depth of Carter's love for horses. To him, they were just big, stinky, dogs that you couldn't bring in the house.

Bright spring sunshine filtered through the windows in addition to the house lights being on. It made the whole area festive and bright, which was good for the kids. He hoped they were more excited about the horses than he was.

The arena consisted of a large center open space made of dirt. A metal railing surrounded the dirt, giving a spectator area. Three horses were tied to the railing at various intervals. They each had a saddle and bridle. Ethan didn't know much about horses, but he thought they looked ready to ride. He couldn't see the kids yet.

Carter crossed the arena, his cowboy boots stirring up the dry dust as he walked to greet them.

“Ethan, are you joining Ella and Jace?” he asked, coming up to their group of three.

“I am,” Ethan told him. “It sounded like fun.”

Carter chuckled. “You have no idea what we're doing in here do you?”

“Nope.”

“I figured,” Carter said with a laugh. He patted Ethan's shoulder and lead them over to one of the horses. “This is Sweetness, your horse for the afternoon. As long as she doesn't see any snakes, she'll be a perfect angel for you.”

“Snakes?” Ethan repeated. He glanced around the arena, unsure of where a snake would want to be inside.

“It's a long story,” Carter told him. “You three will have Elliot as your kid. He's never ridden a horse, so we'll take it slow.”

“That's good,” Ethan said under his breath. He wasn't exactly ready to go fast with horses.

“He's super excited,” Carter continued, pointedly ignoring Ethan. “If you need anything, let Laura or I know.”

“Thanks, Carter,” Ella said. She reached over and scratched the horse behind the ear, making the horse sigh in pleasure. “I think we're good.”

Ethan was glad Ella knew how to handle horses. From what he remembered, they had some at her hotel for wedding guests. It meant he didn't have to do much with the animal, which made him happy.

A cute brunette walked over with a little boy. He was probably around six years old with dirty blonde hair. It looked like they'd tried to comb it into something that looked neat, but stray strands poked up on the back of his head. He looked at them with big brown eyes and a nervous smile as he played with a string bracelet on his wrist.

“This is Elliot,” the brunette introduced him. She smiled and gave his shoulders a squeeze. “These nice people will show you the horse, okay? I'll be right over by the door if you need anything.”

The little boy nodded without looking at her. He was too busy looking at the horse.

“Elliot is a little shy,” the woman explained. “He has a hard time with eye contact, but he's very excited.” She squeezed his shoulders one last time before leaving to go help another kid.