Chapter Three

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.

Ella dropped down to his height, putting a knee in the dirt. “Hi, Elliot. I'm Ella.”

Elliot didn't look at her. He tried, but he couldn't maintain eye contact. “It's very nice to meet you,” he said softly.

“This is Jace, and my friend Ethan,” Ella continued.

“Hi.” Elliot smiled, but didn't look at anyone's face. That's when he saw the dog. “Can I pet your dog?”

Ella smiled. “He's not wearing his working vest today, so yes. You can pet him.” She made a hand motion and Jupiter came over from his spot, his tail wagging as he approached. “His name's Jupiter.”

Elliot's face lit up and he looked at Ella's face for the first time. “Like the planet?”

“Yeah, just like the planet,” Ella told him.

The boy held his hand out for the dog to sniff before attempting to pet him. He gave the golden dog long, soft strokes. “Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun. It's the biggest planet, too,” Elliot informed them. “It has a big red spot and over sixty moons.”

“Wow, you know a lot about space,” Jace said, kneeling next to the boy and petting Jupiter with him. “I'm impressed, Kid.”

“My name's Elliot,” the kid said politely. He stopped petting the dog and looked at Ella. “Where are your other seven dogs?”

Ella cocked her head to the side, confused. “Seven other dogs? Why would I have seven other dogs?”

“Because there are eight planets in the solar system. This is Jupiter, so did you bring Mercury, Venus, Mars, Earth, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune with you, too?” Elliot asked, his small face completely serious.

Ella grinned. “No, we just have Jupiter. Only one dog.”

“What about Pluto?” Ethan asked, inserting himself into the conversation.

“What about Pluto?” Jace asked, looking up at him.

“You guys forgot Pluto,” Ethan said. “And there's nine planets. Not eight.”

Elliot shook his head, like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. “No, I didn't forget Pluto. Pluto isn't a planet.”

Ethan scoffed. “Pluto isn't a planet? It's the ninth planet. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto.”

“Have you been living under a rock?” Jace asked, looking at Ethan in disbelief. “They demoted Pluto to a dwarf planet in 2006. I can't believe you didn't know that.”

“They did?” Ethan asked, not quite believing what he was hearing. “But it's my favorite planet. How is it not a planet?”

“Pluto is actually smaller than our moon,” Elliot said, jumping in like he was a Wikipedia article. “It doesn't have enough gravitational strength to qualify as a planet.”

“Says who?” asked Ethan.

“It just didn't meet the criteria to be a planet. Neil deGrasse Tyson and some scientists decided this like ten years ago,” Jace said.

“I think you just ruined my day,” Ethan told Jace. He looked over at Elliot. “What about you, Elliot? What's your favorite planet? Hopefully they don't take it from you when you're my age.”

“My favorite planet is Mars,” answered Elliot. “NASA is planning a mission to go there. I'm working really hard at school so I can be the first kid on Mars.”

“That's pretty ambitious,” Ella said with a smile. “I like it. Did you know Mars is red and there's a robot named Curiosity on it right now?”

Elliot nodded and gave her a shy smile. “There are actually four rovers on Mars. Their names are Sojourner, Curiosity, Spirit, and Opportunity.”

“Wow! Did you know that since it is smaller than Earth, the gravity is less?” Jace asked him.

Elliot turned to Jace. His shy smile turned into a real grin. “I heard that you can jump three times as high on Mars as you can on Earth.”

“Yep,” said Jace. “I saw it on TV so it must be true.”

Elliot looked back and forth between Ella and Jace like he'd just found the two most amazing people on the planet. “You guys know a lot about Mars.”

Jace laughed. “And I'm sure you already know about Olympus Mons?”

“It's the biggest volcano in the solar system,” Elliot replied.

Ethan shook his head at the three of them as they sat in the dirt next to the horse sharing space facts. They were so engrossed in their discussion about Mars that they didn't see the little girl and boy approach them.

“Do you need help with your horse?” the girl asked, looking at the two adults and kid not paying any attention to the horse.

“I think they're okay,” he told her. “Do you work here?”

The little girl was probably around Elliot's age with dark red hair tied back in a ponytail. The boy was a couple of years younger. His hair was more brown than red, but they both shared the same bright green eyes.

“I'm the official helper,” the girl told him. She pointed to a sticker on her blue polo shirt with the word “HELPER” printed on it. “So's my brother.”

The boy pointed to a matching sticker on his matching blue polo shirt. They looked very official together.

“The official helper, huh?” Ethan asked. He looked over to see Ella and Jace still doting on Elliot. If they decided to do anything with the horse, he knew they would be fine. They both had experience with horses.

“I'm good with horses,” the girl explained. “Plus, my sister is the barn manager here. I can get her if you need something.”

Ethan's smile paused. “Your sister's the barn manager?”

He looked closer at her. The girl had the same shade of dark red hair. The eyes were the same too. He could practically see what Laura must have looked like as a little girl. He blinked twice before looking up and finding Laura. She was showing a kid how to feed a horse an apple.

Their eyes met and she froze. She stood there, the apple long gone, but with her hand still under the horse's mouth. He quickly looked away and back to the girl and her brother.

He saw that Ella and Jace had Elliot petting the horse now. They were back on track for what they were supposed to be doing.

“I think we're good here,” he said. But, his curiosity got the best of him. “What's your name?”

“I'm Ivy,” the girl replied with a smile. “This is my brother Dallas.”

“It's a pleasure to meet you both,” Ethan said, trying to ignore the tightness in his chest. These were Laura's siblings. The woman he was trying very hard to avoid. “Thank you for your offer of help.”

“Can I pet the dog?” Dallas asked, pointing to the golden retriever puppy sitting patiently off to the side of the arena.

“Um, sure.” Ethan shrugged.

Dallas walked over to the puppy and held out a hand to introduce himself to the dog. Elliot turned from the horse.

“That's Jupiter, like the planet,” Elliot told him.

“Jupiter has a red spot. It's a storm,” Dallas replied, giving the dog a good scratch behind the ears. The two boys grinned at one another, a friendship already forming.

“Do you know if Pluto is a planet?” Jace asked Dallas. Ethan glared at him.

“Pluto isn't a planet. It's a dwarf planet,” Dallas said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Jace laughed. “See? Everyone but you knows!”

Ethan rolled his eyes at him, which just made Jace laugh harder.

“I'm going to go make some very important phone calls. You all stay here talking about planets and which one you're going to do away with next.”

Ethan turned and walked out of the arena with Jace's laughter following behind him.