“Thank you for coming with me,” she said with a smile. She turned the two of them onto a path leading toward the mountains. “I need to check a couple of fence posts on our route. You're really helping me out by riding Heartbreaker. He and Sweetness needed to go out for a ride today.”
“You are welcome,” he replied. There was a serenity to what they were doing that surprised him. He was much less afraid of looking like an idiot now that he was out here than he had been this morning.
“This way,” she instructed, taking him up a hill.
The mountains were breathtaking. He could finally understand why the song went “purple mountain majesty above the fruited plain.” From up here, the mountains were dark purple against the light blue sky. Wildflowers dotted the meadows with color and life. Plus, the air smelled amazing up here. It was so clean it nearly hurt after the smog of the city.
“Hold on,” she said, pulling her horse to the side to check a fence post. She made a note on her phone and went to the next one. “I just have to check these couple of posts.”
“Is this what you do all day?” he asked, looking around. If this were his job, he would never want to do anything else.
“Not really,” she said with a soft chuckle. She put her phone back in her pocket and looked around at the beautiful scenery. “I don't get to do this very often. I have to supervise the ranch hands, order supplies, pay bills...”
“So, paperwork?” he supplied.
She nodded. “I don't just manage the horses, I manage the ranch. Even before we had kids coming, it was a fair amount of work. Now it's more.”
“Did you not want the kids to come?” he asked. “Since it's more work for you?”
“Oh, I want them!” She turned in her saddle to look at him. “They're amazing kids. We had a weekend test trip with some of the kids up from Denver a couple of weeks ago, and it was spectacular. Some of them had never seen a horse. A couple had never seen the stars from anywhere but the city.”
He nodded. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen the stars. It was too bright with city lights at his penthouse in California.
“I love having them here,” she continued. “It's like getting to see everything for the first time. Plus, the smiles? The kids all loved it and were asking to come back. I'm so excited to have more kids here over the summer.”
“It sounds like they'll keep you busy,” he said.
She nodded. “Yeah. I'm looking forward to it.” She shifted in her saddle to look at him. “How are you doing? The ride okay?”
He thought about it for a moment. This was actually a lot more fun that he'd thought it would be. He was going to smell like horse, but it was wonderful being outside in the sunshine and there was something special about being out in nature with an animal. He could get used to this.
“I'm doing great,” he replied.
“Good, because we're about to do the hard part,” she replied with a smile and she urged her horse to go a little faster.
Chapter 14
Laura
Laura led as they took the back way home to the ranch. She couldn't stop smiling. This was going better than she'd hoped. It made her glad that she was on her horse in front of Ethan, that way he didn't have to see the goofy smirk that was plastered on her face.
“Slow down there, cowgirl,” Ethan called out.
Laura glanced over her shoulder to see Ethan a little way back on the trail. His smile was just as broad as hers as he held the reins. His horse was carefully navigating the rocky path, but apparently wasn't going fast enough to keep up with her.
“Whoa,” she said, pulling on her reins.
Her horse came to a stop in the middle of the trail, and they waited for Ethan to catch up.
“Come on, slowpoke,” she shouted. “Don't be afraid of a few rocks.”
“If the horse is afraid of them, then so am I,” Ethan called back. “Besides, I'd really rather not fall off. That would be ugly. You don't want to see me cry. I'm a really ugly crier.”
Laura laughed at his comment as she watched Ethan trying to keep his balance. He shifted his body side to side, trying to stay centered on the horses back as they traversed the trail. She was actually pretty impressed with how natural Ethan seemed in the saddle, especially considering that it was his first time riding.
Within just a couple of minutes, Ethan got to the bottom of the hill and rode up beside Laura.
“And here I thought this horse riding stuff was easy,” he commented.