Page 28 of Summer Ride

Some nights they had bands playing or musicians strumming a guitar and singing. Since it was lunchtime on a Tuesday, music played out of the speakers instead.

Several times during their lunch, an employee or some guests would stop by and chat with them.

Since he was going to be working more hours around the camp, he’d opened up the schedule to allow for more time slots for horseback rides.

The camp used an online app for scheduling. Employees had the app on their phones, and guests could download the app or use screens in their cabins to easily schedule activities. He actually had several small groups heading out for a ride shortly after lunch.

After eating lunch and walking Kara back to the pool house, he headed to the large barn that housed the dozen horses he’d handpicked for the camp.

He had his favorites, but each of the animals had earned his full trust in their ability to keep the guests safe.

There were two other employees working full-time each day to clean out stalls, feed, and water the animals, and let them exercise around the fenced corrals or fields.

He enjoyed helping saddle the four horses that they would use for the first group that he would take out after lunch.

After the quick introduction to basic riding skills that each guest was required to listen to, he helped everyone get up in the saddle and then headed out with the group of three on their tour around the grounds.

It wasn’t until they were halfway through the ride that he understood the dynamics of the group.

He knew of at least one other throuple relationship. Still, it was interesting to watch the group interact.

The woman, an attractive, slender brunette in her mid-thirties, spent most of her time asking him questions and looking bored by the attention the two men were trying to give her. The men, on the other hand, seemed determined to win the woman’s full attention at any cost.

One of the guys was built a lot like he was—packed with muscles that he knew firsthand took a lot of work to maintain. The other was larger but a lot softer in appearance.

Maybe it was a guy thing, but he instantly wondered which one would win in a fight. Carter was seriously worried the two men would start punching one another once the ride was over. Especially since the woman spent most of the last hour flirting with him.

Carter knew there was no way he could ever share Kara with another man.

For the next couple hours, he didn’t have much time to check in on Kara, but he did send her a text message. She didn’t respond until halfway through his next ride.

During the workday, he knew that she was closed in the quiet dark rooms with strangers without her phone. He, on the other hand, spent most of his time outdoors. His work at the sanctuary was often indoors, but no matter what the weather was like, animals needed tending to.

They cancelled any horseback rides at the camp when it rained, which usually freed up some time for him to reshoe any of the animals in need.

His work in the small animal clinic in town was far more tedious. Most of the time spent there was clipping animal’s nails, giving shots, or checking up on recovering pets. Since he wasn’t the head vet, he was left to fill the holes when Dr. Baxter was busy.

Since starting work at the camp, he had never really been lonely. The group of employees he’d befriended filled the void in his social life that he’d had after finishing school.

There was a group of guys that he worked out with regularly at the camp’s gym. And all of the other couples that he and Kara could hang out with whenever they needed some social time. And he could take his meals on the grounds with people he considered to be close friends.

In all honesty, he doubted any other job could have filled so many voids in his life. Which is why he continued to work there and balanced his two other positions.

His hope one day was to be able to quit working at the clinic in town and turn the camp position into his full-time job. Of course, he would always volunteer at the sanctuary. That was something his heart drove him to do no matter what.

The camp was where he could make the most money too. If he counted the tips that he always earned after each horseback ride, he probably made more per hour working there than at the clinic. And he made even more if he helped out at one of the fancy dinner events.

One thing he did miss was helping Damion out on his nightly sunset sailing tours. Out of all the guys he worked with, he probably had the closest relationship with Damion.

Damion and Julie were due back by the end of the summer from their honeymoon sail to Hawaii.

Julie, who worked at the front desk at the camp, was due to give birth soon and the couple had decided to have the baby in Hawaii, where Julie’s family was originally from.

Everyone at the camp was impatiently awaiting the news of the baby’s arrival.

The first time someone who worked at the camp ended up pregnant, everyone had made bets about when it would arrive. A whiteboard had been set up in the employees’ area to track them, and now it was a standard practice. The whiteboard was once again filled with names, dates, and times.

Elle and Liam’s twins, Emma, and Evan, had been the last babies born last winter. The twins were too cute to handle. But then again, so were the rest of the Costa babies that had been born so far.