“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Jaime bit his lip nervously as he rode atop his horse, Nougat, peering down at the open text messaging app on his phone. He was about to send both his Mom and Dad messages that asked them to pick him up from horse riding today at 5:30pm sharp. Both messages were sent separately so that neither of them would know that the other would show up. It would have been a pretty benign request had it not been for the fact that they have been divorced for the past five months now, and their separation was by no means amicable. In reality, he just needed them in the same place at the same time, just for a few seconds.
“Sure as sunshine, kid!” a response harkened from atop his shoulder from a creature no larger than a mayfly. It was Cupid. Straddled just above the kid’s arm he pulled two love-at-first-sight arrows from his quiver, polishing the love-soaked tip with his loincloth. “I can shoot these babies into both of those humans at the same time, and WHAM! Instant love with the first one that meets their eyes!”
“I still don’t know…” The 10-year-old boy kept his eyes on his phone anxiously, his finger hovering over the ‘send’ button. He wanted his parents to get back together so bad – more than anything even! But… this seemed manipulative - wrong. And also, he didn’t have a clue how to explain it to his parents if the entire plan turned out to be a dud!
“I mean… are you sure it’s going to work? How do you know your arrow will make them fall in love again?” Jaime turned his head to his shoulder to probe Cupid’s plan further.
“Hmm! Hmm!” Cupid smirked, puffing out his chest, “’Cause humans are the easiest to make fall in love! They want it so bad, yet they’re such insecure creatures that they rarely give in and act on those instincts. But if you add a little suggestion to pursue their desires, say a prick by a love arrow, you’ll see how malleable they are! Their need for love will snowball into a complete and utter yielding to their desires! I’ve never seen met a human that could withstand it!”
The dirty-blonde haired boy furrowed his brow, taking a hand off the reins and biting the tip of his thumb as he considered it. Cupid seemed really confident… and considering the fairy was basically the god of love, his qualifications checked out. Maybe the arrow wasn’t really a manipulation of their minds either. Cupid said that it just brings out the desires hidden latent inside of them, it’s just a little shove to bring them back together, and then…
“… We can be a family again…” Jaime whispered under his breath, feeling sehnsucht tinge his hushed voice. He clicked ‘send’ on both messages, officially putting the plan into action.
“Ehem!” Cupid nudged the boy’s neck, “And what of the payment?”
“The payment…?” Jaime asked peering over to the tiny fairy.
“The payment we agreed to: two ‘sweet clouds’.”
“Sweet clouds?... Oh!” Jaime perked up. He was so lost in thought about what was going to happen to his parents, he’d almost forgot the deal he’d agreed upon with Cupid. The boy reached a hand in his pocket and tugged out a marshmallow, lifting it up to his shoulder.
“One now. One after the job’s done.” Jaime clarified, the fairy more than happy with the deal as he sat on the boy’s shoulder and started to dig into a treat as big as his whole body.
As Cupid ate, Jaime rode Nougat through the woods in route to the barn house to rendezvous with his parents. If the ride went as expected, he timed it out just right so he’d meet his parents the moment they’d both arrive. Unfortunately, he didn’t put into his calculations that conditions were far from ideal.
Despite the brilliant, sunny weather today, the forest was still very damp after hurricane season rolled through. Pockets of mud along with the occasional downed tree threw off Jaime’s estimates, the boy starting to grow nervous as he realized he was already running five minutes too late!
“Come on, Nougat… just a little faster, buddy.” Jamie leaned over whispering in the horse’s ear, his voice having a hint of desperation in it as he realized traversing the rough terrain meant time was running thin!
Despite the 6-year-old Tennessee Walking Horse not understanding English, he caught the anxiety wracking the boy’s voice. Jaime’s father bought Nougat as a weanling when his son was still small and the two were riding partners for the horse’s whole life. The chestnut brown stallion knew his rider enough to read his emotions – from how he fidgeted nervously on his back to how trembled as he pet his neck. The horse’s pace quickened, the animal skillfully gliding over deep mud puddles, even leaping over downed trees. Nougat’s nostrils puffed out steaming air as he broke into a canter, the three billowing through the forest foliage until they finally hit open pasture once again!
Jaime peered on the clock’s phone: 5:27pm.
“Whoa boy…” Jaime stroked the horse’s withers, the stallion slowing down as he felt his rider relax. “We can take it slower now… we’ve got just enough time.”
The horse ambled leisurely beside the animal pastures along the trail, the occasional donkey or cow peering up to look at rider and mount before getting back to grazing. The farm where they boarded Nougat was a rather small one, a single woman in her fifties tending to several customer’s horses while also keeping at least a couple of every farm animal that you could image. Despite a crew of just one person, she kept the place well maintained for her guests, the barn boasting a fresh coat of red paint as Jaime neared it, spotting his Mom approaching the entrance as he did.
“Hey! Have a good ride?” A fair-looking Latina woman with dark, raven hair joined up with Jaime as his horse walked by, sauntering just beside them as they entered the barn.
Even Jaime had to admit she was a very pretty woman. She was in her early thirties and wore a tight pair of jeans along with an open-chested shirt, giving any onlooker a great view of her breasts. Her son didn’t like to admit it, but sometimes he did stare at those. They were big but not so big that they looked weird either. They were just big enough so that they jiggled slightly with step she took – every time her lush butt swayed.
It would have been an understatement to just say she was attractive – all her looks making it easy for her to rebound after the divorced and find a boyfriend almost instantly after she separated with Jaime’s father - a boyfriend Jaime really didn’t like.
“Hey, Mom.” Jaime peered over towards her, watching her give him a bright smile, indicating she was in a good mood – indicating she hadn’t seen her ex-husband yet. “It was good!”
Jaime rode the Nougat towards the stallion’s stall, past a few other horses along with some other animals housed in the barn: donkeys, goats, pigs, you name it. Things were all smiles between the two as they rounded the corner just before their horse’s stall, only to find Jaime’s father waiting just in front of it.
A few years older than the boy’s Mom, his Dad sported straw-colored blonde hair like Jaime and a modest, yet still athletic physique. His eyes, though, were a bit sullen and furrowed, years of being a lawyer and dealing with troubles in his personal life seemed to always make his Dad look tired to Jaime. Since his ex-wife was a home maker when they were married, he bared the burden of alimony, the messy divorce visually weighing on the man’s shoulders. He gave a sullen look towards the two as Jaime’s parents suddenly started a stare-down with one another.
“Sam.” The mother broke the silence, her voice sharp.
“Martha.” The father acknowledged his wife in a blunt, less spirited tone.
“I have custody ‘til Friday, you get Jaime on the weekend.” Martha spoke in a tense voice, volume increasing every word as she stood next to her son, grabbing his jeans by the leg possessively. “You aren’t supposed to be here.”
“Martha…” Sam straightened his shoulders, trying to speak to his ex-wife in a lawyerly tone, only for his voice to start to rise as well. “I was told that you were two hours late picking Jaime up from horse riding… I didn’t want to leave OUR child in this stinking farm while you were at your apartment passed out drunk or-”
“Like I’d forget MY own son!” Jaime’s mother shouted back, stomping a foot to the ground, some of the nearby animals jolting at the sudden disturbance from inside their stalls, starting to make all sorts of sounds as the argument got worse.
“Yeah! It wouldn’t be the first time you want out day drinking and fucked a bar full of-“
Martha practically howled, gritting her teeth as she stomped her foot again, too mad to even respond with words. The scene was so tense that even Nougat whinnied and reared, bolting away from Jaime’s parents as the horse carried their son a safe distance away from the shouting match that was about to boil over.
“Whoa, Nougat!” Jaime whimpered as he tugged on the horse’s mane to get him to stop, the harsh tension in his body not helping the stallion to calm down at all!
Both parents looked shaken as the big horse startled, Jaime’s Mom and Dad looking this way and that, trying to get a grasp on the sudden commotion!
“Cupid. Now! Do it now!” Shouted as his head jolted towards the fairy sitting on his shoulder. For a brief moment, the boy caught a glimpse of the fairy nocking two arrows in his bow simultaneously, the flaxen bow string pulled taught until the arrows let loose!
“FWweee…!”
Jaime could feel an arrow whizz past his cheek, hearing the fletch cut through the air when suddenly…
Everything just seemed to go quiet. Jaime’s mom, Martha, and his dad, Sam, suddenly paused right where they stood. Their argument turning immediately into silence.
Jaime sat on Nougat with bated breath, waiting for a sign that it was all going to be okay – waiting for a sign that his family would get back together.
What could go wrong? They would fall in love wither each other again, right? They were looking at each other, …right?