A Basket of Trouble (2 page)

bring their relationship closer, too. They had been drifting apart lately, and that bothered her.

She needed to find out why.

“Here we are,” Roger announced.

He turned his BMW X5 into the newly paved parking lot, tak-

ing the last open spot. People from other cars were walking under the brand new wooden sign suspended between two huge peeled

logs cemented into the ground. It proclaimed ‘Gardner’s Stables’

and gave off an aura of strength and permanence. Claire crossed

her fingers and hoped the aura proved true.

She unbuckled her seatbelt and reached for the car door han-

dle, but Roger stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “Maybe

this will help calm your nerves.” He leaned in and gave her a

proper smooch and a hug.

By the end of the long sweet kiss, Claire was smiling. As Roger

pulled back, she gazed into the puppy dog brown eyes behind his

bifocal glasses. She raised a hand to caress the bald spot above his graying hair.

“I love you. You know that, don’t you?” After their earlier trou-

bles, she found every opportunity she could to remind him.

“Of course.” Lifting a lock of her shoulder-length hair, dyed

blonde to hide the gray, he inhaled the scent of her peach-lavender shampoo. “And I love you, too.”

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Claire ran a teasing finger up his arm. “And now you’ve got my

mind on other things besides the opening!”

Roger laughed and gave her a wink. “Almost fifty, and I’ve still

got it. Sit still and I’ll come around to get the basket from you so you can get out.”

While they walked up the path and under the sign, Claire sur-

veyed the stable as if she were seeing it for the first time like the other attendees. A beige office trailer sat off to the left behind the sign, where customers went inside to pay and sign liability forms.

Charley had bought it used from a housing developer who was

downsizing. Some of the guests sat at the half dozen wooden pic-

nic tables in front of the trailer. Jessica and Charley had planted a few new hackberry and crabapple trees among the tables, hoping

they would eventually grow and provide shade. For now, a retract-

able awning over the trailer’s wooden porch provided some shade

for the built-in seating along its rails.

Charley had placed two handicap-accessible port-a-potties dis-

creetly behind the trailer. Off to the right was a corral where wranglers watered the horses and matched customers to their mounts.

Behind the trailer and corral stood the newly built barn. A large fenced-in pasture behind the barn provided an exercise area for

the horses.

Gardner’s Stables was small compared to many other local

stables, especially the well-established Peak View Stables south of the Garden of the Gods that Charley would be competing with.

But Claire thought it looked like a clean, well-run operation. She prayed silently that the move would turn out to be a good one for her brother. She could see him laying all of the blame at her feet for suggesting it if it went bad.

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“Claire! Roger!” Jessica waved at them from the trailer porch

and skipped down the steps to greet them.

Petite and athletic with freckled skin and red hair tied back

in a ponytail, Jessica exuded energy. Her long Western print skirt swirled around her calves as she hurried toward them. Being in

her forties hadn’t seemed to slow her down at all. Claire felt gawky and slow next to her brother’s wife, but she always enjoyed Jessica’s lively spirit. Especially since Jessica had been able to retain that spirit after the early tragedy in her marriage to Charley.

Jessica hugged Claire and gave Roger a peck on the cheek, then

looked at the large basket in his arms. “What’s this?”

“One of my gift baskets for you and Charley,” Claire said. “To

celebrate the opening. It’s full of local treats and a bottle of wine from Holy Cross Abbey. I hope you like it.”

“Oh, wow, you managed to get Charley’s favorite candy. Hore-

hound is so hard to find.” Jessica peeked through the cellophane at the other items nestled inside. “And are those chocolates from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for me?” When Claire nodded, she said, “This is wonderful. You didn’t need to do this!”

“I know,” Claire replied. “But I’m so glad you two have moved

here, and I thought this was the perfect occasion to let you know.

Now that construction is done and your business is open, I hope

we can see more of you. I feel like I talked to Charley more often when you lived in Durango.”

Jessica shot her a guilty look, but before Claire could say any-

thing, Roger hefted the basket and asked, “Where should I put

this?”

“How about on the food table?” Jessica pointed toward a caf-

eteria table set up in the shade of a copse of native scrub oak trees.

5

It was covered with a bright red-checked tablecloth pinned at the corners. Two small bunches of balloons were tied to either end.

“It’ll be the centerpiece. Maybe some folks will notice it and ask you to make them a gift basket. Did you bring cards?”

Claire waved her hand. “No, this is your special day. I’m not

going to advertise my business at your opening!”

Jessica shrugged and led them to the table, where people were

helping themselves to lemonade, iced tea and chocolate chip,

sugar, and oatmeal-raisin cookies. She moved a couple of cookie

trays to make room for the basket. Roger set it down, looking

grateful to finally be rid of his burden.

Jessica stepped back, wiping her hands. “Perfect. Now, where’s

Charley? He needs to know you’re here.”

At that moment, Charley exited the barn with a family of five.

He was dressed in a crisp maroon Western snap shirt with white

detailing and dark blue jeans with a crease. His cowboy boots had maroon-stained scrollwork on the toes, and he wore a broad-brimmed fawn-colored felt cowboy hat with a braided leather

band. Claire wondered if Jessica had recently bought the whole

outfit to gussy him up for the opening.

He made a sweeping motion with his arm toward the west,

where the gray rock formations on the Glen Eyrie Castle grounds

loomed. “It’s a gorgeous location,” he said with a proud grin.

“Those grayish yellow chalk and shale hogback ridges come from

the Cretaceous period. And the white limestone and red sandstone

ridges in the Garden of the Gods Park date all the way back to the Triassic and Permian periods.”

As the family stared at him with puzzled faces, Charley smiled.

“Sorry, I let my passion for geology get away from me there. The

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formations are beautiful to look at, regardless of how they came

about. You can ride your horse from here straight into the park

and explore all the trails there.”

He spied Jessica and waved her over. Claire and Roger followed

her.

“Jessica, these folks want to board their horse with us. Could

you take care of the paperwork?”

“Sure thing.” She leaned over to Claire and stage-whispered,

“I’m better at that sort of thing than he is. He always screws it up, then I have to fix it.”

A frown wiped the grin off Charley’s face. Claire realized both

he and the family had heard Jessica’s blithe, but still derogatory, comment. Jessica steered the family toward the trailer, turning to give Charley a thumbs-up before returning her attention to them.

Determined to restore Charley’s smile, Claire gave her brother

an enthusiastic hug. “Congratulations! It looks like your business is going to be a big success.”

“Thanks, sis. I sure hope so.” Charley pulled back and shook

Roger’s hand. He doffed his cowboy hat and ran a hand through

his gray-flecked light brown hair, fluffing it back up. He slapped the hat against his thigh and surveyed the event attendees. “Wish more people had come today, though.”

Claire turned to survey the twenty or so people wandering the

grounds. She, too, wished there were more—a lot more. Was this a

sign of struggles to come? Would Charley’s investment in the business be lost? And Roger’s and her investment? They had loaned

Charley some of the money he needed for the move.

But their potential financial losses weren’t what concerned her

the most. She was afraid of what a business failure would do to

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Charley’s self esteem. He had always lived in his big sis’s shadow.

Their parents had sent her to the University of Colorado for four years, to earn her, what Charley called ‘high-falutin’, degree in French and Fine Arts. But when his turn came to go to college,

their parents’ funds weren’t as flush. They asked him if he would attend a community college for two years before transferring to

Colorado State to finish his degree in Equine Science.

He had never made that transfer and never finished his degree.

The last thing Claire was going to do was expose any of her

doubts about the business to Charley, though. She put on a brave

smile. “They’ll tell their friends about you. Spread the news by

word-of-mouth, the best advertising there is.”

Charley’s brow furrowed over his light blue eyes, the exact

same shade as Claire’s. “And my successful big sis would know,

wouldn’t she?”

She knew the quip wasn’t just a compliment, but a compari-

son—with him coming up on the negative side of the equation.

Again. This perceived sibling rivalry in Charley’s mind was their parents’ fault. They always held her up to him as an example, and she had spent years trying to dispel it.

She gave his arm a playful slap. “Oh, please, my part-time gift

basket business is nothing compared to this, Charley. You’re the

one in the family with the business smarts.”

He snorted. “Yeah, smart enough to almost bankrupt myself

before leaving Durango with my tail between my legs.”

Oh, Charley.

“That was the economy, not you,” Roger said.

Claire took his hand and squeezed it to show she appreciated

his comment.

8

At that point, a red-faced gnarled little man in scuffed tennis

shoes and khaki pants belted high over his protruding tummy

stomped up to Charley. “You the manager of this fiasco?”

Charley reared back but kept a friendly smile on his face. “I

own Gardner’s Stables, yes.” He held out a hand. “I’m Charley

Gardner. And you?”

The man ignored both the question and the proffered hand.

“What right do you have to ride your mangy beasts through city-

owned open space?”

“I have an agreement with the city,” Charley replied. “It allows

me to run trail rides through there and the Garden of the Gods

Park.”

“And leave horse manure all over the trails!” Spittle flew from

the old man’s lip as he flung an arm in the direction of the Blair Bridge Open Space.

“We have a system for taking care of that,” Charley said evenly,

with an embarrassed glance at Claire and Roger. “One of my em-

ployees follows the horses in an ATV with a manure cart to shovel up any droppings on the paved trails.”

The old man’s eyes narrowed. “What about the dirt trails?”

“The City Parks Department told me to just leave the manure

on them, because it packs down well and helps prevent erosion.

Do you live near here? We mailed fliers explaining the arrange-

ment to all the local residents.”

“I’m only here in the summer. Came back from Arizona two

weeks ago, went to walk my dog in Blair Bridge like I always do.

Suddenly a noisy string of horses comes through, crowding us,

stirring up dust and smelling up the place.”

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Charley stuffed a fist in his jeans pockets. “There’s plenty of

room for everyone. You can still walk your dog in the open space

any time you want. But it’s a good idea to hold him close on his

leash when our horses come by, to prevent the dog from spooking

a horse and getting kicked.”

He dug a trifold flier out of a back pocket and held it out to the man. “Here’s one of our fliers. It explains everything and includes a buy-one-get-one-free coupon for a two-hour trail ride.”

The old man balled up the flier and threw it back at Charley. It

bounced off his chest. “I don’t want one of your stinking fliers. I’m calling city council about this.” Murder in his glare, he tromped off.

“Whew,” Roger said. “Good job keeping your cool with that

hothead. Have you had to deal with much of that?”

“Some,” Charley replied. “Jessica and I met with local home-

owners associations before we started construction to show them

the plan. I explained that we would maintain the sections of the

open space and park that we use, and repair any damage we cause.

We’ve had a few complaints, some tense moments. I thought we’d

gotten through the worst of it, but I guess the issue isn’t dead yet.”

Claire watched the old man stride away. “Can he cause prob-

lems for you, going to city council?”

“They’re the ones who approved the agreement,” Charley said

with a shrug. “Hopefully that guy won’t get anywhere with them.”

She worried her lip. “I hope so, too.”

“Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” Charley

donned his hat and turned toward the barn. “C’mon, there’s some-

one I want you to meet.”

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“You don’t need to tie yourself up with us,” Roger said. “Don’t

you need to greet people or something?”

“Nope.” Charley pointed to a lanky, brown-skinned young

man dressed in faded blue jeans and a blue-checked button-down