A Basket of Trouble (8 page)

Vince straightened and grinned. “Well howdy, Brittany.” He

kicked his horse forward until he was next to her. “Didn’t expect to see you out on the trail today. No therapy sessions?”

She smiled up at him. “I have some this afternoon, but we’re

short-handed after Kyle, you know …” She gave a sigh. “So, I’m

helping out this morning.”

55

Vince’s smile disappeared. “Yeah, sorry to hear about his death.

Not a good way for any man to go. Can’t say as I’m sorry my com-

petition is gone, though.” His grin returned and he tipped his hat at Brittany.

Brittany looked up at him through her lashes and swiveled her

hips, but before she could reply, Hank called, “Brittany, help me move these folks away so I can take a quick shot of the Johnsons.”

Brittany went to work helping him maneuver horses until the

older couple in their group was positioned in front of the forma-

tions.

Looking harried, Hank glanced at Vince. “Not too much lon-

ger.”

Vince stood in his saddle to look back over his shoulder at his

column. The horses were blowing and shuffling their feet now,

too, as annoyed with standing still as his customers.

He faced Hank. “This has got to be your last photo. We’re all

tired of waiting. And we should have priority. My group’s bigger

than yours and we were here first.”

The young male honeymooner looked confused. “But we were

here first.”

“I meant our stable was here first,” Vince said, his face darken-

ing. “Gardner’s Stables just started running trail rides in the park this season. They should show a little more
consideration
to their betters.”

Claire saw that this confrontation could easily escalate, and

she didn’t want Charley’s stable to get into any more trouble. “The four of us don’t need our photos taken,” she said to Hank. “We’re locals and already have lots of photos of the Garden of the Gods.”

56

Disappointment showed on Ellen’s face. “But, not on horse-

back—”

“That’s okay.” Claire flashed her a ‘give it up’ look. “Let’s just get out of these folks’ way.”

“Now you’re talking.” Vince gave her an approving nod.

Looking relieved, Hank handed the older couple their camera

and quickly mounted his horse. Brittany did the same and moved

to the south end of their group, while Hank moved to the north.

With a forward sweep of hand, he said, “All right, we’re head-

ing back. Turn your horses and follow me.”

“Finally,” the man on horseback behind Vince said.

Vince turned back to him. “Don’t worry, Mr. Englewood. We

won’t see them again today. And when you come back next season,

I’m sure this fly-by-night outfit won’t be in business anymore. You stick with us, the
established
trail riding outfit in these parts, and we’ll take real good care of you.”

Being the second to last rider in their group, Claire heard him.

She looked at Brittany, who from her furrowed brow must have

heard him, too. Claire wondered how many of these confronta-

tions with Peak View Stables Charley could manage before the re-

lationship between the two businesses got really ugly—or was it

already that bad?

———

Three hours later, Claire sat with Roger, Ellen, Dave, Jessica, and Charley on the shaded porch of the Gardner’s Stables trailer. They had just finished eating a delicious surprise picnic lunch that Ellen provided. After their return from the trail ride, she had told Dave to fetch a large cooler out of the trunk of their car and invited Jes-57

sica and Charley to join them. She laid out a gourmet repast of

oozing brie cheese, hard salami slices, baguettes, marinated olives and peppers, and large black grapes.

Dave had opened a magnum bottle of crisp white Riesling and

poured it into clear plastic glasses. Sated and glowing from the

wine and enjoying the company of friends and family, Claire felt at peace, for the moment. Charley and Jessica had skipped the wine,

since they both had to return to work, but they had eaten heartily, too, and seemed equally relaxed.

Good,
Claire thought,
they need a break from their worries
.

Charley leaned back, groaned and patted his stomach. “Thank

you, Ellen. That was delicious.”

His lazy smile disappeared, however, when a dark blue pick-up

truck drove into the parking lot. The logo of Peak View Stables

was emblazoned on its side. When two men got out, slammed

their doors, and marched up the walk, Charley rose to his feet.

“This doesn’t look good,” he said with a frown.

Worry furrowing her brow, Jessica stood, too.

As the two men approached, Claire realized one was Vince, the

wrangler who had tangled with Hank on the trail. The other man

looked much older, probably in his sixties, with receding gray hair, bowed legs, and leathery skin from a life lived outdoors.

“I’ve got a bone to pick with you, Charley,” the older man said.

“Maybe we should talk in private, away from your customers.”

“These are family and friends, Tom,” Charley said. He intro-

duced them all and introduced the older man as Tom Lindall,

General Manager of Peak View Stables. Tom introduced Vince as

Vince Donahue.

58

While the introductions were being made, Ellen cleared up the

picnic leavings. She closed the cooler and signaled Dave to pick it up.

“We’ve got to get going,” she said. “I have an afternoon ap-

pointment.” The two of them said their goodbyes and left.

Roger raised an eyebrow at Claire, an implicit question

whether they should leave, too, but she shook her head. The two

of them were witnesses to what had occurred on the trail. Their

viewpoints might help, if that’s why the men from Peak View Sta-

bles were there.

Charley came down off the porch to stand in front of Tom and

Vince. “What can I do for you?”

Tom Lindall waved a hand at Vince. “Vince here tells me your

group held them up on the trail for almost twenty minutes this

morning. That caused him to return late with his riders and upset our whole day’s routine. You know damn well we have so many

groups going out that we have to time them like clockwork. I had

to scramble to get the afternoon rides out on schedule. That kind of thing can’t continue.”

Charley looked at Claire and Roger. “That right?”

“I don’t think it was twenty minutes,” Roger said. “It was more

like ten.”

Hands stuffed in his pockets, Vince looked down and dug the

toe of his boot in the dirt.

“And it wasn’t Hank’s fault,” Claire said. “The honeymoon cou-

ple kept asking for more photos. Hank couldn’t very well refuse

without pissing them off.”

“So he pissed off a whole column of my customers instead!”

Tom’s face grew red.

59

Claire put her hands on her hips. “But—”

“I’ll handle this.” Charley frowned at Claire then turned to-

ward Lindall. “I’m sorry, Tom. It won’t happen again. I’ll talk to my wranglers, give them some advice on how to limit the photos.”

“That’s not enough,” Tom replied. “We can’t have these con-

frontations on the trail at all. What if some of your horses and

some of mine got into an altercation, bucking off tourists and injuring them in the process?”

Charley looked confused. “The two columns were kept sepa-

rate, weren’t they?”

Claire and Roger nodded, and Vince, after seeing them, reluc-

tantly joined in.

When Claire opened her mouth to say more, Roger put a hand

on her arm and shook his head. She realized he was right. This was Charley’s fight, and he didn’t need his big sister butting in.

“This time they were,” Tom said. “Who’s to say it won’t happen

next time, while the two groups are milling around at the same

spot taking photos?” He slapped his hand against his thigh. “This just isn’t working. The city should never have allowed another

commercial trail-riding business in the park. I’m going to call my good buddy Councilman Harvey and follow-up with a written

complaint.”

Jessica gasped. Her wide-eyed gaze darted between Tom and

Charley.

Charley put out his hands in a ‘calm down’ motion. “Now wait

just a minute. There’s no need to go that far. I’m sure we can work out a solution.”

Tom pursed his lips. “You willing to stay off Palmer Trail?”

60

“You know that won’t work for me,” Charley replied. “My cus-

tomers have just as much right to see all of the park formations as yours. Why don’t we compare our ride schedules and routes? I’m

sure we can make modifications in timing that will prevent con-

frontations and keep everyone safe.”

“I’m not making any modifications.” Tom crossed his arms and

pushed out his chin. “We’ve been following the same routine for

nigh on twenty years now. It runs like a well-oiled machine. When there aren’t hold-ups like today, that is.”

“Well, then, I’ll see if I can make some changes,” Charley said

evenly. “I looked at your schedule and routes when I first planned mine, but I can make some tweaks, I’m sure. Give me a chance to

make this right.”

Tom uncrossed his arms and exhaled. “I guess I can give it one

more go. But if this happens again, I’m going to the city.”

Charley turned toward the trailer and held out a hand toward

the steps. “Why don’t we go inside the trailer? I’ve got a map with my routes on it on the wall, and a ride schedule there. We can have a drink while we talk it over. Jessica’s got a pot of coffee on, and we’ve got sodas in the fridge.”

Tom gave a begrudging harrumph and a nod. He turned to

Vince. “Can you amuse yourself for a few minutes?”

Vince looked at Charley and Jessica. “Is Brittany still here?”

“She’s up at the barn getting some horses ready for this after-

noon’s hippotherapy,” Jessica said.

Vince grinned. “I’ll give her a hand.” He headed up for the barn

while Charley and Tom went in the trailer.

61

“I should go inside,” Jessica said. “I don’t know how Charley

managed to defuse that situation, and I’d better make sure they all stay on friendly terms.”

Claire thought Charley had done a damn good job of keeping

his cool and preventing a blow-up, but before she could say so to Jessica, Roger said, “What happens if two trail rides meet up again in the park?”

Jessica nibbled her lower lip. “I don’t know. Hopefully Charley

can find a way to prevent that from occurring.”

“I’m sure he’ll figure something out,” Claire said.

But she didn’t really feel that hopeful. Horses and tourists

didn’t follow precise schedules, and there were bound to be de-

lays on trail rides. How could Charley keep Tom Lindall from

complaining to the city, and maybe getting Charley’s agreement

voided?

62

five:

a bad feeling

The next morning, Claire fingered the green ‘Gardner’s Hip-

potherapy’ T-shirt that lay in her lap after trying it on. “It’s not only a great fit,” she said to Jessica, “I love the color, too.”

She was sitting on the reception sofa in the trailer at Gardner’s Stables and Jessica was perched on the arm of the matching leather loveseat. Behind the reception desk across from Claire, a short

hallway led to a back office with two desks. The hall also led to a storage room, a bathroom, and a small kitchenette where Jessica

had made the cinnamon-laced Mexican coffee they were sipping.

“I’m glad. I thought green was good for a horse-based charity.”

Jessica put down her coffee cup and arranged her face in a bright smile. “So, what’s our shopping itinerary?”

Jessica hadn’t scheduled any hippotherapy clients that day, so

Claire could finally show Jessica her favorite Colorado Springs

clothing stores and boutiques for a ‘Ladies Day Out.’ Neither one of them felt particularly cheerful. But Claire thought some shop-63

ping therapy might give Jessica some much-needed relief from her

troubles.

“After I deliver a couple of my ‘Welcome to Colorado Springs’

baskets to a realtor downtown,” Claire said, “we’ll start at Silent Woman. It’s Ellen’s favorite home decor boutique and a really cute shop. Then we’ll look at the ritzy clothes at Drama. We probably

won’t be able to afford much, but we’ll have fun window-shop-

ping.”

Jessica clapped her hands together, trying oh so hard to look

excited. “I’ll be exhausted after all that!”

Claire forced a smile, too. “We’ll rest and eat lunch at Rico’s

Café in the Poor Richard’s complex, with its fun bookstore and

children’s store. That’ll fortify us for an afternoon at The Prom-enade Shops at the Briargate.”

“What fun. We’ve got to remember to pick up the invitations

to my fundraiser event from the engravers, too.” Jessica stood and took their coffee cups to the sink. “Planning the fundraiser and

getting the stable up and running was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Double-checking everything Charley did took a lot of time. I’ve needed this break for ages, even before Kyle’s death.”

“Why do you have to double-check everything Charley does?”

Jessica waved a hand. “You know men. They don’t have the eye

for detail we women do. Especially Charley.”

“Charley was pretty thorough about homework and stuff when

we were kids.”

When Jessica just shrugged, Claire worried her lip. Even if

Charley realized where Jessica’s constant little digs came from,

wouldn’t they eventually chip away at his self confidence? Claire 64