Here Comes Trouble (26 page)

"Up and at 'em, Sunshine, daylight's a
wastin'," a chirpy, definitely southern female voice said. Terri
opened her eyes and rubbed them, then yawned. It took a moment for
her brain to get in gear, but when it did her eyes flew
open.

Curly Rhodes stood over her with a cup of
coffee and a sandwich plate in her hand. Terri's heart was going
ninety to nothing inside her chest and she put a hand on it and sat
up.

"How long was I asleep?" she asked glancing
out the window across the room where she could see soft tangerine
light warming the room. It was either early morning and she'd slept
the night through, or it was late afternoon.

Curly handed her the cup, and put the plate
down on the coffee table. "Only six hours, but Gigi is here, and I
wanted you to be in on our conversation. Chase is back, and the
girls from the spa are here too."

Terri groaned and slid her legs over the edge
of the couch. She couldn't believe she'd slept at all, much less
six hours! It would be night time again soon, and Joel was in jail.
Her stomach lurched, but she forced down a sip of the strong coffee
so she could wake up.

"Let me get a few sips of this in me, and I'll
be in there. Are ya'll in the kitchen?" she asked
tiredly.

"We are, and you need to go take a shower and
wake up...we'll be there when you get done. Eat first," Curly told
her firmly. The woman sure was bossy, but her instructions sounded
like just what Terri needed.

"Yes, ma'am," Terri told her then took a
bigger gulp of the hot coffee and flinched when it burned her
tongue.

Terri grabbed the ham sandwich from the plate
and took a bite, but it tasted like sawdust in her mouth and
seesawed in her stomach. Throwing it back on the plate, she grabbed
her coffee and headed to the hallway. At the end, she stopped and
took a deep breath, shutting her eyes until she passed Joel's
bedroom. Once inside her bedroom, Terri averted her eyes from the
rumpled bed and sat the coffee cup on a doily on the dresser to dig
in the drawers and find clean clothes.

Joel didn't have clean clothes today, he
didn't have the luxury of a shower before they took him away. He
had still worn the dirty jeans and shirt he had on yesterday. Tears
burned her eyes, and the bite of sandwich made another lunge for
her throat. She hoped they had given him something to eat. Last
night they'd missed supper, and this morning he was on his way to
jail before breakfast.

A tear plopped on her hand as she pulled out a
pair of jeans and a shirt, then opened the top drawer for a pair of
underwear. Emotion roiled in her stomach, as she stumbled toward
the bathroom. By the time she made it to the tub and turned on the
tap, her tears were running as fast as the faucet. Terri hadn't
fallen apart when they found Karen's body, she hadn't fallen apart
when they arrested Joel, but she sure as hell was falling apart
now.

She missed Joel and she was worried about him,
about what they were doing to him in jail. It was probably her
fault he was in jail, that made it worse. Terri had let that Ranger
manipulate her, but she had zero experience with the police, and
thought they were the good guys and always honest. An unfortunate
miscalculation on her part.

Now, she would do whatever it took to make it
up to Joel. Even if he hated her, Terri was not running away. She
was staying and helping Curly keep the ranch going until he got
back. Terri owed him that.

Chase had told her it would be okay, but Terri
knew better. The look in Joel's eyes when they took him away told
her that. He would never forgive her, and she couldn't stand to see
that look in his eyes again. When he was released, she'd leave
before he got back to the ranch, so he didn't have to see her
again, just like he'd asked her to.

A sob escaped her and Terri buried her head in
her hands and let out all the frustration, fear and anger that had
built up inside of her for the last twenty-four hours. Her hand
trailed in the water and she realized it was almost at the top of
the tub, so she fumbled for the faucet and shut it off. With a
hiccup, she got up and blew her nose, and then took off her clothes
and slid into the water, almost wishing she'd drown.

Fifteen minutes later, not wanting to keep
Curly and the others waiting in the kitchen, she shampooed her
sticky hair, washed herself, then got out and brushed her teeth.
Just as she slipped her shirt over her head, a knock sounded at the
bedroom door and she ran to open it. Jenny stood there with
sympathy shining in her blue eyes. Terri's eyes welled up again,
and she turned her back and retreated into the room so Jenny
wouldn't see.

Jenny followed her, then asked, "You doing
okay?"

Terri nodded, but then made the mistake of
looking at her friend and she lost it. Jenny opened her arms and
Terri walked into them, careful of her humongous baby
belly.

"It's okay, baby," Jenny cooed into her hair
then kissed her head. "He'll be okay."

"No, he won't...he hates me now," she told
Jenny.

"And you love him," Jenny stated in a soft
tone.

Terri couldn't voice the words, so she nodded
and her tears fell harder. When they finally slowed down, she
pulled away from Jenny and wiped her eyes.

"Doesn't matter...he hates me. I spilled my
guts to the police and that's why he's in jail. He told me to leave
the ranch, but I'm staying until he gets out."

Concern drew Jenny's brows together, as she
asked, "What did you tell them?"

"The truth, but the stupid baby Ranger twisted
it all up," Terri told her then walked to the dresser to snatch a
fistful of tissues from the box there. "I don't know what he put in
his report, or what he told Joel, but it had to be bad."

"He didn't have you sign the
statement?"

Terri looked up at her and wiped her nose.
"No, I didn't sign anything."

"Were there any witnesses to your
conversation?" Jenny asked her.

"No, it was just us in the kitchen at the
table," she replied with a raised eyebrow, wondering where her
friend was going with this.

"I need to call Joel's attorney," Jenny said
and walked to the door.

Jenny didn't even give her a chance to ask
what she was thinking, she twisted the knob and eased her bulk
through the doorway, then waddled down the hall. Terri glanced in
the mirror over the dresser and cringed. He eyes were puffy, her
nose red and her lips swollen, she couldn't go out there looking
like she did, so she headed back to the bathroom to splash her face
with water.

When she made it to the living room, Chase was
on the phone with someone, and Jenny was sitting at the table in
the kitchen. She went to the kitchen and sat by her friend who was
munching on a chocolate chip cookie. All over the table were little
red packages wrapped with gold ribbon. The tall brunette she now
knew was Gigi the marketing consultant was busy punching holes in
cards. Sadie and the other spa ladies were attaching them to the
little packets with ribbon.

Curly and Penny were still mixing cookies,
chatting like magpies while they mixed. Terri thought the whole
scene looked like a cookie manufacturing plant, instead of a
marketing meeting to talk about promoting the ranch.

"What can I do to help?"

"We've got it handled, sugar. Did you say
something about calling your brother?"

Terri had forgotten about that. "Did Chase say
when he thought everything would be ready?"

"He's on the phone now ordering the equipment.
I told him to pay what he needed to pay to get it here tomorrow. I
want it installed before Monday, so the new group can see it and
spread the word. I think with the rodeo experience that Dylan and
Matt have, we can also push the package to rookie rodeo riders to
come here for training."

"That's a great idea, Curly," Terri told her
and smiled for the first time since this morning.

"Of course it is, now you stop all your
blubbering and go and put on some makeup to hide that red face of
yours, then call your brother." Curly looked up from the bowl she
was stirring and winked. The woman was a mess, and she was a lot
sharper than some people gave her credit for.

Terri went back to the bedroom again, and
pulled out her makeup bag and touched up her ravaged face. She
hadn't been fooling anyone. The cold water hadn't help fix
anything, she noticed as she dabbed on concealer to cover the
purple bags under her eyes.

At least Curly didn't know what she'd been
crying about. Hopefully, she thought Terri was just stressed from
all the commotion this morning. Because there was no way Terri was
going to talk to her about her feelings for Joel, like Chase
suggested. Joel had enough stress already, she wasn't going to add
to it.

When the time came for him to be released,
she'd just pack her stuff and head back home to Henrietta. After
she did the best she could with her face, Terri went to the
nightstand and picked up the phone to call Ethan. Her brother
answered on the second ring.

"Hey, baby brother," Terri said infusing her
voice with cheerfulness she didn't feel.

"What's up, Terror? When the hell are you
coming home? I miss your ugly mug."

"I miss you too..." Terri said and her voice
wobbled. She took a deep breath then told him, "I'll be home soon,
I promise...I have a favor to ask."

"Of course you'd only call if you needed
something," he said with a chuckle.

"I know I can count on you to help me, that's
why..." she said hoping that was the truth.

"Shoot," he said. "I was walking out the door.
I have a hot date, and you're gonna make me late."

"She'll keep...but I need you to put the word
out for me. The ranch I went to work for has a rodeo adventure
package I thought some of your friends might like it. Rodeo pros
teach you how to ride, there's even a mechanical bull for training.
Or you can learn to ride broncs, whichever you prefer."

"Woo hoo, that sounds damned interesting. Is
it open for bookings now?" Ethan asked and she could hear the
excitement in his voice, he was hooked.

Terri grinned and decided to reel him in.
"Yep, and I'll even get you a discount if you can get a group of
ten together for Monday. It's a weeklong adventure. Your balls will
be so sore you'll have to soak them at night," she
promised.

He snorted then told her, "I'm sure they will,
since I haven't even ridden a horse before. I'm in if I can get off
work..."

"So, will you call me back as soon as you can
and give me names and credit card numbers?"

"Yeah, let me check with my boss and a few
friends, I'll call you back in a few minutes on your cell phone.
Thanks, sis...that sounds like fun, and I get to see you too,
right?"

"I'll be here," she told him and they said
their goodbyes. Terri hung up then danced down the hall and back to
the kitchen. When she walked in she squealed and told them. "He's
getting a group of ten guys together for Monday. He's calling back
in a few minutes to firm things up and give me credit card numbers.
I told him we'd give them a discount for a group of
ten."

Curly let out an ear-splitting country yell
and ran around the counter to pull her into a tight hug. "Good job,
honey! Now, Chase needs to get that equipment in," she said and
stomped into the living room.

A few minutes later she was back and told the
other ladies in the room, "That should be enough cookies for now,
you three hit the streets and go charm some people. Give them the
cookies with those discount cards and let's see if we can get us
some bookings."

So that's what Curly was thinking...promote
the spa face-to-face with the cookies. The woman was brilliant,
Gigi had nothing on her marketing saavy.

Curly turned to the marketing consultant and
instructed, "Now, Gigi let's get busy on improving those brochures
so we can get them printed. When are you meeting with the website
guy?"

"First thing in the morning," Gigi replied
looking frazzled. Terri wanted to laugh, because she knew Gigi's
head was spinning. She wore the same expression that Joel usually
wore after he had a meeting with
her
. She'd definitely met
her match in Curly.

"You pay him what you need to pay him to work
through the weekend. I want that site up on Monday. These brochures
and those package discount cards have the website address on
them."

"Yes ma'am," Gigi whispered reverently then
pulled her phone out of her purse. She walked into the living room,
and Terri figured she was going to give the guy a heads up to get
started on the site now.

"Where's that guest services girl? I forgot
all about her..." Curly asked and looked around the
room.

"She's off today...I think J-Joel gave her
off, since we were all supposed to be out on the cattle drive,"
Terri told her and was mortified that her voice shook.

She needed to hold it together better, or
Curly would figure things out. Taking a deep breath she said, "Her
name is Trish and she'll be here tomorrow."