Show Barn Blues Read online

  “But is that enough?” Anna persisted.

  “Not for you, and not for me. But for them… yes. It’s what I promised them. It’s what they wanted. And they get to show and they bring home ribbons, and everyone’s happy.” Gayle caught Maxine in the mouth again and the mare threw up her head in protest. “Almost everyone,” I amended. “I have to do something about Gayle’s hands when we get home.”

  I turned to Anna. “Listen, you keep bringing this up, and I know it’s because you’re worried about being a trainer yourself. So here’s the thing. It’s all about deciding on your customer base and giving them what they want. Hey, if you want to go to the Olympics and then train young Olympians, that’s your choice. Just be aware, it might not pay that well. This pays my bills, or it almost does. I have a farm and a house and some nice horses. I’m happy with my choices. You have to be happy with yours.” I settled my elbows against the seat behind me and reclined. “End of speech.”

  Anna nodded solemnly. “Got it.”

  Colleen sidled up to me after the classes were finished and everyone was grouping together, discussing where they wanted to head for dinner. The consensus was Big Pig Barbecue out on 441. Since the restaurant was within totter-home-and-pass-out distance of the hotel, I had absolutely no problem with this. I stepped away from the conversation and walked the shed-row we’d been assigned, making sure everyone was fed, watered, and happy. Anna had done a good job, as usual. I leaned over a stall door and watched Maxine nibble delicately through a flake of timothy and alfalfa, nosing out the sweet green alfalfa leaves so that she could gobble those up first.

  “Give any thought to what I said last night?” Colleen murmured in my ear, making me jump.

  “Jeez, Colleen, are we playing spy movies?” I laughed to take the scold out of my voice. “You scared me.”

  “I just don’t want everyone alerted,” she shrugged. “I know Gayle would have an absolute conniption if she thought the farm was… if anything was going to change.” She neatly sidestepped the word “sold.”

  Gayle’s horse snorted, and I couldn’t have agreed with her more. “Colleen, I think I was very clear.”

  “And so was I, wasn’t I? They’ll stop at nothing. You can name your price with these people. You could even just sell the back forty — the stable and arenas can stay intact.”

  Just hearing her say the words back forty while talking about selling the land made my throat close up. That land had been my grandfather’s playground. That land had been where I had spent the most golden hours of my childhood. That land was where I had made the most wonderful memories, and the greatest mistakes, of my life. “They’re not getting it, Colleen. My answer is always going to be no.”

  She narrowed her eyes at me, her perfectly plucked eyebrows coming together in a thin line of elegant outrage. “You’re going to regret that kind of attitude, Grace. You don’t know who you’re dealing with. The Roths —”

  “Are developers,” I snapped, my voice rising. “The worst sort of people, the wolves who are tearing up Florida and destroying it, acre by acre. I wouldn’t sell to them if they offered me a million dollars.”

  “Oh, it would be way more than a million dollars!” Colleen retorted. “You idiot, do you have any idea —”

  “What’s going on?” Gayle’s childlike voice, lost and afraid, penetrated my enraged brain. I realized that I’d said the magic words — developer, sell — much louder than I’d intended. “Is someone buying the farm? Grace, are you selling the farm?” Her voice wavered, and the pink ribbon she’d been holding was suddenly crushed within her fist.

  I took her hand and gently opened her fingers. “Of course I’m not, Gayle,” I told her gently. “The farm isn’t going anywhere. Now, let’s hang up this ribbon on Maxine’s stall, and go get some dinner. I could eat an entire pig, I think.”

  Colleen turned on her expensive heel and stalked off down the shed-row, scattering mulch with every angry step. Her horse, who had been hanging out of the stall to see what the commotion was, darted back into the stall as she went storming by. I knew exactly how he felt. That was what I wanted to do every time Colleen came around, too.

  I turned and faced the little cluster of wide-eyed ladies. “Sorry about that,” I said, forcing a smile. “The conversation is getting old, and I guess I get a little short-tempered.”

  Missy cocked her head. “Does Colleen want you to sell?”

  “It sure sounded that way,” Gayle ventured. Her lip trembled a little.

  I considered for a moment. Colleen had presented herself as an ally, someone who could get me details on the developers. I had figured it was so that I could beat them and send them packing. It hadn’t occurred to me that maybe she’d wanted me to get the best deal possible.

  I stifled a groan. Colleen must be in with the developers. She must be counting on a commission, or a piece of the long-term action, once the farm was bought, the barn was razed, and the road was paved.

  Missy shook her head. “You can’t trust that woman. She’s been leading you on, letting her think you’re her buddy, that she’s going to buy some expensive pony. It’s all a load of crap. I bet she can’t even afford to adopt a pony for that snotty kid of hers.”

  “Oh, there’s no way. They’re in debt to their eyeballs,” Stacy confirmed, her voice knowing. “Colleen’s a big spender. She keeps David hustling, that’s for sure. He was driving an old beater until he got that promotion and managed to buy a new car. And then she was making fun of him for being sensible and getting something used. She wanted him to buy a new BMW with all the bells and whistles. He’s used to getting bossed around, but at least he had the sense to defy her on that one.”

  “Is that true?” I asked, dumbfounded. Colleen had never missed a board bill, never passed a bad check, never batted an eye at vet or farrier bills. She rode when she wanted, paid me to ride the rest of the time, and luxuriated in the finest tack.

  Stacy grinned, enjoying my chagrin. I couldn’t think of any reason to disbelieve her. If anyone would have the gossip on the barn bitch, it would be Stacy, our own bitch-in-waiting. “Well, shit.”

  I leaned back against the barn wall and closed my eyes, not even caring that the boarders were watching me. Ordinarily, I’d never have let them see me caught off-guard like this. But it didn’t take a genius to see that the farm was in trouble, and losing a promised deal like the one I’d had with Colleen was going to be a massive blow. For once, I figured, the boarders could see that their trainer was a real human, capable of really freaking out.

  I bowed out of dinner at the Big Pig and went back to the hotel alone. I’d order a solitary pizza and leave the ladies to their gossip. They’d shake their heads knowingly, go off to dinner together, and talk about where they’d move their horses when Seabreeze closed down over brisket and pulled pork and puddles of barbecue sauce. After all, they had money. I might lord over them at the barn, but at the end of the day, when I was broke and they were not, they were the ones in control of the situation.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  “Hey boss!”

  I stopped in the barn entrance. Tom ran up behind me, the Gator rumbling and growling behind him. It was becoming a noisy idler. Probably needed tuning-up, I thought with a mental sigh, then pushed the thought of my head. I wasn’t thinking about anything that required dollar signs. “What’s up?”

  Tom brushed pale hair from pale eyes, which were wide and worried now. “Maybe nothing, but… Saw some guys standing out front when I took down the trash cans. They were wearing suits, looking at the farm sign. Walked back towards the property next door when they saw me.”

  I narrowed my eyes. Developers. I would have their heads if they stepped foot on my land. “You think they’re from the realty company?”

  “Might be. Maybe they’re worried about building next to a farm?”

  “They oughta be. You done with the Gator?”

  “Yeah, I’m just going to the tack room for some coffee.”


  “Good.” I went past him and slipped into the driver’s seat. If there were developers scoping out my property, I wanted them to hear it straight from the horse trainer’s mouth — this place wasn’t for sale. If I told them that, maybe they’d spare me the blank check scenario Colleen had sketched out at the show last weekend. I was really afraid of what I’d do if something like that were to happen — especially after seeing this month’s hay bill. Best to send them on their way now before I got the feed bill.

  Sure enough, there they were — still on the neighboring property’s highway verge, but definitely looking my way. Two black Mercedes sedans were parked along the highway shoulder, and when they caught sight of the Gator for the second time, the two men started to beat a retreat to the safety of their cars.

  “Oh no you don’t,” I muttered, and gunned the Gator up the shoulder to the pair of cars. Seeing that I was intent on confronting them, the men both stopped by their car doors and waited for me.

  “Gentleman,” I said when I had parked in front of them. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning,” said the closest man, taking off his sunglasses. Tan, fifties, gray hair and good clothes — nothing special, just another Florida businessman, cutting down a few more trees and getting rich doing it. I felt a sudden wave of anger that made my vision dance. Why must they destroy everything in sight? Why couldn’t they let the farmers have their farmland? Did every inch of Florida have to be converted into golf courses and condos before they’d be content?

  So I glared at him with a stare I usually reserved for rank stud colts about to learn what happens when Someone Bites Grace. “You involved with this?” I nodded my head towards the sign announcing resort villas, making sure to convey exactly what I thought of their despicable plans.

  “Why yes,” the man without sunglasses said, not a trace of trepidation in his oily voice, and he stepped forward to shake my hand. “I’m Rich Hannity, and this is my partner Mike Roth. We’re very excited to move into the neighborhood. It’s nice to meet you…?”

  I pointedly hesitated before I took his hand, then made sure he saw exactly how dirty and calloused my hand was before he was obliged to clasp it in his own soft, clean one. “I’m Grace Carter,” I said simply, and waited for him to continue stating his business.

  “Oh, you’re Ms Carter!” Rich smiled. “Just the person we want to talk to.”

  “Yeah?” I took my hand back and placed it on the steering wheel, ready to leave some dust in his face.

  “Well, it’s about some land that you own, Ms Carter.”

  “Not for sale.” I smiled sweetly.

  Rich opened and closed his mouth, flustered for a moment. “Not the equestrian center, I assure you,” he said after a moment regaining his train of thought. “That’s an asset to the community! The undeveloped land, though —”

  “Also not for sale.”

  Mike Roth, in the background, shook his head. He was younger than Rich, with a mop of dark hair falling over a white forehead. His skin was pink-tinged with heat. I could see that Mike didn’t play outside much. His expression was menacing, though, dark eyes glittering and lips turned down in an angry frown. “Ms Carter, now hear us out before you make any snap decisions —”

  “Not for sale!” I sang out, favoring them with a brilliant smile. I gunned the Gator’s engine and Rich Hannity stepped back just as I took off, showering him in the dust storm I had been happily imagining. I did a quick u-turn in the highway and went roaring back down to my own driveway without looking back.

  But when I pulled the Gator up at the barn again my heart was pounding and my hands were shaking. Colleen hadn’t been wrong — they really did want this land. They wanted everything.

  I’d love to think that I wasn’t going to be the one to hand it to them. But I’d betrayed too many old promises as it was.

  I heard a car coming up the driveway and whipped around, thinking it might be the developers, intent on a second interview. I ought to meet them with a shotgun.

  When it turned out to be Colleen’s purring sedan, I wondered which scenario would be worse. I kind of wanted to be mean to Roth and Hannity again. That would certainly be more fun than getting Colleen’s hard sell again, especially since she’d probably stopped to chat with her buddies in suits before she pulled into the barn lane.

  I turned and headed for the tack room. I needed a ride on Ivor if I was going to make it through the rest of this day. Thank goodness he was off stall-rest. I’d be so wrapped up in riding, Colleen wouldn’t be able to catch me for a business chat. Good strategy, Grace. Sure to work.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Of course, a ride on Ivor wasn’t enough to save me. Colleen was willing to wait. She cheerfully followed me back to the house after I had done everything I could think of to wait her out, including cooling out Ivor myself instead of handing him off to Anna. I finally gave up and went home, sweaty and dirty and with my angry client tailing me, silently fuming that I wouldn’t go up to the office and let her tick me off the way that she wanted to.

  I thought she might stop at the front door, but she didn’t. She followed me right in. I sighed and offered her coffee.

  Although caffeine was the last thing this crazy person needed in her veins.

  She accepted gratefully, and then went off, eyes blazing.

  “Don’t think I don’t know what you’ve been up to!”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I dropped the professional businesswoman veneer without a thought. I didn’t like accusations and insinuations from anyone, boarders and clients or not.

  Colleen sneered. “Act all innocent! You’ve been giving my horse extra work. The only thing I don’t understand is, why haven’t you been charging me for it? You’re terrible at money, Grace, or you’d be living in a nicer place than this. You could be fleecing us all and it wouldn’t even matter — we’ve got the cash, you know! I gladly pay you for your services and so does every other boarder here! But look around —” She flung her arms around the room, at my tiny dark living room, at the splintering hardwood floors, at the faded racehorse throw on the broken-down sofa, at the home I loved just as it was. “You’re living in a shack out here in the middle of paradise. Million-dollar condos and golf courses and resorts and you’re squatting here like some kind of gypsy —”

  “That’s enough. Why don’t you just get out of here, Colleen? Why don’t you go board somewhere else, if you have such a problem with me? Or is the problem that you don’t want to be in horses anymore? Maybe you can’t afford me, huh?”

  “You’re a fool,” Colleen spat, but her face flushed red, and I knew my arrow had met its mark. Still, she persisted in her argument. “You’re turning down a tremendous opportunity for everyone here.”

  “How is selling off the last bit of land in the county helping anyone?” I shook my head, dazed by her logic. “If a golf course is right up against the farm, there’s going to be guys out there drinking all day. There’s going to be loud equipment when they’re building it, and mowers and all sorts of noise when they’re doing maintenance. There’s going to be pesticides when they try to keep the grass that unnatural shade of green. And the kids are going to lose any sense of what Florida used to look like, and that’s probably what I’m most against. Come on, Colleen — you can’t see that only having a hundred lousy acres of scrubland left is some kind of crime against the planet? Against the place where you’re raising your children?”

  Colleen didn’t rush for the door, or for my throat, as I thought she might have. She just stood in the middle of my living room, fists on her hips like a mad Peter Pan, staring at me with a face that was half amused and half outraged. “Those hundred acres that no one ever sees? The hundred acres you scared us off of and that you’re out riding on in the dead of night like a criminal? Those are the hundred acres you are preserving for my precious children? They’re not even allowed on it!”

  “Well, not yet…” I back-pedaled, hard. She had me there. “No one is re
ady to go out of the arena yet. But give them time…”

  “And what about me? You can ride my horse out there, but I can’t. When are you going to give me the green-light to ride outside of the arena, instead of treating me like a trained monkey that’s only good to sit on my horse and look pretty?”

  Whoops. Suddenly I was on the defense. “Colleen, I never meant you weren’t a good enough rider,” I said cautiously, searching for the right words. “I meant that you and Bailey were in different places training-wise, and I didn’t want a green horse and a green rider going out together and getting hurt.” I paused, considered, and then forged ahead more confidently. “And Colleen, you did get hurt. Everything I have done has been a considered reaction plan to the incidents that we had in October. Between you and Gayle both taking falls out there, I decided it would be best to wait until the show season was over and then work on trail-riding safety. And if you’d have asked, I would have told you so.”

  Colleen’s face fell just a bit, as if she’d been counting on me telling her my entire evil plan to keep her and the others as my horse show puppets forever, like some sort of villain in a comic book, spieling off their entire backstory just before the hero steps in and makes an end of it all. But she couldn’t argue with facts: she had fallen off out there, and she had been the one and only boarder to get hurt, as well.

  Then she shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. You had no business training my horse without my knowledge. You had no right to take him out there and risk him like that.”