Here Comes Trouble by Becky McGraw Page A

delivered to the ranch this
morning. The ranch hands had helped her install the equipment and
her station was almost ready. Terri was glad she'd come back to the
ranch Saturday night instead of staying in town. It helped her be
ahead of the game today, and Joel seemed more relaxed with her now,
she knew she was more easy around him.
    Sunday morning they had cooked breakfast
together, because Penny was off. After they ate he had helped her
unload supplies in the aid station, and she'd helped him out in the
barn. Terri didn't know how much help she'd been out there, because
she was clueless, but he acted like he liked having her out there.
It was pretty nice just being alone with him without being edgy. He
really was an upbeat and funny guy when he forgot about his
problems.
    Terri stood back and wiped the sweat from her
brow with her forearm, then took a look around her little slice of
heaven. Overall, the setup was rudimentary, but she had enough
equipment to keep someone alive, until advanced help could arrive
should something bad happen.
    With the add-on services and packages she and
Joel had talked about last night after dinner, while sitting on the
front porch having a beer, she had a feeling the Rodeo Adventure
package alone was going to keep her busy.
    Picking up an industrial sized box of Band
Aids, she sat it on the counter and used the box cutter to open it.
The two-way radio at her waist toned loudly and her heart jumped in
her chest.
    "Joel wants everyone at the big barn in ten
minutes," a chirpy voice she recognized as that of Trish, the sweet
and young guest services girl, intoned over the radio.
    Terri blew her hair out of her face and set
the box cutter down. She grabbed a soda from the mini-fridge and
popped the tab, then took a long drink. From all the dust at the
ranch, her mouth felt like she was making mud pies inside. A few
more swallows cleared it out, and her body cooled down a
little.
    For some reason, the window air conditioning
unit wasn't working right. Or it was so hot outside, it couldn't
keep up. For September, they were having a heat wave. Maybe she
should have gotten a bigger unit, she thought, then remembered why
she hadn't. Money...she didn't want to stress Joel out any more
than he was. There were only a few weeks left anyway before it
would really cool off, so she'd just deal with that next
summer.
    Terri figured worrying about money and the
ranch is what had been keeping him up at night, long past the time
she went to bed. Instead of going to bed, he'd go into his office
and she'd see the light burning in there, even in the middle of the
night. She wondered if he worked in there until he passed out at
his desk.
    He was burning the candle at both ends,
working eighteen hour days, and she was worried about him. That's
why when he'd said he was going to his office after supper last
night, she'd dragged him out on the porch instead and made him
relax. Terri couldn't do much to help him, but she could make him
take a break now and again.
    When she brought up the infamous Gigi last
night he'd laughed and said the woman was as bad as his ex-wife and
was on a mission to bankrupt him, which had led to the discussion
of the new services he was adding at the ranch.
    She'd been impressed with how well-thought-out
the whole thing seemed to be, but Terri hoped he wasn't biting off
more than he could chew. She was a nurse, didn't know a whole
helluva lot about business, but she did know a business that
expanded before it was ready was doomed to fail. Just like a
relationship, a slow and steady build up was the key to success.
That's what she was trying to remember with Joel, and she hoped he
thought about that with his business.
    Tossing her now empty soda can in the garbage
on the way out, she headed to see what Joel wanted with them. It
was almost time for their guests to arrive, so he was probably on
pins and needles.
    Her station was on the other side of the
compound from the big barn, so it took her