Second Chance Christmas

Cooper helped the businessman while Elise explained about her brother-in-law’s misadventures. “He’s still asleep. Not to mention, he managed to cut up his hand trying to get the spare on.”

“We think the world of Jesse. He’s been talking to our youth about his experience going to prison—how he found faith while he was inside and turned his life around, taking the job at Lost Dutchman when he got out and committing to his fresh start. I think the single girls still get a kick out of him. They, whether teen or not, show up every time to hear his message about avoiding trouble, rising above your raising, and forgiving self. I just wish more listened.”

“Jesse’s spoken at the high school in Two Mules, too.”

Cooper wasn’t surprised.

“He’s a blessing,” Karen said. “The kids admire him, but Garrett’s not quite getting the message. He summed it up one night with an ‘I don’t like when people tell me not to do what they did. Obviously, to them, at one time, it looked like a whole lotta fun. I want to make my own mistakes.’”

“Did you point out that Jesse had to spend five years in prison paying for his mistakes?”

“Yes, but it didn’t seem to impress Garrett. His ‘not gonna happen to me’ stance remained firm.” Karen looked over at the dust blowing up from the road as Garrett drove away. “Thank you for corralling him yesterday morning. I don’t know what’s gotten into him. We all miss his dad, but this behavior...”

Looking over at Elise as she leaned in to hear his mother’s words, Cooper wondered if she could help. If she was willing to stay. Problem was, she ran when the going got tough. Always had. At first, it had been on Pistol’s back and through Lost Dutchman property, never far. Then, when everyone needed her, when he needed her, she’d run away to the big city, never planning to return.

Cooper didn’t dare trust Garrett to a woman who couldn’t stay. Not so close to their father’s departure.

With that thought, he stepped away from the young businessman he’d just shown how to mount. Looked as if the redhead wasn’t the one he needed to worry about, so he decided to treat her just like everyone else; except, he didn’t need to spend three minutes telling her what kind of horse she was on.

He waved goodbye to his mother and then swung onto the back of Percy Jackson and led the pack. The redhead, whose name turned out to be Jilly Greenhouse, fell in love with the speckled gray ten minutes out.

“This is great.”

Cooper soon realized that if Jilly just knew when to stop talking, she’d be perfect on the trail. She took Timmy under her wing. He was the only other person chewing gum. Strange thing to bond over, but friendships had been formed by less.

The horses knew their way, so Cooper dropped back, checking on his charges. The two businessmen were from New York. It turned out they were father and son. The father grew up riding and now regretted not giving his son the same upbringing. The son looked as if he’d rather be anywhere but here. Jilly scooted her horse over to the young businessman and soon her chattering distracted him.

As if knowing her job, Elise took the end. Only the pack mules were behind her, the panning equipment they carried making its presence known with every step. The five teenagers were in front of her. Judging by their backward glances, they wished she were in front of them.

They were the same age, Cooper and Elise, both of them twenty-eight. She didn’t look it. She still looked the same as she did the last time he kissed her.

When everyone seemed comfortable, Cooper launched into his desert drawl. “We’re heading up a trail on the Superstition Mountains. You can also consider this the Tonto National Forest. No matter, this is wilderness. Today is approximately sixty-eight degrees. We sun-dwellers call this winter.”

The businessmen chuckled appreciatively. One of the teenagers offered Elise his jacket and told her she rode a horse well. Cooper realized that when he’d been doing introductions, she’d been off doing something to one of the horses. The kid would be all kinds of embarrassed when he found out that Elise was Jacob Hubrecht’s middle daughter, the one with all the rodeo trophies.

Hiding a smile, Cooper continued his monologue. “We’ll be heading to an area known for after-rain puddles and streams. Hopefully, the rain has moved some gold out of caves and down the side. On a good day, you can make up to fifty dollars.”

“And on a bad day?” Jilly asked.

“You’ll have fifty insect bites.”

He earned a few chuckles before he continued, “We’ll be riding amidst boulders and both saguaro and barrel cactus.”

Two riders coming down the trail stopped and cautioned Cooper about a bobcat they’d seen a short way up.

About the time Cooper was going to mention the jumping-cholla cacti, Timmy squealed, like only a six-year-old could do. “Aunt Elise, there’s something sticking me, by my ankle.”

“The dreaded teddy bear cholla.” Elise easily slid from Pistol and went to the boy, adding, “Nothing cuddly about it.” In a few moments, she’d taken her pocket knife, removed the culprit before its hollow stems could do much damage, and had Timmy calm and ready to move forward, although now on the lookout for pods that would aim their painful oval balls of needles at him.