Blame it on Texas Read Online Free PDF Page B

door. How many times had she and Ritt sat in these same cracked orange booths and ate donut holes until they were about to pop? Too many to count. The crisp fall days before school, the blistering summer days before heading out to fish or work or play around the canyon.
    Shelby tamped down those memories and did her best not to keep a running tally of carb intake as Ritt ordered a box of donut holes, two coffees and chocolate milk. How did he stay so…fit and eat like this?
    One more day, she told herself as she bit into the fattening confection. Her mother would call back today, tonight at the latest. Once she told Ritt that his parents had not paid her to take Shelby to California, he’d have no reason not to sign the papers, and Shelby would be on her way back home.
    “Shelby?”
    She turned as a dark-haired pixie approached. Same red lipstick and amber-colored eyes. She’d have known her anywhere. “Delilah?”
    Shelby stood and gave her longtime friend a one-armed hug.
    “Craig told me he saw you. I was so excited. Please tell me you’ll be here for the wedding.”
    Shelby bit her lip. She’d missed so much work already. But if she was home by Monday she’d still have plenty of time to get the Riley cake done. Kathryn would be able to handle anything that came up between now and then. “Of course.” She warbled a smile.
    “Goody.” Same ol’ Delilah.
    Of course staying would mean another few days with Ritt, but once she got those papers signed it would be totally worth it.
    “Are you still in California?”
    “Yes.”  
    Shelby barely had time to answer before Delilah shot another question her way. “You’re not…?” She made a twirling motion between Shelby and Ritt.
    “Oh, no. No.” Shelby shook her head for emphasis. “So how have you been?”
    “Great. There’s the wedding and then I’ve been—you know what? There’s entirely too much we need to catch up on. I’m calling Craig right now. We all need to get together for supper tonight. Won’t that be fun?”
    Shelby could think of plenty of things to call it, but fun wasn’t among them.
    “You don’t have to do that—” Ritt protested, but Delilah had already connected to her fiancé. She plugged her ear with her finger and turned away as she spoke into the phone.
    Ritt turned his blue-gold gaze to her. Shelby did her best to smile and not cringe. From the look on Ritt’s face she wasn’t successful. “We don’t have to—”
    “I don’t like this any better than you do, but we both know we have to. They were our best friends,” she said.
    “Key word ‘were’. That was a long time ago and some of us have moved on.” Somehow his words sounded like an accusation.
    Before Shelby could open her mouth to retaliate, Delilah turned around, a huge smile on her pretty face. “It’s all set. We’ll meet at Craig’s tonight for dinner.”
    “Great.” Ritt said the word, but Shelby knew he’d rather eat fire ants than spend any more time with her. Not that she cared. She felt the exact same way.
     
     
    Craig’s turned out to be an upscale condo perfect for an up-and-coming attorney with aspirations for City Hall.
    Shelby locked the door of the rental, dismayed to see Ritt’s rusty old Ford already in the lot as she made her way up the flower-lined walk. Two hours tops and she would escape and head back to…Ritt’s house.
    Staying in the same building with Ritt was proving to be harder than she had originally thought. Then again, when she imagined her plan, the final result—him signing the papers—happened after only one night of being under the same roof. But her husband was proving to be a tougher nut to crack. Why he wouldn’t sign the papers to begin with was a mystery in itself. Bitterness, she supposed, though she would have never thought Ritt one to cave to petty jealousies. And yet she couldn’t say that she wouldn’t feel the same in his shoes. He was exactly where she left him. Living in his parents’