Winter Circuit (The Show Circuit -- Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

can’t ride her to save my life.
    That’s ridiculous. You know you ride great.
    Smiley face emoticon. Then another line from Mary Beth: You always did know the right thing to say.
    That line right there killed me. She was flirting with him. Straight-out dead-on flirting. And trying to rekindle old feelings by bringing up their shared past.
    No reply from Chris. Then Mary Beth again: Will you come look at her when you get here?
    Can try.
    Not sure I can wait…
    That was the end of the string of texts. Not sure I can wait… For him to see the horse, or for her to see him? And what exactly did that ellipsis mean? Didn’t an ellipsis mean that there was more to come, something she was saying without saying it? Like what she really wanted to happen when she saw him?
    Zoe had said on the last night in Vermont that Mary Beth wanted Chris back. I’d told myself that was just Zoe trying to make me jealous and stir up trouble. Only now it sure seemed like Mary Beth did want him back.
    Chris hadn’t exactly taken the bait. He could have written back any number of things. But he did tell her she was a great rider. Why did he have to flatter her like that? And why didn’t he say something that made it clear how things stood between them now. Like, Not sure I have time to look at the horse. Things are really busy for me.
    I still had his phone in my hand when Chris came out of the bathroom, wearing only a towel around his waist. A very good look for him. Of course Mary Beth was after him again. Who wouldn’t be? Chris was gorgeous, he was successful, he was kind. She must have realized she had been insane to cheat on him and she’d do anything to get him back.
    “Did someone call?” Chris asked. “I thought I heard my phone ring.”
    “Yeah, it was Lily. I was going to come get you but then I figured we couldn’t waste any time and you could call back in the car.”
    He came to the bed and took the phone from me. If he was mad I didn’t come get him or suspected me of snooping, he didn’t let on. Instead, he leaned over and kissed me, making me feel guilty. “Better get going yourself. You sure you want to come with me? It’s going to be cold.”
    “Don’t they have a heated viewing room?” I asked.
    “I hope so but you never know. Changing your mind?”
    “No way,” I said. “I’m coming.”
    I didn’t care if I froze my butt off. I wasn’t saying good-bye to Chris eight hours earlier than I had to. If it was up to me, I’d never let him out of my sight again. Because if I wasn’t keeping an eye on him, there was no telling what Mary Beth would be up to.
    We didn’t get too far from the hotel when Mary Beth came up in conversation. Or, to be more accurate, when I brought her up.
    “Have you talked to Mary Beth?” I asked as Chris followed the GPS directions his phone was issuing. “Or seen her?”
    His car smelled deliciously horsey. A combination of horse and tack. One of his saddles was in the back seat and there was plenty of white hair from his dog, Jasper, whom I realized he must have left with Dale for the weekend.
    Chris gave me a confused look. “What’s that about?”
    “What’s what about? I’m just asking a question, and you’re not answering it, which seems kind of, I don’t know, suspicious?”
    Siri spoke, prompting Chris to stay left to go onto Route 2 West toward Concord. He glanced at the screen of his phone to double check the route and I felt like he was also giving himself a moment to figure out how to respond to me. Was he trying to figure out how to hide something?
    “I’m not answering it because it feels like the question is not really what you want to ask. It seems like what you’re asking is really something else, like do I still have feelings for her, which I think I answered pretty clearly this summer.”
    “Why can’t you just answer the question?” I couldn’t stop jabbing at him. It felt very un-me. Chris and I had never had an official fight. There was the