Blame it on Texas (2 page)

“Shelby? Shelby Patterson? Is that you?”

She blinked once again and brought the man into focus. “Craig!” She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. “I haven’t seen you in—”

“Seven years,” came the dry voice behind the counter.

Shelby released Craig and coolly eyed her soon-to-be ex. Ritt stood with his rear propped up on the back counter. He had a bottle of Dr. Pepper in one hand, peanuts floating around the top. Same old Ritt. He wore a bright yellow T-shirt that said, “The Master Baiter” and a pair of disreputable jeans. A barbed wire tattoo peeked out from under the hem on one bicep. That was new.

So Ritt worked at the bait shop. Showed what a bullet she’d dodged. He’d never had any drive other than baseball. Why he never went pro was a mystery for the ages. And yet one more reason he had to sign. Her bakery was hers. She had worked hard to build her reputation from nothing. She’d be damned if she’d let Ritt swoop in and take half of all that she had worked so hard to create.

“It’s tomorrow,” she said, wishing she could stay and visit with Craig. It had been so long since she’d seen him. Since that day she and her mother packed everything in the back of their Volkswagen and headed for California. That day Craig had asked her to stay for Ritt’s sake, had told her that Ritt loved her. She’d replied that if it were the truth he would come after her. He never did.

“I’m busy.” He took a swig of the soda then idly chewed on the peanuts.

“Surely you found time to look over them last night.”

“I did. And stop calling me Shirley.”

She ignored his joke and pulled her copy of the papers out of their envelope. “Then all you need to do is sign.”

He shook his head. “I need to have my attorney look over them. There were a couple of places—”

“Ritter McCoy.” Shelby braced her hands on her hips. “You are making this much harder than it has to be.”

He shrugged.

“What’s going on here?” Craig looked from one of them to the other.

“Oh, a little bit of unfinished business,” Shelby said. Why wouldn’t he just sign? It might be silly of her but the longer she had to wait, the more worried she became that she’d be stuck in Texas forever.

Craig glanced toward Ritt. “What kind of papers?”

“Divorce papers,” her husband said.

“You’ve never gotten a divorce?”

Ritt shook his head.

“Are you serious?”

Ritt shrugged again, and Shelby was certain she hated the motion.

“It never came up.” She turned her attention to Craig. Maybe he could help her get Ritt to sign. Was it such a hard thing to do? “But now that it has, Ritt is being a little…hesitant.” She held out the papers toward Ritt, but he didn’t budge.

“I said I need my attorney to take a look at them.”

“I am your attorney.” Craig took the papers from Shelby. “Let me look these over. I’ll get back to you by tomorrow afternoon.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Sorry, I’m booked all day.”

“Tasting cake,” Ritt interjected.

“Last tux fitting.”

Tux? Cake? “You’re getting married?”

Craig nodded. “This weekend.”

“That’s terrific. Anyone I know?”

“Delilah.”

“Simpson?” They were only now getting around to tying the knot?

“Simpson-Jones.”

“Oh.” Shelby nodded. There had been a running pool over who would get married first. She and Ritt or Craig and Delilah. How ironic that Craig and his high school sweetheart were finally getting married when she and Ritt were finally getting divorced.

“If you’re still around this weekend, we’d love for you to come.”

“If I’m still here,” she mumbled. She wanted as far away from Randall as quickly as possible, but she would love to see her two long-ago friends finally find happiness.

“Swing by my office tomorrow afternoon.” He handed her a business card. “Say about three?”

Shelby nodded reluctantly. What choice did she have? She’d book the hotel room for one more night. One more day in Texas was worth the freedom at the end.

“And you—” Craig pointed to Ritt. “I’ll see you at two at Harris’s.”

Ritt hated the mall. But he had promised Craig, and he kept his promises. Unlike some people he knew.

Visions of long, tanned legs flitted through his mind, and he pushed them away. After all these years, Shelby wanted a divorce.

He strolled into the bridal shop and tried not to itch. These places gave him the creeps.

Long white dresses that looked like they were made from moonbeams and stars. They were nothing but expectations, and unrealistic ones at that. Look at him and Shel. They should have made it, but too many things had been stacked against them.

He walked to the counter and gave the black-clad attendant his name. In minutes he was in a dressing room, trying on his best man’s tux.

God, he hated these things. Why couldn’t people just get married? Why did it have to include all the hype and drama? It only made it hurt all the more when it ended.

He shook away the negative thought. Craig and Delilah would make it. They were older now. They had gotten their problems out of the way. The big ones anyway. School, family. Delilah had even married someone else; though Ritt thought she only did it to get back at Craig for focusing on his education instead of her. He pulled a face. Women.

Ritt stepped from the dressing room and headed for the three-way mirrors with the small risers in front.

Craig was already there.

“You clean up nice, bait man.”

Ritt shot him a look. “Let’s get this over with.”

The seamstresses bustled around, making marks here and there to fit the tux. Jacket shoulders, arm lengths, hems. Ritt stood as patiently as possible when he really wanted to run and duck for cover. Seeing Shelby again had been like a knife to the heart. Everything he had wanted, everything he hadn’t gotten in his life all rolled up into one.

“So Shelby’s back.”

Ritt snorted. “For a day.”

“She said she’d come to the wedding.”

Ritt shrugged.

The seamstress frowned and pulled on the shoulders of his jacket.

“Sorry,” Ritt murmured.

“You know you don’t have to make this so difficult.” Craig’s voice was patient and understanding. But how could he know what Ritt was feeling?

“Why should I make this easy on her?”

“Well, you love her for one.”

Ritt stifled a snort. “That was a long time ago, buddy.”

“Then let her go. She’s made good for herself, you know.”

“How do you know?”

“Facebook.”

“That’s just what she needs.” Respectability. That was the one thing that Shelby cared most about. With a mother like hers, who could blame her?

“She owns a bakery. Cupcakes and designer cakes. That kind of thing.”

“Shelby?” he scoffed. “Shelby Patterson?”

“Shelby McCoy,” Craig corrected.

Ritt shook his head. “Shelby can’t cook.”

“Evidently she learned.”

“You know this how?”

“Google. You really got to get out more.”

“So that’s how you spent the afternoon, Googling my wife?”

Craig made a face. “That sounds dirty, but yeah… And looking over the papers.”

“You told her that you couldn’t get to them till tomorrow.”

“You know I’m going to have to draw up new ones.”

Ritt nodded. “I suppose.”

The seamstress tugged on his hem one last time. “All done, sir.”

Ritt turned to look at himself in the mirror. Monkey suit. Pomp and circumstance. All this wedding jive. Yet he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d done all this for Shelby if maybe she would have stayed.

No, the voice inside him whispered. They were doomed from the beginning. An unplanned pregnancy was the bottom of the respectability barrel. There was no getting out of that one. He shouldn’t have been surprised when she ran. But that didn’t make it hurt any less.

Chapter Two

Promptly at three the next afternoon, Shelby entered the offices of Coltrane, Elliot, and Johnson. They had a cool and breezy look, like a slice of the Caribbean had been brought to the Texas panhandle. Pale, aqua-tinted walls, crisp white trim and large potted plants. Only the golden-toned wood floors added a touch of the real locale.

A small brunette sat behind a large desk, her breezy white outfit in perfect harmony with her surroundings.

“Shelby Patterson. I’m here to see Craig Combs.”

The receptionist smiled and scanned her appointment calendar. “I have a Shelby McCoy.”

How long had it been since someone had called her that? Seven years if a day. She’d never really gone by Ritt’s name. There hadn’t been any time. But using Patterson had taken away some of the sting and made the biggest mistake of her life seem like…less. “McCoy is my married name.”

The woman raised one dark brow in question. “Second door on the left. Go on back. They’re expecting you.”

Shelby nodded, her heart pounding in her chest. It was all about to end.

Craig was seated behind a large dark wooden desk. A computer monitor flashed in front of him, a familiar envelope lying open on the large calendar/blotter.

Ritt slouched in one of the leather chairs facing the desk, his booted feet stretched out in front.

Shelby stopped short. Her breath caught in her throat. A hand fluttered to her hair to smooth down her tidy chignon. She was grateful she had taken the time to buy a new shirt and skirt for the occasion. She had been tempted to pick up a tracksuit at Penney’s to see her through, but instead had splurged on a short gray skirt and a silky white button-down from Dillard’s. It seemed like today she was going to need all the confidence she could muster.

“What are you doing here?” she blurted.

Ritt rolled his head in her direction, the brim of that stupid orange baseball hat hiding his eyes. “It’s my divorce too.”

“There was no need…” Her words trailed off as Craig stood.

He smoothed a hand over the front of his shirt and motioned with the other for her to sit. “Glad you could make it, Shelby.”

She nodded, then cautiously picked her way around to the front of the chair. She had to step over Ritt’s feet to do so, and she wondered if he’d positioned himself like that to make it difficult for her. She wouldn’t put it past him. It seemed he had no desire to let things happen smoothly. He hadn’t been so opposed that one night down by the lake…

She wiped that thought from her mind, setting her handbag on the floor next to her chair and giving Craig a respectful and attentive look. It beat the heck out of staring at Ritt’s biceps. Even out of the corner of her eye she could see the ripped muscles as he sat with his shoulders hunched, his arms crossed over that so broad chest.

“You both know why we’re here. Now, in light of other circumstances, there are a few things we need to discuss before getting down to the business of signing.”

“What? He hasn’t signed them?” Shelby was on her feet in a heartbeat.

“Shelby, there’s more to talk about than—”

“Why hasn’t he signed them?” Her temper would get her nowhere, but she was two days off already. She wasn’t about to spend any more time in Texas than absolutely necessary.

“I’m right here. You can talk to me, you know.”

She kept her eyes trained on Craig. “I came here to pick up the papers. Which meant they should be signed. I don’t understand why they’re not signed.”

“See what I mean?” Ritt started. “I told you she was going to be like this.”

She rounded on him. “Like what?”

“Guys—” Craig interjected.

“A brat.”

“I am not a brat.” She stamped her foot to prove it.

“I knew you’d come flying in here, guns blazing, if you didn’t get your way.”

“Guys, really—”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“What do you think it means?”

“I don’t know. You tell me.”

“Guys—”

“I know how you are.”

“You don’t know me anymore.”

“I know this: You’re a coward. Come down here demanding a divorce after seven years. You didn’t give us a chance. Ever. First sign of trouble and you were out the door. Just took the money and ran. You’re running still.”

“Both of you shut up!” Craig’s command rattled the windows.

Shelby took a deep breath. Ritt was wrong. She wasn’t running. She was beginning. She could only do that with an end to her Texas life, and that started and ended with her husband.

Funny, but she hadn’t thought about him that way in a long time. Not since those first days filled with hope as bright as the sun. Those days were gone forever. Now he was merely someone she’d once known, someone she’d almost had a baby with.

“Sit down, Shelby.” Craig’s words sounded like he was talking to a pet, but she did as he asked. She wasn’t getting anywhere with Ritt like this.