Free The Sheik's Ruby by Jennifer Moore

better so you can come open the chutes while I practice my roping. Rodeo season is just a few months away. Catch ya later.” Chet hurdled out of the room, riding the same wave of energy he had arrived on.
    “See ya,” Shelby called after him.
    Shelby hated to admit her mother’s care was just what she needed to heal.
    Debbie carefully removed the wrappings from her head and clipped the hair around Shelby’s forehead to give her bangs.
    The stitches were close enough to her hairline that the new style hid the wound. Shelby contemplated the new look in her bedroom mirror. Not bad.
    In the reflection, Shelby saw Debbie studying her high school pictures. Her mother turned toward her with an innocent expression that Shelby knew all too well.
    “You know, I ran into Jake’s mom at the grocery store a few days ago. She told me he really misses you. Maybe now that you’re back, you could give him a call. He’d probably love to come over to watch a movie or something.” Her mother lifted a hand, palm up, and tipped her head to the side.
    Shelby pursed her lips in frustration. “Mom, I’ve told you. I don’t want to call Jake.”
    A week later, Shelby started to use her crutches to make her way downstairs in the mornings and sit on the couch for most of the day, watching TV or folding laundry. After two weeks cooped up inside the house, she thought she would go insane and decided she felt well enough for a walk. She seriously needed fresh air. With her mom’s help, she bundled up against the early spring cold, grabbed her crutches, and started down the lane toward the barn.
    “I didn’t mean to be nosy, but your cellphone was down on the coffee table, and I answered it last night without thinking.” Debbie matched her steps to Shelby’s slow pace.
    Shelby took a calming breath. Here we go . She kept her voice light to hide her irritation. “Oh? Who was it? Lace?” Shelby’s best friend, Lacey, and her husband lived just south of town.
    “No, it was your friend, Xander.” Debbie focused on Shelby’s face.
    “Did he say what he needed?” Shelby was careful to keep her expression neutral. She knew her mom was digging.
    “No. He was just checking on you. What a nice young man he is. Your father and I are so grateful he called us when you had your accident. I was surprised the two of you were together up at the resort. Does he usually go along on assignments?” She tipped her head and smiled, blinking.
    “Mom, are you asking if Xan and I are in a relationship?”
    “I don’t mean to pry, honey, but he seems to care a lot about you.” Debbie shrugged and continued to smile.
    “I think you’re right, Mom, but the problem is I don’t feel the same. He’s a super friend, but since you asked—in your crazy roundabout way—there is someone else. Actually, I guess there was someone else.” Shelby turned her gaze to the gravel road in front of her.
    Debbie inhaled a breath.
    Shelby braced herself for the volley of questions she knew would follow.
    “Who is he? Someone you met at work? What happened between the two of you?”
    “Mom, I don’t really want to talk about it.” Shelby knew her evasive answer frustrated Debbie, but would her mother ever give her space?
    Debbie smiled and brushed the hair off Shelby’s shoulder. “If you change your mind, honey…”
    “I know.” Shelby balanced on one foot while she rubbed her sore palms, before swinging around her crutches and tottering toward the house.
    ****
    Three days later, Shelby leaned back, exhausted. She had just spent the last hour unloading the whole story to Lacey while the two sat on Shelby’s bed sipping sodas.
    Lacey hung on every word. The only interruption came when she said that this story was too juicy to listen to without chocolate. Then she rummaged through her perpetually stocked purse, until she found a small package of chocolates and ripped them open on the bed between them. “Okay, I’m ready now.”
    That had been twenty minutes