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“I will.”
Chelsea and Nolan gave each other a quick kiss. “I love you,” Chelsea said.
“Love you, too,” Nolan replied.
The exchange between Chelsea and Nolan played in her head, and Ruby realized the one thing missing from her otherwise perfect relationship with Heath were those three little words. She looked at him and their gazes connected, but she could only imagine how odd she must look because Heath seemed puzzled. If only he knew the confusion between her head and heart. Was she really ready to tell Heath that she loved him? The idea felt surprisingly natural. What a revelation that was. When they’d met, she couldn’t have imagined she’d ever say it again to anyone.
“See you guys in a little bit,” Chelsea said, opening the door to the shop.
Ruby followed Chelsea inside, still a little dazed by her realization that she was ready to tell Heath she loved him. It had come hard and fast like a bolt of lightning during a summer thunderstorm, although she supposed she should have seen it coming.
Morgan looked up from her spot behind the register and rushed out to greet them. “I’m so excited for you two to see all of the new stuff. I pulled a bunch of things for you both to look at. It’s all back by the dressing rooms.”
Chelsea and Ruby followed, and sure enough, there was a vast array of cute warm-weather clothes waiting for them on a rolling rack. There were summery dresses, adorable sleeveless tops, several different types of skirts, and Ruby’s favorite, blue jeans. Just seeing the clothes made her excited for summer. She was officiallyoverwinter.
“I guess we’d better get to trying some of this stuff on, huh?” Chelsea asked.
“Get your butts in there,” Morgan said. “I’ve put enough stuff for you both to get started in the dressing rooms. Ruby, you’re on the right. Chelsea, you’re the left.”
“I can’t wait to see what you picked out,” Chelsea said.
“It’s a lot more fun now that you’ve expanded beyond blue jeans,” Morgan replied with a laugh.
Ruby and Chelsea took their respective rooms. Ruby zipped the curtain closed and put down her purse, then pulled off her sweater to try on the first top.
“Let me know if any of the sizes are off,” Morgan called. “I’ll be sitting here, checking my email.”
Ruby was turning in the mirror to admire this first item of clothing, a gauzy sleeveless black blouse with lace trim, when she heard Morgan’s voice shrieking with panic.
“Oh, my God. Chelsea. Get out here. Right now.”
“What’s wrong?” Chelsea asked with a similarly frantic tone.
“Are you even listening to me? Please. Get out here. Now.”
Ruby ducked out of her dressing room to see what was going on. Chelsea was a step ahead of her.
“Look at this.” Morgan thrust her phone in her sister’s face.
“What is it?” Chelsea asked.
“The county attorney just announced his reelection campaign. And at the same time, he announced an investigation and pending charges against our family and the Lattimores. He’s saying that he believes both families have committed fraud. He used the wordconspiracy.”
Chelsea took the phone, and although Ruby was scared to look, she stepped closer to see what all of the fuss was about. She instantly recognized the design of the local newspaper’s website. There on the screen was a still image of an important-looking man named Nelson Redfield. The story was beneath it. Chelsea began scrolling, shaking her head. A few paragraphs in, Chelsea looked up at Morgan. “It says he was tipped off byprivatelegal actions against the families, brought forth by another member of the Royal community. And it specifically mentions oil rights.”
Ruby’s mind immediately went to one person—Heath. Her stomach sank to her feet. “You don’t think it could be...”
“It has to be Heath. Who else could it be?” Chelsea’s voice was spilling over with distress. “Nolan worried that he’d do something like this. We need to go talk to both of them. Right now.”
“I’m calling Vic. Maybe he knows what this means.” Morgan took her phone from her sister and stalked back toward the register.
Chelsea rushed back into her dressing room, presumably to change her clothes, leaving Ruby standing there in shock. Her first instinct was to run down the street to find Heath and warn him that the Grandins, or at least Chelsea and possibly Morgan, were ready to blame him for all of this. There had to be another explanation.
Just as she was about to return to the dressing room, she caught sight of Nolan and Heath charging into the store. Nolan was leading the way, with Heath close on his heels.
“Where’s Chelsea?” Nolan asked Ruby. All color had drained from his face.
“I’m here,” Chelsea answered, bursting out of the fitting room. She flew past Nolan and headed straight for Heath. “What in the hell did you do?”
