Our Red Hot Romance Is Leaving Me Blue Read Free

confusion. If it was really Rachel, uh…that’s my wife’s name, my ex…Hell, I still don’t know how to refer to her.”
    Rachel. Debbie Sue zoomed through the halls of her memory. If a Rachel Sadler had ever been in the Styling Station for a hairdo, Debbie Sue would know it. But then, if Rachel was really from Midland, she probably didn’t come in to Salt Lick to shop or get hairdos, either.
    “If her name’s Rachel, just call her Rachel,” Edwina said soothingly. “We’ll know who you’re talking about.”
    “I really don’t believe it’s actually Rachel who’s doing this. It’s just that when I go into the house and see her rings on the table after I’ve just put them away a day or two before, or smell her perfume, it’s just—”
    “Her rings? Her perfume?” Debbie Sue gave him the squint-eye. “Who besides you would have access to her jewelry and perfume?”
    Now wringing his bill cap, he continued. “Nobody. But I’m gone a lot. It’s not impossible that somebody could come in the house and…” His voice trailed off again and his eyes took on a faraway look. “All I know is, somebody must haveit in for me bad and they’re doing things they know will get to me.”
    “You have no idea who could hate you so much?”
    “Her family maybe. They’re big-time wheeler dealers in Midland. They had higher hopes for her than marrying a city employee from Odessa. Rachel was brilliant and well educated. The world was her oyster.”
    “Hunh,” Edwina said. “And you weren’t her pearl. Been there! So how’d y’all meet anyway?”
    “She was an attorney for a firm that specializes in casualty loss. She spoke at a state convention of the International Firefighters Union in Austin.” A sheen of moisture appeared in his eyes and his face took on a wistful expression. “You should’ve heard her. She was something else.”
    This guy was breaking Debbie Sue’s heart. “I’m sure she was,” she said softly.
    Edwina sniffed.
    “After her speech I went up to her and told her how much I enjoyed it,” Justin said, “and we got to talking. Turned out she was from Midland, grew up there and all her family was still there. We just kept talking until no one was left in the room but us. We went to dinner and pretty much never left each other’s side for six years. Guess you ladies would call that a mushy love story, huh?”
    Edwina sniffled again and Debbie Sue bit her lower lip.
    “But I still don’t understand why her family hated you so,” Debbie Sue said. “I mean, in time families usually get over things like that. Y’all were happy, weren’t you?”
    “Oh, yeah. Rachel used to say we were crazy happy. Oh, we’d have our disagreements. After all, she was a lawyer and she loved a good argument. Things could get pretty heated, but we usually ended up laughing about it.”
    “If she’s from Midland and you’re from Odessa, how’d y’all end up living here in Cabell County?” Edwina asked.
    “Cheap land that I could afford on my pay. She wanted a place for horses but we didn’t want to ask her folks for money. She found our place for sale on the Internet.”
    “You still haven’t said why her family hates you so, now that she’s gone,” Debbie Sue said. “Why would they carry such a grudge?”
    Justin re-formed the hat he had been twisting and set it on his head. He shoved his hands deep into his jean pockets and gave her an intent look. “Because I killed her.”
    Debbie Sue caught a breath. She was married to a Texas Ranger. If a man had killed his wife within a hundred-mile radius, Buddy Overstreet would know about it. For the second time Edwina began coughing and sputtering. Debbie Sue gave her a daunting glare, then turned back to Justin. “Listen, we need to continue this conversation later. At this rate, Ed will be tossing her cookies. Neither one of us has time for her to be in the back room sick ’cause we’ve got customers arriving in the beauty shop any minute now.