Where She Belongs Read Online Free

project.
    Suddenly realizing someone was standing near her, Shelby looked up with a polite smile.
    AJ Sullivan.
    The smile froze in place as she stared at him, too stunned to speak. He carried a royal blue gift bag and a different OSU ball cap than the one he’d worn that morning. No doubt he spent every spare moment glued to some sporting event. That seemed the American male obsession, one she’d marveled at when she returned to the States for college.
    At least Gary hadn’t been caught up in that craze. At least not too much.
    He'd preferred video games.
    â€œDo you mind if I sit down?” AJ’s question jerked her back to the present.
    â€œOf course not.” Biting her lip, she fervently wished her mother hadn’t drilled good manners into her quite so deep. Then she could just tell him to get lost.
    â€œI was driving by and saw your car.” He sat across from her and gestured at the notepad. “Making plans?”
    â€œThere’s a lot to do.”
    â€œAnything I can do to help?”
    â€œI think you’ve done enough.” She closed the notepad. “Or, more accurately, not done enough.”
    â€œIt’s just a house.”
    â€œNot to me.”
    â€œHey, AJ.” The waitress appeared by his side. “What brings you to town on a Thursday night?” As her eyes flickered to Shelby, the generous smile she’d given AJ faded. What did the woman think, they were on a date?
    It would never happen.
    â€œHi, Tiff,” AJ said, then faced Shelby. “Let me treat you to dinner. Seeing as how I’ve just come into some money.”
    Before Shelby could reply, Tiff gushed. “What happened, AJ? Did you win the lottery?” Her laugh grated like fingernails on a chalkboard.
    â€œI gave it to him,” Shelby heard herself saying as AJ’s brown eyes held her gaze. Her cheeks warmed as an unexpected charge tingled her spine. Unexpected and unwelcome.
    â€œI’ve got other tables, you know.” Tiff squeezed AJ’s shoulder. “What are you going to have, handsome?”
    Shelby glanced around the barely occupied room and ducked her head to hide her amusement. But AJ must have seen the gleam in her eyes. He bent his head to catch her gaze. “I can stay?” he asked softly.
    â€œYes.” She tried but failed to sound exasperated.
    AJ grinned as he looked up at Tiff. “Just bring me the usual.”
    â€œOne ‘usual’ coming right up.” Her hips swayed as she flounced away.
    â€œYour girlfriend?” Shelby asked coyly, then sipped her water.
    â€œTiff?” AJ shook his head. “Um, no.”
    â€œDoes she know that?”
    â€œTiff is”—he paused as if choosing his words carefully—“friendly.”
    â€œI see.”
    Surprisingly, color crept up his neck, and he plopped the gift bag in front of her. “This is for you. From my grandmother.”
    â€œWhy would your grandmother give me a gift?”
    â€œOpen it and you’ll see.” Folding his arms on the table, he leaned forward.
    Shelby pushed aside the blue and white tissue paper and lifted a large key from the bag. A weeping willow was engraved into the top of the key. Curved above the tree’s crown was written “Est. 1842.”
    She gasped, covering her mouth with one hand as she cradled the key in the other.
    â€œYou recognize it?”
    â€œIt’s the original key. The year is when the house was built.”
    â€œGran thought you’d like to have it. Now that the place is yours.”
    â€œThis is amazing.” Shelby blinked away tears. The original doors had been replaced long ago, but the key had been a family heirloom, hanging decade after decade in the hallway near the double doors. She thought it had been lost, as so many other heirlooms had been lost when her grandparents died.
    â€œPlease tell your grandmother thank you for me.”
    He pulled his phone from his