What did he think? Finish that statement!
He didn’t.
“So now you’re mad,” I said, crossing my arms.
He sighed and started pacing. “I’m a lot of things.”
The ducks watched him walk back and forth, following him with their eyes curiously.
“Now maybe you can understand why I didn’t want to be in your social media stuff,” I said. “I knew I had to tell you the truth first.”
He grunted like it was the first time he had seen the connection. “Well, thank you for that, I suppose.”
“Thank you for taking care of my birds.” I nudged a rock from the dirt with the tip of my shoe. “For the record, I didn’t know you when I posted about you. I might have gone too far calling you a bad bunny bastard. The stuff about your company? Well, I stand by all that. My opinion ofyouhas changed. My opinion of your company hasn’t.”
Carter sighed. “For the record right back, I’m really trying to run the company more ethically than my father. And I didn’t mind so much when it wasyoucalling me bad bunny. I just don’t like when the people online do it.”
Silence grew between us.
“So… what now?” I asked.
“You don’t have to worry about the social media thing anymore,” Carter said. “As for me, I should get back to my room to touch base with everyone back at headquarters. Then I’ll know what I’m doing next.”
I nodded, biting my lower lip to keep the emotion off my face. “I understand. You have your responsibilities and I have mine. Thank you again for letting me sleep in and feeding my animals.”
Carter said, “You’re welcome,” but it sounded a lot like goodbye.
He got in Tyler’s truck and drove away. I watched him go, wondering if he would ever be back.
CHAPTER 22
CARTER
The day after Shelby and I had our falling out, I was in my room at Honeyrose, sending emails back and forth between my team. Things in Ferris hadn’t gone according to plan, but I was nothing if not adaptable. While we figured out the next best direction, they could start putting together some of the footage they’d gotten.
I couldn’t say if we had gotten all the footage we needed, but I wanted to see what we had. Then I would be able to tell if we needed to make additions.
In between emails, I fielded calls. Allory had other deals going. We had been making a push into farms and agriculture recently, but that was in addition to all the other companies under the Allory Enterprises umbrella. We handled real estate, computer tech, and medical devices. In between calls, I thought about Shelby.
She had enchanted me like no other woman before her. The feisty little farmgirl had planted herself in my heart and real affection had blossomed there. Like the dirt under my fingernails, I couldn’t scrub her away.
If I was smart, I would pack up my shit and get the hell back to Los Angeles. So why was I ready to extend my reservation here for another week?
Mrs. Presley was a sweetheart, but she wasn’t keeping me here. It wasn’t the quick friendship I had developed with Jake and Lila, or the prospect of finding more small farms to partner up with.
It was all Shelby.
I probably should have suspected that the viral post had come from her. And her post had held up a mirror I didn’t want to look into, reflecting back the past sins of the company I had taken over.
The messes weren’t my fault but they were my responsibility now. Dad had really fucked this town over by closing Whitaker Farms. We owed the entire population an apology. And even then, what good were words when your family went hungry? What did any of them care that Allory had profited off the whole deal when they lost their health insurance?
The PR campaign was a good way to counteract bad press, but an even better way would be to do something that earned good press organically. Instead of telling people we were making a positive change, we could justmake a positive change.
Instead of covering our ass, we could show the whole world how big and beautiful our ass had become under my leadership.And now I’m thinking of Shelby again.
Focus.
The PR team would hate it, but I sent everyone an email about it anyway, telling them to figure out a concrete, palpable way to help the people of Ferris. It was time for more than talk. I left out the ass metaphor, though.
