SHELBY
Taking Carter to see my parents’ old farm had seemed like a good idea when I had it, but now that we were in my van, heading down the road, nerves pricked at my insides. Wooden fenceposts whizzed by on either side of us, and I thought back to when I was a kid. Seeing the posts blur together had always made me feel like I was in a spaceship, cruising at warp speed through the cosmos, instead of driving through rural Kentucky with my parents.
The farm road connected my grandparents’ farm to Whitaker Farms—or what used to be Whitaker Farms—and my parents had driven us down this way easily a thousand times. I had never imagined taking this drive with the CEO of Allory Enterprises.
I had never imagined sleeping with him either, but that had turned out to be fantastic. I suspected seeing the old farm would be less fun, but I needed him to see this. Carter had been shockingly great about everything, so I didn’t want him to think I was trying to make him feel guiltier than he already did. This was about showing him who I was and where I came from.
I didn’t know how much longer I would have Carter in my life, but while he was here, I wanted him to see the real me, the way he’d been showing me the real Carter. I couldn’t ask him tostay in Ferris but I could sure as hell make him remember me when he was gone.
Opening up to him was nerve-wracking, and when I got nervous, I got chatty, which was true right then. “The two properties are basically next to each other,” I was telling Carter. “But there’s a slight ridge between them, so the only way there is to go the long way around.”
“You can’t tunnel through the ridge or something?” he asked, looking like he was working through the problem.
“It’s pretty big,” I said. “A tunnel would be a lot of work, I imagine.”
“So it’s like a mountain?” he asked.
I laughed. “No, Carter, look.”
I gestured off to the left of us, where the rise in the land was. Carter looked at me like I was joking.
“That’s the ridge?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“That’s nothing. You can’t build a bridge? Or some kind of overpass?”
I shot him a smile. “One, it’s bigger up close. And two, there’s no point in connecting the properties anymore, remember?”
He shook his head. “Right, of course.”
“Your company owns it,” I said, some of the humor fading from my voice. “That means I can’t visit now without trespassing. On the land where I grew up.”
Carter inhaled a long breath before letting it out slowly. “I understand that must be difficult.”
“But today, you’re with me,” I said. “I assume I have your permission?”
He grinned at me. “Well, I guess I could allow that. As long as you behave yourself.”
“Never,” I shot back.
“Fair enough.”
We continued the rest of the ride in companionable silence. It wasn’t that much farther anyway. I spent the whole time trying to manage my emotions. They seemed to be thrashing around inside my skull, pulling me every which way.
Life had gotten incredibly complicated since Carter showed up in Ferris.
We rolled up to the massive gate, fastened shut with a thick chain and heavy lock.
“I don’t have the keys to all of Allory’s properties on my keyring.”
“Well, I guess we’re doing this the old fashioned way. Good thing I wore pants.”
I planted one hand on top of the gate and used the leverage to hop over it. Carter chuckled behind me.
“I know we’re not doing anything wrong,” he said, shaking his head. “But it sure feels like we are.”
“I assume it’s been a while since you jumped a fence somewhere.”
