“I’m trying,” Carter said and kissed the top of my head. It sent a shiver all the way down to my toes. “And what aboutyourfuture? How big are you hoping to make Granny’s Acre Farm?”
I let out a long breath. “That’s a big question. I want to get my income solid and steady. Then I want to grow and save enough to buythisfarm back from you.”
Carter took hold of my shoulder and turned me to face him. “If I could sign it over to you right now, I would. I need you to know that. But the company owns it. They would have to sign off on it.”
I nodded and pulled away. “Which they’ll never do.”
“They might.”
I met his gaze. “No. You said they closed this place to kill competition. They don’t want anyone opening this operation again.”
“Damn, you’re absolutely right,” Carter said, nodding like he was impressed. “You have a head for this kind of business.”
“You take that back.” I smiled at him but my spirits were dragging through the dirt.
“What’s wrong?”
I shot him a sour look. “What do you think? This whole situation is infuriating and depressing. The farm never had to close. People didn’t have to lose their jobs. Being here again, it feels like a tombstone of the life I used to have, and the dream I had for myself. Now it just reminds me of what my parents did. How they gave it all up. Gave my future up.”
I looked up at him, feeling a weight lift after sharing some of my deepest pain with him. For whatever reason, I felt like I could trust this man fully.All things considered, my bad bunny is anything but bad.
I was thinking of being even more honest with him. The wild urge to reveal my feelings to him gripped me like a fever. I had no idea how it had happened, but I liked Carter. I didn’t know ifI loved him, but that was the path I was walking down. I wanted him to know.
Fittingly, I chickened out.
Then Carter’s phone rang again, tearing through the tension I was feeling. I waved in the direction of his pants pocket. “Go ahead.”
He looked at the screen, then at me, and then his shoulders sagged and he answered. I eavesdropped shamelessly, but it was just someone freaking out about a contract falling through in someplace I had never heard of.
When he hung up, Carter looked at me with regret. “I’m sorry, but I have to get back to the B&B. I need to get to my laptop or there’s gonna be trouble in Idaho.”
“Oh no,” I said sarcastically. “Not Idaho.”
He smiled at me. “It’s going to be an Ida-horror show.”
I laughed despite myself and shook my head. “Don’t quit your day job, Carter.”
I drove him back to the farm and he hopped into Tyler’s truck. He rolled down the window and I leaned in for a quick kiss before he drove away. I watched him go, wondering if I could just text him that I was into him.
With my thoughts a tangled mess, I walked up my porch steps to find my brother, Shane, watching me through the screen door. “That better not have been what I think it was.”
I froze at the anger in his voice. “What do you think it was?”
“I think I just saw fucking Tyler kissing my sister.” He pushed the screen door open and came out onto the porch. His footsteps were loud on the wooden boards as he paced like a caged lion.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Welcome home, Shane. You’ve missed a lot.”
CHAPTER 28
CARTER
Back at the B&B, I fired up the laptop to handle the Idaho issue. Someone in legal had left a sentence out of a contract, and now I had to make a bunch of phone calls to people I didn’t want to speak with. Instead of spending the day with Shelby, I had to talk to lawyers. Total fucking downgrade.
As I worked on that, I sent Ronnie Miller a text, asking if he would meet me at the feed store later. I wanted to talk to him about making him famous. He seemed confused but agreed to meet with me.
Ideas were forming in my head, but not about Idaho. My mind was stuck right here in Ferris.
Finally, the contract problem got solved and I was able to put that nonsense behind me. I cleaned up, got dressed, and headed down to the feed store.
