“Oh yeah, gossiping behind my back?” I shot him a look.
He smiled guiltily. “Maybe a little. I like to think I was checking up on my little sister. Anyway, they seem to love Carter. I think Jake is sadder he’s gone than you are.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “They weirdly hit it off. You’d probably like him too, if you had given him a chance instead of attacking him at the feed store like a barbarian.”
Shane shifted uncomfortably. “I didn’t attack him,” he muttered. “I just wanted to talk.”
“Oh, sure. You just tried to run him out of town like some kind of Old West villain.”
“In my defense, I had just spent two weeks with Mom and Dad,” he said, fidgeting with his beer bottle. “I was a little tightly wound.”
I smiled at that. “Okay, that’s a fair point, but you still shouldn’t have flown off the handle. Not at me and definitely not at him. That was none of your business.”
“I know,” he said. “I just thought he was another Allory coming to town to fuck everyone, profit, and run.”
Technically Carter had done two out of three of those things but I wasn’t about to share that with my brother. He didn’t need to know the details of my personal life.
“I thought the same thing about Carter when he showed up.” I took a long drink. “I gave him holy hell. You actually would have been proud of me. I pointed Grandpa’s shotgun at him.”
He chuckled. “Oh, man, I would have paid to see that.”
“It was pretty hilarious, looking back at least.” I shrugged. “In the moment, I was ready to shoot out his tires. Of course, then he wouldn’t have been able to leave. Plus it was Tyler’s truck I would be shooting.”
“I’m sure Tyler appreciates you not shooting his truck. Not that anyone would be able to tell the difference. I swear, he’s making me look bad, driving that thing around and working for my shop.”
“You’re the only mechanic in town,” I said with a smile. “I think your reputation will survive.”
“Good point.”
“Carter isn’t a bad guy, Shane. He’s not like the men who got Mom and Dad to sell. Well, it sounds like it was his father who spearheaded the deal for Whitaker Farms. But unless Carter is an amazing liar, he seems legitimately regretful about the way his father handled things here in Ferris. Carter seems like he wants to make up for his company’s past mistakes.”
Shane nodded thoughtfully, chewing on everything I’d just said. “Well, now I wish I had taken some time to get to know him. It looks like he charmed all my favorite people in town. Maybe there’s more to him than I thought.”
“I think I made a mistake, telling him to leave.” I swallowed down the tears that always seemed to be waiting to fall at any second. “Maybe we could have figured something out if we had a few more days. And now I’m afraid I’m going to regret this the rest of my life.”
Shane blew out a long breath. “I must have missed a crazy couple of weeks. You’re different than when I left. But then again, I’ve never seen you in love before.”
Heat flared in my cheeks and I shook my head. “I’m not in love with him. It was only two weeks.”
“Love at first sight? Love in two weeks?” My brother shrugged. “Love doesn’t have a timetable. It happens how it happens.”
“Wise words from a man who’s never been in love,” I said, poking back at him for bringing up some hard truths.
“Funny you mention that,” he said, a goofy grin appearing on his face.
“What does that mean?”
“Well, it’s not love or anything, but while I was in Georgia, Dora Lynn texted me, and we’ve been messaging back and forth.” He smiled. “We’re going out this weekend.”
“Oh, my God, Shane, that’s awesome.” I got up and clapped him on his broad shoulder. “You sly dog. Good for you. Dora Lynn is fun as hell. She’d make a great sister-in-law.”
“Slow down. It’s just a date for now.”
“I’m just glad one of us isn’t a loveless loser. Carry on the family line for me. Maybe your children can take care of my birds when I’m gone.”
Shane laughed and looked at me. “Stop with that. Neither one of us is a loveless loser. If anything, you’re way closer to love than I am.”
“With a man who is gone and will never come back,” I said.
