Carter didn’t answer. The call went to voicemail but I didn’t want to leave him a message. What would I even say?I flew to LA but you’re not here and now I feel like a fool?
No thanks.
I would see if he called me back. If he didn’t, I would be changing my ticket to a flight leaving today. Then I could go back to my farm and pretend this had never happened.
I waited in the lobby for an hour with no response. With a sigh, I ordered another Uber ride to the airport.
Once I was back at the terminal, I waited to hear back from him, but no calls came in. Giving fate one more chance to shine on me, I called him again. But he still didn’t answer. Wherever he was and whatever he was doing, he seemed to be unavailable.
It didn’t leave me with much choice.
I went up to the ticket counter and talked to the lady there about changing my ticket. I wasn’t sure if she was just really nice or if I was just looking super pathetic, but she didn’t charge me for changing my flight and she upgraded me to first class, saying it was a pretty empty flight. Almost speechless, I thanked her for being kind, checked my bag with her, and headed to my gate.
This wild, impulsive trip hadn’t worked out the way I hoped it would, but at least I had tried. In the coming years, when it was late at night and I was lying in bed thinking about Carter, at least I would know I gave love a shot.
CHAPTER 38
CARTER
Irented an SUV at the airport, opting for one with four-wheel drive. It was hell on gas mileage but it would keep me from getting stranded in the torrential rains that seemed to plague this part of the country. I didn’t mind bad weather, as long as I was prepared for it.
The sky was still dark when I drove away from the airport in Louisville but it lightened as I got close to Ferris. By the time I took the familiar turnoff to get to Granny’s Acre Farm, the first rays of the sun were turning the world golden. It was the perfect lighting for our reunion.
I parked beside her van, wondering if she was already awake. Was she watching me right then, wondering who the hell was showing up on her property at this ungodly hour? Would she come marching out with her shotgun again? Or would she see it was me and come running from the house, stripping her clothes on the way?
When there was no sign of her, I walked up to her house, vibrating with excitement. Big romantic gestures had never been my thing, but I suspected it was because I had never been in love before. I would happily move heaven and earth to be withShelby, as I had proved when I quit my job in spectacular fashion.
I hadn’t just burned that bridge. I had blown it up, incinerated what was left, and pissed on the ashes. It would all be worth it when Shelby saw me standing on her porch.
With a grin so big it hurt, I knocked on her door, trying to find the right balance. I wanted it to be loud enough for her to hear it but I didn’t want to sound like I was the SWAT team banging on her door.
There was no response, and I worried I might have used too light of a touch. I rapped my knuckles more forcefully on the wood, then waited. No sound came from inside, making me pretty sure the house was empty.
Of course, she was probably already out in the chicken house, feeding her girls. Maybe I hadn’t gotten here early, like I thought. Maybe I had gotten here well past her starting time. The farm life was still new to me, but I would get my bearings soon enough. If not, I was sure Shelby would whip me into shape.
I sauntered over to the chicken house to find Shelby, but she wasn’t there either. I called out her name, in case she was crouched in the corner of a pen somewhere scrubbing at something.
But no. There was no response, other than the chickens clucking agreeably. A quick look at the feed troughs told me the birds hadn’t been fed yet. Concern panged through me.
Shelby would never neglect her animals. She had hammered it home to me that the work had to happen every single day, no holidays, no exceptions. She wouldn’t just forget to feed the chickens and ducks. That told me she wasn’t anywhere here on the property.
The most logical explanation was that she had slept somewhere else last night. A horrible image of her with anotherman flashed through my mind and I felt like I would be sick. I quickly banished the thought, knowing she wasn’t the type to bounce into some random guy’s bed just to forget about me. It was more likely she had gotten hammered in town with Lila and Jake, and she had slept on their couch instead of driving back to the farm.
Wherever she was, I knew one thing for certain: these birds needed breakfast.
I went to get a sack of feed and started the process. Shelby’s van was here, so whenever she came back, she would be getting a ride from someone. I kept an eye out for an unfamiliar car rolling up the drive.
I knew she was going to go nuts when she saw me here—and that some of the chores were done. I worked up a sweat in the unseasonably warm morning, and I took my shirt off. No one was around to see me, and if Shelby came back to find me shirtless, all the better.
I considered stripping all the way down while I worked, so the first thing she saw when she came back was me in my full glory. What stopped me was that she probably wouldn’t be alone when she came back, and I didn’t need to flash Lila or Jake, or worse, her brother. Shane already had a bone to pick with me and I didn’t want to give him another one.
By the time I finished up with the feeding, there was still no sign of Shelby. Starting to worry, I pulled out my phone to just call her. It was late enough in the day that she wouldn’t still be sleeping off a wild night. When my screen lit up, I saw I had two missed calls from her.
Holy shit. I hadn’t felt the vibrations while I was working. She had called me sometime between when I first got here and now. But she hadn’t left a voicemail or sent a text. I had no idea why she had been trying to get in touch with me.
I called her back immediately, but it went directly to voicemail without ringing, like her phone was turned off. Fuck. I left her a message anyway, telling her to call me back as soon as she got my message. Then I threw my shirt back on, got in my SUV, and headed toward Ferris.
The feed store was hopping as usual in the morning. Jake was behind the counter having a spirited argument with an old man about what looked like a fishing rod, which the feed store also sold. This place was amazing and I was always finding new, cool stuff to look at. But now was not the time. I needed to find out where the hell Shelby was.
