Chapter 6
CARTER
After Sunday’s less than successful trip to the Halston farmers’ market, I was back to visiting some of the local farmers in the area, feeling them out and seeing who might be a good candidate for the social media campaign. At the moment, I was on Ronnie Miller’s dairy farm.
If we were going to rehabilitate our image and counter the bad online press, I needed at least one local to publicly show their support. Obviously, Shelby would be the best person to use, as someone directly related to the poultry farm my father had purchased and shuttered.
Not only had she been personally affected, but she would also look great in a commercial.
With her shining blonde hair and sky-blue eyes, Shelby had a raw, natural beauty I found captivating.
Like a wildflower growing free, she didn’t need anything fake to stop my heart and make my breath catch every time I laid eyes on her.
Maybe the smart choice was to leave her alone and let her live her life, but my thoughts kept wandering to her whenever I wasn’t busy. She was a challenge, which I loved, but she was also a chance at redemption.
Shelby had been hurt by my company, through no fault of mine, yes, but she had every right not to trust me or my motivations. I wanted to find some way to make it up to her. Getting her onboard for the social media campaign would be great, but I also wanted to right an old wrong.
But that woman hated me like kids hated broccoli. She also seemed immune to my charm, which could usually win anyone over. Anyone who my company hadn’t screwed over in the recent past, at least. Allory had burned a lot of bridges in Ferris, and I needed to figure out how to rebuild them.
I wasn’t ready to give up on Shelby, but in the meantime, I had other little local farms to check out, either to invest in or to recruit for the PR campaign.
Which was why I was trudging through a muddy field, looking at cows.
At least I had gotten myself some sturdy boots to keep my feet dry out in the wilds of Kentucky.
A curious cow ambled up to me in the field, nuzzling at me curiously. Its nose was wet and it left something sticky on my shirt, but the cow’s owner was watching us fondly.
“She likes you,” Ronnie said. “She’s for sale if you want to take her home. Cows make great pets. Most people don’t know that, but it’s true.”
I didn’t know if he was serious, but I would never find out. “Thanks for the offer, but unless you can housetrain a heifer, I think I’ll have to pass.”
The weathered old farmer nodded. “I reckon the cow patties would be a problem in your backyard. Great fertilizer though. Amazing kindling for a campfire.”
“I’ll take your word for it, Ronnie.”
“I can show you!”
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. Ronnie was a nice guy. He wasn’t the problem. Mostly, I was questioning this entire plan. Coming out to Ferris hadn’t accomplished anything so far. There had to be a better way to approach this.
“You okay, Carter?” Ronnie asked.
“Yeah,” I said, waving him off. “Just a bit of a headache.”
“I have just the thing for that,” he said, the smile back on his face. “You need some fresh milk. It’ll clear any headache right up.”
I didn’t believe that for a second. “Thanks, Ronnie, but—”
“You need to drink it straight from the teat, though. That’s the secret.”
It should have remained a secret, too. But I didn’t say that to him. “That can’t be sanitary, can it?”
He shrugged. “Probably not. I suppose it depends on the cleanliness of the teat.”
“I suppose it does,” I said dryly. “Is there anywhere we can sit and talk? Maybe with air-conditioning?”
Ten minutes later, I was sitting at his kitchen table, a glass of iced tea in front of me, along with some cheese Ronnie had made himself. It looked safe enough but I was still hesitant to try it.
I popped a slice in my mouth, prepared to power through whatever sensory assault was coming. To my surprise, the cheese was delightful. “You made this?”
He nodded. “I make it. Would you like to buy some? I have some wedges for sale.”
I sat forward with my elbows on his table. “Ronnie, you ever consider taking on an investor? With a cash infusion, we could expand your operation to sell this cheese nationwide.”
Ronnie leaned back in his seat and eyed me slyly. “I suppose it depends on the cleanliness of the teat.”
An hour later, I was driving away from Ronnie’s dairy farm, a tentative deal in place. We had all the numbers worked out. I just needed the lawyers to get the paperwork drawn up. It was my first win in Ferris and I was flying high, barely even noticing the tragic stench in Tyler’s truck.
Having the windows open helped.
My hair fluttered in the wind and the late afternoon sun painted everything gold. Fields stretched to the horizon on either side of the farm road, and it no longer felt like I was a soldier in enemy territory.
I was finished with work for the day. It was too late to go visit another property and I doubted I would be lucky enough to find another Ronnie today.
He had been surprisingly business savvy once we started talking numbers. It was easy to forget sometimes that all these farmers were also businessmen. I needed to remember not to underestimate them.
I had been guilty of that with Shelby, assuming she didn’t have any formal education to back up her real-world experience growing up on a poultry farm.
The woman knew a hell of a lot more about this world than I did.
I hadn’t focused on anything farm related until I took over as CEO.
The agricultural branch of Allory Enterprises was our priority these days, and I had to jump in the deep end before I had even dipped my toe in the water.
Too amped up to go back to the quiet solitude of Honeyrose House, I drove over to the feed store and pulled into the lot. The place didn’t seem terribly busy at this hour. Farmers seemed to get all their errands run early in the day. There was no one around to talk to except Jake, the owner.
He gave me a wary look as I walked up to where he was leaning against the counter. “Allory,” he said.
I nodded. “Jake.”
“Can I help you with something?” Jake asked, his voice neutral for the moment, which was better than anger.
“Actually, yes,” I said. “Is there anywhere in town a guy can get a burger and a beer?”
Jake’s eyes widened a little, looking surprised. “I figured you for a scotch and steak kind of guy.”
I shrugged. “Sometimes, sure, but I’m not allergic to a regular meal.”
“Alright, Allory, I’ll tell you what,” Jake said. “Give me a second and I’ll show you a place down Main Street.”
“You’re coming with me?” I asked, not sure yet how I felt about that. Company sounded good right about then, but I was pretty sure Jake didn’t like me either.
He nodded. “If you’re going to be sticking around, I might as well see what you’re all about. Yeah?”
“Sure,” I said with a shrug. “I’m an open book.”
Jake went to tell his other employees he was leaving early. The feed store was a ghost town, so I doubted it would be an issue. Then he slung his coat on and motioned for me to follow him.
We went out the front door and walked down the sidewalk. The sun was almost below the horizon and the air was getting chilly. Technically, it was spring in Kentucky but the evening still belonged to winter. I regretted not having a jacket like Jake.
But soon enough, he led me into the warm dining room of a place called Vittles, which seemed like a sports bar. A server walked by with a burger stacked high with onion rings and bacon.
“That,” I told Jake. “I want that.”
“Damn, good luck,” he said. “That’s farmer chow.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It means it’s for someone who’s worked all day in the fields. Someone who’s worked up an appetite.”
I nodded. “Well, I walked through a field today. Does that count?”
“No,” he said, but not unkindly. I couldn’t exactly call Jake friendly, but he wasn’t actively angry at me either. It wasn’t perfect but it felt like progress.
We grabbed a booth and ordered some beers. I ordered one and Jake ordered two. I just assumed he had a drinking problem until a spritely young woman slid onto the seat beside Jake, leaving no room between their bodies.
She looked up at me with sharp brown eyes, making me feel like an animal in a zoo.
“Wait, I know you,” I told her.
“Oh, yeah? Then what’s my name?” she asked.
“You were with Shelby yesterday,” I said. “The girl with the walking tacos.”
Jake’s face fell. “Babe, you got a walking taco without me?”
She put her hand on his wrist. “It sucked. They used black beans. You would have hated it.”
Oddly, that seemed to relax him. “Oh, okay.” He turned to look at me. “Carter, this is my wife, Lila.”
“I’m Shelby’s best friend,” she said, still eyeing me. “And she told me all about you, Carter Allory.”
“Great,” I said, chuckling.
The waitress delivered our beers. We gave her our orders and I took a huge drink to steady myself.
“Nervous about something?” Lila asked.
I shook my head and wiped my mouth. “Not usually, but I feel like you all might have the wrong impression of me. I feel like I keep repeating myself, but I wasn’t involved with all that ugly business with the Whitaker farm. I’m just the guy who’s now in charge of cleaning it up.”
Jake leaned forward. “How are you going to do that?”
“Honestly, I don’t know yet,” I said. “That’s one of the reasons I’m out here checking out farms and talking to folks.
I want to see what people need and then see if Allory can help.
It’s been an uphill battle just to get people to talk to me.
Which, by the way, thank you two for treating me like a person instead of the boogeyman. ”
“I haven’t formed an opinion yet,” Lila said.
I nodded. “That’s better than hating me, like your best friend does.”
“She has good reason to hate you.” Lila narrowed her eyes.
She proceeded to tell me all about how difficult life had been for Shelby ever since her parents sold their farm to Allory.
For her entire life, Shelby had planned on working the family farm.
She had gone to school to learn new things to help out and make the farm more successful.
Then her parents sold the business without even consulting her.
All that was bad enough, but then, as she was mourning the life she always thought she would have, the people in Ferris turned on her too.
They assumed she was a part of the sale, like she had profited as much as her greedy parents did, which wasn’t true at all.
Shelby was broke as a joke, according to Lila.
I couldn’t understand why people put the blame on her, but it sounded like they needed someone to take their anger out on, and Shelby had drawn the short straw.
Shane, her brother, took some heat, too, according to Lila, but he had never been involved as much with the farm, so he got more of a pass.
Aside from the guilt I felt about what Shelby had been through, I felt even worse knowing it had been my father that caused so much devastation with his callous decisions.
Shutting down the egg farm and the poultry processing plant essentially killed the town. A lot of people moved. Lots of kids, too, which meant the schools in town suffered from major budget cuts. Whitaker Farms had been holding up the entire economy of the town.
It just made me more determined to make things right with Shelby somehow, and I told Jake and Lila that.
“Then maybe you should go up to her farm again,” Lila suggested. “If you’re serious, give it another try. She’s actually really nice when you don’t destroy her entire life.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Last time she pointed a shotgun at me.”
Jake grinned. “Don’t worry. Shelby is a terrible shot.”
I blinked in surprise. “There has to be a story behind that, right?”
Jake just laughed. “That’s a story for another time.”