Chapter 13
SHELBY
Imade it halfway to Halston before I gave up and turned my van around.
The weather had been rough when I left, but now it was getting violent.
I couldn’t hear anything over the roar of falling water.
Sharp gusts of wind rocked the van, threatening to flip me off the road like an angry toddler with his peas.
Luckily, the van was heavy enough with me in it to keep us earthbound, and I congratulated myself on eating a full stack of pancakes that morning. Those flapjacks might have saved my life.
My doctor might disagree, but I would have to survive this drive before I had to worry about health issues down the line. The rain was coming down too fast for the wipers to clear it. Visibility was down to nothing, and I was barely able to see ten feet in front of me.
It was slow going, but eventually, the turnoff leading home came into view. The road back to my farm was a river of muddy water, like chocolate milk but less delicious. I navigated through it without too many problems. This was my land and I knew every bump and dip leading to it.
I pulled up in front of the house, sweating beneath my raincoat.
The porchlight was on because the sky was dark enough to trigger the sensor.
I wanted to run toward that light like a moth, but getting back to the farm had only been the first hurdle.
Now I had to brave the elements to go get all my ladies secure.
I might not be a mother, but I protected my birds like my children.
This wind was not playing around. Anything loose would go flying, and my girls could get hurt.
That wasn’t an option. Being a farmer meant getting out there on the hard days, too, not just when the sun was shining and I looked cute in my overalls.
I took a deep breath and left the relative peace of the van.
The noise was like standing under a waterfall.
At least Carter had returned my rain hat, keeping me dryish, but it was like wearing a snare drum on my head.
The drawstring dug into my chin when the wind tried to steal the hat off me, and I yanked it tighter.
Mother Nature was telling me to seek shelter inside, but safety and comfort would have to wait. As I checked the perimeter of the chicken house, where all my babies stayed during inclement weather, I wished I could have an extra set of hands around.
Carter barely knew which end of a chicken the eggs came out of, but he followed directions all right and he wasn’t nearly as annoying as when I’d first met him. He had done a great job starting the shed rebuild and my dryer was whisper quiet now. Having his help would have been nice in this chaos.
It would also be nice to have company while I was stuck inside later, riding out the storm.
It had been a long time since I’d had someone warm to cuddle up with.
But I didn’t want to cuddle up with just someone.
I was thinking of Carter, shirtless and sun-kissed, crawling under the covers with me.
Just the image of it warmed me, even in the chilling rain.
Carter and I hadn’t talked much over the last couple of days. I had pulled back from whatever was sparking between us for a very good reason. I had been lying to him.
Today, his social media team was supposed to be showing up, and guilt gnawed at me over the secret I had been keeping. From what I had gathered, the whole PR campaign and social media push were because of the negative buzz Allory had been getting from my post trashing their business practices.
So, technically, it was my fault people were calling him the Evil Easter Bunny and a bad bunny bastard. And he still didn’t know I was the one who had posted it.
Allory, the company, certainly deserved every bit of criticism. They had ruined more lives than just mine. Big companies put profits over people, and there was no forgiveness in my heart for that. Carter Allory, the man? He wasn’t the evil CEO I thought he was before he showed up here.
Carter insisted he wanted to run the company better than his father did. I had been skeptical about those claims, of course. Anyone could lie about anything, and often, there were no consequences for it. But Carter had taken the next step of actually showing he wanted to make up for past mistakes.
I had put him through hell on the farm, and to his credit, he had gritted it out, getting dirty and sweating right alongside me.
Sure, Carter had made mistakes and he still didn’t know what he was doing out here.
A few days of hard work weren’t enough to teach him what it truly meant to run a farm.
But now Carter had a better understanding of the struggles we faced, compared to when he had first arrived in Ferris.
Numbers on a spreadsheet only told part of the story when it came to farming.
Being out here told the rest of it. Carter had gone the extra mile to see what it was really like to put the physical effort in, not just sign checks.
It didn’t absolve him of his company’s past crimes, but it had become clear to me he wasn’t the architect of my misery.
Now, because he had changed my opinion of him, I was torn about coming clean. Telling him the truth seemed like the right thing to do, but it would shatter the bond forming between us. I shouldn’t care about running him off, but I did.
His time in Ferris would be over before I knew it. Selfishly, I wanted to enjoy his company while I still could. Once he was gone, the next fifty or so years of my life would be Carter-free. Was it really so bad to keep my secret for a little while longer? Maybe I never had to tell him at all.
Still chewing on my moral dilemma, I spent the next few hours battening down the hatches as best I could. This wasn’t the first storm I had weathered since I took over the farm, and I already had a mental checklist to run through.
The routine helped ground me. I had done this before and everything had been fine. My family had survived for generations through storms like this, and that was before nylon raincoats and central heating. Just focus on each step and there won’t be any unexpected problems.
I got through everything on my list except the last one—a final check of my ducks and chickens.
Walking into the chicken house, which was the size of a small warehouse, was a welcome relief from the constant barrage of wetness.
It had seeped into every little gap in my rain gear, and I was fully drenched underneath.
Things were starting to chafe uncomfortably.
Almost done, I told myself.
My babies were all where they belonged, inside, warm, and dry. The girls were a little grumpy from being cooped up the past couple of days. They were used to a lot of freedom when they were off the clock.
Everything in the pens looked solid. I would come check on them again later, just to make sure.
Cameras would have been amazing in a situation like this, allowing me to keep an eye on things remotely, but I didn’t have the money for that.
If I wanted to check on them, I would have to come back out and get wet unfortunately.
When I left the chicken house, the wind seemed like it had gotten worse. A couple of strong gusts felt like they might blow me off my feet. These conditions were legitimately getting dangerous. I was tired, drenched, and hungry, so I finally threw in the towel and retreated inside my house.
The world felt too quiet once I closed my front door behind me. Not wanting to drip everywhere, I shucked off my raingear, my pants, and my flannel shirt right there in my living room. No one was around to see me in just a tank top and my underwear, and I would dry faster that way.
I got myself a big, fluffy towel and wrapped my hair in it.
My frozen limbs were starting to thaw out as I headed to the kitchen, which I ransacked for something to tide me over while I figured out a late dinner.
The best I could do was a sleeve of Oreos, which I wolfed down over the sink, leaving no survivors.
It took the edge off my hunger, but I needed more. I was looking at cans of soup in my pantry, trying to decide between chicken noodle and hearty beef stew, when my front door rattled on its hinges. The sound made me jump in surprise.
Certain the old porch roof had finally collapsed, I flung the front door open to see the damage, and I nearly barreled into Carter freaking Allory.
The man was drenched and his eyes looked angry for some reason. Over his shoulder, I saw Tyler’s truck, tires covered in mud, like even the heavy downpour couldn’t wash it all off.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked over the sound of the storm.
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” he said.
I didn’t understand what he meant, but I wasn’t going to stand here getting wet while I tried to figure it out. I grabbed him by the shirt, dragged him inside, and shut the door.
“Are you out of your mind?” I asked him.
“I must be,” he said, pacing in my entryway, running a hand through his wet hair. “Mrs. Presley told me you were traveling today. That no one had heard from you and people were worried. So I went out looking for you.”
“Oh, well I’ve been here,” I said with a shrug.
“Then why haven’t you answered your phone?” Carter asked, barely holding back his frustration.
“I’ve been handling things out there in the rain. My phone stayed in my pocket. And I just got back in the house. I haven’t even put pants on yet.”
Carter’s eyes dropped to my underwear as if he was noticing it for the first time. Whatever he was going to say died on his lips, his brain short-circuiting apparently. I felt the urge to cover myself but I didn’t.
“Oh, grow up, Carter,” I said. “It’s just underwear.”
He tore his eyes away to meet my gaze again. “I drove all around town, every back road, thinking you were dead beneath a tree or in a ditch, only to find you here in panties with Easter eggs and carrots on them? Unbelievable.”
“Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you by being alive.” I drew my shoulders back. “But I’m not some damsel in distress who needs rescuing. Between the two of us, if anyone gets that title, it’s you.”
His green eyes blazed and he took a step toward me. I couldn’t help myself. I backed away until I bumped into the wall.
He leaned over me, seeming ten feet tall in that moment. “I was worried about you. That’s not a crime. You don’t have to push me away just because I care.”
For a second, I thought he might kiss me. I was a little sad when he didn’t.
“No one asked you to care about me,” I said, meeting his gaze. “I know how to take care of myself, and as you can see, everything on the farm is going perfectly fine.”
The power went out right then, plunging us into darkness.
Carter’s quiet chuckle sounded loud in my ears. “You were saying?”
I sighed. “Let me find a flashlight.”