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.
Ronnie was already there, talking to Jake at the counter. I nodded as I walked up to them. “Gentlemen.”
Jake nodded. “Carter.”
Ronnie grinned. “Ain’t no gentlemen here.”
“Fellas, then,” I said, which got a chuckle out of them.
“For a guy without a farm, you spend a lot of time at my store,” Jake said, not unfriendly, just curious.
I held up my hands. “I’m not here for you today, Jake. I’m here to see Ronnie actually.”
“Yeah, he’s here to see me,” Ronnie said. “Important business.”
“Oh yeah?” Jake eyed us both.
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m investing in Ronnie’s dairy farm. Now I want to talk marketing with him.”
“Sounds boring,” Jake said. “I’ll leave you to it.”
Ronnie and I walked over to one of the tables set up in the back, where the old-timers congregated for coffee and checkers.
The crowd was pretty sparse that afternoon, which would allow us to talk in private.
It wasn’t top secret or anything, but the less people who knew I was from Allory, the better.
We sat down and I turned toward him. “Tell me, Ronnie, you ever been in front of the camera before?”
Ronnie leaned back and scratched his chin in thought. “Well, not really. I mean, there was that one anniversary when Leanne wanted to try something different—”
“Okay, I’ll stop you there,” I said quickly. “I’ll take it you’re not camera shy.”
“What do I have to be shy about?” he asked.
“You know, that’s a great attitude.” We were off to a good start.
Next, I asked if he would help me out with some of the PR stuff on social media. He said he had no problem having the team go out to his farm and shoot some footage. He said it sounded like fun, that life on the farm could get monotonous.
When he told me that, I felt a lot more confident about my second idea.
The investments in his dairy farm would be used for improvements around the property, and I asked if he would be willing to document that journey online. The social media team could show him some tips when they were out there, getting him comfortable setting up shots around his farm.
It would be good PR for Allory, but more importantly, it would get the word out about Ronnie’s cheese. We would be expanding his operations, although not all at once. We would scale it up in steps to make sure he could keep the quality up.
The two of us got excited talking about the future. It was a stark contrast to when I’d been fixing the Idaho deal. That had been work. An obligation. This felt more like fun.
Seeing the joy in Ronnie’s eyes helped. The man had worked hard and he made an amazing product. I had no doubt we would make a lot of money together. I was even considering scrapping Allory’s investment and putting up my own money for the venture.
Either way, Ronnie would retain total control of the business. But if I used my money instead of the company’s, we would never need to worry about outside interference. The board couldn’t pressure us and my father would be nowhere near it.
“Hey, Ronnie, did you sign all those papers yet?” I asked him.
He shook his head apologetically. “I’m about to. As soon as I get home.”
“Hold off on that for a second. Let me put together a better proposal for you.”
He shrugged. “I look forward to it.”
We shook hands and Ronnie left the feed store a happy man. I had a hop in my step as well. Shelby was rubbing off on me. I wanted to make sure Ronnie was protected in this deal, and keeping Allory out of it seemed like the best way to do that.
I stopped at the counter where Jake was sitting on a stool. “You have time for a beer?” I asked him. “I feel like celebrating.”
“You’re a terrible influence,” Jake said, but he was already getting up. He told one of the other employees he was leaving and we walked out into the late afternoon sunshine, tinting toward gold as the sun sank in the sky.
We walked up the block, heading toward Vittles. Down the street, I could see people setting up for another Easter event.
“You guys really go all out for this holiday,” I said.
“Yeah, it’s awesome. It was a pretty simple tradition when I was a kid. All they had was the Easter Egg Hunt in town square on Easter Sunday. But over the years, it just keeps growing. They added the bake-off, and that was an instant hit, even though it’s resulted in more than one blood feud.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “This town is crazy but I love it.”
“You say that, but you were one of the judges this year.” Jake grimaced. “I promise you have at least one mortal enemy who feels like you passed them over.”
“Well, let’s hope it’s a blue-haired little old lady then. Someone I can outrun at a brisk walk.”
We got to Vittles and grabbed a couple of beers. Jake asked me about the Ronnie deal, and I told him the truth: I just liked the cheese. So I was putting my money where my mouth was.
Jake got quiet as he seemed to process the information. “You know, Allory investing in farms around here hasn’t turned out well in the past. This sounds like a square deal with Ronnie, but people might get salty.”
“Maybe I’ll be a silent partner.” I sipped my beer. “So how do you like living in Ferris? Did you ever think about hitting the road and setting down roots somewhere else?”
Jake shook his head. “Lila and I go out in the city now and again, but we couldn’t do it full-time. Life is peaceful here, usually. I grew up here. I know all my neighbors. I even like some of them.”
I grinned. “I don’t think I know a single one of my neighbors back home.”
“LA seems unnecessarily huge. The idea of sitting in that traffic? No thanks.” He tapped his bottle with his finger. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m sure it’s great for you, living the high life.”
“It’s not all bad,” I said with a shrug. “But it’s not all good.”
“Yeah, but I guess that’s true of everywhere. Live wherever you’re happy. That’s what I say.”
“Cheers to that,” I said, clinking my bottle against his.
Jake sat up. “Oh, man, I just remembered. I have big news for you.”
“For me specifically?” I asked, frowning.
“Yeah, guess who’s back in town?”
I shook my head in confusion, wondering how I could possibly know who he was referring to. Then it clicked. “Shane?”
“You got it in one.” Jake laughed. “You might finally get your car fixed yet.”
“I think I had given up hope. I barely even remembered my car was in the shop. That’s great news.”
“I know you’re going to miss Tyler’s truck,” Jake said.
We had two beers apiece before asking for the check.
They had hit the spot. It was a nice punctuation mark to an emotional rollercoaster of a day.
I’d started the morning walking through the ashes of Shelby’s old life, feeling terrible about how all that had played out.
But the day had ended on a victory with the Ronnie deal, and the beers were nice.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d gone out for a beer with a friend.
Jake insisted on paying, and after some back and forth, I let him. He convinced me by saying he would tell everyone he bought a billionaire a beer. That was fair enough.
We left the bar and headed back toward the feed store. We looped around so that we passed the town square. My eyes went to Mrs. Presley’s B&B. To my surprise, Shelby’s van was parked outside of Honeyrose House.
“Thanks for the beers, Jake. I’m buying next time.”
“In that case, let’s get steaks.”
“Just tell me when,” I said, my feet already taking me toward the B&B. “I need to go check on something.”
Jake’s eyes landed on Shelby’s van and he nodded with a little smile. “You do that. And don’t break my friend’s heart, okay? I’m just starting to like you.”
“I’m trying.” My walk turned into a light jog, eating up the distance between Shelby and me.
Inside Honeyrose, I checked around the first floor but didn’t see any sign of her. Upstairs, I found her in my room, sitting on my bed with her hands in her lap.
“Mrs. Presley let me in,” she said quickly.
I waved her comment away. “That’s totally fine with me.”
She nodded and I noticed her eyes were glassy and her nose was pink.
“Hey, are you all right?” I asked, going to her immediately.
I sat beside her on the bed and pulled her in close, tucking my hand under her chin to guide her face up to mine. I could get lost in those eyes of hers, but right now, all I wanted to do was make this better, whatever this was.
Shelby opened her mouth to speak, then shook her head and kissed me.