Chapter 36
CARTER
Back at my mansion, I dragged my suitcase out of the closet.
The thing still smelled like hay and dust. It had barely been back in storage for three days.
I hadn’t even had a chance to do all my laundry.
Lucky for me, I had a closet full of clothes, and I knew a sweet little feed store that had plenty of clothing suitable for farm living.
Thinking of Jake, I went down to my liquor cabinet and pulled out a twenty-five-year-old bottle of scotch he would appreciate.
He had been a good friend to me and I thought it would be a nice gift to say thank you.
I also grabbed two bottles of French wine to share with Shelby.
If she was as happy to see me as I hoped she would be, we would be celebrating.
But after those three bottles, I stopped myself from grabbing any others. I didn’t want to be dragging a whole minibar with me while traveling. Sensibly, I was flying to Kentucky this time, having learned my lesson about Italian luxury cars and muddy country roads. It gunked up the works.
At the same time, breaking down on the side of the road had brought Shelby into my life, and that was the best thing that had ever happened to me. Now I just needed to go back to Ferris and tell her that.
Then I could take her to bed and not leave for a week.
We had three days of lost time to make up for and I intended to show her just how much I had been missing her.
I owed her a kiss for every minute we’d been apart.
I should have never left her behind in the first place, but maybe being apart and feeling the pain of that separation had clarified my feelings for her.
Shelby wasn’t just a fun little distraction while I was out of town on business. She hadn’t faded from my mind the moment I was back in Los Angeles. I couldn’t shake her, like she had taken up permanent residence in my heart and I couldn’t properly function without her.
I had spent so many years turning my nose up at love, thinking it was something the greeting card companies invented to sell merchandise.
But that had been because I had never experienced feelings like I had for Shelby.
When love hit, you knew it because it changed a person.
It had changed me, at least, and I couldn’t go back to the man I used to be.
I had already quit my job. Depending on how things worked out with Shelby, I would be selling this mansion too. There was nothing left in this city for me. I was ready for something better.
With my mind made up to go back to Shelby, I considered texting her, but my flight was a red-eye, leaving later this evening.
Then it was a two-hour drive to Ferris from Louisville, where I was landing.
Normally, I would take a private plane but they wouldn’t be able to fly me out until tomorrow, and I didn’t want to wait that long.
I was dying to get back to her, and I wanted to take the fastest route.
Hell, I would have run to her if it would get me there sooner.
Best case scenario, I could be rolling up at Granny’s Acre Farm bright and early tomorrow morning. I could surprise her then, when she absolutely wouldn’t be expecting me. Then I could help out with her day’s work, which had to get done every day.
She could boss me around a little, which always got my engine revving.
I just liked a woman with some fire in her, and Shelby was a phoenix, rising from the ashes of both our parents’ selfish choices.
She had more fire than any woman I had ever met before and it drew me to her like a moth to a flame.
I was more than halfway across the country from her and I could still feel that invisible pull.
It took real courage for Shelby to get her new farm up and running after her parents pulled the rug out from under her by selling her legacy.
The town’s legacy, too, if I was being honest with myself.
It took even more steel to stand tall against a town who wrongfully blamed her for their misfortunes.
Shelby was just special like that, and I found her inspiring.
So much so that I had just quit my job. She was going to die when I told her I had resigned.
I couldn’t wait to see her face, as the tentative smile broke through her serious expression like the sun coming out from behind the clouds.
Then she would probably call me a moron and kiss me.
The image made me pack faster. I dragged the suitcase to my walk-in closet.
The halls of my house were still empty but I no longer cared because my heart was full.
It was telling me I had made the right choice to go back to her, like I was facing in the right direction now and I had slotted into the groove.
No more doubts. No more hesitation. No more obstacles.
My doorbell rang. For a wild second, I thought it might be Shelby. That she had been feeling the same way I was and had come to find me, to tell me she couldn’t stand to be apart from me either.
I had an app on my phone that showed me who was at my front door and I pulled it up with trembling fingers. If this was someone selling solar panels, I was going to run them off with very little manners.
The image came up on my phone and my spirits sank. It was so much worse than someone trying to make me spend money I didn’t want to spend. It was my fucking father.
I marched down the hall to the door and flung it open, letting all the years of anger and resentment show on my face. I didn’t need to play nice with him anymore. Not after everything I had done for him and the way he had treated me. Not after how he had treated other people when he ran Allory.
“You have a lot of nerve showing up here like this,” I told him.
“I’m not here for a fight,” he said, looking old and more tired than I could ever remember seeing him.
“That would be a first.” I crossed my arms over my chest, not inviting him inside.
“Yes, and today was the first time you quit and blackmailed your father all in one board meeting.” He laughed dryly. “To be honest, I’ve never respected you more.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, not trusting him. “You’re not mad at me?”
“I haven’t decided.”
“Yeah, because that’s how normal people process emotions.” I shook my head bitterly.
“I mean I haven’t decided if I’m angry. I want to understand what you’re doing first. On the surface, it appears you’ve had a mental break, perhaps as a result of some kind of Kentucky mule parasite, but on the off chance you’re still the rational and level-headed son I’ve come to know over the years, I was hoping you might talk to me and explain what’s going on. ”
His expression showed no signs of deception.
There was no indication he was waiting to spring some kind of trap on me.
I stepped to the side and gestured for him to come in.
He did, and it occurred to me I couldn’t remember the last time he had come over to my house.
I had often been summoned to his obscenely large home, but he never graced me with his presence here.
I just hadn’t noticed because I had never wanted him here.
His company hadn’t been wanted or missed.
It was just another sign there wasn’t anything here for me in Los Angeles. Leaving the city wouldn’t be much of a sacrifice at all, now that I thought about it. And the pot of gold waiting for me at the end of the rainbow in Kentucky would make any sacrifice worthwhile.
My father came into the kitchen with me. I didn’t offer him a drink. “If you have something to say,” I told him. “Just say it. I have a plane to catch soon and I’m not missing it.”
“So you’re leaving?” he asked.
“I am, and I don’t think I’ll be coming back around too much,” I said.
“What the hell happened in Kentucky, son?”
“I fell in love.”
The simple statement hung in the air between us, and I waited for my father to process the information.
As usual, he reacted poorly. “I don’t believe you.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “Lucky for me, I don’t care what you believe. I’m done with you and I’m done with the company.”
“I can’t believe you’re just going to walk away, just like that,” he said. “This must be some woman to make you turn your back on everything you care about.”
“That’s just it, Dad, I don’t care about any of this.
” I ran my hand through my hair, frustrated.
“I joined the company because you insisted. I did everything you told me to do, and it never made you happy. It was never enough to earn your approval, and the big joke is that I have no idea why I ever wanted your approval in the first place.”
“It’s the family business, son,” he said. “I built it up so that you could take over one day. And now you’re just quitting?”
“You say you wanted me to take over, but that’s never been true, has it?”
“I stepped down as CEO,” he said defensively.
“And yet you’re still running things from your seat on the board. I’ve been trying to take the company in a better direction and it feels like every time I make any progress, you step back in and steer us back to doing things your way. Which is the shitty way, to be clear.”
“The shitty way, as you call it, had made us very rich men,” he said, shrugging. “I won’t apologize for being successful.”
“I think the fundamental problem is that you and I see success very differently. You think money is the ultimate measure of a man, and I think all the money in the world is pointless if you’re still a miserable old bastard like you.”
Dad pursed his lips and went silent. “I didn’t know you felt that way.”
“Because you never listened when I tried to tell you,” I said, being honest because why the hell not? There was no reason to lie to keep the peace anymore. “I wanted to work with Uncle Steve and you threatened to disown me if I didn’t join you at Allory.”
“I was trying to protect you,” he said. “You were just a dumb kid and you didn’t know what you wanted.”
“Well, I still want the same thing I wanted then,” I said. “I had just forgotten for a while, working for you.”
“So that’s it then. You’re just leaving us all behind? The company and your family?”
I shook my head. “I’m leaving the company behind. Maybe you and I can still be a family, but most of that depends on you. If you keep trying to bully me to do what you want, we’re done. If you can just ease up and be normal, we can talk and see if we can’t find some common ground eventually.”
“This woman must be incredible if you’re willing to throw your whole life away to go be with her,” he said.
“She is. And I’m not throwing my life away. Make no mistake, Dad. This is me reclaiming the life I want.”
He sighed and held out his hand. “Then I wish you luck.”
I looked down at his hand like it might be a snake about to strike. “Honestly?”
Dad nodded. “Yes. I can’t say I understand what you’re doing, and I can’t say I agree with it, but believe it or not, I do want you to be happy.
I think you’re right, though, that you and I just have very different visions of what that looks like.
If you’ve found your version of it, I truly wish you the best.”
“And you won’t fight me on any of the things I asked for?”
Dad smiled. “I’m fine letting you have Kentucky. And the other thing you asked for. Just call me every so often and let me know how you’re doing, okay?”
I nodded and shook his hand. Then he hugged me, which was a little awkward, but I appreciated that he was making an effort. Maybe he wasn’t a lost cause after all.