Carter (Remington Ranch Book 3) (20 page)

Chapter Twenty

Carter had already left when Summer woke up. That was strange. Even when he had to get off to work really early, he always spooned her before he got out of her bed, kissed her neck, told her how he much he loved her.

She got up, slipped her robe on and went into the kitchen. He was gone. She peered out the window. Yep. His truck was gone. She was worried. He’d gone really quiet after they’d talked about Autumn last night. She hadn’t missed his reaction when she’d said she’d have to go back to Nashville. Did he think she’d leave? He was crazy if he did! She wouldn’t survive without him. He’d become so much a part of her in the short time they’d been together. She couldn’t imagine her life without him. She didn’t want to. He was everything.

She went back to the kitchen and unplugged her phone that had been charging on the counter. She hit the speed dial and waited. It rang and rang, but he didn’t pick up. Instead it went to voicemail.

“Carter, please call me back? I can’t believe you left without saying good-bye.” Her voice sounded terrible. “Call me. I love you.”

She hung up and went to get a glass of water. She stood in the kitchen wringing her hands together. She might be overreacting to the fact that he’d left for work without saying good-bye, but it felt so much worse than that. He’d left when something was troubling him, and he hadn’t wanted to talk to her. The last time he’d felt that he’d caused problems between her and Autumn, he’d taken off—and hadn’t come back! At least not until she’d left. Surely he wasn’t doing that now? He wouldn’t just leave without talking to her—would he?

She stared at her phone, but it didn’t ring. She took a deep breath to steady herself. She was being silly. She needed to go take a shower and get herself dressed and ready for the day—whatever the day might hold.

He still hadn’t called her back by the time she was dressed. Now she was getting really worried. She tried him again, but it went straight to voicemail. She didn’t leave a message this time. He knew she wanted to talk to him. Instead she called Cassidy.

“Hey, chica.”

“Hi. I don’t suppose you or Shane have heard from Carter this morning have you?”

“Uh-oh. What’s up? He did stop by here early this morning. Shane was on his way out and I wasn’t even dressed. They talked outside. Why, what’s going on?”

“Maybe nothing. I don’t know. But I need to talk to him and he’s not answering me. He left before I woke up, and he wasn’t right last night.”

“What wasn’t he right about?”

“Ugh. All the stuff with Autumn. I think he thinks it’s all his fault.”

“How could anything to do with Autumn be his fault?”

“Because if I was still there, Autumn would be fine. The reason I’m not there is because I’m here with him.”

“That’s not true though, is it? You don’t want to sing anymore. That’s got nothing to do with being with him.”

“No, but
he
doesn’t get that. All he sees is that I’m staying here because of him. I’m scared that he’s taken off again.”

Cassidy sighed. “Sit tight. You sound like shit. I’m coming over. It might all be nothing, but I’d rather you were writing this down than speaking.”

“Thanks.” Summer’s throat felt as though it was closing up. She didn’t know what Cassidy could do, any more than she knew what she herself could do, but it would be good to have her friend here.

~ ~ ~

Cassidy grabbed her car keys and pulled her cell phone out to call Shane.

“What did Carter want this morning?” she asked when he picked up.

“Hello, my love, how nice of you to call to see how I’m doing.”

She laughed. “Asshole! I’m sorry, okay? I’m worried. Summer just called me in a panic because he took off without saying anything this morning.”

“Ah.”

“Ah, what? What does that mean? He’s not headed for the hills again, is he?”

“Not yet.”

“Oh, shit. What’s his deal?”

“He doesn’t want to screw things up for Summer and her sister. He thinks if he takes himself out of the picture she’ll go back to Nashville and everything will be okay.”

Cassidy sighed. “Except Summer would be heart broken.”

“And so would he.”

“And Autumn would feel like shit that they broke up because of her.”

“Yup. I did try to tell him all of that this morning, you know.”

“But you didn’t get through?”

“He’s shut down.”

“But he hasn’t left?”

“No, but he’s thinking about it.”

“So what do we do?”

Shane was quiet for a long moment.

“What?”

“I don’t know. I mean, is it really our place to do anything? I want to help them out, but I don’t want to interfere.”

“Shane! We have to do something!”

“I had a feeling you might say that, but what exactly do we do? I’m open to suggestions.”

Cassidy thought about it. “Do we go find him and try to talk some sense into him?”

“Only if you want him to hightail it out of town.”

She sighed.

“Listen, why don’t you go see Summer? I’ll see if I can catch up with Carter.”

“Okay, thanks. Call me when you know anything?”

“Will do.”

Cassidy hung up and headed for her car. She wasn’t sure that they’d accomplished anything. Shane had already talked to Carter this morning. She still wasn’t sure she really understood what was going on with Autumn that meant Summer should go back to Nashville anyway. She decided to call her before she went to Summer’s place, to see if she could get a clearer picture of what was going on.

“Hey, Cassidy.” Autumn sounded surprised to hear from her.

“Hey. Is everything okay with you?”

Autumn sighed. “No, but don’t tell my sister that.”

“What’s going on?”

“Ashley’s trying to run me out. She doesn’t like that I’m working so well with Matt. I think she sees me as a threat, so she’s trying to keep me locked down to only working with Summer.”

“And she doesn’t like the fact that Summer’s not going to be there for you to work with?”

“Not one bit. She’s trying to make sure she comes back whether she can sing or not. Is she okay? She sounded terrible when I talked to her.”

“She’s not okay, but not just her voice. Carter seems to have gotten it into his head that he’s screwing things up for the two of you. He thinks the best thing he can do is take himself out of the picture so Summer can come back to Nashville.”

Autumn gave a harsh laugh. “That wouldn’t solve anything. It wouldn’t bring Summer’s voice back. It wouldn’t get Ashley off my case, but it would break Summer’s heart. She’s head over heels in love with the guy. Can he not see that?”

“I think he’s a little too caught up in being head over heels in love with her. He’d do anything for her. Including giving her up so she doesn’t have to choose between you and him.”

Autumn blew out a big sigh. “Can you talk some sense into him?”

“Maybe, if I can find him.”

“Should I come back up there and tell him myself?”

“It sounds like you’ve got enough going on.”

“I have, but this is important. Summer’s finally met a guy she wants to spend her life with. No way am I going to see her lose him because of me.”

Cassidy had to laugh. “Now you sound just like him!”

“Oh, shit. I’ve got Ashley on the other line. I’ve got to go. Call me later, will you?”

“Sure.”

“And, Cassidy, thanks.”

“No problem.”

Cassidy stood there looking at her phone. She’d talked to everyone but the man in question. She wondered if Carter would pick up if she called.

She decided to give it a try.

“Hi Cassidy, is everything okay?”

She had to smile. He couldn’t override his instincts if he wanted to! “I’m okay, I’m worried about you though.”

“There’s no need. I’m fine.”

“Are you really? Or are you about to make a big dumb mistake?” Cassidy felt a twinge of guilt using those words. They were the words he used so often about himself, but that was why she said them—in the hopes of getting through to him.

“What do you mean?”

“You know damned well what I mean. Are you about to walk away from Summer because you think that’s what’s best for her?”

He didn’t reply.

“Well, I can tell you right now, that isn’t what’s best for her. You’d break her heart, Carter.”

“But, Cassidy, staying with me would break her heart in a different way because it would hurt her sister. I can’t do that to her.”

“Sorry, Carter, but I don’t think that’s your choice to make.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you can’t just make her decisions for her and walk out on her.”

Carter was quiet for a long moment.

“Are you still there?”

“Yeah.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, how about you start by calling Summer? She’s one upset little lady right now and I think she’s waiting to hear from you.”

Carter sighed. “Okay.”

Cassidy smiled, relieved.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

“What would you do, Cassidy, if you were me?”

Wow! It was easy, from where she was standing, to tell him he had to find another way to deal with this, but what
would
she do, if she were in his shoes? She knew the answer. “I’d probably screw things up completely.”

“How?”

“Never mind. I’m not going there. This one’s for you to fix or screw up all by yourself.”

“Thanks.”

~ ~ ~

Carter hung up and put his phone back in his pocket. He didn’t know what the hell to do! He closed up the greenhouse and went back to the house. He’d called the guys and told them he wouldn’t be on the job this morning. They were at a stage where they could get on without him for a couple of days. He’d come back home needing to hole up and think. The only solution he could see was to take himself out of the picture, but he didn’t want to. The way he saw it Summer would have to choose between him and Autumn and he didn’t want her to have to do that. He wouldn’t make her do that. He went out to the shed and set out several bowls of food and water for the cats. Buster came and rubbed around his legs.

“I might be gone a few days, old fella,” Carter said as he scratched the cat’s ears.

Buster turned big green eyes on him and meowed loudly.

To Carter it sounded as though he was disagreeing. He shook his head—it must just be his own instincts disagreeing really. He closed up the shed and went to collect his gym bag. Whenever he needed to think, he hit the gym. It helped somehow. It should be quiet in there on a weekday morning. There’d be no one to disturb him and maybe inspiration would strike while he was lifting.

He pulled up in the gym’s parking lot and pulled his bag out. He’d told Cassidy he’d call Summer, but he didn’t know what to say to her. He pulled his phone out and sent her a quick text.

I love you.

That was the only thing he knew for certain right now.

He was halfway through his workout when he saw Melanie. Damn. He didn’t want to talk to anyone at all right now, and if he did it wouldn’t be her.

She smiled and came over.

“It’s unusual to see you in here in the day,” she said. “How are you doing?”

He pursed his lips. “Not great. That’s why I’m here. I need some time and space to think, I figured this might be the place to find it.” He didn’t want to be rude, but he didn’t want to talk to her either.

“Is everything okay with you and Summer?”

He sighed, he sure as hell didn’t want to tell her about that!

He shrugged.

“I don’t mean to pry, Carter. I just want to see you happy. She seems so nice. I want things to work out for the two of you.

“So do I.”

She held his gaze for a long moment. “I know it’s none of my business, but hiding out in here isn’t going to fix whatever’s wrong.”

That stung, because he knew it was true. “I don’t know what is going to fix it, though.”

“Well, usually when two people have problems they need to talk to each other before anything gets fixed.”

Carter sighed. “The problems aren’t between me and her, though. It’s all about other people.”

Melanie nodded. “Well then maybe you need to talk to the other people?” She touched his arm. “Sorry. It really is none of my business. I just hope you can sort it all out. Good luck.”

“Thanks.”

He watched her walk away and climb onto one of the bikes. She put her headphones in and gave him a little smile before she started to peddle.

Carter sat on the bench and thought about what she’d said. If he were to talk to the other people, who exactly would that be? Autumn? What could he say to her? This Ashley person? He couldn’t see himself convincing some high powered music executive of anything. He shuddered at the thought. Other than Summer, he didn’t do well talking to women from the city. He did better with men from the country. Then it hit him. He knew what he had to do.