Carter (Remington Ranch Book 3) (22 page)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Summer felt awful when she woke up. She’d hardly slept at all. She wasn’t used to sleeping by herself anymore. She hadn’t been able to get comfortable without Carter to rest her head on. She missed him so much. And she was worried. She was worried where he might be, worried what he might be doing. Most of all she was worried that she might have to get used to sleeping without him. She didn’t want to have to do that. Ever.

She got up and went to make herself a pot of coffee. She wasn’t supposed to drink too much of the stuff, but she needed it this morning. She checked her phone. There was a text from Carter. It had come in at one o’clock in the morning.

I love you. I’m coming home.

She smiled and heaved a sigh of relief. Once he was here they could talk. They could figure out what to do together. It would all be okay. Even as she thought it, the knot clenched in her stomach. Would it, though? If they decided that everything would be okay for them, would that mean everything would be far from okay for Autumn? She hated the thought that doing what made her happy might cost her sister her career. She wanted to believe that Autumn could walk away and go to work with someone else. Ashley said she could ruin her reputation and make sure she never worked in Nashville again, but did she really have that much sway? Summer knew how it worked, though. Ashley didn’t need that much sway. All she needed was to start a rumor. Gossip spread fast in Nashville. If people in the industry thought there was a reason that McAdam Records had parted ways with Autumn, they wouldn’t want to take the risk of working with her themselves.

She needed to call Autumn. They’d said they’d sleep on it. Summer still didn’t have a solution, but she was starting to think she’d have to go back to Nashville to try to sort things out. Maybe Carter would go with her? Just for a short time. As she considered that possibility, a thought struck her. If she made Beau an offer on the house and got started on the purchasing process, surely that would help Carter to see that she wasn’t going to let him give up on her—on them? It would show him she was serious about staying here, even if she had to go away for a short time. That was it. She needed to buy the house!

For the first time since she’d woken up yesterday, she felt as though there was something constructive she could do. She took her coffee and her phone and went to sit on the sofa to call Beau.

“Good morning,” he answered. He sounded bright and perky, almost overly so.

“Hi, Beau.” Her voice sounded a little better this morning, but not much.

“Ouch, you sound bad. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I want to talk to you about buying the house.”

“Oh.”

That sounded ominous. “What’s up? You did say I could have first refusal, didn’t you?”

“I did, but things have changed.”

“What do you mean they’ve changed?” Summer couldn’t believe it. She knew the others said that Beau could be an asshole if he wanted to be, but she hadn’t wanted to believe it. She’d never seen that in him, until now.

“I’m sorry, Summer. Last night I received an offer on the place, and it’s not one I can refuse.”

Wow! She was stunned. “I didn’t think you’d do that to me, Beau!”

“Neither did I. I’m sorry, Summer.” He did sound genuinely sorry, but that didn’t count for much.

“So am I,” she said and hung up. She couldn’t quite believe it. He was going to sell the place out from under her? She supposed she should have asked him when he wanted her out, but she’d been too stunned. Besides, it’d be up to him to tell her. She was only renting month to month, but she’d assumed—because he’d said—that it would be for as long as she liked.

She sat and fumed to herself as she drank her coffee. She got her phone out and started browsing the real estate sites. She was staying here in the valley, no matter what Beau or Carter or anyone else said or did! She’d just have to find another place. She wanted Carter to know that she was ready to put down roots here, and buying a house should go a long way toward proving that to him.

She could only imagine that Carly and James had made an overpriced offer on this place. And Beau was too greedy to turn it down—even if it meant going back on his word. Well, screw him! She’d just find another house and work with a different realtor.

She browsed through a couple of websites before she had to admit that she was putting off calling Autumn. She dialed her number and waited, but only got through to voicemail.

“Hey, sis. We need to decide what we’re going to do. Call me back.”

She hung up and looked around. She’d be sad to leave this house. She’d loved it since the first time she saw it. It had felt like a sanctuary and she’d been thinking that it would become her and Carter’s home. Oh, well. She’d adapt. She’d have to. She’d find some place just as good, if not better.

She wanted to call Carter to see where he was and when he’d be back. She hoped that going off by himself like that had been enough to make him come to his senses. She tried his number, but that just went straight to voicemail, too. It’s seemed as though no one wanted to talk to her today.

~ ~ ~

Autumn grinned at Carter. “Thank you!”

He smiled and nodded. He couldn’t believe just how well this whole thing was working out. “Thank you, for not being mad at me. For a while there I was scared I was just making everything worse.”

Autumn nodded. “If you’d asked me if you should do this, I would have told you hell no! It wasn’t worth the risk, but I’m so glad you took the risk.” She grinned. “And even more glad it paid off so well.”

Clay took his headphones out and smiled over at them. “You did good, Carter. It seems to me that we all owe you one after this.”

“No one owes me anything. I’m just glad it’s all worked out.”

Clay looked out the plane window. “Well, we’re almost there, so now you get to see if the most important part of all works out.”

Carter nodded. He was pretty sure it would. His head was still spinning from everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, but all that mattered now was getting back to Summer.

After the show last night, they’d gone to the airport and flown back to Nashville in Clay’s jet. This morning, they’d gone to McAdam Records where Clay had met with both Ashley and Autumn. After that, the three of them had headed back to the airport and now they were about to land back in Bozeman. Carter had been a little surprised that both Clay and Autumn had wanted to come with him to see Summer, but he could hardly say no, could he?

Once they landed, Carter led the way to the parking lot where he’d left his truck the day before. They still had an hour’s drive before he’d get to see Summer. “Do you mind if I call her before we go?”

Clay shook his head. “Let her know you’re coming home, but don’t spoil the surprise.” He smiled at Autumn. “I want to see her face when we both show up and tell her our news.”

Carter dialed her number and waited while it rang.

“Carter!” her voice didn’t sound good.

“Hey, darlin’, are you okay?”

“I’ve had better days. Where are you? When are you coming home?”

“I’m in Bozeman, I’m on my way.”

“Oh, thank God. We need to talk, and I need you to stop running away from me when the going gets tough!”

“I’ll try.” He smiled. “I think you might be able to forgive me for this one though.”

“You know I forgive you…wait, what do you mean?”

“I’ll tell you when I get there.”

“Okay, but hurry up, will you?”

“I’m on my way.”

Summer paced the deck while she waited. It’d take him an hour to get here from Bozeman. She couldn’t wait to see him, couldn’t wait for him to explain what he’d meant about her being able to forgive him for having left. What had he done? She had no clue.

She tried calling her sister again while she waited, but Autumn still wasn’t picking up. Summer had to hope that she was okay.

Carter stopped out on East River Road before he turned into Summer’s driveway. “Can I ask a favor of you both?”

Clay and Autumn both nodded.

“Would you mind waiting in the truck a few minutes while I go see her first?”

Autumn smiled. “Of course.”

Clay nodded. “I wouldn’t expect anything less, son. But don’t leave us out here too long, will you? You’ve got the rest of your life with her. I’ve not got long before I need to get back to the airport and on my way to Seattle.”

“No problem.” Carter had to hope that Clay was right and that he would get to spend the rest of his life with Summer. So many problems had been solved in the last twenty-four hours, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any more left. For one thing, he didn’t know what Summer would do here. He didn’t know what she would do anywhere if she weren’t singing, but it wasn’t as though there were many opportunities to do much of anything here in the valley. He started the truck back up and turned into the long driveway. One thing at a time. That was all they could deal with.

When he stopped in front of the house he said, “Won’t be long,” and then he jumped out of his truck. He ran up the front steps quickly, wanting to get to the front door before Summer came out and spotted his passengers. He opened the door quietly, then closed it behind him with a slam.

“Carter?” She came running out of the living room and threw herself at him. As she wrapped her arms up around his neck, he closed his own around her waist and lifted her off her feet. He lowered his head to kiss her.

She pecked his lips, but then pulled back to look at him. “Tell me what you’re thinking? I was so worried. I thought you were taking off again and that you wouldn’t come back.”

He put a finger to her lips. Her voice sounded really bad, and she didn’t need to use it up asking questions. He was about to answer them all anyway.

“I’m thinking, I love you. I’m sorry I took off without talking to you. I was just going to run, but I didn’t.”

“But what
did
you do?”

“I went and interfered.”

She tipped her head back so she could look him in the eye. She looked worried. “You did? How?”

He grinned. “I went to see Clay.”

She turned pale.

“Don’t worry. It all worked out.”

“But what about Ashley? What about Autumn?”

“Maybe you should talk to Autumn about that?”

“I would, but she’s not answering her phone!”

Carter grinned. “Hang on a minute, then.” He went back to open the front door and waved. Summer’s hand flew up to cover her mouth when she saw first Autumn, then Clay climb out of the truck. She looked up at Carter with big round eyes. “What the…”

He grinned. “Like I said, I went to see Clay, we went to see Autumn, and then we all came back here. It’s all going to be okay, darlin’.”

She wrapped both arms around his waist and hugged him tight. He held her to him and grinned at Autumn and Clay over her head as they reached the front door. “Come on in,” he said. “I think we’ve all got some explaining to do.”

~ ~ ~

Summer was having a hard time processing it all. She’d been sitting there wondering how to convince Carter that he’d better not leave her so her sister would be okay. She’d been trying to figure out how to make sure her sister
would
be okay, no matter what Summer herself did, and she’d been wondering whether she shouldn’t just risk going to Clay about it all. Now the three of them were all here, telling
her
that everything
was
okay!

Once they were all seated in the living room she looked around at them. “So what happened? What’s going on?”

Clay smiled at her. “What happened is that your man here did what you should have done in the first place and came to me.”

Summer nodded. She should have known Clay would take care of her—and Autumn. “I’m sorry.”

“No need to be, little girl. It all worked out for the best.” He grinned at Autumn. “Do you want to tell her?”

Autumn smiled. “When Carter told Clay what Ashley was doing, they both came back to Nashville. I’d set up a meeting with Ashley this morning. Like I told you yesterday, I was about to tell her I was through. In fact, I did tell her I was through.”

“What did she say?”

“That she was going to make sure no one else in town would work with me.”

Clay nodded. “That was the point where we walked in. I feel like a fool having given Ashley so much say over the business. I hired her believing she was the best. I was wrong—she just talks the best story. It’s
her
that won’t find work in Nashville again.”

Wow! Summer knew what a big deal it was for Clay to fire her. Ashley had been the lynchpin of the label. It was only since she’d been around that Clay had been able to go back out on tour himself. She looked at him, hoping this wouldn’t mean that he’d be tied to the office again and have his own music take a back seat. “But what will you do now?”

He grinned at Autumn. “I already knew who really was the best in the industry. Unfortunately, she was tied into an exclusive gig with one particular artist. She’s free now though, and I just hired her to fill the position that became available this morning.”