Page 74 of The Other Plan

Focus on what matters. Ignore all the bullshit. What do you want, Carter?

Jenna’s face materialized in my mind.

I wanted Jenna. There was nothing in this world I wanted more. She had been everything to me since the first day I’d lay eyes on her, and she would be everything to me until my dying breath. She was wrong when she’d said we were just a couple of crazy kids filled with childish notions of love. What I felt for her I’d never felt for anyone again, and I knew it deep inside my soul that our feelings, that our love, was real.

She may not be able to see it with fear clouding her judgment, but I knew that what she felt in her heart was as powerful as what I felt for her. It was love. Plain and simple. But that terrifying truth just had her hurrying to toss up the walls around her heart once again and encase it in an impenetrable fortress that would shield her from ever feeling heartbreak again. Jenna couldn’t break down her own walls long enough to let anyone in – even me. Try as she may to keep me out and deny our connection, I knew better, and maybe I could summon enough courage for the both of us. I would do anything to win her back.

Nothing and no one could stand in the way of me spending my life at her side.

Not my company. Not my living situation. Not Camilla.

Nothing.

A huge weight lifted off me as I decided on that fact, but as the important things in my life took center focus, another realization started to creep up into my mind. As I let the power of the water quiet down the unnecessary voices in my head, I also realized that I wanted a different life.

It started to dawn on me that it wasn’t my dream I’d worked and sacrificed into reality. It was Camilla’s dream. The money. The car. The nice apartment. The prestige. None of that had mattered to me until I’d let Camilla slide inside my head.

I felt so stupid as I started to process all the decisions I’d made and all the ways I’d been so blind to the life I’d been living. The man Jenna had met on the beach that day—the suntanned surfer without a plan in the world and dreams of a laid-back life by the water—that was me. That was who I was. And somehow, along the way, I’d completely lost sight of him. Bit by bit, he’d been chipped away so slowly that I hadn’t even noticed.

God. How had I missed this? How had I been so brainwashed that I hadn’t even noticed it—hadn’t even questioned that Jenna would want to jump into a life in the city too? Of course I thought she would be thrilled at the opportunity instead of repulsed by it. I’d been surrounded for so long by people who cared about power and money more than anything else that it seemed unbelievable someone would pass up a chance at a successful career in the city. I’d let my superficial social circle poison my mind and chip away at the part of me that made me me until I could barely remember the real Carter. Jenna was right in her belief that the city could steal your soul. It had taken mine... and I’d let it. Slowly and quietly, it had slipped away from me until Jenna came back into my life, and I saw myself clearly.

As I sat beside the water, I felt the man I used to be, the man I knew still lived inside me just waiting to return, scratching beneath the surface, desperate to come up for air.

My mom had been right when she’d told me I was on the wrong path. I’d just brushed it off as her idealistic, whimsical way of life being too far removed from reality to understand how the world really worked. But now? Now I realized she’d been right all along. She lived simply with my father, a man she deeply loved. They didn’t have money or prestige. No fancy cars or designer clothes. But what they did have was happiness. My home had been filled with laughter and love. The man she’d raised didn’t really care about those things either, wanting to live a full life with a woman he loved rather than sell his soul for money.

Which is exactly what I’ve done.

But now, being with Jenna again, remembering that man, had me chuckling at how far from my dreams I’d drifted. Sure, I was living the American dream, just like Camilla had told me, but it wasn’t my dream.

And no dream would be complete without Jenna by my side.

Like a tidal wave crashing into me, suddenly I realized what I wanted to do. What I needed to do. A plan that would mean I could have the life I’d always wanted and do it with Jenna by my side.

Giving a silent thank you to the water I knew had helped clear away the sludge that had blinded me, I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my phone. It was time to do what the old Carter would do. Take a leap. Follow his gut. Go big or go home.

I pushed Harold Elswood’s contact.

“Harold? Hey, it’s Carter. Listen, we need to talk.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

JENNA

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Valentina and Eric moved together on the dance floor, her beautiful white gown sweeping the black and white tiles I’d had installed under the tent on the beach. Thousands of little twinkle lights dangled over their heads, creating a fairytale setting for the newly married couple. The beautiful starry night was unmarred by the crystal-clear ceiling of the tent as the couple swayed below it. It looked like a fairy tale... a fairy tale I’d orchestrated.

Pride swelled inside me that I’d succeeded in giving them their dream wedding. The food had been served, the dances done, the couple married. All that was left was copious amounts of drinking and some late-night dancing. My job here for the night was done, and all that was left on my end was organizing clean-up in the morning. This part of my evening normally involved my first deep breath of the day and indulging in the champagne I’d made sure was perfectly chilled.

“#nailedit,” Cameron whispered into my ear as he slipped a glass into my hand.

“Damn. You read my mind.” I took a sip, relishing the way the bubbles tickled my lips.

“That’s because we’re a hell of a team, boo.”

“Yeah. We are. I couldn’t have done any of this without you.” I leaned my head on his shoulder, and he wrapped an arm around me.

“You’re amazing, Jenna. I know today wasn’t easy for you with everything going on, but you pulled it together like a pro.”