Page 43 of Hometown Hottie

21

NOVA

Itook Ryan’s truck when I left the ranch, but I didn’t go directly to Carson’s mom’s house. I drove around for a while first, trying to clear my head and sort through my own emotions before I went to talk to him. In the space of an hour, I’d gone from listless, to shocked, desperate, and angry, to confused, to level-headed, and now, I was back to being angry.

It was best to let it pass before I went and did exactly what I’d been afraid Ryan would do—make matters worse. For hours, I just drove around, grappling with everything that had happened in the last few weeks. Ever since Carson had come back to town, my quiet existence had been thrown into a washing machine stuck on the spin cycle, and even though the ranch’s troubles existed long before his return, they seemed to have been ramped up to a whole new level.

When I finally made it to Mrs. Drake’s place, I parked on the street and cast my gaze around their friendly, cute front yard. I’d always liked this house. It had always seemed so warm and welcoming, but today, I dreaded having to go in there. I dreaded what I would learn once I did.

If Carson really had made an offer on my strip of land on the ranch, I wasn’t sure I would ever get over the betrayal. I knew he didn’t owe me anything and that I’d never even really been his friend, but shit. The least he could’ve done was to tell me that he wanted to purchase that piece of the ranch from us. I would’ve been angry and said no, but at least I wouldn’t have been blindsided. In the end, I might’ve even considered it.

Selling a part of the property to Carson, knowing that he was only looking to lay down roots and build a house, was a lot better than selling to a developer who’d want to build a fucking mall. But he hadn’t come to me and I had been blindsided, and the way I felt right now, I’d sooner chain myself to my cottage and spend the rest of my life starving, thirsty, and unable to move rather than to surrender an inch of what was mine to him.

In my fit of righteous indignation, I slammed the car door shut behind me. Mrs. Drake must’ve heard it because their front door suddenly opened up and she came out. She smiled brilliantly when she saw me, stepping aside to let me in before I’d even made it to their porch.

“Nova Murphy! What a pleasant surprise. How are you, darling?”

I had no quarrel with his mother, so I swallowed my burning anger enough to smile in return. “I’m okay, thank you, Mrs. Drake. How are you?”

She waved me in and walked me to the kitchen. “Oh, we can’t complain. It won’t help anything, will it? How’s the cleanup coming along on the ranch? Carson told me you had some downed trees? Thank goodness, no one was injured.”

“We were very lucky,” I said, glancing around in the hopes that her son would make himself known. He didn’t.

“Would you like a cup of tea?” she asked.

I shook my head. “Thank you, but I only came by to have a quick word with Carson. Is he here?”

“I’m afraid he’s not, but he will be soon.” She checked on something in the oven before she glanced at me over her shoulder. “I’ve made a lasagna. It’s almost ready and he won’t want to miss that. Why don’t you join us for dinner? Not to brag, but I’ve been told my lasagna is some of the best there is.”

“I’m sure it’s incredible, but I don’t want to impose. I’ll just, uh, I’ll give Carson a call and talk to him over the phone instead.”

“Nonsense.” She strode over to a cabinet, pulled out another plate, and handed it to me with a smile. “Stay. I insist and I’m not taking no for an answer.”

Supremely uncomfortable, I jerked my chin in a nod. Once a woman in this town started insisting, everyone who’d been brought up right knew that your ass was staying put. “Alright. Thank you. Can I help with anything?”

She shook her head, humming a tune under her breath and seeming excited to have me here. “Let me just get the salad out of the fridge and then you and I can dish up. If Carson knows what’s good for him, and I know he does, he’ll be walking through that door any minute now.”

She fetched a fresh, colorful salad from the fridge and kept humming under her breath as she carried it to the dining table. She’d already set places for herself and Carson. I’d never felt like more of an intruder than when I carried my plate from the kitchen and waited for her to set another.

If I had come here with good intentions, I would have dug into her lasagna like I was Garfield. People around here were gracious hosts and they loved feeding each other, but I didn’t deserve her delicious cooking. Not when I’d come here planning on yelling at her son and telling him to shove his offer up his ass, where his head clearly was.

“There we go,” she said cheerfully as she stepped away from the added table setting. “Have a seat. I’ll bring the rest.”

“Are you sure I can’t help with anything?”

Once again, she waved me off. “You’re a guest, Nova. One I’ve been looking forward to having, so you just sit down and make yourself comfortable. I’m glad we’re going to have the opportunity to talk for a bit.”

My stomach churned as I sat down. The opportunity to talk about what, exactly?

Thankfully, I never had to find out. Just as she came back with the food and started making me a plate, Carson walked in, slamming to an abrupt stop when he saw me sitting at the dinner table with his mother.

Those bright green eyes flashed with unpleasant surprise. His dark eyebrows tugged together as he rocked back on the heels of his expensive sneakers. “Nova? What are you doing here?”

“That’s no way to greet a guest, honey,” his mom admonished him playfully. “Go wash up. You’re late as it is.”

“Sorry,” he muttered, a hand clutching his hair. He turned and disappeared down the hall. If I didn’t know any better, I’d have said he was stressed and thrown off his game by my appearance, but I doubted I had the power to make the mighty Carson Drake feel that way.

Oh, great. Some of Ryan’s bitterness has seeped into me. This is not good. Keep it together, Nova. Just keep. It. Together. Don’t ruin lasagna night.