Carter (Remington Ranch Book 3) by SJ McCoy Page B

arm and smiled up at him.
    Was she the reason? And was she going to be the cause of even more pain?
    “Are you going to show me around?” she asked.
    “Yeah. Come on. Let’s start in the barn.”
    Mason met them at the doors. He slapped Carter’s shoulder. “Good to see you.” He tipped his hat to Summer. “And you. How are you settling back in?”
    Summer smiled. “Wonderfully, thank you.” She shot a look at Carter. “Though that’s mostly to do with your brother, here.”
    Carter felt the color in his cheeks. Damn. He wished he could somehow make himself stop doing that. He didn’t feel too bad though. It made him happy that Summer was open about liking him. It made him happy that she was interested in seeing his life. He wasn’t going to let himself worry about how he’d feel when she’d gone. If he was smart, he might not want to let her into every part of his life—but then no one had ever accused him of being smart.
    Mason grinned at them both. “Well, if you guys are busy this weekend, don’t worry about me, Carter. I can take care of the McClellan horses no problem.”
    Carter was tempted to say, great. But he couldn’t bring himself to leave Mason in the lurch. Summer took the decision away from him, anyway.
    “I’m excited to come watch,” she said. “If I’m not going to be in the way.”
    “Not at all,” said Mason. He looked up and grinned when he saw their mom approaching. Carter pursed his lips. Would it be too much to ask that he should be able to take Summer to meet her when he was ready? Apparently it would. His mom reached them and smiled at Summer.
    “Well, hello. How lovely to see you out here. I hope my boys are taking good care of you?”
    Summer nodded. “They are thank you, Mrs. Remington. It’s so nice to meet you.”
    Carter watched as his mom leaned in to hug her. She winked at him over Summer’s shoulder. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you, too. I won’t keep you though. I just wanted to catch Mason here.”
    Mason shot Carter a look. They both knew she’d have called him if she just wanted to talk to him. “I guess I’ll see you guys tomorrow then,” said Mason. He jerked his head toward the barn. “Go say hi, if you like. The McClellan horses are out the back, but Jake and Lola are in there.”
    Carter nodded.
    Mason took his mom’s arm and started steering her back up to the house. She looked back over her shoulder at Summer. “So nice to meet you, my dear. I’ll see you soon.”
    “I hope so,” called Summer.
    Carter led her into the barn.
    “Who are Jake and Lola?” she asked.
    Carter stopped in front of one of the stalls and smiled at his old friend. “This…” he held his hand out and the big gray gelding came to nuzzle his fingers “…is my best friend, Jake.”
    Summer stood on tiptoe to peer over the stall door. “Oh, he’s gorgeous!”
    Carter laughed. “I guess that puts me in my place; you said the same thing about me!”
    She laughed and pushed at his arm. “In a different way.”
    Jake came toward her and nibbled her hair. “Hello, handsome.” She rubbed his nose. “It’s nice to meet you. Is he yours?” she asked Carter.
    He nodded. “We’ve been together since I was a kid. I took him with me when I moved up to town, but he hated it. He belongs down here on the ranch. I need to get out to see him more.”
    “Do you still ride him?”
    “Not as often as I’d like to, but yeah. I take him out when I can.”
    Summer’s eyes shone as she looked up at him. “Do you think I could go out with you sometime?”
    “I’d love that. I think that’s why Mason mentioned Lola. Come on, you should meet her.”
    He walked a few stalls further down and stopped. “How you doing, old girl?”
    Lola came and leaned her head over the door and nickered gently. Summer rubbed her nose. “She’s beautiful!”
    Carter chuckled. “You’re not doing my ego much good, you know. I thought it was just me, but you seem to fall in