10. Chapter Ten
Chapter Ten
Carson
Luna sits down next to me. “Your brother is a little high-strung, isn’t he?”
I laugh. “He is, but this isn’t his usual behavior. I think he’s just overtired.”
“Been there,” I tell him. “In fact, I might be there now.”
We both chuckle. “I thought you were going to take a nap?”
“Well, I was, but then the water called.”
She picks up the bag she dropped at my feet earlier. “I found so many good things.”
It’s filled with rocks and other odds and ends. Little acorns, sticks, and a Coke bottle filled with dirt. “Oh, look at this one. It’s the prized find of the day.” She holds it up to the light.
My hand instantly reaches out to touch it. “Wow, is that amber?”
“I’m sure it is,” she says, still marveling at her good luck. “I’m so happy the wind blew me to your stream.” Her bottom lip trembles as she pulls the stone to her chest.
I lean in closely, pausing for only a second before placing my lips against her temple. “I’m happy too,” I whisper over her skin.
She holds perfectly still but doesn’t pull away.
“What is happening?” she asks after a few moments.
I pull away. “I don’t know, but it feels really good.”
A little chuckle escapes her, and she finally meets my eye. “It does.” Her head dips immediately after her admission and she stands, busying herself with the food.
“Here, let me.” I take the package of hot dogs from her and open them.
We sit side by side, each with a stick in our hands.
“They always smell so good as they’re cooking.” She puts hers directly into the flames. “I like them charred to a crisp.”
“Damn it. If Cole was here, it would be two against one, because he likes them burnt too.”
“You can’t really burn a hot dog,” she says, staring into the fire.
It makes me laugh. “Are you serious? Of course you can.” I pull the two dogs on my stick over my plate, pushing them off with my finger.
“Those aren’t even hot, are they?”
“They’re perfect.”
She wrinkles her nose up in the most adorable way, and I wish Cole was here to see it.
“Oh, shoot, I’ve got to go listen for the last bird.”
Luna jumps from her seat beside me and drops to the ground a few feet away. She closes her eyes.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
She doesn’t open her eyes. She just brings her finger to her mouth, letting me know to zip it.
I move to the ground, scooting until I’m sitting directly in front of her.
A small smile flirts at the corner of her mouth. “If you’re going to join me in listening for the last bird, you have to promise to be quiet.”
“I promise.”
“Okay then. Close your eyes and listen.”
There’s no way I’m closing my eyes with her in my view, but I do listen.
I’m not sure how much time passes, but when she opens her eyes and smiles at me, I’ve already envisioned an entire lifetime with her.
She pushes herself from the ground.
“Is that it?” I ask, standing with her.
“You heard it, didn’t you? The last bird? It means all the daytime birds are tucked in for the night.”
Okay. I don’t get it, but I do know from now on, I’ll be listening with her. “I guess I missed it.”
Her giggle leads the way back to the fire.
“So is this a nighttime ritual?” I ask, needing to know if I should be out here tomorrow evening.
“Yeah, I guess, my mom always took me outside, rain or shine, to listen for the last bird.”
“I’ve never heard of that.”
“Probably because we were the only two humans to ever do it.” She hands me a stick with a marshmallow on it. “Besides traveling, my mom loved nature.”
“And the apple didn’t fall far from the tree?”
My statement makes her smile. “I guess not.”
“So, are you going to share your secret of how you found so many cool stones down at the stream?”
She hands me her stick while she goes over to retrieve the bucket she was carrying earlier.
“I’m going to take a stab in the dark, but I bet you like your marshmallows like you like your hot dogs.”
Her laugh answers my question.
She holds up the bucket so I can see the clear plastic that is in the bottom. “This is my secret weapon.”
“Ah, I see how it works. It’s so simple yet clever.”
“I can’t take the credit. It’s something I learned on TikTok.”
“Still, you had to create it.”
She takes her stick from me and drops her head shyly. “I, um, I could help you make one. I mean, if you think it’s something you’d use.”
“Yes,” I say before she even finishes her sentence.
Her brows pull together. “You collect rocks?”
“Sure,” I answer a little too quickly for her liking.
I watch doubt creep into her expression. “I don’t believe you,” she admits, giving me a side-eye.
“I can show you if you’d like, but we’d have to take a walk over to my parents’ house. That’s where they are.”
“Let me think about it.” She nibbles on her s’more as she stares into the flames.
God, maybe I do need Cole here. I’m so fucking awkward sometimes. I’m going too fast, but I can’t help it. I want to know everything about her, and I need her to know everything about me.
“Okay, I want to see them,” she says out of the blue.
A confused chuckle escapes me. “I was starting to worry I might be scaring you off.”
“What? I’m not scared of you. Quite the opposite, I’m afraid.”
“Well, that’s good to know.”
“I was just trying to decide whether or not I was ready to meet your parents.”
A beat passes before we both bust out laughing.
“Okay, so that was weird. Not what I meant.” She waves her hands in front of her face, fanning her red cheeks. “I just didn’t know how social I was feeling tonight. Not that I thought you were taking me there to meet your parents.”
“I know what you meant,” I assure her, hoping to ease her embarrassment. “They aren’t home anyway. They’re in Cheyenne. They were at Rage’s wedding.”
Her eyes widen. “Your parents know my brother?”
“Of course they do. Rage is like family to my brother and me. They’ve become honorary grandparents to Mila and baby Rio.”
“Oh, that’s so sweet. I’m glad my sister has so many people in her life that love her.”
“My mom’s been dying for more grandchildren, so it’s kind of taken the heat off my siblings and me.”
“Do you want children?” she asks.
“Um …” I’d like to know how she would answer that question, so I can adjust my response to hers. Never mind, that’s stupid, and wrong.
“Oh gosh, I did it again. Don’t answer that. That was too personal of a question. I barely know you.” She slaps her palm over her forehead. “I’m sorry. As you can tell, my social skills are a little rusty at best.”
I reach out and grab her hands before she can start fanning her face again. “Yes, I would like to have children someday, but I also know the universe might have different plans for me. Some things are beyond our control.”
“That’s a great way of looking at life. I guess our lives don’t always play out the way we envision them.”
“How have you envisioned your life going?” I ask, tugging her to her feet.
She thinks about it as we start down the road that leads to my parents. “I guess I’ve always pictured myself traveling around in my van. I figured I’ll be one of those wise gray-haired old crones who camp in the woods at night, making the locals uneasy.”
I laugh at the image. “There is no way you’re turning into a crone.”
“Could happen.”
“You’re too pretty to ever be considered a crone.”
Her head dips and I catch that shy smile I’m slowly falling in love with.
We walk quietly. The only sounds are the gravel beneath our feet, the crickets, and the occasional croak of a frog.
“It’s quiet out here.”
“It is. My brother and I debated building a cabin at the lake. It’s where our clubhouse is, but it gets kind of crazy over there at times.”
She nods along as I speak.
“We’re so far from the main road, not a soul knows we’re back here.”
“It’s nice that your whole family is on the property.”
“Yeah, it took my brother and me a while to realize how lucky we were to have such a close-knit family.”
Her feet begin to slow when she notices the lights on inside the house.
“It’s just Cole. He probably fell asleep when he came up here to check on Tuffy.”
She stops completely.
“It’s okay. The rocks are over here,” I tell her, happy that mom’s sunflowers are blooming. It will make it a prettier sight.
Once she sees where I’m taking her, she squeals, the lights in the house forgotten. She hops onto the walking path. “Oh my gosh! This is incredible.”
I watch as she leans over to smell one. “Is your mom a fairy princess?” she asks, crossing the little bridge my dad built for mom’s birthday last year.
“No, just a woman well loved by her husband,” I say, running my fingers through my hair as I watch her take everything in.
A huge smile pulls at her face. “He did all this for her?”
“With her, yeah. Don’t get me wrong. My mom knows how to do things for herself. She just doesn’t have to.”
Luna looks up at the moon and takes a deep breath. “It feels good here.”
Her words make me emotional, and I turn away. “Anyway, here’s our rock collection. I can’t take credit for all of them, because my brother is a bit of a rock kicker himself.”
“Where?” she asks.
I point to her feet. “You’re standing on it.”
Her gaze drops to her feet and the smile melts from her face. She drops to her haunches and runs her hand over the spiral pattern of rocks on the ground.
“She’s always adding to it as we find rocks.” I point to a barrel a little further down the path. “That’s where we put them for her.”
She lifts her head and follows my finger.
“Our mom is an artist.”
Luna rises, taking in the curving paths that cut through the hundreds of sunflowers. She makes her way toward the barrel, but her eyes follow the designs paved over the ground as she does. Her fingers sift through the rocks once she’s reached them.
“Our mom got tired of finding rocks all over the house and in our pockets, so she came up with the idea. Some kids have piggy banks; we had a rock barrel.”
“Do you still add to it?”
“Will you make fun of me if I do?”
Finally, the smile returns to her face. “I think you already know the answer to that.”
“We do.”
Her gaze goes to the house. “I like that you always include your brother when you speak. Do you think you should check on him?”
“Yeah, I probably should.”
“I’ll wait here,” she says. “There’s so much to look at.”
“Sure, I’ll be right back.” I get the distinct feeling she wants to be alone. When I glance over my shoulder, I notice she’s settled on the bench that serves as a memorial. She traces the little plaque with my late grandmother’s name on the back of it before relaxing against it.
“Grandma, I think I’m going to marry that girl,” I say to her in Heaven as I slip through the back door.
I give Luna one last look before turning around.
My parents are standing in front of the refrigerator in their pajamas, staring at me.
“Oh, shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t think you guys would be home.”
“That seems to be the consensus tonight,” my dad says, noticing my mother’s mouth is hanging open. He reaches around her and gently closes it with a finger under her chin.
It snaps her out of it, and she rushes toward me, placing her hand on my forehead. “Who were you talking to?” she asks.
Fuck, they heard me.
“Um, no one. Cole said you guys asked him to come check on Tuffy and I came up here to see what was taking him so long, but now I know. Where is he?”
She turns away from me to give my dad the look. If the woman thinks there’s something different about me, she’d be right. Luna has shifted something in me.
“He’s over at the warehouse. He said he was meeting Carver there,” my father says.
I glance at my watch for something to look at besides the confused faces in front of me. “Carver must have changed his plans. We weren’t expecting him until tomorrow morning, but that’s cool.”
“You didn’t know?” my dad asks, and my mother steps away from me, going to his side.
“No, but he knows I was busy …” my words drift away because I realize I’m oversharing. “Anyway, I’ll get out of your hair.”
I open the door and slide out of it as quickly as I can, hoping they don’t follow.