I felt it again. That pull. That ridiculous, unwanted tug inside my chest that only seemed to exist around her.
And even after she’d stopped laughing, the air between us stayed warmer than before.
“Carson?” she said after a moment.
“Yes.”
“You’re… not what I expected.”
I lifted a brow. “What did you expect?”
“I don’t know. Someone more… serious.”
“I am serious.”
“Yes, but also not,” she said, waving vaguely at me. “You smile sometimes.”
I almost did it again.
Instead, I picked up another tent bag. “Let’s finish organizing.”
She nodded quickly, but her gaze lingered on me longer than it should have.
We finished the checklist more slowly than necessary.
Partly because she kept bumping into things and apologizing, and partly because I kept watching her
And most importantly, because neither of us seemed eager to end the moment.
When everything was finally packed into staging bins for the honeymoon trip, she exhaled a shaky breath.
“Okay,” she said. “That’s it. Planning meeting complete. We did it. We were professional. Very professional.”
“Very,” I agreed.
“Barely any awkwardness.”
“Barely.”
“Except the parts where everything was awkward.”
“That happens.”
She nodded. “I guess so.”
We stood there again, too close, too aware, too surrounded by the remnants of a conversation we were both pretending hadn’t rattled us.
I broke the silence first. “Coming up soon.”
She blinked. “What?”
“Our first trip. Together.”
“Oh.” Her voice dipped. “Right. Together.”
I studied her for a moment. “Are you nervous?”
“No,” she said immediately. “I know these trails like the back of my hand, and the first one is just down the road. No biggie.”
