Page 42 of Carson

“You go over there and check out the green isle for me. Find some nice places I can take your grandma to. I want to impress her.”

I pull my phone out, excited in a way I’ve never been.

“Can I catch a ride when you’re done fishing? But no rush. It’s rude to rush a man who is fishing.”

He chuckles.

“I can do that. Where’s your bike?”

My fingers are scrolling over the available flights. “At home. I rode over here with Cole.”

Grandpa looks back at the warehouse. “And he can’t give you a ride back?”

“He and Carver are headed to Texas. He was in a hurry. Probably forgot I even rode with him.”

“You’re not going along?”

“No.”

His brows pull together.

“Jackson only needed two guys.”

Grandpa makes a noise, still not understanding. Cole and I are a team. He doesn’t understand why, if it’s a two-man job, we aren’t going together.

“He wanted to go with Carver. It makes sense. We need to get Carver in the loop. It will be good for him to spend some time with Cole.”

“They going to be able to keep each other out of trouble?”

“Probably not.” I set my phone down on my leg. What am I doing? I need to be here if Cole needs me.

My grandfather motions for me to pick it up. “No. Your brother can take care of himself. I shouldn’t have asked that. Those two will be fine.”

“But it is strange, right? That he didn’t want me to go with him.”

“Maybe he just wants to give you a little space so you can get to know Luna better.”

My head pulls back. “Why would I need him to give me space for that?”

But as the words leave my mouth, I think about the roles being reversed. What if Cole was entertaining the idea of falling in love …

Grandpa reels in his fishing pole, not answering the question. He knows I’ve finally figured it out.

Cole is acting differently because of Luna. I know it doesn’t have anything to do with her personally. It’s the fact that I am making decisions about her without him.

I usually run everything by Cole, but Luna is different. What is happening between her and me is just that … between her and me.

“You boys had to know there would come a time when things would change.”

Why would things change?

But a little voice inside my head tells me they already have.

“It’ll be easier for you,” Grandpa continues. “You’ll have a Luna to ease you through this period. Cole doesn’t have one of those, so you need to give him a little grace. It’s a blessing that Carver is here right now. He’ll be a good distraction for your brother until he finds a Luna of his own, hey?”

“Yeah, I get it now. Why’d you have to go and point all this out?”

He chuckles, picking up his pole and casting it out into the lake. “I wouldn’t be a very good old wise one if I didn’t.”