Page 46 of Carson

“What?”

“We’re going to Ireland,” he says again. “Oh, sorry, Grandpa, this is Luna. Luna, this is Grandpa.”

Dan and his father look at each other as Carson shows me the plane tickets on his phone. “We’ll fly from Reno to Chicago and then to Shannon. I thought it would be less busy than flying into Dublin,” he rattles on.

What is happening?

“I’m going to go pack myself. We need to leave in a few hours.” He starts to jog away. “Wait, do you have a passport?”

I nod.

“Perfect. Don’t forget to grab it,” he yells before disappearing inside the house.

Carson’s grandfather chuckles at the look on my face. “I don’t suppose anyone warned you that we were all a little crazy.”

“Why are we going to Ireland?” I ask him.

“Well, I’m thinking it’s because you might have mentioned something about going there,” he answers.

I immediately think of the conversation I had with Lily about Dan making all of her dreams a reality.

“But what about Cole?” I ask, turning my questions back to Dan.

“Cole is off on his own adventure.”

“But …”

“They’ll find their way back to each other. Like I said, you just remember to be yourself and it will all work out. You’ll see,” he says confidently.

“Do you have an umbrella?” Carson’s grandfather asks. “I hear it can be kind of rainy over there.”

I shake my head.

Dan places his finger under my chin, directing me to look at him. “Keep your face turned toward the sun and you won’t need a damn umbrella.”

Right.

Carson barges out the front door.

“Where are you going now?” his grandfather asks, clearly amused by everything going on.

“To ask Mom if I can borrow her binoculars.”

“For what?”

“To see the puffins,” he hollers, disappearing around the bend.

“What the hell are puffins?” Dan asks.

A smile lights my face, remembering how we read about them in my mother’s journal on our way here. “Birds.”

“Huh, never heard of them.” He sits down to finish the rest of the sandwich I made him.

His father lowers himself into the chair I was just in. “I’ve got the poles in the back of the truck. Want to see if anything’s biting down there?” He nods toward the trees.

“Sounds like a mighty fine plan.” Dan looks up at me. “What the hell are you still standing around for?”

Oh, yeah. I’m going to Ireland.