Page 144 of Carson

Luna and I couldn’t be closer.

Are we intimate yet? No, but that is okay.

We’ve established a few more comfortable touch zones. It’s been slow progress, but her bare skin against mine is more than enough. She’s always so warm and soft and she smells like the cotton candy body wash she uses.

In a way I feel like we have something unique. We’re not like other couples, and I’m okay with that. We’re weaving our souls together. That is the kind of relationship that lasts.

“Did you find any good ones?” I ask as she steps out of the trees.

She holds up her bucket and smiles. “Oh my gosh. You’re not going to believe what I found!”

I meet her down by the camper. She’s already sitting on the ground, going through them.

She spends a lot of time outside, but I don’t mind. I know living with three men can’t be easy for her. She and I moved up to the second floor of the cabin, so we do have quite a bit of space for ourselves. Carver moved into our old room. And we’ve turned the van into her she-shed.

“Doesn’t it remind you of Ireland?” she asks, handing me a shiny green rock.

“It does. It reminds me of the Wicklow Forest.”

“Right?”

She continues digging through her treasures. Luna softens me every day, and I don’t mind it one fucking bit.

“Where are the guys?”

“The two of them ran up to Reno.”

“Are they on a mission?”

“No. Carver is picking up a part for his bike, and that was the closest place he could find one. They thought they’d make a night of it, maybe hit the casinos.”

“Oh, you could have gone.”

“I didn’t want to.”

She smiles, taking me at my word.

I love that about us.

“Was that thunder?” I ask.

Luna nods. “Yeah, it’s been doing that for a while.”

We both look up at the sky and it’s as if a giant faucet turns on.

“Oh, shit!” I say, pulling her to her feet.

“Oh, wait. I’ve got to close the windows in the van.”

We do, and by the time we get finished it’s really pouring.

I hold her hand, blinking back raindrops. You can hardly see the house from here. Luna slips, yanking on my arm. I try to help her up, but she slides away from me, pulling me down with her.

We laugh, but when the thunder cracks we both scramble to our feet, rushing inside. She gets there first, holding the door open for me. We close it as another clap of thunder booms outside.

“Oh my god,” she says, looking at my muddy clothes and then her own.

“I’m so glad Cole and Carver are gone. We would have gotten so much shit about this.”