Page 28 of Knot Your Sugar Rush (Starling Grove #2)
Chapter twenty-eight
Dane
T he duffel bag hits the floor with a heavy thud, kicking up a puff of dust from the wooden floorboards.
I give it a look like it personally offended me before unzipping it.
Jamie's already tossing rolled-up t-shirts into his bag like he's on autopilot, and Theo’s double-checking the first-aid kit for the third time.
“You bringing that emergency whistle again?” Jamie asks, flashing Theo a grin over his shoulder.
“Yes,” Theo says evenly. “Because last time someone got us lost hiking, and we had no signal.”
Jamie puts a hand to his chest. “You said go left. I went left. It was a very ambiguous tree, Theo.”
I tune them out with a half-smile, folding an extra sweatshirt and stowing it in my bag. Their bickering is a comfort—familiar, easy. Like nothing's changing. Like everything is still how it was before that meeting.
But it isn’t.
The voice of the executive from Ember Coast Properties echoes in my head.
“With your experience, Dane, we could have you leading regional operations by the end of the year. We need someone steady. Someone who can scale this. You could build something so much bigger.”
I didn’t say yes. But I didn’t say no either.
And the longer I think about it, the more it feels like the only door that hasn’t been closed.
“You’re quiet,” Theo says, breaking into my thoughts.
I glance up. He’s standing across from me, one brow lifted, a flashlight in one hand.
Jamie looks over, too. “Too quiet. Suspiciously quiet. What’s up, man?”
I zip up my duffel. “Nothing. Just thinking.”
“About leaving?” Theo asks, too casually.
I go still.
Jamie exhales and flops onto the couch. “We figured.”
I nod once. No use pretending. “I had a meeting. Ember Coast. They want me to come run expansion projects with them. Big stuff. City contracts. New builds.”
Silence stretches across the room. Theo lowers himself onto the arm of the couch, thoughtful. Jamie's bouncing his knee.
“You thinking of taking it?” Jamie asks.
I shrug. “I haven’t decided. But it’s a chance to grow. To build something bigger.”
“We were building something,” Theo says quietly.
“We still are,” I say. “This wouldn’t stop that. We could manage the properties here remotely. You guys could stay. Do your thing.”
Jamie frowns. “That was never the dream, Dane. You know that. It was always all three of us. Together.”
I drop into the chair across from them, resting my forearms on my knees. “Dreams change. People do too.”
They don’t say anything right away.
Then Jamie looks up. “Is this about Cam?”
The question lands with more weight than I expect. I rub the back of my neck.
“She complicates it,” I admit. “In the best way. But this... I was thinking about it before she came along.”
Theo watches me, his expression unreadable. “So why suggest the island trip?”
I shrug. “Because it sounded like fun. Because I wanted one last adventure before I decide. Maybe the last one we take together.”
The words hang there, heavy and bitter.
Jamie picks up a rolled pair of socks and throws them at me. They bounce off my chest.
“Ass,” he says lightly. But there's emotion in it.
I grin, just a little. “Still packing though, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m not missing out on mysterious flowers and candy witches.”
Theo finally smiles. “I packed extra bandages. Someone always gets scraped up.”
Their teasing starts again, easy and warm, but I can feel the shift underneath it. They don’t want me to go.
And some part of me—the part that still believes in that big shared dream of ours—doesn’t either.
But I can’t ignore what this new offer means. What it could lead to.
So I pack my things.
And I tell myself there’s still time to figure it all out.
After the island. After the flower.
After Cam.