“Shh.” He winced. “Don’t talk so loud. I think I hit my head last night.”

“You didn’t hit your head, dork, you drank too much,” Logan said. “It’s called a hangover.”

“Seriously? This sucks.”

“He shouldn’t have been drinking anyway,” Levi grumbled.

“It was just a few beers,” Logan said. “He’ll be fine. Drink some water, Gav.”

Mumbling, Gavin got a glass of water and slumped into a chair. I kept cooking breakfast. The eggs started to sizzle, but they weren’t quite ready to turn.

“What did you mean by that, Ash?” Logan asked.

“Mean by what?”

“That Grace has never been like a sister.”

I could hear the suspicion in his voice. This was going to be interesting.

“Just what I said. You guys think of her as a sister. I don’t. And…” I paused to flip the eggs. “I asked her out last night.”

Logan flew to his feet. “Holy shit, Ash. You’re going out with Grace? Wait, are you? Did she say yes?”

I glanced over my shoulder, at the four sets of brown eyes fixed on me. “Yeah, she said yes.”

Logan smacked his hand on the table. “That’s fucking amazing.”

“Logan. Language.” Gram’s muffled voice came from outside.

He gaped at the back door—still closed. “How did she…?”

I plated Logan’s food and set it on the table. “Look, I know this probably seems like it’s coming out of left field. But you guys don’t have anything to worry about. I’m serious about her.”

“I don’t think anyone doubts that,” Levi said. “You don’t need our permission to date her.”

“You could have asked my permission,” Gavin said. “What if I wanted to date her?”

Logan snorted. “You? Gavin, you’re still in high school.”

“So were you until like a month ago. And I won’t always be in high school. She might have waited for me.”

Logan patted him on the back. “I have some hard truths for you, buddy. Grace isn’t going to wait for your balls to drop. And neither is Ms. Hanson.”

My brow furrowed. “Who’s Ms. Hanson?”

“Math teacher.” Logan took a bite of his breakfast.

I shook my head again. Gavin had had crushes on every one of his babysitters from the time he was three, plus a handful of teachers over the years. The girls he actually dated were his own age, so I didn’t worry too much about it. I tended to think he just wanted what he couldn’t have.

“Hey,” Gavin said, pointing at Logan. “Ms. Hanson is a beautiful, intelligent woman, and you never know what might happen after I graduate in a couple of years.”

Levi rolled his eyes. “Gav, your math teacher is not going to date you.”

Gavin scoffed. “You’re just saying that because she wouldn’t date you.”

“I never—” Levi scowled. “Never mind. I’m not having this conversation with you.”

“This sucks,” Logan said around a bite of toast.

“Don’t be a dick, Logan,” Levi said. “Asher didn’t have to make you eggs.”

“No, the food is great,” Logan said, gesturing to his plate. “But I can’t make any inappropriate jokes about Asher going out with someone because it’s Grace. Damn it, Ash, you always ruin my fun.”

I laughed softly and went back to the stove to cook more eggs and toast. My brothers kept talking while I worked. The conversation moved on from me and Grace to Logan and Levi’s training at the fire station and whether the wildfires would be bad this year. Then Evan told them about his girlfriend. Logan cracked a few jokes, Evan threatened to beat him senseless, and I couldn’t help but feel like everything was right with the world.

By the time I handed Levi his breakfast, Gram was coming up the stairs onto the porch. The door let in a breath of fresh summer air before she clicked it closed behind her.

She paused next to the table and the lines around her eyes crinkled with her smile. “Breakfast time for my cubs, I see. You boys better clean up your own dishes.”

She was met with a chorus of “We will” as she went to the sink to wash her hands.

Logan raised his eyebrows at me and mouthed, Did you tell her?

“Did he tell me what?” Gram asked without looking over.

“How does she do that?” he muttered.

I cleared my throat, preparing myself for a repeat of the I thought she was like a sister to you speech. “I asked Grace out on a date.”

Gram turned off the water. “It’s about time.”

Her answer took me by surprise. “What?”

“Oh, come on now,” she said. “I’ve been waiting for you to ask that girl out since you were sixteen. What took you so long?”

“You knew I liked her?”

“I have eyes, don’t I?”

“They didn’t know.” I gestured to my brothers at the table.

She eyed them all like she wasn’t impressed.

“Yeah, well, I’m taking her out tonight.” My date with Grace wasn’t the only big piece of news I had to share. I’d signed the lease on the apartment, but I still hadn’t told them. “Gram, there’s something else I need to tell you.”

Her brown eyes were soft. “What’s that, Bear?”

“I got an apartment in town.”

My brothers all started talking at once.

“What?”

“You’re moving out?”

“An apartment?”

“Where is it?”

“Boys.” Gram hadn’t raised her voice even a notch, but everyone quieted.

I continued. “It’s on Timber Street, so it’s walking distance to pretty much everything. Two bedroom—”

“Dibs,” Logan said.

Levi groaned. “Damn it, Logan.”

“I’ll bunk with you, bro. It’ll be like old times.”

“Old times?” Levi asked. “We share a room now.”

I let out an exasperated breath. “Neither of you are moving in.”

“Then I get dibs,” Gavin said.

“No.”

“Why not?”

I turned to Gram, hoping she’d back me up, but she just smiled.

“Will you guys shut up so I can talk?” I paused for a second. “I’m moving out, by myself. I got a good deal on it, and I figured it was time. That’s about it.”

Gram squeezed my arm. “Big day for you.”

“Yeah. It’s not that I don’t want to live here, I just—”

She put her hand up. “Bear, you’re a man. Of course you’re going to start your own life. It’s how things should be.”

“Thanks.”

She squeezed my arm again. “I’m proud of you. Now, I have to run into town and then I’m meeting Mabel Wheatley for lunch. If I don’t see you later, have a nice time with Grace tonight.”

“I will. Thanks.”

“If there’s a single dish in that sink when I get home, you’re all sleeping outside.” She headed for the stairs, but paused and glanced back at me. “You be a gentleman, Bear. And use protection.”