Thomas never thought he was a late sleeper, but when he woke up after the first night, he was alone in the tent. Groggily, he pulled himself out of his sleeping bag and stretched. He had to admit, he was surprised how well he had slept.

Stepping out of the tent, he looked around the site. A morning fire was burning low, and Logan was in one of the collapsible lawn chairs beside it, reading a book. He didn’t see Briar or his father.

“‘Morning.” Thomas nodded to Logan as he sat in another chair.

Logan glanced up. “Hi.” He gave a weak smile before turning away again.

Thomas wasn’t one for sitting in silence when he wasn’t alone. At least, not when he didn’t have a grudge against the person he was sitting with. “Where’s Briar?”

“They both went for a morning hike.” Thomas thought he detected amusement in Logan’s reply.

“Not your cup of tea?”

Logan laughed and shook his head. Then he looked up again. “Speaking of tea, do you want coffee?”

“There’s coffee out here?” Thomas hadn’t known what to expect when camping, so he had just prepared himself to give up everything about a normal morning routine.

Logan set his book down and went over to the picnic table, where a camping stove had been set up. He fiddled with it and soon had a pot of what Thomas assumed was water boiling. Then he started rummaging in the box of food.

Thomas watched him for a while, but then got curious about his book. He leaned over to see the cover. “‘The Lonely Moon’.” He whispered the title to himself, mulling it over.

“It’s just a cheesy romance.” Thomas looked up to find Logan looking at him, a carton of milk in his hand. He raised the milk slightly. “Do you take milk in your coffee?”

“Uh, yeah.” Thomas turned away, embarrassed. “Sorry.”

“‘Bout what?” Logan came over and handed him a metal mug of coffee. “You didn’t do anything.”

Thomas nodded and sipped his coffee. Despite what Logan said, he felt like he had intruded on his privacy. “Is it a good book?”

Logan hummed. “I like it, but it’s definitely not for everyone.” He glanced over, taking a sip from a mug of his own. “Do you like to read?”

“I read ‘Good Night Moon’ a lot as a kid.”

Logan snorted, then erupted in laughter. “Please tell me…” He gasped out. “That you’ve read more than that in your life.”

Thomas chuckled. “Yeah, we read some novels in English class. I also read biographies sometimes.”

“Any good ones?”

He told Logan about which biographies he found inspiring, and briefly touched on which ones gave off the impression bragging. Then he asked Logan about his own reading habits. It turned out that Logan had a book collection that could rival a small library.

They were still chatting when Briar got back. She joined them when Logan asked her a question about her comic collection. Briar was only too glad to educate them on the intricacies of comic universes and lore.