Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

D awson crouched down to get the pictures Link needed. "He's not going to be happy about this."

Heck, Dawson wasn't happy about it. "Blasted owls," he muttered as he moved his phone to get a different angle. The resulting picture showed the bright yellow orbs of owl eyes in the den, and Dawson got to his feet.

Cawing sounded overhead, and Dawson looked up to find his two inky friends circling. He straightened, feeling a bit lightheaded for being crouched down and looking up, and he took a moment to get his bearings.

As he moved away from the property line between Shiloh Ridge and Hidden Hills, he whistled through his teeth, though he didn't believe for a moment that Nugget and Rocks couldn't see him .

Nugget tried to imitate him, but he didn't whistle well. They did descend toward him, but Dawson had started walking back down the fence line. They could fly alongside him the way Ruffin trotted at his side, or they could hop along the fence posts if they wanted.

Rocks, of course, had something gripped in one of his claws, and that only made Dawson smile. As much as anything these days, though he'd definitely taken his flirting game to a new level with Caroline.

"Yeah," he huffed out as his boots caught on a clod of dirt and he nearly face-planted. "You still haven't been out with her."

She sure seemed interested in him. She called him when she needed help. She responded to all of his texts, with funny memes and videos of her own. She laughed and flirted right back. So maybe the ball was in his court, and he hadn't even known it.

"No," he muttered. "You asked her three nights ago if she'd talked to Belle, and she gave you the thumbs-down." Dawson wasn't going to ask her out again until he felt certain she could say yes.

And then actually go on the date.

It cost him too much emotionally and mentally, and frankly, he was running out of pink sticky notes, as he used one every time he needed to remind himself to text Caroline. He wondered if she realized most of his texts came after three o'clock or in the evening, and he vowed to keep his barn-office locked so she' d never see his to-do list…. After all, she wouldn't want to know he had to plan to text her.

Nugget cawed again, calling him back to the present, and Dawson slowed his step to smile at the crow who'd just landed on the fence post a few feet from him. "Hey, you." He smiled at the bird, wondering if he could give him a stroke the way he did his dog.

Rocks swooped in, nearly flapping Dawson in the face with his wings, and he dropped the object in his foot. Dawson didn't have the reflexes of a ninja, unfortunately, and the item thudded into the dirt at his feet.

That seemed heavy, and he bent to pick it up. Confusion puckered through him. He couldn't make sense of the bends of metal, but as he straightened, he realized what he had.

"A belt buckle," he said, his smile growing wider. Silver and shiny, it glinted in all the right ways to attract Rocks's attention. "Clever thing." He pocketed the belt buckle and nodded down the fence. "C'mon, guys. We've got to get back in service to call Link."

Nugget cawed and took off, but Rocks hopped from post to post as Dawson made the trek back to where the burrowing owls lived on his ranch. He'd parked near there, as the road didn't go much further.

"Uncle Dawson," someone called as he got closer, and he found April waving her hand above her head as if he might miss her.

Something heavy settled in his stomach, because it wasn't even lunchtime yet, on a school day. "Hey, you," he said as he went past his truck and toward her. He realized he'd just spoken with the same level of care and concern to his niece as he had a crow, but no one else needed to know that.

April stood at the enclosure marking the owls, and Dawson moved to her side. "What are you doin' here?"

She cut him a look out of the corner of her eye. Oh, so nothing good. "I couldn't go to school today."

"You couldn't ? Or…why couldn't you go to school today?"

"It's not my fault, and as soon as Momma and Daddy meet with my history teacher, they'll know that."

Dawson sighed internally, but if he wanted April to keep coming around and telling him things, he couldn't let it out of his mouth.

"Still got the owls," she said.

"Yeah." He sighed now. "Still got the owls." He gazed at the dens, no birds in sight.

"Heya, Nugget." April grinned at the big crow as he came down again. "Can't you chase off these pesky owls for Uncle Dawson?"

That would be sublime, but Nugget simply put his beady crow eye on April and cawed right in her face.

"I'm going to take that as a no," she said calmly.

Dawson chuckled, and he turned toward his truck. "I have to take some measurements of the dens. You can hold one end. "

"Yes, sir," she said, scampering to come after him. She didn't say anything, but her mind moved all the time, and if Dawson waited long enough, she'd talk. Sure enough, they'd barely reached the tailgate of his truck before she added, "It's really not my fault that Morgan can't be in my group. I've been keepin' track, and she never helps in a group project. Literally, never. Tami and Bri didn't want her in the group either; I'm just the one who'll say something."

"Mm hm." Dawson pulled a tape measure from the toolbox in the back of his truck. "So your momma and daddy are down in town right now?"

"Yes." She sighed. "And you should see my mom. She stomps around like she's never done anything wrong." She blew out her breath. "And I know she has. It's not like she's perfect."

Dawson looked over to her. "No, missy, she ain't, but that doesn't mean she doesn't want you to be better."

April looked at him, storms in her eyes, and so much confusion among the trust. "I…." She exhaled again and reached to slam the box closed. "I know. She says I have to learn to tame my tongue. Not to let everything I think—even if it's right—come out of my mouth."

Dawson thought of Caroline, and how tongue-tied she'd been in her first marriage. She'd told him a bit more about it since last week's roof rescue, and he didn't know the right thing to say here. God did, so Dawson turned to buy himself a quick moment to pray .

"Hm," he said. "She might be right, but you don't have to make yourself smaller to make someone else feel good about themselves."

"I—" April cut off as she came to his side. "Really, Uncle Dawson?"

He gave her a grin. "Okay, so here's how I see it, little miss. You've got two things working against you all the time, so you're gonna have to work harder than others to be nice."

"Two things working against me?"

Dawson nodded. "Your momma's red hair—that so gives you a fiery temper, and you just haven't learned how to let it burn out before you speak. But you will." He gave her a grin she seemed to need desperately. "And your daddy's grumpy-cat attitude about literally everything."

He spoke the last sentence with plenty of dryness in his tone. April laughed right out loud, and that made Dawson so happy. Thank you, Lord , he thought. Because God had given him the right thing to say, and all Dawson had had to do was open his mouth and let the words come out.

Maybe he needed to do the same thing with Caroline.

"You're pretty grumpy too, Uncle Dawson," she said.

"Yeah, well, you've met Grandpa."

She giggled again, sobering quickly this time. "Uncle Brandon's not like that. "

"He's the youngest. Never got treated like me and your daddy." He glanced over to her. "So don't lie to me and tell me Shiloh has nothing to do with this."

April made a scowly face and looked away, which answered Dawson just fine. "I wish she'd gotten some of momma's fiery temper," she muttered. "But no. Oh, no . Shiloh has perfect grades, and Shiloh is perfectly beautiful, and Shiloh is kind to everyone."

Shiloh was all of those things, and it wasn't bad. It simply made April stand out when she wasn't, well, Shiloh.

"And the boys get away with murder, because Momma and Daddy are too tired to make them do anything."

Dawson chuckled as they neared the owl dens. "Now you know why Uncle Brandon isn't as salty as me and your daddy." He paused, the tape measure in his hand. "And hey, April?"

He rarely used her name, so when he did, she perked up and looked at him. She shone with so much radiance, and Dawson could see it. "Two things, okay? Can you listen to me on these two things?"

She scuffed her toe in the dirt and looked down at her cowgirl boots while she did. "I'll try," she murmured.

"Can't ask for more than that." Dawson took a breath, trying to decide how to start. "One, you know your daddy left Three Rivers for a long time, right?"

Her eyes flew back to his. "Yes, sir."

"Have your parents talked about this with you?"

"A little," she admitted. "They haven't told any of the other kids, but I think—well, honestly, Uncle Dawson, I think they think I'm going to be this rebellious heathen, and they're trying anything they can to show me that's not the path I want to go down."

He gave her a genuine smile and pulled her into his chest. "I love you, April Rivers. Don't you ever forget that."

Her arms came around him and gripped him tightly, telling him how much she needed to hear that. "Is that the second thing?" she asked, her voice high and tinny.

"Not quite." He hugged her tight too. "It's just a universal truth you have to remember, no matter where you are or what you're doing. Deal?"

She nodded and stepped back, her hand coming up to wipe her eyes. She focused on the owls and wouldn't look away. Her waiting game.

"Okay," he said. "I wasn't close to your daddy when everything happened, but I could see he wasn't happy. He never was, no matter where he went or what he did. Not until he came back and set things right here in town. With Grandpa, with everyone involved."

He didn't want to say too much, as this wasn't his story to tell. "And I can tell you this, missy, I've never seen him more broken, and then I've never seen a man change more powerfully than your daddy. He knows the bad and the ugly, and he is trying to save you from it. "

She nodded and sniffled again. Dawson had felt the power of his own words, and he figured he didn't need to say any more.

"Second thing." He pulled out the end of the tape measure and handed it to her. "Get on down on the other end. We gotta see if this is expanding."

She moved that way without a word, but April wore everything out for everyone to see. They moved into position, but Dawson didn't bend to put the tape measure on the ground. He stood there, the long, yellow, metal tape measuring the distance between them and looked her right in the eye.

"You do not need to be Shiloh, ever. I see you, missy, and you are exactly who you're meant to be."

Her face crumpled, and she started to cry right in front of him. And April did not cry, hardly ever. He'd seen her take a hammer to the thumb and only yell out and then whimper when he put ice on it.

"God knows who you are," he said. "He gave you all this fire and all this passion, and He's expecting you to figure out how to mold it, and tame it, and turn it into something that can be used for something amazing."

She nodded and wiped her face with her free hand.

"God gave you exactly your momma and your daddy. Not someone else's. They know how to be Shiloh's parents, but they're still learning how to be yours. The Lord wants that for them, and He figured because you're so amazing and so strong and so perfectly you, that you could bear with them while they learn and grow and change and learn how to be your momma and daddy."

Dawson couldn't remember when he'd spoken so many words out loud, and he bent down and put the tape on the ground. April did the same, and he snapped a picture of the measurement with his phone in his free hand.

As he straightened, she did too, and they lifted the tape over the fence as she walked toward him. She gave it back to him and moved in to hug him again. "I just feel so…wired all the time."

"Yeah," he whispered as he stroked her hair. "That's because you've got some ADHD in your blood, baby. I know, because I do too."

She pulled back and searched his face. "Momma said the doctor said?—"

"Yeah, I know," Dawson said quietly. "And I'm not ADHD, but OCD. It's a lot of the same nervous energy, but it manifests itself in different ways. And I'm no doctor—I don't know exactly what your momma has taken you in for."

He took a big breath and faced the western sky. Rocks and Nugget had flown off at some point, and Ruffin waited in the shade of the truck, back several paces. "Mine's diagnosed, missy. I cope with some meds and a long run in the morning, a meticulous calendar, and sticky notes. "

"I love your sticky notes," she said. "That's how I knew you'd be out here this morning."

Horror washed through his embarrassment as he sliced a look at her. "You went in my office this morning?"

"For like, two seconds."

Which meant yes, and that she'd seen the copious number of pink sticky notes.

April faced the western sky too, and asked, "Would you listen to me on one thing?"

Dawson's heartbeat hadn't settled back to its normal rhythm yet, but he said, "Yeah, I'll try."

"I saw all your pink notes about Caroline."

"Mm hm."

"You know what I think you should do?"

"Oh, I can't wait to hear this," he said dryly. "And if you see Smiles, you just tell him that all his jokes and memes have done nothing."

"Smiles told you to…do what, exactly?"

"Text her a lot," he said. "Funny stuff and…I don't know." He had the sudden urge to pat down his pockets for his phone, just to make sure it wasn't lying around somewhere April might be able to see it and be a witness to his pathetic attempt to be top-of-mind for Caroline.

"Well, he would know," she said. "Smiles is super popular. All the girls like him. "

"Yeah, but."

"Okay, just listen." April turned toward him and grinned. "This will work, I'm sure of it."

When she didn't go on, Dawson growled. "Daylight's burning, missy, and Grandma said she'd feed me lunch today. So spit it out."

"Next time you see her, you just kiss her."

Dawson blinked, sure he hadn't just gotten kissing advice from his fourteen-year-old niece. Nope. Not happening. "Kiss her?" he blurted back to her.

"She'll like it," April said, her smile so, so wide. "And then you tell her you just couldn't wait another minute to do that, and you're real sorry, but she's just so beautiful and you haven't been able to stop thinking about her."

All true, but Dawson wasn't sure he'd be sorry when he kissed Caroline. He also wasn't sure without any dates at all that it wouldn't totally kill their still budding relationship. After all, no woman he'd kissed in the past couple of years had lit a fire in him at all.

"Girls like that," April said.

"She's not a girl," Dawson said. "She's a woman."

"She'll still like it." April looked at her smart watch as it beeped. "Ugh, Daddy says they're fifteen minutes away, and I better be at the house when they get there." She looked up, gave him a fierce look, and dove into his arms again. "I love you, Uncle Dawson."

"And I love you, April Rivers." He released her and gave her a slight push. "Go on, now. You'll have to pedal fast to get back in fifteen minutes."

She nodded and jogged toward the mountain bike she'd thrown to the ground upon her arrival. "Bye, Uncle Dawson!"

"Come for dinner," he said after her. "To tell me everything."

She waved, picked up the bike, and off she went, leaving Dawson with the burrowing owls, the blustering sky, and his own thoughts.

"Next time you see her, kiss her." He scoffed. What a terrible idea. Of course he wasn't going to do that. With a woman like Caroline, he'd probably end up with a broken nose or a fat lip if he even tried.

He pulled out his phone and texted Link. You're going to hate me. You've got owls on the property line. I've got pictures.

Link had found a den further north, and he'd asked Dawson to check the line, because it was quite hilly and filled with trees on their side of the fence.

You're right , Link sent back. I hate you. He sent a laughing emoji after that.

Then, siiiigh. Don't send the pictures. I don't want to see them and be more depressed. I'll get up there this afternoon myself. Can I come over to your side?

Anytime , Dawson said, and he glanced up at the sound of tires crunching over gravel. Why was everyone coming out here this afternoon? How many more people had been in his office, snooping through his schedule?

The very idea had his blood running cold.

Or maybe that came from the gorgeous sight of Caroline, who currently stopped her SUV right in front of him, her smile sitting prettily on those lips April had told him to "just kiss."