Chapter 6

Chapter Six

C aroline hated the way the scratchy fabric of her shorts rubbed on her legs. She hated that she was even wearing her uniform today, but she was acting on official business this morning as she had to go into the office to get the supplies she needed to take to Hidden Hills Ranch.

In the kitchen, she still stumbled slightly when she saw Judy sitting there, a poured bowl of cereal in front of her, reading the back of the box. Pure nostalgia hit her, as Caroline had once spent her carefree childhood mornings doing the same thing. Except she'd had siblings, and Judy was an only-child.

"Morning, munchkin," Caroline said as she started making coffee. "Is your mom up yet?"

"Nope." Judy's skinny legs swung over the front of the chair. "Can you get more of this cookie cereal?" She bumped the box with her spoon. "This is almost gone."

Caroline looked over to her, so many things streaming through her. "Sure, baby. I can get some after I get done on this ranch I have to go to this morning."

"Thanks, Aunt Carol."

She smiled as she measured grounds and set the coffee to brew. Part of her wanted to march down the hall and get Belle out of bed. Her daughter needed her, and Caroline did have to go to work for a little bit this morning. Perhaps Judy could come , she thought but didn't say.

Her day wasn't mapped out or anything, and she wasn't meant to be in the office today at all. A quick check of her work email on her phone showed that Dawson had not filled out his paperwork and submitted it overnight, and she'd have been surprised if he had.

Still, a sting struck her in the bottom of her lungs. Ignoring it, she set about making a piece of toast to go with her coffee. Maybe, if she was lucky, she could get the supplies from the office and get up to Hidden Hills, get the fence built, and be done before lunch.

She loved eating out, and she didn't mind having lunch on her own. Then, she could come back here and see if Belle was going to get dressed today or not. "Maybe we can go to the petting zoo today," she said to Judy. "Do you think your mom would like that?"

"Yes," Judy said instantly. "Yes, she loves petting zoos." She appeared at Caroline's side. "I'll get her up and we can go."

"Oh, honey, it'll be later this afternoon. I have to go into work this morning."

Judy's face fell, and Caroline wondered if having Belle and Judy here was really the best thing for them. Her stomach pinched with worry, because she didn't know what to do. When Belle had called and said she and Judy were leaving Phoenix and they needed a place to stay, Caroline hadn't even thought about it. She'd simply said yes.

"Baby." Caroline bent down to be on the child's level. "It's just a couple of hours this morning. Then we'll get some lunch and go to the petting zoo." She watched her solo lunch disappear from her day in a poof, and she told herself family was worth it. Because they were.

The scent of coffee started to perfume the air, and Caroline pressed a kiss to the middle of Judy's forehead and then got down a mug for her coffee. "I'll go check on your mom." She glanced over to the table. "You're done eating?"

"Yes."

"Clean up your dishes then." Caroline gave her a quick look, and Judy went to do what she'd been asked. Caroline sighed and headed back down the hallway she'd already come down. Gondola came out of her bedroom and meowed, and Caroline smiled at the feline. "I'll get your breakfast in a minute."

She paused outside the door of Belle's room, leaning in to listen for any signs of life. Hearing nothing, she knocked lightly and then pushed open the door. Belle lay in bed, her curtains drawn closed with only a sliver of the morning light trying to penetrate the darkness.

"Belle." Caroline stepped toward her with light feet, wishing she could just let her older sister sleep until the pain of her fresh divorce disappeared. But Caroline knew from personal experience that she couldn't.

A person had to live through that pain, learning how to manage it, how to deal with it when it snuck up behind them, and how to cope on really bad days. Caroline still had moments of extreme self-doubt and then pure preservation, making vows to never date or marry again.

She thought of Dawson and those pretty aquamarine eyes. She gently stroked Belle's hair off her forehead and said, "Hey, Belle. I have to go to work soon."

Her sister stirred, and then her eyes opened blearily. "You have to go to work today?"

"Just for a couple of hours," she said. She knelt down on the floor and gazed at her sister. Such love filled her. "Judy can just watch TV. I just wanted you to know she's eaten breakfast, and I'm headed out in the next ten minutes or so."

"I'll get up," Belle said .

"There's some of that cinnamon chip bread," she said. "For toast."

Belle smiled, and that made Caroline's heart lift. Still, so much worry weighed her down, and she stroked her hand along her sister's hairline again. "What do you need today?"

Belle's eyes drifted closed again. "Nothing. I'm okay."

"Look through some of the menus for anything on the south side of town, and text me what you and Judy want for lunch. I'll get it and bring it back."

"Okay."

Caroline got to her feet, wishing God would ease this pain from her sister. She didn't understand why the world had to have so many problems at all. Couldn't the Lord erase the evil from the world?

She knew He could, but standing there in her sister's dim bedroom, she also knew He wouldn't. No one could learn in a perfectly peaceful environment, and God needed her—and Belle—to exercise their faith and grow into the women He wanted them to be.

"Belle," she said, the confession about her date with Dawson that night about to spill from her. But she didn't know how to tell her. Would Belle be happy for her or disgusted and hurt?

She swallowed and said, "Coffee's ready," instead of telling her about her evening plans.

By the time she made the turn onto Dawson's ranch, her sister had texted to say she was up and showered, and she'd have Judy ready for their lunch and afternoon outing to the petting zoo. The wind blew across her SUV, shaking it enough to push her around a little bit, and Caroline gripped the steering wheel as she went up the slight incline and onto the ranch.

Duke's house sat out front, and this morning, a few kids were working in the yard while a woman sat on the front steps with a cup of coffee in her hand. She watched as Caroline drove by, and she'd never felt more scrutinized in her life.

She also couldn't remember her name, so Caroline simply kept going. She didn't need to stop by Dawson's cabin, because she'd texted him when she'd left the office with the supplies, and he'd said he'd be out on the West End Fence to help her erect the protections.

The wind continued to bully her as she drove past Dawson's cabin and onto the narrower road. She made the same turns Dawson had yesterday, and after she made the last one, she found his truck there, along with a pretty horse the color of ripe peaches. Semi-orange, semi-brown, semi-glossy.

"He's beautiful," she said to herself. He also didn't have a rider, but spoke to the fact that Caroline wouldn't find Dawson alone out here.

Sure enough, he and another man started approaching Caroline before she'd even come to a complete stop. The other cowboy stood a couple of inches taller than Dawson and had blonde hair peeking out from under his dark cowboy hat.

She got out of the SUV and nearly got blown right back in. Both cowboys pressed their palms to their heads to keep their hats on, and Caroline's hair whipped around until she could gather it all into one fist.

"Wow," she yelled above the wind. "This is insane." The air died on her last word, leaving her shouting into near stillness. Of course. Just her luck.

Thankfully, Dawson smiled at her and said, "Good morning."

"Morning." She glanced over to the other cowboy, who had two dogs orbiting him like satellites. "Hello." She stuck out her hand. "I'm Caroline Thompson."

"This is Lincoln Glover," Dawson said. "He wanted to come see what we're dealing with, as Shiloh Ridge is due north of here."

"Yes, Shiloh Ridge," she said, going into secretary mode. "You filed your paperwork a few months ago." She worked very hard not to look at Dawson, lest she wore any sort of accusation in her eyes. She gave Lincoln a clinical smile, which he returned in kind.

"Yes, ma'am," Lincoln said, his voice low and rumbly. "It's great to meet you. I think you originally sent paperwork to my uncle. Ward Glover?"

"That sounds about right," Caroline said. "I believe someone else too. Y'all have a couple of foremen at Shiloh Ridge, don't you? "

Lincoln grinned. "Three, ma'am. I'm the junior foreman." He shot a glance at Dawson. "Recently."

Dawson smiled at him and clapped his friend on the back. "Link helps steer a tight ship."

Lincoln shook his head, but his smile sat right there on his face. "I'm planning to ride our west side today and see where we are." He glanced over to Dawson and then back to her, an expression on his face she couldn't quite read as his smile faded. "I'm taking my prickliest uncle, so that should be fun."

Caroline didn't know any of the Glovers at Shiloh Ridge Ranch, so she couldn't speak to the fun-ness of Lincoln's upcoming task. She met Dawson's eyes again. "How are they looking this morning?" she asked, hugging herself.

"There are eight that I can see," Dawson said, his growly voice striking all kinds of chords inside her. They vibrated and hummed into a beautiful harmony, and heat rose past Caroline's lungs, tickling them as it eased into her throat.

"More than yesterday."

"Four hundred percent more," he said, looking past her to her vehicle. "Let's get the supplies out and get this done before it starts raining."

"Is it supposed to rain today?" She looked up into the sky as if she hadn't seen it yet. Clouds filled it, but they didn't look like the thick, dense, heavy gray ones that would drop gallons of rain in only a few minutes .

"Later, yes," he said. "I've got other work to do outside, so I just need this done."

So he was going to be Grumpy Gus this morning. Fine. She could play that game for now. She opened the back of her SUV and let the cowboys gather the wood, fencing, and tools they might need.

Shivering, Caroline reached into the back seat to get her jacket, and she quickly thrust her arms into the sleeves as the wind picked up again. She could wield a hammer and nails, but the cowboys were ten times faster and more capable than her, and it didn't take long for her to instruct them to build a fence around them with a perimeter of fifteen feet so the owls could still come and go from their new dens.

"There," she said. "And now it's up to the owls to decide what they do." Satisfied, she looked over to Dawson. He had a smudge of dirt on his cheekbone, and he struck her as rugged and sexy as he pulled off his gloves. Lincoln did the same thing, and the two cowboys shook hands.

"I better call Uncle Cactus and get goin'," Lincoln said, glancing up into the sky. "This doesn't look good."

"At least it's not a dry summer, so the ground won't soak up the rain."

Caroline looked between them. "What's…what's that about?"

"A couple of summers ago, we got so much rain," Lincoln said .

"The whole town flooded," Dawson said, and she liked the two of them telling this story tandem. She smiled at them both, her eyebrows lifting up.

"It wasn't bad up here," Lincoln said. "We're a bit higher, and the river doesn't branch until down in town."

"So much of the town flooded," Dawson said. "And yeah, the ranches north and along all the branches where Three Rivers actually branches into three rivers."

"Remember Alex's place?" Lincoln looked at Dawson, the two of them clearly close. "Those sinkholes?"

"Unbelievable," Dawson said as he shook his head. He looked back at Caroline. "I know we seem like a small town where not much happens, but you stick around a while, and you'll see."

Caroline tucked her hands into her jacket pockets. "See what?" She looked over to Lincoln. "Floods? Fires? Snow?"

"I reckon," Lincoln said. "All of the above." He swatted at Dawson's chest. "Remember the year we couldn't get off Shiloh Ridge, because the snow caused a landslide?"

"And the fire in the apartment complex that brought Misty up to your ranch."

Lincoln laughed, his blonde head tipping back. The wind decided to kick up again, and it stole his cowboy hat from him. That cut his laughter short, but it didn't stop it completely. Dawson took a step closer to her as Lincoln went to chase his hat.

"Misty is his fiancée. They got back together a bit ago after a fire in her apartment complex." He glanced over to Lincoln, clear admiration and brotherly love in his expression.

"So you have friends," she said.

He met her gaze again, and she wondered if he could see the teasing flirtatiousness she felt racing through her bloodstream. "Of course I have friends. Did you think I wouldn't?"

"I'm still getting the bigger picture of you," she admitted.

Lincoln returned and said, "Hey, call me if y'all want to double. I bet we could get Finn and Alex too." He glanced over to Caroline, something uncertain in his eyes now. "But maybe that's too many."

"It's fine," Dawson clipped out, finally tearing his eyes from Caroline's. "I'll call you, brother." He threw one arm around Lincoln and gave him a quick clap on the shoulder. "Tell your momma and daddy hello. That mess of cousins and aunts and uncles."

"Yep." Lincoln embraced Dawson the same way and pulled back. "And you come get that pot of soup, or I'm gonna have my aunt blowing up my phone all night."

"I'll come get it."

"I ain't got time to be fielding texts from Etta," he said sternly, but his blue eyes sparkled as if someone had plugged them in and set them on fire at the same time.

Dawson laughed this time and said, "I'm not going to pass up free food from literally the best cook y'all have at that ranch." He cut a look over to Caroline. "I'll come get it."

"Oh, don't let Bishop hear you say Etta's the best cook." Lincoln chuckled again and settled his hat on his head. "Ma'am." He nodded his way away from her, and Caroline actually turned and watched him walk back to where he'd tied his horse. He unlooped the reins, then swung into the saddle like he did it every hour.

He probably did.

"He didn't drive?" she wondered.

"The Glovers are a special breed of cowboy," Dawson murmured back. "Great men and women there." He took a big breath, which seemed to break the quiet moment.

She inhaled too and turned to face him. Every time she looked at him, she saw someone and something different. The man had close friends, and things he'd been through with them. He had a past. He had different moods, and laughter she'd never heard before. He had family she hadn't met, and suddenly, she couldn't wait to do that.

"You know those shoes you have by your front door?" she asked .

Dawson blinked a couple of times, clearly surprised. "I suppose."

"Who do they belong to?"

He backed up a step. "You want to know who the shoes by my front door belong to?"

"They were too small to be yours or Brandon's."

He cocked up the corners of his mouth, like he knew something she didn't. "You haven't met Brandon. Maybe he's real short, with small feet."

She blinked too, a vein of cold shock filling her for a moment. Then everything in her body warmed when she realized Dawson Rhinehart could make a joke. "Just tell me who the shoes belong to."

He chuckled and ducked his head as he shook it. She doubted he knew how adorable that was, but she felt real feelings streaming through her at the mere sight of him.

Dawson raised his head, something blazing in those oceanic eyes. "Can we talk out of the wind? Maybe on the way back to the ranch? I really do have things to do today if I'm to be showered and on your doorstep by six."

"I said—" She silenced when he reached out and brushed his fingertips along her cheek, finally giving true weight to his touch as he tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear.

"Six is just fine," he drawled.

She suspected he was saying more than that, but Caroline had gone numb and still at his touch. He nodded past her and said, "Let's go, Ruffin."

The dog went by her, and she let Dawson turn her back toward their vehicles. "I drove myself," she said dumbly.

"Can I hold your hand?" he murmured, but he didn't wait for her to say yes or no. He simply slid his gloves into his back pocket with one hand and with his other, he claimed her fingers with his own.

She pulled in a breath that another gust of wind thankfully stole the sound of, and somehow got her legs to start walking with him.

"I was thinking of doing a little sightseeing tonight," he said. "But we might have to raincheck that if it's raining."

"Sightseeing?"

"You seem interested in knowing some of the history of the town," he said, glancing over to her. "Unless I misread the situation completely. But?—"

"No, you're right," she said, finally coming back to herself. "I wanted to be a history major in college, but I didn't want to teach."

"Is that all you can do?"

"No, but none of the job opportunities excited me."

"So you moved into wildlife management?"

"I don't like working at a desk."

Dawson didn't respond for a beat, and then he said, "I hate it too, and I think that might be the first thing we have in common."

Caroline scoffed, though her brain whirred through what else they might both like. "That's not true," she said. "We both like over-easy eggs."

He huffed out a couple beats of laughter. "True." He exhaled and squeezed her hand. "I'll watch the weather, but it's not that fun to be out in the rain."

"Mm, no, it isn't." She watched the ground at her feet, existing in a state of excitement mingled with disbelief that she was holding someone's hand and talking about a date later that night. She'd never thought she'd be here again. In fact, she'd sworn not to put herself in this position again.

Her heartbeat throbbed painfully against her ribcage, her most vital organ feeling far too big for her chest. "So you'll watch the weather," she said as they reached the vehicles.

"Yeah," he said. "I'll watch the weather." He pulled open her door for her, and Caroline smiled shyly at him as she stepped past him and got behind the wheel. "See you at six, beautiful."

With that, he closed her door and moved over to his truck without a backward glance.

Caroline gripped the wheel with both hands and left the West End Fence ahead of Dawson, her eyes straight forward but not seeing anything. "Dear Lord," she pray-moaned. "What am I doing? What am I going to tell Belle?"