Chapter 13 #2
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.”