“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 workharderthan 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 backto his. “Yes, sir.”