“Okay.” She exhaled. “I’m goingto go call for Chinese and let Dawson know that we’re on for this weekend.”
“Okay,” Belle said, and Caroline took her Biscoff and went back toward the house. She capped the jar and put the spoon in the sink to load into the dishwasher later. She looked out the window to find Belle sitting on the top step of the deck, her knees drawn to her chest. In the fetal position almost.
Her heartbeat crunched and shrieked, and Caroline didn’t see how she could possibly go out with Dawson, no matter what Belle said.
“You’re not responsible for fixing her,” she told herself, something she’d said hundreds of times in therapy about her ex-husband. “You’re only responsible for fixing yourself. For how you feel.”
She couldn’t control Joe or what he said or felt. How he acted. That belonged to him.
Caroline could control what she said or felt, as well as how she acted. And she didn’t have to be small or less than she was so anyone could feel better about themselves or their life.
“I just didn’t think that should include Belle,” she murmured. Her phone vibrated in her pocket, and Caroline took it out, her fingers brushing the gross fabric of her work uniform. She needed a shower, dinner, and to call Dawson.
But he’d texted.Thinking about you and praying for you and Belle. Did they like the chili-taco-dillas?
In the wake of her stress, Caroline had forgotten about the chili quesadillas. She quickly tapped out a message to Dawson, hoping it would spur him into a good mood the way it had her.
Talked to her, Dawson, and we’re….
ON FOR FRIDAY!
Chapter Seventeen
Dawson walked out into the main living room of the cabin and spread his arms wide. “Well? Trying too hard?”
Brandon looked up from his phone, his smile appearing before he’d even taken in Dawson’s clothes. April got to her feet while Link and Misty studied him too. He’d invited them all to help him make sure he didn’t humiliate himself on this very important first date with Caroline.
“The jeans are great.” She circled him, looking from high to low and back, and he dropped his arms back to his sides. “Cowboy boots. Sexy. Caroline will like those. The belt buckle too.”
He growled and gave his niece a side-eyed look before returning his attention to Link. “Link?”
“You look great,” Link said. “Right, baby?”
Misty beamed at Dawson, and she got up, leaving her fiancé on the couch. She joined April, and they both studied his shirt. He felt naked in front of them, and he looked over to Link. He’d known the cowboy just fine before he was made the junior foreman at Shiloh Ridge, but when that had happened, their friendship had grown and strengthened.
Link had moved to a house closer to the Rhinehart Ranch, and he oversaw a lot for his family’s ranch that brought him south more often, and what he needed was what Dawson did for his family’s ranch. They’d been going to game nights at Finn and Edith’s, and Dawson had been the seventh wheel with them, Link and Misty, and Alex and Nicki for far too long.
Fine, only about six months. But still. It felt like a long time. Or like he and Brandon were a couple when they went out with their dating or married friends.
“It’s a shirt,” he said to Link. “What are they looking at?”
Link chuckled and shook his head. “Don’t ask me, cowboy.”
“It’s kind of dark,” April finally said, and Misty snapped her fingers as if she hadn’t been able to think of a word to describe his shirt.
“Yes,” she said. “It’s dark, Dawson. Don’t you have something a little more…festive?”
“Festive?” Dawson glared at her. “We’re going to dinner at a place that only serves potatoes.”
“Not true,” Brandon said from the couch. “They have tons of meat to go with the potatoes.”
“It’s not a steakhouse,” Dawson said. “Or anything fancy. I just don’t want to be embarrassed when I show up.” He held out the fabric of his navy blue shirt and looked at it. “This one’s clean.”
“Honey, this woman you’ve been pining for deserves more than ‘this one’s clean.’” Misty smiled at him. “Can we see the choices?”
“I have not beenpining.”
“I know which bedroom is his.” April started down the hall without permission from Dawson, and he decided a simple cowboy like him couldn’t lasso a tornado and rein it in.