“I did so much more in school than that,” she said.
Dawson didn’t want to fight with her. He was just irritated. “I know,” he said. “What else did you do?”
She eyed him warily. “In school?”
“Yeah,” he said. “In school. How does one become a Wildlife Conservation Officer?”
“A lot of classes,” she said. “I got a degree in wildlife management, with a lot of courses in natural resources management as well.”
Great. So she was far smarter than him. Dawson reminded himself that he’d gone to college too. Earned a degree and everything.
“And we’re required to take some law enforcement classes,” she said. “It’s done through the State, but I’d taken some classes in college too.” She shifted in her seat, seemingly uncomfortable talking about this.
“Sounds like it kept you busy,” he said.
“Yes,” she clipped out. “It was a good escape for me, studying and classes.” She cleared her throat. “At that time in my life.”
Dawson’s interest perked up, and he looked over toCaroline fully. Her face pinked up with a beautiful blush he didn’t quite understand, and she blurted out, “It won’t be so bad, having the owls here. You just can’t destroy their dens or try to run them off.” Her words rushed over each other, and Dawson wondered what she was trying to cover up.
Her schooling? He shook his head, unable to deal with all the thoughts currently in his head. He could find out more about her later, when he wasn’t facing the wrath of his brother, an unknown number of texts as he sent out messages to the surrounding ranches about the owls, and who knew what else.
Oh, right. The paperwork in his inbox. That had to be done too.
“They’ll multiply and never leave,” he said darkly.
“What do you do out on the West End Fence?”
“It’s farmland,” he said.
“I hope it won’t be a great loss.”
“You tell me,” he said. “Are these birds going to spread all over the place?”
Caroline took a moment to answer, and she sighed first. Not a good sign. He also caught sight of a couple of crows flying alongside the truck, and they at least buoyed his spirits.
“It depends on how many there are,” she said. “Where they came from, how mature they are, that kind of thing.”
“Great,” Dawson said, and he realized that she’d apologized about the owls roosting on the ranch. Heglanced over to her, trying to make the pieces of her line up.
A couple of hours ago, she’d given him a terrible glare in the community center, and now, she rode alongside him in the truck, saying she’d get him paperwork and apologizing about the owls.
Dawson rounded a corner and caught sight of his dog, waiting down at the other end of the road, where it bent again. Ruffin got to his feet, and his tail started to wag. Then he turned and ran down the road, most likely back toward where Duke waited for Dawson and Caroline.
A sudden thought made his fingers tighten around the steering wheel. How in the world would Dawson have Caroline with him already? “That Wildlife Officer,” Duke had called her. And the Rhinehart Ranch sat forty-five minutes south of town.
There was no way she could’ve gotten here this fast, and Dawson needed a reason for why he’d had Caroline with him at his house.
You left breakfast with her, he told himself. Momma and Daddy would know something was up, and Dawson’s mind blanked.
He’d been driving for enough years of his life that he kept doing that, and he eased the truck to a stop next to his older brother’s.
Caroline didn’t wait for him to come open her door, because this wasn’t a date. Dawson dropped to theground too, and it wasn’t two seconds later that Nugget cawed and glided down, with Rocks coming in hot too.
The two crows landed on the hood of his white truck, their black feathers standing out against the pale paint.
Nugget voiced his welcome again with a, “Caw-aw!” and Dawson slid a look over to Caroline, who’d come to a complete stop at the corner of the truck on the passenger side, her eyes wide as she stared at the big black birds only a few feet from her.
“Hey, you guys,” he said, deciding everything in his life was about to be blown wide open anyway. Might as well start with the crows.