The sermon ended, and Caroline stood to sing the closing hymn. Dawson did the same, and once the meeting had ended, he turned right into her. “I’ll come to lunch.”
Caroline beamed at him, wishing she wouldn’t feel guilty if she kissed him right there in the chapel. “Great.” She leaned into his chest. “Now, go on. My thoughts are so big, and I need to get outside so they can get out of my head.”
“Big thoughts, huh?” He gave her a grin before turning to step into the aisle. “I want to hear about those.”
Caroline would like to tell him—once she sorted through everything herself.
Chapter Thirty
Dawson hadn’t picked up Caroline, so he drove the streets from the church to her house, arriving only a few seconds after her sister pulled into the driveway. Judy burst from the backseat, and she launched into a skip as she headed for the backyard.
He eased up to the curb and watched as Caroline and Belle both rose from the car. Caroline looked toward him, her smile warm and wide and welcoming. Belle called something after her daughter, and she only threw a cursory glance toward Dawson.
“Lord,” he said without moving his lips. “Help me through this afternoon.” He wasn’t sure why those words came from him, but they did. Caroline had not invited him to her house for lunch after church before, and Dawson felt like he was becoming a new person andthey would be a different couple as he dropped from the truck.
“Hey,” she said. “Belle and I were trying to decide what to make for lunch.” She reached him as he stepped up onto the sidewalk. “And we need your vote.”
He so didn’t want to vote, especially if it was to break a tie between Caroline and her sister. But he simply said, “All right,” as he took her hand in his.
“We’ve got some leftover King Ranch casserole,” she said, and Dawson knew immediately that wasn’t her idea. Caroline liked leftovers well enough, but she liked something special on Sunday. Then she’d eat that throughout the week if she had to. “Or I got out some hamburgers this afternoon, and we can grill those up.”
Dawson took a few steps as they went up the driveway, giving himself a moment though he knew exactly what to vote for. Even if he hated hamburgers with a passion, he’d vote for them. “I think hamburgers,” he said. “It’s a nice day to be out on the deck grilling.”
Caroline grinned up at him. “It is, right?”
“I can help put together all the toppings,” he said. “Slice tomatoes, fry eggs, that kind of thing.”
“Eggs?” Caroline led him to the side door that went into the kitchen, instead of going down the sidewalk to the front door. “You put eggs on your hamburgers?”
“Oh, yeah,” he said. “My granddad did it, and I turned up my nose at it for a long time.” He smiled andeven laughed a little. “I can still remember the first time I let him put an egg on my burger.” He smacked his lips. “One of the best things I’ve ever eaten.”
“Well, then,” Caroline said. “I’ll let you fry the eggs.” She opened the door and walked inside just as something started beeping. It took Dawson a moment to place the sound, and then he put the pieces together.
Belle had just opened the microwave, after it had beeped at her that it had finished reheating something. Caroline dropped his hand and said, “You’re going with the casserole,” in a dark, dangerous voice.
“I’m hungry right now,” Belle said. “I don’t want to cook.” She barely looked at either Caroline or Dawson before she moved over to the sliding glass door that led out onto the back deck. She opened it and stepped out, obviously done talking.
Tension rode in the air, and Dawson took a look at Caroline. She wore a frown on her face, and it went way deeper than just the lines between her eyes. He wanted to put his arm around her and soothe her, but he wasn’t sure she’d appreciate that.
“We could just go out,” he suggested.
Caroline’s attention flew to him. “What?”
“They don’t want to eat,” he said as gently as he could. “She doesn’t want me here. Why go through the chore of cooking and cleaning up when we can just go out? Enjoy each other’s company this afternoon.”
Caroline softened right in front of him, and Dawson eased her into his arms. It took her a moment to melt into him, but when she did, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath of her hair. “After lunch, we can take a drive, get a drink, find a place to watch the wind.”
“Watch the wind?” She lifted her head, her gorgeous smile aimed in his direction.
“It paints a pretty picture sometimes,” he said. “I like a slow Sabbath Day afternoon.”
“You’ll have to get back and do your evening chores.”
“Mm, yep,” he said.
“Maybe I could come meet the chickens, finally.”
Dawson leaned down and touched his lips to hers. “You’ve met them.”