She paused, something not quite right with what she’d said. “Who Youneedme to become.”
She usually went from her bed to the shower, but this morning, she padded down the hall to the kitchen in her pajamas.
“Happy birthday, Aunt Caroline!” Judy yelled, as she was already standing on the chair at the dining table.
Caroline grinned and grinned at her. “Thank you, sweetie.” She stroked her hand down Judy’s hair, which hadn’t been brushed for school yet. “Where’s your momma?”
“She went outside,” Judy said. “We got you this brownie.” She had a German chocolate brownie in frontof her, and Caroline knew where that had come from. Heidi Ackerman’s bakery.
“She’s been up early,” Caroline said.
“Okay, thanks!” Belle came in the back door as she called to whoever she’d been talking to outside. She turned to face the kitchen, and she strode forward before coming to a complete stop when she saw Caroline. “You’re up.”
“Yep.”
Belle didn’t seem happy about that, and she carried a brown box very similar to what they’d get a dozen doughnuts in. “What’s that?” Caroline asked.
Belle looked at the box, her eyes coming back to Caroline’s wider than before. She hesitated for a couple of seconds, and then she rolled her whole head with her eyes. “Fine. It’s not like you wouldn’t have found out. I was just hoping—wewere just hoping to surprise you.”
“I’m surprised,” Caroline said. “You’ve been to the bakery already this morning.”
Her sister came over to the table and put the box down. Something that smelled salty and savory lifted from it. “I didn’t go to the bakery.”
Caroline’s surprise grew, but she wasn’t sure she should open the box. “Well, someone did. I would’ve sniffed this out last night when I was looking for something sweet before bed.” She offered her sister a smile, hoping Belle’s displeasure with Caroline’s earlier rising time would disappear.
Belle started to lift the top of the box. “Judy, honey, get Auntie a fork.”
Judy jumped down to do that. “Okay, Mama.”
Caroline had many questions, but she simply watched as the lid came off the box. Right in front of her, a gourmet breakfast appeared. Clearly homemade, with perfectly cooked over-easy eggs, toast with crunchy Biscoff spread, several strips of bacon, and the crispiest, brownest, most perfect hash browns in the world.
This breakfast had Dawson written all over it. Caroline’s insides felt like melting gelatin—warm and ooey and soft and oh-so-comfortable.
“He brought the brownie too,” Belle said as she set aside the box top and then sat down. Judy arrived with a fork and Caroline had no choice but to take it.
“Happy birthday, Auntie,” Judy chirped.
“Thank you, sweetie,” Caroline murmured. She looked over to Belle. It had been a couple of weeks since Caroline had brought Dawson home after church. That hadn’t gone over well with Belle, and she and Dawson had ended up going out for lunch.
“He coordinated this with you?”
Belle nodded, her expression turning to one of something softer. More appreciative. “Yes, he did.”
“And you?—?”
“He’s a very sweet man,” Belle said. “Are we going to talk about this to death?”
Caroline looked at the breakfast in front of her. “No,” she said. “We’re not. I’m going to eat, and then I’m going to go check on my peas and carrots.”
And she did exactly that, thoughts of Dawson and how “very sweet” he was foaming through her in every minute.
By the time she knocked on his barn-office door, he’d texted her several times—something he didn’t normally do—and a bouquet of flowers and one of balloons had shown up at the house.
The lunch she carried felt extremely inadequate, and Caroline actually questioned whether Dawson would be able to do this every year for every birthday. Or for every anniversary. Or if she’d influenced him to do all these things.
“Of course you did,” she muttered, not sure if she was happy about that or not.
Then the door swung inward, and Dawson stood there. “Hey, you.” He grinned at her and took the bag of food she’d brought. “C’mon in. I brought in another chair for you.”