“Give it here,” April said, and she practically snatched the vegetable stick from him. “I don’t get why cowboys can’t eat green things.”
“I was going to eat it,” he said, glancing at Louis in time to see him grinning. “Yeah, this is really funny, right?”
Louis burst out laughing then, and April gave him such a fond smile that Dawson really wanted his question answered.
“Are you two getting pretty serious then?” he asked. April’s smile dried right up, but Louis simply grinned for both of them.
“Yes, sir,” he said, giving April back the fondness she’d bestowed upon him. “I really like Miss Rhinehart here, and if she’d just stop putting me off, I’d probably have a diamond on her finger already.”
“Louis,” she said, her voice dark. “Don’t tell him that.”
“Why not? It’s the truth.”
“Because then he’ll tell my daddy, and the whole world will be flipped inside out.” April threw Dawson a look that pleaded with him not to say anything.
“You’ve asked her to marry you?” Dawson asked.
“And you said no?” Caroline chimed in perfectly, as if they’d rehearsed it though they hadn’t.
“Yes,” both April and Louis said together. April arranged the last of the berries around the fruit dip, which was one of Dawson’s favorite things. Cream cheese with pineapple chunks and juice, a touch of sugar, and mandarin orange juice. Oh, and Caroline threw in a packet of Truly Lime too, and Dawson could drink the stuff, no fruit needed.
“We’ve only been dating for six months, and I told him I wasn’t going to get engaged for at least a year.”
Dawson gaped at his niece. “Sometimes you just fall in love faster,” he said.
“And sometimes, you want to make sure that the other person knows what they’re getting into.” She shot him a look with slightly narrowed eyes.
“April, you’re my favorite person on the planet,” he said, his voice low but powerful.
“Yeah, I know, Uncle Daws. But that’s because you’re a black cat who’s been rained on all day too.”
Caroline burst out laughing while Dawson stood there blinking. Louis snickered with her, and Dawson marveled at everything in life in that moment.
“Well, I think you’re a delight,” Louis said. He swept a kiss along April’s hairline. “Now, where does this veggie tray go?”
“Out on the deck, please,” Caroline said, still laughing a little bit.
Once Louis had left, Dawson leaned over the peninsula a little bit. “But you really like him too, right, bug?”
She nodded, and oh, a sniffle followed.
“Let’s do breakfast this week,” Dawson said. April nodded again, kept her head down, and picked up the fruit tray.
“I’ll take this outside too, Aunt Caroline.”
“Okay, sweets.” She watched April go, as did Dawson, and then he looked at his wife. “You made her cry.”
“Imade her cry?” Dawson shook his head. “That girl makes herself cry.” He scoffed and watched as April stepped out onto the deck. “She’s in love with him and terrified about it.”
“Who’s in love with whom?”
Dawson whipped his attention to the other side of the kitchen, where none other than April’s mother now stood. “No one,” he said to Zona. “Wilder and Savannah.”
Zona scoffed and continued into the house with the laundry basket of rolls she’d brought, Momma right behind her with one overflowing with bags of chips. “Here’s the bread, Caroline.”
“Thank you so much, Zona.”
“All right, all right, all right!”
