He couldn’t avoid his phone when he sat down to eat, and he sighed as he pulled it toward him. The hail had softened back to rain that continued to lash out at the land.
“They’ve already issued a warning for the river,” he said, swiping those texts away. “Duke’s sending along every text from the other ranch owners.” Dawson frowned at his phone, wondering why his older brother was doing that. He never had before.
He tapped to call him, glancing over to Brandon. “I need to talk to Duke.”
“Fine by me.” Brandon had already eaten half his bowl of soup while Dawson hadn’t taken a single bite yet.
“Hey, Daws.”
“Hey,” he said. “Why are you sending me all the ranch owner texts?”
Duke sighed, and Dawson didn’t like the sound of that. He stared into the depths of his tortellini soup, trying to get that sigh to line up with texts he didn’t normally get. Duke was a lot more like him than Brandon, in that he only said what was absolutely necessary and wore his inner grump on the outside. Such things must come from their daddy.
“Listen, Dawson,” Duke said, and whenever he started a conversation with “Listen,” it was something he didn’t want to say. And something Dawson wouldn’t really want to hear.
“Spit it out, Duke,” he growled. “I’m at lunch, and I just want to eat in peace.”
“I think it’s time for you to take on some more responsibility for the ranch,” Duke said. “I’m not going to be around forever, you know? I have four kids that need their dad, and you’re more than capable.”
Dawson didn’t know what to say. Of all the times for this to come. Last week, he’d have welcomed it, for it would’ve given variety to his monotonous days. He’d work out a schedule where everything lined up just right.
But now? He didn’t have time for this bomb to be dropped into his lap. He had a date with Caroline to deal with. A date with nothing to do.
“Are you still there?” Duke asked.
Dawson cleared his throat. “Yes,” he said. “I’m here.”
“What do you think?”
“What do you need me to do?” He glanced over to Brandon, who looked at him with wide, blue eyes.
“I was thinking you’d handle things this winter, since the foreman and controller duties are less right now. And as they ramp up, we’ll work on them together.”
“I’m going to need your help in all seasons, Duke,” Dawson said, his voice growing very quiet. “I—you know—you can’t throw me to the wolves. I need to be walked through it at least once.”
He hadn’t spelled out everything for Duke, but he shouldn’t have to. He knew about Dawson’s challenges, and he’d always been kind and thoughtful with him, even when there’d been some resentment between them.
“Of course, brother,” Duke said. “Maybe we can meet tonight to go over things like this.”
“Emergencies.”
“Right,” Duke said. “Emergencies.”
Dawson didn’t want to say no, and Duke saved him from having to explain about his date by saying, “I’m getting a ton of texts. I’m going to forward them to you and then add you to the group text and let them know you’ll be handling this for us.”
“Duke.”
“Don’t worry, Daws. It’s a lot of chatter about what’s going on in various areas of town. If something happensup here, we report it. If it comes to organizing who needs help, we say we can come anytime. It’s easy. This is something you can do.”
Dawson took a deep breath, the knot in his throat starting to unravel. “Okay,” he said, wondering how he was going to eat with so many nerves balled in his gut.
“And I’m right here if you need help.” Duke wore a smile in his voice. “I hope you and Brandon are inside. Oh, you said you’re at lunch, so you are.”
“We are,” he said.
“Come for dinner tonight,” Duke said. “Zona and I will feed you like a king—if you can get here.” He laughed and hung up before Dawson could protest.
Then he looked out the window. “If I can get there?” His brother and his family lived down the lane, around the corner, and past the homestead. All on dirt-gravel roads. Why wouldn’t he be able to get there?
