“Surely things aren’t going to flood right now,” he said as he got up and went to the window. His phone started going off in rapid succession again, which irritated Dawson to no end.
Outside, the rain continued to fall in a thick wave that blurred everything into something like an Impressionist painting. Or one of the watercolors of the ranch little Dallas had done as a four-year-old…that someone had poured even more water over.
“Come eat,” Brandon said behind him, and Dawson turned away from the weather. He didn’t see his phonesitting on the counter where he’d left it, and his younger brother nodded to the cooling bowl of soup. “The world isn’t going to flood right now. Duke and the other ranch owners and controllers and foremen can wait.”
“Where’s my phone?”
“When you need it back, I’ll give it to you.” Brandon used his spoon to push Dawson’s bowl closer to him. “Now, eat.”
Dawson picked up his own utensil and dipped it into the soup. No, it wasn’t as hot as he’d like it, but it had a great tomato tang, with creamy cheese inside the tender pasta. His taste buds sighed into bliss, and the unrest about being separated from his device blipped at him but didn’t shout.
He wanted to look up places to take Caroline for dinner that night, then reminded himself that he’d already chosen a restaurant. His heartbeat came to a sudden stop when he realized he’d agreed to meet Duke at dinnertime tonight.
“Brandon, I need my phone.”
“You’re not done eating yet,” he said.
Dawson threw him the most murderous look he could muster on a half-full stomach. “It’s not about the ranch.”
“Then why do you need it?”
He couldn’t see a way around telling Brandon about Caroline. He’d never really hidden any of his other dates or girlfriends, and he wasn’t embarrassed. He’d alreadytold his friends about her—not by name, though, and that felt intimate.
“I have a date tonight I need to rearrange,” he said. “If you must know, Mister Nosy.”
Brandon’s expression turned to delight. “Who with?”
“I don’t want to say. It’s the first date, and I might not even get another one.” Especially after this.
Brandon reached out and plucked the phone from the lazy Susan on the counter, where they kept salt and pepper shakers, napkins, a bottle of ketchup, and a basket for their keys and sunglasses.
“Do you really have a date?”
Dawson navigated to his text string with Caroline, his heart feeling like someone had filled it with wet cement and it was now drying and settling into the soles of his feet. “Not anymore,” he said. “I’m going to cancel.”
“Then just set up something else.”
“Duke wants me to start doing more running of the ranch.” Dawson rolled his head to stretch his neck. “I don’t really know what that’s going to do to my schedule.”
“For the right woman, you’ll blow up your schedule,” Brandon said.
Dawson gaped at him, only a few words typed out to cancel the date with Caroline. “It’s like you don’t know me at all.”
Brandon laughed, because he did know Dawson. “Soyou’ll get out your pink sticky notes and you’ll make arrangements to include whoever this is into your schedule.”
“And what color will the new ranch duties be?” Dawson could see his sticky note board, and it was already full. “And the owls? I already had to add them.” He went back to his phone and the few words he’d typed out.
“Caroline,” Brandon said, and Dawson caught him with his neck craned to see the phone. He slapped his palm over the phone, but Brandon added, “Wildlife Officer.”
Dawson looked at his brother, pure fire raging in his veins. “It’s not?—”
“You’re dating the Wildlife Officer who made you stomp around like a raging gorilla? The one who badgered you—your words—about the paperwork?”
Maybe he had used those words, and maybe he had paced in the cabin while ranting about her semi-abusive emails insisting he file the habitat paperwork. “She likes her hash browns a certain way,” he said, which explained nothing.
He finished his text to her and sent it, hoping he’d get another chance with her. Instead of leaving it up to her or chance or God, he quickly sent her another text.
“Nice,” Brandon said with pure appreciation in his voice, and Dawson slid his phone away a couple of inches.
