In any case, they’d liked Eli, when he and Brynne had gone together in high school; they’d mostly kept their opinions and concerns to themselves after the break-up, though they definitely hadn’t liked seeing their daughter hurt.

“It’s still pretty cold up here,” she said.

Mike’s laugh was expansive, like him. Though not overweight, or very tall, he was barrel-chested and strong as a bull. He’d helped run the bar and restaurant for as long as Brynne could remember, but he’d worked blue-collar jobs before that.

He was a good husband and father, and he’d been a wonderful provider. He loved his wife and daughter without reservation, and often joked that he was glad Brynne had taken after her mother, not him, when it came to looks.

Alice, Brynne’s mother, was tall, slender and elegantly beautiful. Brynne’s blond hair and dark blue eyes came from her. Alice had been a successful model once upon a time, and given up her career without a qualm when, on a ski vacation in Montana, she’d met and fallen in love with Mike Bailey, a plain young man with a prematurely receding hairline and a soul as solid as the Rocky Mountains.

He hadn’t been at the lodge to ski that fateful weekend. He’d been hired to repair and maintain the machinery for the lifts, with occasional stints as a bartender when the equipment was in good working order.

He liked to say he hadn’t been smart enough to know when a woman was out of his league, so when Alice meandered into the bar during one of his shifts and asked for a dirty martini with extra olives, he’d tossed the figurative customer service manual over one shoulder and asked her out.

Just like that. He’d offered her dinner and a ride in a horse-drawn sleigh, and, as he put it, damned if that goddess in ski pants and a parka didn’t say yes, on the spot. Six months later, they’d married, pooled their savings and bought a run-down restaurant-bar in a small western town.

They’d worked hard and prospered.

If Alice ever missed her glamorous career, not to mention the money she’d earned, she never let it show. She threw herself into her marriage, the family business, the community, and when Brynne came along, a full ten years after the wedding, both Mike and Alice had been absolutely thrilled.

They’d loved their daughter wholeheartedly, but wisely, too. She’d been cherished, but they’d taken great care not to spoil her.

She’d been taught to say “please” and “thank you” from an early age. To treat other people with respect. She’d had chores to do and, because Alice had been a gifted seamstress among her other talents, she’d helped make her own clothes.