Caleb laughed. “I’m not about to lecture you about any of that. Hell, I’d try to recruit you, if I thought you would go for it.”

“Why do you do it?”

“Something to do,” Caleb said. “Something that’s not Dad’s.”

Gabe shook his head. “Yeah. Well. Maybe if I do it enough people will think of me instead of him when they hear our name tied to saddle bronc.” He shook his head again. “I love that old bastard. But he...”

“Yeah, it’s complicated,” Caleb said. “He’s the best and the worst all at once. I’ve never known anyone who could make a group of people laugh so hard. And if you need a fence fixed or a barn raised—”

“He’s there. And he probably gave money to help.”

“He’s also a tool.”

“Hell, yes.”

Hank Dalton was complicated. A selfish man who seemed to act to satisfy his every appetite. Who seemed to conveniently forget he had a wife and kids when a woman flashed a smile at him.

He was also charming. Funny and irreverent. Generous with time and money. His lack of class and over-the-top sense of style—evident in every gaudy corner of the family home—a testament to the fact that you could take the man out of the trailer park but you couldn’t take it out of the man.

He was gold-plated and down-to-earth all at the same time. A bastard and an angel.

“I think we are justified in deciding we want our legacy to be something a little bit different, don’t you?” Caleb asked.

“I guess so.”

“So your aim with Jamie is to have her be the...manager?”

“I don’t know if that’s what I’d call her. But she’d be in charge of the horses. She’s great with the animals. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.” It reminded him of something he used to be. Or maybe something he could have been. But time changed people. And he didn’t think he could ever be that idealistic kid he had been. There were too many years and bad decisions standing between him and that boy he’d been.

It made him wonder what the hell he was now.

“Well, best of luck to you.”

“Thanks,” Gabe said, shaking his head, mostly at himself.

He drained the rest of his beer and figured he had time for another one. Even if he had to have his brother drive him home, it would be worth it.

He was antsy to get out of here. That was the problem. Badly wanted to be back out on the road, where he could drink hard and ride hard. Where he could find an endless supply of anonymous women to fill his time in his bed.

There was a restlessness in him, and he didn’t know what to do with it.

He often wondered if it was the same restlessness that lived inside Hank Dalton.

It made him understand. And the last thing he wanted to do was understand his old man. That was too close to sanctioning his behavior, and Gabe could never imagine doing that.