“I’m still surprised that Lindy was able to relinquish enough control on this place to let Bea open her sanctuary,” Jamie commented as they turned down the gravel drive that would take them to the barns.

“I don’t know Lindy well enough to be surprised by it, I guess. She seems nice to me. Like somebody who would be completely on board with an animal rescue.”

“Well,” Jamie said, “she is. But she’s, you know...she’s fancy.”

He laughed. “Okay, yeah, she’s a little fancy.” The sleek blonde Wyatt had married definitely had a lot more sophistication than he did.

Jamie looked over at him, her eyes shifty, like she was about to let him in on a deep secret. “Did you come to the Christmas party she threw?”

“No,” he said, “I didn’t. I think I wasn’t invited because the situation with McKenna was complicated at the time.”

Last Christmas was right around the time his father had told McKenna that she should take a payout and leave, rather than being a part of their family. At that point McKenna had been involved with Grant Dodge, who had understandably not taken kindly to the whole situation.

“She served tiny little chickens,” Jamie said, her voice rising up half a step in incredulity. “And mini pies.”

“Tiny chickens?”

“Cornish game hens,” Jamie clarified. “Or so I was told.”

He laughed. “And that offended you?”

“I wasn’t...offended. I just think that kind of thing is mystifying. If you like steak, why not have steak on Christmas, too? Why be fussy?”

“Some people get enjoyment out of a little fancy, Jamie.”

She shifted in her seat, her shoulders going all indignant. “I prefer to be practical.”

The way she said it. As if the idea of anything other than pure practicality was an affront in some way. Or like it scared her.

It made the strangest urge roll through him. To give her something more, something deeper than practical.

“Practical is pretty good for every day,” he said. “But don’t you ever just like to indulge?”

He wasn’t going to think about the kind of indulging he liked to do. Not here. Not now.

“No,” she said, her voice tight.

“My family likes comfort. Though it’s straight trailer park fancy. But then, the Daltons have never worried about looking sophisticated a day in their lives. It’s part of our charm. Or something.”

The decor around the family home seemed to prove that well enough. It was tacky, and over-the-top, and it was one of the things that Gabe had always appreciated about his parents.

They were who they were.

It was also the thing that often bothered him about his parents.

Because who they were was...flawed.

Especially Hank.

And there was a whole trail of pain he’d left in his cheerful, selfish wake that Gabe had gone out of his way to not put too much thought into. Something that galled him more and more the older he got. The more he realized what it said about him.