Dylan found a seat at the counter while Piper disappeared behind it and through a door. Ava hadn’t seen him, so he took the time to watch her unobserved. She was working the coffee machine like a pro. She turned to smile at someone who brought her another order. It was real, and he wanted that smile for him, which of course he had no right to.

“Coffee, thanks,” he said when a waitress appeared.

Ava turned his way seconds later, and the smile fell from her lips.

“What are you doing here? Did Mom tell you where to find me?”

“No. It’s a pretty small town; chances are I would have run into you here at some stage.”

Keep it calm, Dylan. You’ve been trained how to deal with difficult people.

She’s not people, you moron, she’s your sister!

Her eyes were the softest blue. He and Charlie had often teased her about the baby Howard having baby blue eyes. Funny, he hadn’t remembered that until now.

“Hey, Ava, how’s it with you today?”

Dylan turned to watch Luke Trainer amble to the counter.

“Oh hey, Luke. I’m good, thanks.”

“Sweet. I’ll take a hot chocolate and the usual, thanks.”

Ava nodded and walked away to get Luke’s order ready.

“Hot chocolate?”

Luke settled next to Dylan on a stool. He was big like Jack, and there was no doubting they were brothers, but there was a softer edge to this Trainer. His smile was permanent, and although he’d only interacted with him briefly last night, Dylan was good at reading people, which came in handy in his line of work. He would lay good money down on this Trainer being a people pleaser too.

“I’m just not big on coffee.”

“Bet that’s a winner with the ladies.”

He flashed another smile.

“It is actually, they see it as part of my softer side.”

“How’s my favorite cousin?”

The kick to his gut, Dylan realized, was just something that was going to happen when Piper appeared, and something he had a feeling he’d never get used to. The trick was to ignore it and treat her like he did everyone else.

“She says that to all of us, but we like it,” Luke said.

“Yes, but I mean it with you.” Piper leaned over the counter and placed a smacking kiss on her cousin’s cheek, and Dylan had the urge to demand one too. He needed to stay away from this woman and her family. Seeing their bond was making his family look bad... really bad, which usually didn’t bother him, but today for some reason it did.

“You off today?”

“Yeah, I have four late shifts coming up,” Luke said, cradling the mug Ava placed before him. She ignored Dylan and walked away.

“I wanted to be a fireman once,” he said, watching his sister go back to the coffee machine.