“I’m not ten anymore, that shit doesn’t work now, Hudson.”

“Sure it does, and wait till the Trainer brothers start on you. You’ll enter, mark my words.”

“I doubt that.”

“They say smiling takes as many muscles as frowning, bud. You should give it a shot.”

“Any reason why you’re getting on my case?”

“It’s how I communicate,” Fin said. “Ask the Trainers.”

“You want to wrestle or something? Throw a few punches maybe? Just so you feel comfortable about my manliness.”

Fin’s smile was real this time.

“I can’t change who my mother is, Fin.”

“I know that, but it would sure make it easier to like you. Joe’s a friend... more than a friend, he’s a brother to me. His family are my family, and it’s just hard to be nice to anyone with the surname Howard.”

“My sister’s a Howard.”

“Yeah, but she’s hot.”

He felt the bite of anger as a surge of protectiveness had him wanting to put his fist in the ranger’s face. Another emotion he was experiencing for the first time.

“Family is vital to our existence, and I don’t just mean blood, Dylan. Those that mean the most to us are what keep us grounded, and they are the only ones who have our backs when the chips are down.”

“What are you, Dr. Phil?” he managed to get out.

“His nephew, can’t you see the resemblance?”

“This town has always been weird, but I have a feeling it’s gotten more so in the last sixteen years.”

“Yeah, but good weird. You play pool?”

Dylan nodded, wary as to which direction Fin was heading now.

“Ted’s hosting a tournament soon. You may as well come so I can fleece you too.” He reeled off a date. “Joe will have eaten all the food if you don’t arrive early.”

The ranger walked away after slapping Dylan on the shoulder, which he wasn’t sure meant he was accepted now or not. Lowering himself onto a barstool, he tried to remember the last time he’d played pool. Actually not that long ago, as sometimes a few of his colleagues invited him to a local bar, but it wasn’t a regular thing, and he wasn’t close to any of them.

“Like I said, weird,” Dylan muttered, his eyes skimming over Charlie, who seemed okay, smiling even, as she talked to the redheaded Maggs. He found Piper on the dance floor again, but this time with someone else, and this did not make Dylan happy.