I followed him inside. A brand-new house, yet it welcomed a person better than the one I’d lived in for years. Warmth surrounded me and the soft smells of lavender and vanilla laced the air. The walls, though, they weren’t much different than mine. The photographs that hung all over the house were Xander’s own work. Pictures of the mountain he’d camped in outside Kosovo, brilliant blue water in Sri Lanka, sweeping fields in the Philippines, it all made the place uniquely theirs.

When Kate had moved in, she’d added to my sparse decor. Mama’s photos were displayed, some of Xander’s, and a few from amateur photographers in the area. The landscapes lining the walls of my house weren’t much different than Xander’s, but the atmosphere in each house was worlds apart. I couldn’t put my finger on why.

“I’m going to get those pretty jeans of yours dirty,” Xander said as he led me to the basement.

“You mean when I show you how the hard work is really done?” The joke came easy. Xander and I hadn’t hung out much since I’d left home. He’d avoided the family, only coming home for weddings and the occasional spring cattle work, sometimes the fall. He and Savvy had moved to Billings, but this was the first time he’d been around for any length of time.

I had an inbox full of work, but when he’d messaged asking if I could help this weekend, I’d traded a long day working for some brother time. I could work tonight.

“Want a beer?” Xander’s voice echoed throughout the open basement. Windows let in what light the thick clouds allowed through. Small plastic domes lined tables. Each of them had something green growing inside.

Xander pointed to them. “If you get hungry, pick a lettuce.”

“No kidding?” I wandered over. My boots thumped over the gray flooring. Linoleum. I couldn’t believe Savvy would use a material that people remodeled to get out of their homes, but she’d rattled off details about linseed oil, ease of manufacturing, and using it as fuel when it was no longer useful.

Xander turned into a nice-sized square room. “This is going to be my office. I wanted to finish it with my bare hands.” He gave me a sheepish smile. “I thought that being surrounded by my own creative work would get the juices going on below-zero days.”

I lifted a brow.

His lips twitched. “Shut up. Dick.” He went to a stack of rectangular planks. “Cork flooring. It should be easy enough to install.”