The loss of this safety net.
She had placed all of her trust in it. Even when she had discovered how harsh and cruel the world could be, losing her parents, her aunt and uncle, Logan’s mother... They had been left with each other. And she had been sure on every level but the deepest one that that meant they would always be together.
But it was that core of her. That deepest part of her heart that feared losing this, too.
So yeah, she always had a little bit of suspicion when it came to stern-faced older women. Particularly ones that had power within the community.
Not fair, she knew. But it was that sense that they had power over her life that bothered her.
“Maybe a bit,” she conceded. “But I just didn’t like the way she took after Pansy. Or Emmett.”
Emmett shrugged. “She’s not so bad. I got to plant flowers for her a couple of times since then. At the community center, and at her house.”
“We felt it was the right thing to do, considering he broke into her car,” West said.
Emmett looked sheepish. “I did,” he muttered.
“I still think she’s a battle-ax,” Rose said, reaching to the center of the table and taking a generous ladle of stew, pouring it into her bowl.
That was when she realized that all the bowls matched.
“What’s this?”
“I bought new bowls,” Sammy said. “There’s this woman that comes down to the market on Sundays and—”
“But what happened to the ones we always eat out of?”
“The chipped ones that don’t match?” Sammy asked.
“Yeah, those,” Rose said.
“They’re in a box, in one of the barns. I thought you never know when we might need extra dishes, and I sincerely doubt anyone is going to want them.”
“They’re fine,” Rose protested.
“I wanted matching dishes,” Sammy said. “I live in the house now and...”
Rose tuned out the rest of Sammy’s explanation, breaking off a piece of bread and biting into it angrily.
She didn’t know why it bothered her. Unfamiliar bowls, and the familiar-unfamiliar blue of Logan’s eyes. It was a weird, strange thing to get worked up about.
And if it wasn’t for that moment in the entry with Logan she might not have.
Things were changing. That was the problem. Sammy and Ryder had found each other in a way that they hadn’t before, and Sammy lived here now. It was her house. She was the...the matriarch. Except, it was Iris’s kitchen, too. And Iris had never thought that the bowls needed to be changed out. Sammy hadn’t seemed to think so until they were married and she was having a baby.
“What do you think of the new bowls?” she asked Iris, in spite of herself.
“I love them,” Iris said. “I’m not attached to tableware that’s falling apart.”
Rose didn’t know why she was.
And she didn’t know why this was bothering her, considering that one of the things she was advocating for right now involved change. If Iris ended up with Elliott, things would change. She wanted Ryder and Sammy to be together—that was change. She was happy for West and Pansy, and that had brought about change, had brought new people into their lives.
She didn’t know why something as stupid as bowls were bothering her.
Conversation shifted and changed around her—sometimes five or six times in ten minutes—and she just sat in silence. If anyone noticed that it was angry or uncharacteristic they didn’t comment.
“Now, when I was shooing the deer out of her pond I did talk to Barbara about the upcoming Christmas parade.”
“Don’t tell me she’s involved in that,” Rose said.
“Yes,” Pansy said patiently. “She is. It’s my first Christmas as police chief, and this is one of the largest events that we hold in the town. I want it to be special. And I want to help in any way I can. Keeping it safe, keeping it organized... Just everything. And if my lovely family could find it in them to get involved, that would be great.”
“Why do we have to get involved?” Ryder asked. “Doesn’t what’s his face Dodge always do a bunch of stuff for this?”
“Yes,” Pansy said. “Wyatt Dodge does a hell of a lot every year for this. But I don’t see why we can’t contribute, as well.”
The steel in her sister’s tone made it very apparent that this was not a suggestion. Pansy was going to enforce the involvement of her family if it was the last thing she did.
“What is it you had in mind?” Rose asked.
“Well, I’m glad that you wondered. Because what I would like is for Sammy to do a jewelry-making demonstration—which is also going to be a great opportunity for you to sell your work—I would like Iris to bake some goodies, and the rest of you need to help with float assembly and other manual labor.”
“I don’t get a special job?” Rose asked.
She had gone from feeling mildly peevish to being outright annoyed.
“Do you want a special job?”
“Well, Iris and Sammy get special jobs. The girls get special jobs. Except for me.”
“If it makes you feel any better my job is basically a manual labor one, too.”
“It doesn’t make me feel better.”
“Do you want to help bake?” Iris asked.
“Spare me your pity bread,” Rose said. “Fine. It’s fine. I’ll help with assembly and general lifting of things.” She lifted up her arm and flexed, showing the evidence of all the hard work that she did around the ranch. “I guess that’s what I get for spending all my time outside.”
“Well, now,” Logan said. “There’s something to that. We could give a demonstration.”
Rose’s mouth dropped open. She couldn’t believe Logan had volunteered to be part of this. Not at all. He didn’t do Christmas. While the Danielses had never skipped a Christmas, Ryder doing his best to carry on normalcy even in the face of grief, Logan withdrew every year.
He didn’t open gifts. He didn’t exchange them. He didn’t go
