projects at school, the upcoming show, the movie deal they were celebrating.
He was astonished to discover he enjoyed every moment of it. This was exactly what a family should be, he thought, noisy and chaotic and wonderful.
He had never known this growing up as an only child whose parents had stayed together much longer than they should have. He had learned to live without a family over the years, but it made his chest ache that his daughter would never have it, either.
* * *
Her sisters were matchmaking.
Celeste could tell by the surreptitious glances Faith and Hope sent between her and Flynn, the leading little questions they asked him, the way they not-so-subtly discussed the upcoming movie deal, careful to focus on Celeste’s literary success, as if they were trying to sell a prize pig at the market.
It was humiliating, and she could only hope he hadn’t noticed.
How could they possibly think Flynn might be interested in her in the first place? If they had bothered to ask her, she would have explained how ludicrous she found the very idea.
They didn’t ask her, of course. They’d simply gone ahead and invited the poor man to dinner. Why he agreed to come, she had no idea. By the time dessert rolled around, she still hadn’t figured it out—nor did she understand how he and Olivia seemed to fit in so effortlessly with her family.
Hope and Faith and Aunt Mary all liked him, she could tell, and Chase and Rafe treated him with courtesy and respect.
As for her, she liked having the two of them here entirely too much.
She tried to reel herself back, to force herself to remember this was only temporary. They were only at the ranch for the evening. Her sisters’ matchmaking intentions were destined to failure. Not only wasn’t he interested in her, but he had made it abundantly clear he was going back to California as soon as he could.
“Practice went well, don’t you think?” Hope asked, distracting her from that depressing thought. “The kids seemed to be into it, and what I heard was wonderful.”
“It won’t win any Tony Awards, but it should be fun,” she answered.
“With all you have going on around here, I still can’t figure out why you decided to throw a show for local senior citizens,” Flynn said.
Hope took the chance to answer him. “We’ve always had so much community support over the years here at The Christmas Ranch, from the very moment Uncle Claude opened the doors. The people of Pine Gulch have been great to us, and we wanted to give back a little. I guess we picked senior citizens because so many of them feel alone during the holiday season.”
“Many of these people have been friends with me and my late husband for years,” Mary added. “This seemed a good chance to offer them a little holiday spirit.”
“I think it’s nice,” Louisa declared. “So do my friends. That’s why they agreed to do it.”
Celeste smiled at her niece, who had a very tender heart despite the tragedy of losing her father.
“I do, too,” she answered.
“Is Sparkle going to show up at the party?” Barrett asked.
“I think we’re going to have to see about that next week,” Faith answered her son. “He’s been acting a little down the past few days.”
Celeste frowned at her sister. “What’s wrong with him?” she asked, alarmed.
“Oh, I’m sure it’s nothing,” she answered. “He’s just off his feed a bit. I ended up bringing him up here to his stall at the main barn to see if being back with the horses for a day or two would cheer him up.”
Sparkle had a particularly soft spot for Mistletoe, an old mare who used to be Uncle Claude’s. “I’m sure that’s it,” Celeste said.
“Maybe he just misses you, CeCe,” Hope suggested. “You haven’t been down to see him in a while.”
Celeste rolled her eyes. “Right. I’m sure he’s pining away.”
It was true that she and Sparkle were old friends. The reindeer was warm and affectionate, far more than most of their small herd.
“You ought to go down to the barn to say hello while you’re here,” Faith suggested.
“Can I go meet Sparkle?” Olivia asked, her eyes huge as she followed the conversation. “I would love to.”
She had told the girl she would take her to meet the inspiration for the books she loved so much. “He enjoys company. I’m sure he would love to meet you.”
“Can we go now?” the girl pressed.
She looked at the table laden with delicious dishes she had done nothing to help prepare. Yes, she could claim a good excuse—being busy directing the show and all—but Uncle Claude and Aunt Mary had always been clear. If you didn’t help cook a meal, you were obligated to help clean it up.
“I need to help clear these dishes first,” she said.
“Oh, don’t worry about this,” Faith said.
“Right. We can take care of things,” Hope insisted.
“Yes, dear,” Aunt Mary added. “We’ve got this completely covered. It won’t take a moment to clean this up. Meantime, why don’t you take our guests down to the barn to meet Sparkle?”
Who were these women and what had they done with her family members? She frowned, fighting the urge to roll her eyes at all of them for their transparent attempts to push her together with Flynn. For heaven’s sake, what did they think would possibly happen between the two of them with his daughter along?
“I don’t know,” Flynn said, checking his watch. “It’s getting late.”
“It’s not even eight o’clock yet!” Olivia protested. “Since I don’t have to get up for school, I haven’t been going to bed until nine thirty.”
“I suppose that’s true.”
“So we can go?”
He hesitated, then shrugged. “If Celeste doesn’t mind taking us. But we can’t stay long. She’s already had a long day.”
“Oh, yay!” Olivia jumped up instantly from the table and headed for her coat.
“Does anyone else want to go down to the barn with us?” Celeste asked.
She didn’t miss the way Barrett practically jumped out of his chair with eagerness but subsided again with a dejected look when his mother shook her head firmly.
Oh, she hoped Flynn hadn’t noticed her crazy, delusional, interfering sisters.
He rose. “We’ll probably need to head out after we stop at the barn. It’s late and I have to get this young lady home to bed, whatever she says.”
“Understandable,”
