“He’s a friendly guy,” Flynn said.
“Oh, he’s a very friendly guy. But whether or not you can actually know him is something else entirely.”
“Well, this is pretty great, though,” he said, gesturing to the gathering around the fire.
“It is,” she agreed readily. Because it was. As unorthodox as it was, this was her family. Some of the performers had been with the show since she was a child, and even the newer ones were friends she worked with every day. She wasn’t lonely.
Her mom was wrong about that. She had taken steps to remedy her loneliness, and she had done a damn fine job of it, thank you.
She wasn’t lonely.
West came by and thrust beers into her and Flynn’s hands. “If you survive this, then you might actually have the fortitude to become one of us.”
“He’s not taking my last name,” Jessie said.
Flynn guffawed. “Okay. Austin is being pretty cool about all of this, but that would be a bridge too far for him.”
Jessie laughed. “Yeah. I can just imagine.”
And what scared her was how real it all felt. That she knew Austin, that it made her feel a little warm with affection because he was still so prickly about his brother associating with a Hancock.
“What did you think of the shoot-out reenactment?” West asked.
“It’s an impressive stunt. I’m not like my brother. I don’t have a chip on my shoulder about all that.”
“No,” West said. “Your chip is about your sister being mayor.”
Flynn forced out a hard laugh. “Yeah. That would be the one.”
“Well, we all have our things.”
Her mother drifted over to their group and put her hand on Flynn’s shoulder. “Did Jessie tell you about my collections?”
Flynn smiled. “She did.”
“Oh, good. They’re very important to me. I can tell you about them.”
Jessie wanted to put herself between Flynn and her mom. She wanted to protect her mom from Flynn’s judgment. Why hadn’t she done a better job of explaining her mom?
“I’d love to hear about them. Every single one.”
He didn’t miss a beat.
West took Jessie’s arm and moved her slightly away from that conversation. “Well, he’s pretty great.”
“That’s the nicest thing I’ve ever heard you say about another person.”
“I don’t see people do a lot of nice things. But … anyone who can jump right into Mom’s collections …”
“Yeah.”
“Sorry I ambushed you with the stuff about me leaving.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Me too. Why didn’t you tell me? And what is your plan?”
“I have money, Jessie.”
“From where?”
