It was kind of a double edged sword, wasn't it? Dick had carefully placed Barbara into the position of being the one who got away. That great love of his life he saw a future with, but life got in the way and kind of pushed them apart. It hurt like hell to say that, and he'd spent a long time nursing his broken heart, but he knew letting her go was what he had to do at the time because he didn't want to hold her back. That could lead to resentment and that wasn't something he wanted her to ever feel toward him. And it wasn't as though he'd just given her permission to go. Their relationship wasn't like that. She was her own person. It was just, he hadn't tried to stop her even though he wished things had been different.
It hurt to see her again, to reopen those wounds. Dick wasn't sure they'd ever actually healed, but they weren't as raw anymore. At the same time, he was nothing short of jovial to see her. He wanted to wrap her up in a hug and a kiss and spin her around. But instead he just.. kept the conversation going and kept his hands to himself.
"That's great, never a dull moment then," Dick said. He could appreciate the reasons people might like that, but he thought it meant missing out on stopping and taking a moment to enjoy the little things. "So you're going to be here for a while, then? Through the holidays?"