She wasn’t sure if he was asleep or not, but it wasn’t as if she needed him to show her around. Before she headed for the stairs, though, she looked around, taking in the Christmas decorations. Josh had done a good job. So good, in fact, she’d never have guessed Rosie hadn’t done it personally.
The tree dominated the corner of the room—tall, full and glistening with garland and ornaments—and it looked magnificent, even without the light strings plugged in. Because they liked to keep the decorations up the entire month of December, Josh and her mom had bought the artificial tree a few years back when a guest’s allergies forced him to cut short his family’s stay at the lodge.
Sarah Kowalski had loved Christmas trains, and one ran around the base of the tree. It was a cheap plastic set so guests’ kids could play with it, but some of Sarah’s treasured trains were on display around the room. Her favorite—a music box with a tiny train driving around and around a small town—was on the mantel of the fireplace, next to a photo of Frank and Sarah. There were electric candles in each window, of course, and candy cane garland wrapped all the way up the stair bannister.
“I don’t know how Rosie does it,” Josh said, and Katie jumped. She’d almost forgotten he was in the room. “It seems like the weekend after Thanksgiving, I go out for a few hours and—bam!—it’s Christmas when I get home. I’ve been working on this since Thursday and I just finished last night.”
“It looks amazing. And I told you to call if you needed help.”
“I had it under control.”
It was too bad, she thought, looking around the room. It would have been fun to decorate together. Passing the garland around and around the tree. Watching Josh stretch to hang the balls high on the tree. Yeah, she might have enjoyed that.
“I guess I’ll take my bag up,” she said when it became obvious he didn’t have too much else to say.
He grunted, but whether it was in response to her or because he was reaching for the television remote, she couldn’t tell. She went up the stairs and down the hall to Liz’s room. Josh’s room was right across from it, but his door was closed. It was tempting to peek in, because she hadn’t looked inside for years, but she forced herself to leave it alone.
It was dumb, anyway. As she’d told others, if Josh was ever going to see her as more than somebody to argue referee calls with, he would have done it by now. She was thirty-three and it was time to start seriously thinking about her future. None of the guys she’d dated had been able to take Josh’s place as the most important guy in her life, and a few had even tried to make her choose. They’d lost, of course.
Now, sitting on the edge of Liz’s bed, she wondered if Josh’s leaving Whitford wouldn’t be the best thing for everybody. It would certainly make him happy, but maybe it would also free her to find a guy who did want to settle down with her and make babies.
Just thinking about it made her heart hurt, though, so she shoved those thoughts aside and went to the room next door to strip her mom’s bed. She was here to help with the lodge so her mom wouldn’t relapse, and that’s what she’d do. That was all she’d do.
*
As eager as Rose was to be home, the journey really—as Earle would have said—beat the snot out of her. By the time Josh, who insisted on holding her elbow whenever she was in motion, took her coat and practically pushed her onto the couch, she never wanted to move again.
The lodge looked beautiful though, she thought, taking in the holiday atmosphere. “Did you two decorate this together?”
“Josh did it,” Katie told her. “I told him to call me if he needed help, but of course he didn’t.”
That wasn’t part of the plan. She’d known when she’d asked if he’d gotten the tree up yet that he’d make sure it was done before she was released, but Rose had imagined him calling Katie to help him. They’d deck the halls, maybe watch a movie. Cuddle on the couch. That was her plan.
Clearly she’d underestimated Josh’s stubborn streak when it came to not asking for help.
“I was thinking,” she said. “I’d like for everybody to dress for Christmas Eve.”
“Yeah, me too.” Josh snorted. “Running around naked with lit candles and hot gravy can be a bitch.”
She pinned him with a look, but he only grinned at her. “I want everybody to dress up. Really make it a party.”
Both kids groaned, but Katie got her objection out first. “You want our family party to be formal? Seriously?”
“I’m not talking tuxedos and pearls, or even ties. Just everybody looking nice so we can take pictures.”
“Specify nice,” Josh said.
“A shirt with buttons would be nice.”
He grimaced. “With jeans?”
She considered that for a few seconds. Josh’s wardrobe wasn’t exactly well-rounded. As far as pants went, he owned sweats, jeans and a funeral suit. “As long as they’re nice ones. No holes or raggedy hems.”