“In my bed.” Katie paused, and then grinned. “After we snuck out to the barn for a little while.”
“The barn? Isn’t it a little cold for barn sex?”
“It’s heated. The guests like that, I guess. Heated storage for their snowmobiles.”
“Beds are more comfortable, no matter how heated the barn is.”
“Not when both beds are within earshot of my mother.”
“There are tons of rooms in that house. Do the sex grand tour.”
“We already made up the guest rooms for people coming in Friday. If we have sex in one of the beds, I have to change all the bedding again. Easier to sneak out to the barn.”
“So tell me, besides being amazing, did the sex also stop the weirdness?”
Katie thought about that. “Mostly. We’re fine with each other, I think, but it’s a little weird being around my mom.”
“Is it really a big deal if she finds out?”
“I don’t think so. She might even be happy about it. But I think Josh needs some time to adjust to us before he has to deal with his relationship with my mom changing. It’s a lot.”
“You’re probably right.” Hailey covered her eyes and groaned. “Take the doughnuts away, Katie. They need to be out of my reach.”
She picked up the box and set it on her end of the table, far out of Hailey’s reach. “I don’t know how you can even think about eating another doughnut.”
“Because you’ve had amazing sex two nights in a row. I haven’t. Not even one night of mediocre sex. And no, don’t mention Max Crawford.”
“I wasn’t going to.” Actually, she was, but Hailey didn’t need to know that.
“I need salt after all that sweet. Potato chips. I need chips.”
Katie leaned her head back against the couch and closed her eyes. She hadn’t gotten enough sleep the past two nights, not that she was complaining. And she definitely wouldn’t complain to Hailey.
It still blew her mind that she and Josh had not only managed to become an almost-couple, but had turned out to be so deliciously compatible in bed. Or on the floor and in the barn, as the case may be.
But, in her mind, they’d stay an almost-couple until everybody knew they were together. Yesterday morning, she’d waited with her mom on the couch and, when Josh got up, took her cues from him. It was pretty clear he didn’t want Rose to know their relationship had taken a turn for the intimate.
“I bet having guests running around the lodge will really put a cramp on you guys hiding in closets,” Hailey said, plopping down on the couch with an open bag of chips. She offered it to Katie, but she shook her head. She didn’t know how her friend could eat another bite.
“I know. Tomorrow we have to drive to Brookline and back, to help Ryan and Lauren with the last trip from her house. Then the next day, guests are arriving. We might have to sneak away to my apartment, which wouldn’t be fun since I have the heat turned down to fifty while I’m at the lodge. By the time that old boiler heats it back up, we’d be done. Or I could just let him warm me up, I guess.”
“I think you’re too salacious for me now,” Hailey told her. “I’m not sure I can be your friend anymore.”
Katie laughed and snatched the bag away from her. Maybe a few chips wouldn’t hurt.
*
Rose was curled up on the couch, feeling about as content as she’d felt in a very long time. The Christmas tree lights were twinkling, the fire was crackling and Andy’s arm was warm and snug around her shoulder.
“I know you said Katie went to Hailey’s, but where’s Josh?”
That was another reason for her deep sense of contentment. “He’s taking a nap.”
Rose was fairly sure she knew why Josh wasn’t getting enough sleep at night. It was obvious in the way he and Katie had been looking at each other since yesterday morning. The very air between them felt different. And, in her mind, the fact they’d both chosen gifts for each other that honored one of the happiest days they’d ever shared together was a sign they were meant to be together.
“You may have noticed I didn’t bring you a gift Christmas Eve,” Andy said.
She had, though she’d tried not to be disappointed by it. “I wasn’t expecting a gift. Just your company.”
“I had it in my pocket, but I wanted to give it to you like this. When it’s just us.” He pulled a small, flat box out from under a throw pillow, where he must have hidden it earlier. “Merry Christmas, Rose.”
Her hands shook a little as she unwrapped the paper. That embarrassed her a little, but she was anxious about what she’d find—something he hadn’t wanted lost in the chaos of the entire family.