When her mom walked over and pulled her into her arms, it was a struggle not to cry. “You knew this might happen, honey. So did I.”
“I can’t get over the fact he hasn’t told me.”
“It’s weighing heavy on him, Katie. You know Josh. He’ll talk about the weather and sports and snow and almost anything else you can think of, but not what’s going on in his head.”
Katie stepped back from the hug and shrugged. “Whatever. He knows where to find me if he wants to talk.”
Despite that, it wasn’t five minutes after her mom had left that Katie pulled out her cell phone. She got Josh’s voice mail after the second ring, which meant he’d seen her name on his caller ID and silenced her.
She wasn’t sure what the rules were now. A few months ago she might have jumped in her Jeep and driven to the lodge to ask him what had crawled up his ass. But now she wasn’t sure if that was too girlfriend-like and, despite being tickled when Drew had called Josh her boyfriend, she wasn’t sure what they were.
In the end, she settled for going to the diner and asking Ava to make her a massive hot fudge sundae. With chocolate and whipped cream came a little bit of clarity.
Being hurt that Josh hadn’t reached out to her wasn’t going to get her anything but misery. Josh had never reached out to her. He didn’t reach out to anybody. Even when he’d been miserable and on the edge of snapping, he’d kept it to himself until he broke his leg and finally told his brothers he wanted out.
The best thing she could do was wait and, when he was ready to talk, he’d talk to her. No amount of pushing or nagging would make that happen any sooner, so there was no sense in potentially driving him away.
And now that her mom had told her what exactly was weighing on his mind, she wasn’t really in a hurry to have that conversation with him, anyway. She knew feeling hurt that he hadn’t confided in her wasn’t going to hurt anywhere near as bad as hearing him say he was leaving.
*
Rose pulled a batch of oatmeal cookies out of the oven and closed the door with a snap. She wished she hadn’t told Andy to make himself scarce for the weekend. The tension in the lodge was almost unbearable and she could have used his comfort.
Instead she was baking cookies after her bedtime, waiting for Ryan and Sean to show up. Lauren had opted to stay home because they’d done so much running back and forth that Nick wasn’t even unpacked yet, and Sean was coming without Emma because she had a prior commitment. It would be just the kids, which was probably for the best. It wasn’t going to be an easy decision to make.
When Josh walked into the kitchen, she was thankful he grabbed a soda instead of a beer, at least. “Do you want a cookie? They need to sit a few minutes, but they’re fresh and hot.”
He glanced at the cookie sheet, disappointment all over his face. “No chocolate chip?”
“Not tonight. Sean’s partial to my oatmeal cookies.”
“Lucky Sean.”
She smiled, but didn’t bother to point out that Josh got to eat her baked goods all the time and Sean didn’t. Mary was a good cook, but the boys’ aunt wasn’t quite as good with oatmeal cookies as she was. And, from what she’d heard, cooking wasn’t very high on Emma’s priority list. After driving from New Hampshire, the boy deserved some of his favorite cookies.
“Have you told Katie about the offer?” she asked, even though she knew he hadn’t. It was the only way she could think of to open the conversation without sounding accusatory right off the bat.
“Not much sense in telling her until it’s final one way or the other.”
Nothing in his tone invited further comment, but these were the two people she loved more than anybody and they obviously needed help. “I assumed you’d talk to her. I know this is a big deal for you and she’s a good shoulder to lean on.”
“You think she’ll be happy for me?”
That was an almost impossible question to answer, but she could see on his face he wanted her to try. “I think she’ll be happy for you, knowing you’re getting what you’ve always wanted.”
He didn’t like the answer, but it was all she could give him. Truth was, if they decided tomorrow to sell the lodge, Josh was going to get what he wanted while Katie was going to lose what she’d always wanted. And it would be especially hard because now her daughter knew what she’d be missing. It would have been better for everybody if Katie had never worn that damn dress to the Christmas Eve party.
And Rose’s dreams would crash to the ground, too. Losing the Northern Star would make her sad, of course. It had been more than her responsibility for decades—it had been her home. But she’d been so sure Josh and Katie were finally going to be together, and now it probably wasn’t going to happen.