He saw a quick flash of uncertainty cross her expression, but then she smiled and seemed to shrug it off. “You wouldn’t know what to do without me, Kowalski.”
“I know I’d get bored as hell in the groomer tonight.”
She laughed and, just like that, the tension was broken. “Maybe, if you’re nice to me, I’ll sing for you.”
“Oh, please no,” he groaned. Singing was not one of Katie’s strengths. “Rosie made her special apple pies. You want me to share don’t you?”
The normal balance of their relationship restored, they talked about the usual stuff while they ate meat loaf and drank coffee. After she filled the thermos for him, Ava brought the check and Josh pulled enough cash out of his wallet to cover it.
“What are you doing?” Katie asked, holding a twenty in one hand.
“I got it.”
“We’ve always gone Dutch.”
“That was before.” He shrugged and put out his hand to help her up. “I guess you must officially be my girlfriend now.”
*
Once they arrived at the snowmobile club’s clubhouse and Josh opened the massive overhead door, Katie made trips back and forth between his truck and the groomer, transferring their stuff to the cab.
Josh grabbed a clipboard that hung on a nail by the door and started his inspection, which covered everything from the windshield wipers to the huge tracks that moved the thing. After she locked his truck, she put his keys in the inside pocket of her coat and zipped it up. Her dad had gone riding one year and lost his truck keys out on the trail. As far as she knew, they’d never been found, and not for a lack of looking.
Once Josh had pulled the groomer out and she’d helped him hook it to the two-ton drag, she climbed into the cab, which had as many controls and buttons as a plane cockpit, while he locked up the clubhouse. Finally they started churning their way down the trail. While she knew Josh had been through a lot of training to drive the thing, the concept was pretty simple. The blades on the groomer swept snow onto the trail and the drag packed it down. And it all happened at a crawl.
Because it was a little tricky navigating the machinery down the trail leading away from the clubhouse, Katie was quiet, which gave her mind plenty of time to wander.
I guess you must officially be my girlfriend now.
Even though it was a dumb thing to say, since his picking up the entire check did not a relationship make, there had been something in his eyes that made her wonder if he was talking about more than not going Dutch. As if not selling the lodge meant he was resigned to staying, so he might as well make his relationship with her official.
She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. On the one hand, she knew Josh wasn’t the best when it came to talking about feelings. His feelings about the Red Sox taking the pennant next year? He’d talk about that all day long and half the night. But his feelings about anything personal or intimate were generally not up for discussion.
On the other hand, as she’d told Hailey, she didn’t want to be a consolation prize. It felt like she’d come in second in a contest, then had been pronounced champion by default when the real winner was disqualified. It was silly, but part of her would probably always wish he’d had to actually step up and deliberately choose her.
“You’re awfully quiet over there.”
She shrugged. “I’m resting my voice so I can sing for you later.”
“I’ll be the first guy in the history of the club to run himself over with the groomer.”
“I’m not that bad. Give me something to talk about.”
“Andy and your mom.”
She groaned. “I’d rather not.”
“What’s the matter? I thought you were okay with Andy?”
“I am.” And she sincerely was. “It’s just weird, talking about my mom being in a romantic relationship with somebody. I don’t think she ever dated after my dad died. Not until Andy started visiting.”
“I don’t think she did, either. but I like him. He’s a good guy.”
“If she’s happy, I’m happy.”
Josh laughed. “If Rosie’s happy, we’re all happy.”
After Josh got quiet for a few minutes while steering the groomer through a particularly winding stretch of trail, they talked about the Celtics for a while and griped about the price of gas. By the time three hours had passed, they’d gone through most of their standard conversation topics and half of Rosie’s pies.
Katie was getting bored. And she was also thinking more and more about what she and Josh could be doing in the groomer besides flattening snow. Those thoughts were making her antsy and she was having trouble keeping up her end of the conversation.
“Okay, so no interest in the new NASCAR rules going into effect this year,” he said, and she realized he’d been talking to her. “What do you want to talk about?”