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eyebrows shot up. “You’re going to throw a holiday party?”
    “No, we are going to throw a holiday party.”
    His eyebrows dropped into a frown and he opened his mouth, but Rose beat him to it. “You two can do it, if you work together.”
    Katie was still trying to wrap her mind around the fact she’d be sleeping across the hall from Josh every night. She figured she’d survive it because he’d be working outside a lot, while she’d be taking care of her mom and doing housework. It was a big place. But planning a party together meant they’d have to talk. A lot.
    Sure, they talked all the time. They talked about football and hockey and baseball. Basketball. The weather. Trucks. Griped about their love lives when either of them had one. Katie had long ago fallen into a rhythm of “guy talk” that kept her from accidentally letting on that she’d like a one-way ticket out of the friend zone.
    Now they’d be playing house, and so much proximity was going to play hell on her nerves. The other night an image had popped into her mind of bumping into him in the hallway, his bare chest glistening from a hot shower and a small towel hanging low on his hips.
    She wasn’t sure if that would be the best or the worst thing ever, but she’d lost sleep thinking about it.
    “You’ll need to come up with a menu, of course,” her mom said. “Hopefully, I’ll feel up to baking a couple of pies, but you guys will have to take care of the rest. Josh, did you get the tree and the decorations up yet?”
    “Uh…no.”
    “The doctor said I can probably go home Monday if I don’t relapse at all, so I’ll lie on the couch and supervise.”
    Katie had no doubt he’d spend the next several days busting his ass getting the lodge decorated before Sergeant Rosie was there to nitpick the process.
    “I want music. Happy stuff,” Rose continued. “And candles and…well, you two can figure it out. But I’ll look over your lists, of course.”
    “Of course,” Katie muttered. In the meantime, she’d also keep her own business going while helping Josh run his. Haircuts, washing bedsheets and feeding the whole family—or most of it—a holiday meal that met Rosie’s standards. No problem.
    They hung around for a while, but her mom eventually shooed them off. There were rumors of some bad weather coming in as the night wore on. She didn’t want them driving in it, and she wanted to get her beauty sleep so she could go home Monday.
    It was dark already and the temperature had dropped pretty drastically but, unlike her Jeep, Josh’s truck warmed up quickly and she felt herself getting sleepy.
    “When are you planning on moving in?” Josh asked when they were on the main road, heading back to Whitford.
    “I was thinking if Mom’s getting released Monday, then probably Sunday. I can open the shop for a full day Saturday, then get settled at the lodge Sunday morning. That’ll give me time to freshen up her room. Change the sheets and stuff.”
    “Sounds good.”
    “Unless you need help with the Christmas decorations. I assume you’re going to get it done before she’s home to supervise?”
    He laughed, and the rich sound seemed to fill the enclosed space of the cab. “You got that right.”
    “Do you need a hand with it?”
    “I think I’m all set. Probably.” He shrugged. “I’ll give a shout if I get too backed up.”
    “Good. Gives me time to stop by Max’s and…be nosy.”
    He turned his head and, in the lights from the dash, she could see the scowl. “No wiles.”
    “I don’t need to cheat, Kowalski.”
    “Maybe you should move into the lodge tomorrow so I can keep you busy. And keep an eye on you.”
    The shiver that tickled her spine had nothing to do with the snowflakes falling outside the truck. She wouldn’t mind him keeping her too busy to win their Max Crawford bet. But she suspected he was talking about dishwashers and furniture polish rather than tangled sheets.
    “Nothing against Liz’s