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Cat waited until the final notes of the song died away before speaking “You’re definitely in the holiday mood, Dad”

With the cane for a pivot point he half-turned in surprise, then flashed a s “And ouldn’t I be? It’s nearly Christood one it’s going to be, too”

Cat sood to have both Quint and Laura home for Christmas this year Usually only one or the other can make it”

“Indeed it will be” He hobbled back to his chair behind the desk “Do you have the rooms ready for them yet?”

“Almost I was just on my way to the laundry room to fetch an extra set of towels for Quint and Dallas’s bath”

“Better get an extra room ready,” he told her

“Why? Who’s co?”

“I just spoke to Wade a bit ago He should be here on the twenty-third The twenty-fourth at the latest It’s liable to be late in the afternoon when he gets here, so I told hiht with us” The twinkle in his eyes grew uest, considering that I noticed there was a present under the tree with his name on it”

Cat refused to be self-conscious about it “You knohen I bought that gift for hi too lad that I did it, even if it is just a little so” She paused, then asked, “Do you knohat I—”

“Quiet” He almost barked the word and swiveled his chair to reach for the voluuely aware of the disc jockeys talking in the background, but her father clearly had one ear tuned to their conversation

“—being an old Grinch Everyone wants a white Christmas,” one of them declared

“A white Christ scheduled to blow into eastern Montana by the twenty-fourth! Who wants that?”

“Santa will have so conditions, won’t he?”

There was more, but Chase snapped the radio off “We need to call Quint and Laura so they can et here before the storm does”

“I’ll call Quint onLaura” Cat started out of the room