Rose's mouth dropped open. "Poker? I thought it was just supposed to be a social sort of get-together." The three of them sat at the table in the loft surrounded by containers of the Chinese food that Rose had brought home.
"Yeah," Kayla smiled, "That's what it'll be. It's just going to have a poker game as the focal point, that's all."
Rose shook her head, "I haven't played poker in donkey's years. I doubt I can remember how. Why do you want me to go? I can take care of Jillian while you and Joshua go." exclaimed Rose over the table as she decided whether or not to try one of the other dishes.
"Rosie," Josh explained, "I can't go. It's a lady's poker night. I don't qualify. And even if I was allowed to go, I wouldn't understand all of the stuff that you guys talk about anyway. All that comparative, exponential superwoman stuff." he said with a smile. "Way above my head."
He grinned, "I'll look after the Jilly and Daisy while the two of you have some fun, ok? What's the worst thing that could happen?"
Rose looked at Josh evenly, "The volunteer Fire Department is number three on the speed-dial on the house phone."
Kayla threw in her plea as well. "C'mon Aunt Rose. It sounds like fun, and I don't know the first thing about it. I need you to keep me from losing my shirt."
"And I'll pay you fifty bucks if she comes home without it." Josh's laughter was cut short by Kayla's elbow in his ribs. He winced, "Not that kind of poker, huh?"
"Alright, I'll go. It does sound like fun anyway." Rose said as she made her choice from among the various dishes. "Think you can handle them both, Joshua? Jillian and Daisy?"
"I'll be ok, neither of them needs diapers, so that's the hard part done, right?" Josh gave his best clueless grin.
The women groaned.
"Anyway Rosie, you guys ought to have a nice evening out. Neither of you have gone anywhere besides the cantina since Kayla and Jilly arrived and you're both on vacation, and ..., "
He lowered his voice, even though Kayla was sitting right next to him, "Kayla wants me to spend some time with Jilly and vice versa. She wants to see whether Jilly can keep me in line or not."
"Well I don't see why she couldn't, "Rose said, "She's seven, after all."
"Ow. That's a bit harsh, isn't it?" Josh asked in a wounded way.
"I've told you before, Joshua, but you just don't listen. You always make these self-depreciating remarks. All you do is put yourself down, and it doesn't suit you. You leave the gate open long enough, boy, something's just bound to walk in." She nodded, "That's all I'm saying."
"So what's on the agenda for you and Jilly?" Kyla asked, "You could always just play one of her PlayStation games for the whole time, but I was hoping for something a little imaginative from you."
Josh thought back to what had happened a few days before when he'd been around the back of the driving shed to get some hose. He'd walked by a square projection in the structure that stuck out and though he'd been by there a hundred times, he'd suddenly stopped and looked back at it, wondering.
Later on, he'd been in the shed and seen nothing that fit that thing. There was no room there, only a wall behind Sam's big old tool boxes. He'd walked back outside and looked again. Coming back into the shed, he'd stared at the lines on the wall and moved the toolboxes aside .When he'd opened the doors that he'd found, they led him to that room.
And what was in it.
He'd been busy ever since, and he'd gotten a few things together. Baby-sitting Jilly was just the thing. Kayla had said that they ought to spend time together, and while Josh could pass an evening playing on a game system, what he had in mind would be a lot more fun for Jilly. He might even enjoy it as well.
"Well I do have something in mind," he said, "but I can't tell you what it is. I know that if I do, you'll give me a ton of perfectly logical reasons against it and I'll end up losing at anything that we play for the whole evening, so don't even ask. We'll have more fun my way."
The conversation ran to what had transpired between Joshua and Kayla earlier and Rose just stared from one to the other.
"So you want to get engaged? Is that what you're telling me?"
"Yeah," Joshua nodded, "The way that we saw it, there wasn't enough for us to worry about."
"What are you going to do about a ring, Josh?" Rose was thinking that, under the circumstances, she could lend him the engagement ring that Sam had given her a long time ago, at least until he could get her something better.
"I dunno, "he said, with a shrug, "I was thinking that I ought to practice alternating between looking overcome with joy and blushing shyly for when Kayla puts it onto my hand. She's the one who proposed."
Kayla was about to counter that Josh had broached the subject first, but her aunt was laughing too hard. When she could manage a sentence, Rose just grinned at Kayla, "That's my girl."
Rose thought for a minute and said, "Well, if that's how it's going to be, then I think that you ought to give some thought to it -- and then some thought to Jillian. She's had some kind of rough ride for a life that most kids never do. I'm not sure what to advise, to tell you the truth. But if you're serious, it might be better to just involve her, and depending on what she shows you, it might just be best to start living it."
"What do you mean. Aunt Rose?" Kayla asked.
"Well for starters, Kayla, if she seems to be alright with it, then you ought to think hard about just dusting your man there off and moving him into your home, "Rose said, "But see how the next couple of days go and tell her what you've got in mind, anyway."
They discussed what could be done with the ranch and there were several options. Rose sat and felt a little overwhelmed until Josh held up his hand.
"Listen. The fact of the matter is that it basically comes down to running the place or selling it. You've said that you wouldn't mind trying to get it to go, but Rosie, I have no idea about that."
He got up from the table and walked to his desk, "But I do have an idea about asking somebody that I know and trust. If it's not a big imposition, I'd like for him to come out for a few days and look. He'll be able to tell us what's what at the very least."
He rolled his eyes, mostly for his own benefit, "He's always been able to set me straight -- no matter if I wanted his advice or not."
Josh smiled as he picked up the phone, and then decided that he didn't feel like squishing the receiver to his ear for very long in the loft, so he punched the speakerphone button and set the receiver down. He stretched to grab his wallet and fished out his long distance card.
Kayla and Rose looked at each other and then at Josh as he punched the second listing on his speed dial and then all of the required subsequent digits, finally adding the number that he wanted. He glanced at them and sipped his beer.
"Who are you calling?" Kayla asked him.
He lit a cigarette and inspected his fingernails. "An old friend of mine."
The other end picked up at the fourth ring. The voice sounded like a human rock crusher.
"Brisebois. Go ahead."
Josh smiled. "Hey, Jim! You still haven't learned any telephone manners after all this time on civvy street. I'm surprised that Bell will still let you use the system at all, frankly" he said cheerfully.
"Taylor! Is that you? You ignorant, misbegotten, illegitimate spawn of an albino ape and a confused syphilitic sheep! How the hell are you?" The gravel voice on the other end began to chuckle.
Rose and Kayla exchanged glances, their eyebrows climbing.
Josh laughed. "I'm so pleased that somebody still loves me, Jim. How are you doing these days? What's the weather like back in T.O.?"
There was a grunt from the speaker. "I'm not in Toronto. You know I live in Vaughn, you stupid shit. I'm ok, I guess. I'm bored out of my fucking mind is all. The weather here sucks. Hot, sticky, the same shit every year. Where are you? Out in the desert again, last I heard.
Why you go there when you can have all the heat you want for free right here is beyond me. Then again, you always were eight cylinders running on five."
Josh was looking down, shaking his head with a smile. He'd forgotten the way that they'd bantered sometimes, and with the phone on speaker, ... He just knew there would be hell to pay for this somewhere.
He opened the small fridge and took out two beers. He opened them and handed them to the astonished women.
"I love you too. See, the reason that I'm here, and not there, is that out here, I can have the hot without the sticky. It's dry here, y'know? Sweat actually dries here and keeps you cooler. It's a wonderful invention that they call an arid climate. You ought to try it sometime."
Josh snorted, "And you call me stupid. Hey, I was wondering. If you're sufficiently bored, why not come and visit me? The beer's ok here, and the company is pretty grand too.
Now before you answer in the mellifluous fashion that has made you famous all over the globe, I must point out that two of the finest-looking women in the entire state of New Mexico are sitting in front of me, and you're on speakerphone."
Rose and Kayla smiled and chuckled.
"Taylor," the voice growled, "what's this about? I'm listening, and you know I have a short attention span."
Josh leaned against the edge of the desk. "Jim, I have a small problem."
The roaring laughter out of the phone reminded Kayla of tires spinning on a dirt road.
