A Red Leaf & Ten Orchids Ch. 10

"That's what you meant by 'completing the set'?" he laughed.

"You know, "he said softly, "I may not necessarily approve of your way of making introductions there, Six-gun Sally, but I've got to admit I kind of like the way that you think."

Kayla reminded him that he had said something about working his back.

Josh looked at Kayla's prescription. "These take a few weeks to get underway on, right? Kayla, ..."

"Hey," she said, reading his thought, "I'm not being foolish with either the use of these or what that delay might mean, Joshua. I know that we've got one big-assed set of decisions to make."

She sighed, and kissed him for a moment. "I guess that I'm banking on us working something out in the long term, that's all. Maybe we're just being stupid, but I've been about everywhere else that you can be on the map. All I've gotten out of it has been a lot of hurt and a sore ass from kicking myself."

"Ok," Joshua said, pretending to cross off a line in an imaginary notebook, "From what I've got here, stupid is about all that's left, Kayla. I've tried careful and cautious and all that one gets you is alone with no one to hold onto you at night."

He nodded, the humor leaving his face, "This doesn't make a lot of sense to me either, but so far, this seems to be working for us, and I know that I'm a lot happier for just the last few days and you guys seem to be as well. We've got a couple more weeks to decide a lot of things, so if you're still in...."

"Motion seconded and carried, " Kayla smiled a little as she put everything away. Joshua stood up and she put her arm around his waist. "Come on, Handsome, I've got to get Jilly into her bath and you can read to her after. She's been bugging me to ask you to anyway."

"Are you, uh, trying to make this sound like endless everyday drudgery, or something?" Joshua looked at her with a little suspicion.

"Not really," she said, "I guess that I'm trying to acclimatize you very carefully, a little at a time. You never know, my luck might just hold, and then it would all just be a huge shock to your system without this first. I don't want you to suddenly get the full view then. What good would that do?" Kayla led him on this way as they walked slowly to the bunkhouse.

"Besides," she said, "from everything that I've ever read, the acquisition of a hopeful boyfriend by a single parent woman is something like buying a goldfish. They may not be very bright, but you can't just fill up the bowl with tap water and empty them out of the bag into it. You've gotta let them float around in the bag for a while. That way, they'll get to thinking that the little castle looks pretty nice compared to the little floating bag that they're in. I read that it's the same with a man. You've got short memories just like goldfish, apparently."

"You play it right," she nodded, "and soon they're swimming around, happy and marveling at the castle every lap around the bowl."

"I dunno," he said cautiously, "I might want a plant, and one of those bubble-stone things."

She sighed wearily, "Ok, I guess I can do that."

"And Dayglo gravel, too," he said seriously.

"What?" she stopped and turned to stare at him, "there's no such thing."

"Yes there is," Josh said adamantly, "I've seen pictures."

Kayla rolled her eyes, "Fine, but I'm in charge of decorating the bowl, What else?"

"Steak-flavored goldfish flakes."

She began to laugh, "You're so full of shit."

"Yeah," he said, "after I eat the flakes."

Kayla pulled herself to him to kiss him. She kept her arms around him, but she looked up and shook her head. "What I've been doing here is raising the possibility of one kind of outcome – as unlikely as anything else, the way that my life goes, anyway. But I have a little girl to think about and not just me, so I guess that I sort of can't help it. I'm making all of these allusions and scary hints and I know you're not stupid, Josh."

She smiled, "You're not afraid at all, are you, of anything that I've said?"

He sighed, "No, I get it," he said, "You're trying to bait me into the horse collar with a carrot."

She shook her head. "No, I was gonna use an apple to bait you," she said with a grin, "you're the one with the carrot. Don't they teach you this stuff where you come from?"

"Not in Grade Three," he said, "or in Grade Four, either, none of the times that I was in them. What was the apple thing about? You're just trying to get out of the Dayglo gravel now. He kissed her and they stood for a long minute together before she felt his smile beginning.

"What is it now?" she asked.

Josh smirked, "You had your eyes closed the whole time."

"Yeah," Kayla nodded," so?"

"So I think I'm growing on you, that's all. You're not blinking anywhere near as often."

She ran her hand along his pectoral muscle for a second, "What are these scars from?"

"Razor wire," he said, "it's like barbed wire, but, ... " He shrugged, "it comes in long rolls. You stretch it out. Then you're not supposed to go near it, but I thought I saw something bright and shiny."

Kayla kissed him again and took his hand to lead him onto the low porch of the bunkhouse, "I was only kidding about that goldfish thing," she said.

"Look!" he said with a bright expression, "A castle!"

"Shut up," she laughed.