“You didn’t ask me for much advice.”
“Don’t look hurt. When I did, in the beginning, it helped a lot. But nothing is as educational as a nice juicy mistake. The lesson stays with you.”
“Lollie, you look bouncy and bright-eyed.”
“Should have seen me six months ago, friend. A hag. Mean, shrill, scrawny. Now I’m even getting fat.” She sat on the foot of the bed. “You don’t look so good, you know.”
“Weary. That’s all. I’ve had to push hard. Now I can take it easy for the next few weeks. So you’re really in the black?”
“The accountant says so. I’ve got a total of thirty-seven thousand in it, plus a loan against it. But it’s netting at the rate of over five thousand a year before taxes, after taking off a reasonable amount for salary for me and rental on the main house. So I could walk away with fifty-five thousand, Cal.”
He kissed her on the forehead. “Consider that a gold star. But what do you mean, walk away?”
“The shop is running the way I want it to now, Cal. So it’s decision time again, maybe. I don’t know. Do I want to go on just like this? Seven days makes a long week and I have, I guess you could say, met the challenge. Or should I hire somebody to run it, or sell it, or sell a half interest? I just don’t know.”
“It depends on how much you really like it.”
“That’s what Stan tells me.”
“Stan?”
“Oh, Stan Colby. A friend. A nice guy from Texas. I asked him to come to dinner tonight to meet you.”
“What does he do?”
“He’s a construction engineer over at White Sands.”
“How did you meet him?”
“Sort of through David. His kids live in Las Cruces with his sister. The boy is David’s age, twelve. The girl is older.”
“He’s not married?”
“His wife was killed in an accident... almost five years ago.” She went to the window and looked toward the main building. “The lull is lasting. Maria can cope. Do you want to take the grand tour now, or unpack first? What time is it? Nearly four. The kids went riding. They’ll be back by five. You won’t know them, Cal. They’re growing like weeds.”
“They’re happy here?”
“They love it.”
“Why don’t we take the tour now? Then I can unpack and change later. A construction engineer, did you say?”
“Who? Oh, Stan. Yes, that’s right. First I’ll show you the greenery. We had fantastic luck with the water situation. It’s rough around here. As you know. We drilled twenty feet from the old well and hit the seam right on the button and tripled the flow, so we could afford to build an oasis. Joe has a green thumb. Look at the mountains, Cal. I know them by heart. Over there is Mount Riley, then the Florida Mountains, then Cook’s Peak in the Mimbres Range. Then around the other way, on the other side of the river, there’s the San Andres and beyond them, way, way off, the Sacramento Mountains. White Sands is in the Tularosa Valley, between those two ranges.”
“Long way to come.”
“What? Oh, for Stan? Fifty miles on a fast empty road, through Organ. About an hour. Not even that. Forty-five minutes. It used to take Mitch fifty minutes to get home from the city. Look at my healthy juniper, Cal. Come on, I want to show you the weird cactuses in the rock garden.”
Stan Colby was a big, likable, leathery man. Kit and David greeted him with yelps of pleasure. Laura closed the shop at six, earlier than usual. Maria had a date. While Laura helped Ampara get the dinner started, Cal and Stan Colby took their drinks out onto the shady patio and sat in the deep redwood chairs.
Colby said, “Laura’s been telling me how that company keeps you on the move, Cal.”
“From now on there ought to be more time between trips.”
“I had me my wandering years. Panama, Venezuela, Haiti, Algeria. Finally lost the taste for it. Found me a lasting job. They’ll never stop building stuff at that Proving Ground. I guess I’m a little older than you are. Maybe you’ll get tired of it too.”
“I’ve been tired of it for quite a while.” Colby looked at him with mild speculation. “Anybody forcing you to keep it up?”
“I’ve been sort of promoted out of that end of it, finally,”
“Known Laura a long time, haven’t you?”
“Yes, I have.”
“I know how much help you were to her after her husband died, and I know she appreciates it. She puts a lot of store in your advice, Cal.”
“I hope it’s been good advice.”
Colby frowned. “One thing she had to know, and that was if she could get along in the world by herself. A person has to find that out. And I guess she’s proved it, wouldn’t you say?”
“She certainly has.”
“Cal, I can’t tell you how glad I am you could come here at just this time.”
“I don’t follow you.”
“I hear her coming, so we’ll have to talk about it later on.” They got up as she came out, carrying her drink.
“Rest easy, gentlemen. We have lots of time. The kids were famished, so Ampara is feeding them first. Every man is his own bartender, so don’t be shy. What were you talking about? Me, I hope.”
“Naturally,” Cal said. “I was just telling Stan how business life has turned you into a brittle, grasping, arrogant woman.”
“Now just a minute!” Stan said with obviously genuine indignation.
“I even cheat myself at solitaire,” Laura said. “Don’t be upset, Stan. Cal never smiles when he’s making a joke.”
“Strange kind of a joke,” Colby mumbled.
“A nice woman can’t spend all day cheating tourists without some little signs of moral disintegration,” Cal said.
“And whipping the help. Don’t leave that out,” she said.
“The Gutierrez family loves Laura,” Stan Colby said. “Every one of them just loves her. You got to say one thing for the Mexicans. You treat ’em right, you get a lot of loyalty. A lot of loyalty.”
“A lot of Mexican loyalty?” Cal asked mildly.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Colby asked.
“I just didn’t know there were different kinds.”
“This fountain is a fake,” Laura said. “In land as dry as this, it looks like conspicuous waste, doesn’t it? But it uses the same water over and over. Kit asked me one day if the water didn’t get tired.”
“Those are great kids, Laura. Just great,” Colby said.
“Now one of you can fix my drink,” she said. “Don’t all jump at once. You win, Stan dear.”
The conversation at dinner was strained from time to time, but Laura didn’t seem to notice. Cal found himself baiting Colby too often. It seemed a childish thing to do, a display of bad manners, and he attributed it to an irritability arising from his wearied condition. Colby seemed a sincere, honest, uncomplicated fellow.
After dinner was over, Colby had a chance to continue his conversation with Cal while Laura was cleaning up. She’d sent Ampara home earlier. The night air was cool and dry. The stars looked too numerous, cold and remote.
Colby said hastily, “To get back to what I was saying. She’s got no brother or father to turn to. And she’s worked too hard on this place. It took a lot out of her. It’s time she had some more advice from you, Cal. I know you want the best kind of life for her.
“I love that woman, and she knows it. God knows I’ve made it plain enough. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her. My kids haven’t got a proper home and, in a way of speaking, hers don’t either. And all four of our kids get along just fine with both of us, and each other. I make pretty fair money. I’ve been asking her to marry me. Right now she’s wavering on the brink, so to say, and she needs a little push, and you can give it to her. I swear I’d be good to her. I’m a steady man, Cal. I don’t play around, and I drink moderate, and I’d never lay a hand on her. Along with my first wife, I think she’s one of the finest women ever walked the earth. She’s carrying too big a load, and it’s time for her to have a proper home again. I guess you can see all sides of it, and I know you’ll do the right thing and give her the right kind of advice. I could say it’s none of your darn business, but I know how she turns to you for advice.”