A Red Leaf & Ten Orchids Ch. 07

"Me too. Thanks, Aunt Rose." Kayla chuckled as she lifted the binoculars again. Well, she thought, her aunt had only used two of her names that time.

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Kayla finished her tea, and decided to change her clothes. The shower in the bunkhouse still needed cleaning out, and she'd had her shower in Aunt Rose's bathroom, but she'd forgotten to take a change of clothes with her and she didn't want to wear her "work clothes" with Josh. She still had time...

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Josh walked to the house to grab the cooler that Kayla had said would be waiting there. Rose came out to hand it to him. He looked at her blankly.

"Oh don't look so stunned, Joshua," she said, "Kayla told me that you two were going to take a drive out there tonight so you could show her Sam's spot. I know you've been going there a lot on your own. That's the only spot that he never told me about, I guess because he'd found it as a child, and it was personal for him.

Joshua, Kayla and Jillian are all that's left of my blood kin. You're all three special and dear to me. I want to thank you for what you're doing for them."

Josh smiled and replied, "I'm not doing anything for them that I don't want very much to be doing. I'd do it just because you asked me to, but I find that they've both dug into me so hard in such a short time, it's really my pleasure, Rosie."

Rose walked over to him and kissed him. "You don't know it, I'm sure, but you're the best thing in all of our lives now." She sat down in a chair that faced the driving shed.

"Rosie, what's Kayla's problem? I only know that she's hiding something about herself away from the world. I've tried to get her to open up, but though she's warmed up to me, she's still holding back. I want to help if I can, and I won't pressure her, but I won't know what she needs until she tells me." Josh said with concern in his voice.

"Joshua honey, what she really needs is you. If my feelings are right, she is just on the edge of realizing that. What YOU need, if you'll pardon my being so blunt, is Kayla, and I think that you know that for yourself, because I can see it in your eyes. I've known you for years. I've watched you help many folks that were in a bind, myself included, but I've never seen you need to help someone so badly as when you look at her." Rose said. "Actually I've never seen you NEED anyone before I saw how you look at her. It's really sweet to see that.

I don't know if she's told you anything, but when she was a child, Kayla had always dreamed to be a dancer or a model. She found that she's a bit on the short side to be a clotheshorse in that industry. They like tall, impossibly thin saplings.

So she tried dancing, and she was good at it, but just wasn't catching the breaks. Then she got involved with a scum-bucket who suggested something to get herself noticed. She took his advice, and found that the change only made her a commodity to strip club owners. Nobody else would touch her. So she did that for a while, saving her money so that she could go back to school, but on the way she found that sometimes to get a job, a girl has to provide, shall we say, a different kind of performance. She'd die of shame if she knew I was telling you this. So you need to keep it to yourself. Joshua honey, are you listening?"

Joshua said "Yes, Rosie. I'm listening intently. I can't imagine what it must have been like to be in a position like that. Go on, is there more?"

Rose continued, "Kayla has been used by every man she's had a relationship with up to a point. She's found that to get through life, she's had to be a bitch, and she's developed a hard shell. When Marcia died, and Jillian landed in Kayla's arms, she threw her no-good boyfriend out, and decided that she wasn't ever going to trust another man, and that she'd raise Jillian as best she could.

Her problem is that the change that she'd made to herself is now a constant reminder of her shattered dream and broken trust. I won't tell you what that reminder is; she'll have to do that. I think she believes that you'll have nothing to do with her once you know. I personally believe that she's wrong, but I haven't been able to convince her. It's become her cross to bear, and she reacts by covering it up more and more. If you can get that close Joshua, only the two of you can bring her out."

At that instant, a light came on in the bunkhouse opposite. The light was from the open bathroom, but shone through the Kayla's door, and out through the as-yet dirty window. Kayla was changing in her room, and her silhouette was cast on the dusty glass. Joshua was mesmerized. He could see her shape, and it hit every single bell in his head related to 'What Joshua's Perfect Woman Should Look Like".

He couldn't take his eyes off her. He certainly couldn't imagine what she hated about herself. Then for about a tenth of a second, the dirty glass gave him the faintest clue.

Rose looked over at the window, and then at Joshua. She told him. "Joshua honey, you really shouldn't look. But since you can't see any detail, have fun for a few minutes as long as it lasts. Ok?" She got out of her chair.

Joshua stared at her. "Is it going to take you that long to get the flyswatter?"

Rose turned to walk into the house. "Have fun honey. I'll tell Kayla to do something about the window tomorrow, or maybe Wednesday or Friday if I remember. Oh, and you ought to think about putting walls up in the loft soon.

She's been watching you buck naked for the last couple of nights with the binoculars. Good night."