Page 33 of Joy
Chapter Six
THE DATEended with Chinese takeout from the only place in the area, and it had to be heated in the microwave by the time we got back to Dalton. Silas handed me a carton and sat on the couch, putting his arm over my shoulders.
“Sorry the date ended so shitty,” I said before taking a bite of a greasy egg roll.
“You didn’t start the fire.”
“I was really looking forward to it,” I continued.
“Do you have tomorrow off?”
“I don’t think so. Why?”
Silas looked down. “Call George. I’ll take you swimming tomorrow.”
“Swimming? It’s April,” I protested.
Silas moved his arm and opened his take-out container. “You only live once.”
“And die by hypothermia.” I sighed and put my food on the coffee table before standing. “Can I use your landline? My cell has spotty service out here.”
Silas nodded, picking out several vegetables from his order and piling them to one side.
I walked into the kitchen and picked up the handset from the cradle on the wall. Silas had a damn rotary phone. “What’s his home number?” I asked, slowly spinning the dial as Silas called it out.
“Hi, Uncle Silas,” a little girl said upon picking up.
“Er—hi. This is Gideon. Do you remember me? You hit me in the face with a door.”
“Oh yeah. Why are you calling from my uncle’s house?”
“I’m….” Did she know her uncle liked boys? “Is your dad there?”
“Hold on.” The phone clattered, and I could hear her calling for George in the background.
“Silas?” George asked.
“Gideon,” I corrected.
“Oh hey, Gideon. Everything okay?”
“Yeah, fine,” I said. “Uh, the date didn’t go so well.”
“What happened?”
“No, no, nothing bad. The restaurant had a grease fire.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No.”
“I’ll be damned. Sorry to hear that.”
“I wanted to see if I could have tomorrow off. I know it’s short notice, but Silas wants to… go swimming orsomething. I don’t know. Is he trying to kill me?”
“I can hear you,” Silas called from the living room.
George laughed. “Sounds like he’s going to the Rock.”
