"Ah!" Hop Sing called from behind him as Joe started out the kitchen door. Joe waited, slapping his black gloves restlessly against his leg. One thing after another had kept coming up all morning—he and Candy were more than an hour late getting out. The little cook scurried over. "Little Joe tell Miss Catalina that Hop Sing be by on Thursday. We make more sachima." Hop Sing nodded firmly. "Miss Catalina sachima very tasty—be good as Hop Sing someday."
Joe lifted an eyebrow. "But not yet?"
"Little Joe think she make as good as Hop Sing in two tries?" The cook scowled, shooing Joe out of the kitchen. "Not want any dessert tonight, hmm?"
"Now wait, I didn't say that!" Joe held up two placating hands. Hop Sing waved a finger in the younger man's face before turning away, not quickly enough to hide his smirk. Joe leaned against the doorframe. "She sure enjoys you comin' by—told me so the other day."
Hop Sing nodded. "Miss Catalina good girl. Laugh like springtime." He patted his chest. "Good for old man's heart."
"You ain't old, Hop Sing."
"Hmph." The little man rolled his eyes. "Number Three son have eyes checked in town today, maybe."
Joe snorted a chuckle.
It wasn't much, but it was real.
By the table, Hop Sing nodded. "Miss Catalina good for Little Joe, too."
Joe grimaced. "I don't know what you're thinkin', Hop Sing, but—"
"Hop Sing think it good for Number Three son to have friend who laugh." One thin shoulder shrugged briefly. "No laughing here for too long. Not good for Little Joe. Not help him." Hop Sing shook his head, then turned his attention back to the half-chopped carrots on the table. "Not good for anybody, but nobody here listen to Hop Sing."
Now that was the most ridiculous thing Joe had heard in a long time. He didn't bother with an argument—Hop Sing liked nothing better than for someone to rise to his bait, and if Joe stopped to bicker he and Candy would never make it into Virginia City.
He'd come back later and stir the pot again. Since … Hoss (Dear Lord, I miss him), he appreciated the little cook's argumentative tendencies all the more.
No one squabbled like his big brother, but bickering with Hop Sing was … something, at least.
Joe stood for a minute, watching his old friend with an affectionate eye, then thumped the doorframe and headed out to meet Candy. It really might be dark by the time they made it back. He found Ben waiting at the buckboard, too—at least, his pa was standing by the team, detailing at length exactly where he wanted Candy to look for axle grease.
"What they have at the Emporium is too dark. It stains." Ben puffed on his pipe. "And the tubs at Carlson's General are so small you might as well not even bother. The stuff Old Ned sells out the back of the livery is more water than grease, so don't let him take you in." Candy cast Joe a desperate glance from the seat of the buckboard, then pasted on a smile and nodded as Ben added emphatically, "And Jack Harlson might as well have silver mixed in, for what he's charging! It's ridiculous, and I don't want anything that man's selling coming back to this ranch!"
They had both (Jamie too) had this lecture more than a few times over the past couple of years.
In fact, Joe could probably give it himself.
"Don't worry, Pa." Joe swung up beside Candy, settling back for the ride. "We'll go to Jansen's."
The mottled shade of red that crept up his pa's neck might have been more worrisome if Candy hadn't choked at Joe's words and then attempted to cover it with a cough. Ben glared between the two of them, heavy brows furrowing, then sighed and shook his head.
"All right. Point taken. You're both adults, I'm sure you're more than capable. But," he pointed ominously, "if one more tub of bad axle grease makes its way back here from town, the responsible party will find himself cutting firewood for the next year!"
'Bad' was a relative term, when it came to axle grease. Joe himself hated the only brand that didn't set Ben off on an hour-long rant.
It stunk. Oh, did it stink.
"Come on, Candy." Joe stretched his legs out and elbowed their foreman. "I'll buy you a beer when we're done. Sounds like we're gonna need it."
Candy's pleased grin was enough to make him realize that Hop Sing was right. Nobody on the Ponderosa had been laughin' much these days.
That needed to stop. Joe wasn't sure he was ready for it … but he also wasn't sure he ever would be.
They couldn't wait that long.