Different Circles

He shrugged. “I can’t say you’re wrong about mom and dad and the other kids,” he said. “But being on the receiving end of their shaming of me ever since Sarah got pregnant and now being on the receiving end of a full-blown Mormon shunning, I like to think I’m a bit more tolerant of different lifestyles and points of view.”

Jake nodded. “I would say you are,” he said. “And I like to think that about myself as well.”

Joey nodded himself, perhaps a little reluctantly, but a nod nonetheless.

“Anyway,” Jake went on, “Laura and I were talking last night, and we would like to return your hospitality.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Maybe over spring break in April, you and the family would like to come visit us at our house.”

“Your house in Los Angeles?” he asked.

“Well ... we do have a house in Los Angeles, but we don’t hang out there much. I was talking about the house in San Luis Obispo. It sits up on a cliff over the ocean. It’s more than big enough for everyone to stay in. I even have a housekeeper who will cook meals and do the laundry and all that.”

“Sounds pretty fancy,” Joey said.

“It sounds amazing!” Chastity said with shrill enthusiasm. “Can we do it, Dad? Say we can do it!”

“I have always wanted to see the ocean,” Grace put in. She touched Jake’s shoulder. “You can actually see it from your house?”

“Oh yeah,” Jake said. “From any of the windows that face west, from the deck out back, and we have a hot tub that sits on another deck right on the edge of the cliff.”

“A hot tub!” Chastity said. “Wow!”

“And Grace, you could set up your easel right there next to the hot tub and paint the ocean scape—although sometimes the wind does kick up a bit.”

“I would really like that,” Grace said.

“Uh, before we start packing our bags,” Joey said, “I’m not sure we’ll be able to afford such a trip. How long would it take to drive from Pocatello to this San Luis whatchamacallit?”

“Uh ... well, fourteen to sixteen hours, I would think,” Jake said, “but there’s no need to do that. We could fly you from Salt Lake to LAX, no problem.”

“Fly us in this plane?” Joey asked.

“Well, not the whole way,” he said. “We’ll get you some airline tickets for the hop to LA and then I can fly everyone from LA to San Luis Obispo from there.”

“We can’t afford airline tickets,” Joey said.

“We’ll get them for you,” Jake said. “It’s nothing to us. Literally. Laura and I have a buttload of frequent flier miles that we never use for anything. They would cover everybody’s tickets, no problem. You just get yourselves to Salt Lake City and we’ll take care of the rest.”

“I don’t know,” Joey said.

“Oh, come on, Dad!” Chastity cried in dramatic anguish. “He said it won’t cost them anything! That’s not charity!”

“We would be happy to do it, Joey,” Jake said. “Sincerely.”

“I don’t know,” he said again. “I really don’t like accepting expensive things from anyone.”

“Did I mention the sand dunes around where we live?” Jake asked.

“The sand dunes?”

“Yeah,” Jake said. “Big ones that stretch for miles along the beach. And there’s places where you can rent ATVs for the day and explore to your heart’s content. I know a guy who rents them to us for pretty much free in exchange for letting him use my face in his advertisements.”

“ATVs, huh?” Joey said.

“That sounds like hella fun!” Chastity said.

“It really does, Dad,” added Brian.

“And you like to fish, right, Joey?” Jake enquired.

“You know I do,” Joey said.

“There’s a guy who runs a charter boat out of the marina in Morro Bay,” Jake said. “He has a Beechcraft Bonanza and flies it out of the same airport I use so we see each other in the pilot’s lounge a lot. He’s made a similar offer to me on a couple of occasions. Free use of the charter for a day of deep-sea fishing if I would let him publish some pictures of me on his boat for advertisements. So far, I haven’t taken him up on it because I haven’t had the time or a big enough group of people to take out. But this might be the perfect opportunity.”

“Deep sea fishing?” Brian said excitedly. “I’ve always wanted to do that!”

“Me too,” Chastity said. “Dad, we have to do this! I will seriously die if we don’t!”

“Well...” Joey said, visibly wavering now, “I did try some deep-sea fishing when we were up in Alaska. It was one of the best fishing trips I’ve ever been on.”

“Say yes, Dad!” Chastity demanded.

“I really would like to see the ocean, Dad,” Grace put in.

“Me too,” Brian put in.

“Well ... I guess the family has spoken,” Joey said. “All right. We’ll take you up on your offer, Jake. Thank you very much.”

“Our pleasure,” Jake said when the cheers died down behind him.

“I can’t wait to tell all my friends I’m going to California to hang out with my uncle Jake Kingsley!” Chastity said. “They are gonna be hella jealous.”

“Please stop saying ‘hella’, Chase,” Joey said. “I really hate that word.”

“Sorry, Dad,” she said.