“My parents did too,” Dar admitted, with a smile. “I finally saw it last night. Thought the first one went pretty well, but I wasn’t fond of the second.” She glanced around. “I’d better get to work. I think I’ve got three conference calls scheduled this morning.”
“Sí. You do.” María nodded. “Is Kerrisita here?” She leaned closer.
“You know what day tomorrow is, yes?”
Blue eyes twinkled. “Of course.” Dar grinned. “Kerry’s living in fear.
She thinks I’m going to have a male stripper delivered to her office.”
“Tch.” María looked shocked. “You are not, surely?”
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“No,” Dar reassured her. “She’s trying to play down her birthday, though. How did she put it? She’s gotten enough bad press in the last few weeks?”
María grinned at her. Dar grinned back and then she ambled into her office, pausing as she cleared the door to appreciate the sunlit view of the ocean. “Nice.” She circled her desk and said hello to her fish, who blew bubbles at her, then swam in expectant circles as she got the food jar out and gave them a sprinkle. “Hey, guys. Didja miss me?”
The fish waved feathery fins at her as she sat down in her comfortable leather chair and leaned back. Glad of the tall chair’s sturdy support.
The diving had been great, but she’d overdone it the last two days and her back was feeling very cranky with her.
Maybe the tandem parasailing wasn’t the best idea I’d ever come up with.
Dar leaned her chin on her hand as she waited for her PC to boot. But damn, Kerry’d had such a blast. The phone buzzed and she slapped lazily at it. “Yes?”
“Dar, I have Mr. Alastair on número uno,” María told her.
“Sure.” Dar hit the other button. “Morning, Alastair.”
“Morning Dar. You up for a teleconference?” Alastair’s voice was cheerful. “Didn’t see you logged on, so…”
“Yeah, hang on.” Dar logged into the system and started up the network meeting software. “Go ahead.”
A moment later, the black window cleared, and she was looking at Alastair’s round, freshly scrubbed face. He wore his usual starched white shirt and sober navy blue tie, with its company tie clasp. His eyes shifted to his monitor, slightly off to one side. “Boy. You got some sun, huh?”
Dar leaned back in her chair and rested her elbows on the arms of it.
“Sun, sand, water. I didn’t go to Key West to snow ski, Alastair.”
The CEO chuckled. “No, I suppose not. Well, you look great. Really relaxed.” He watched Dar nod. “Good.”
“Uh oh,” Dar drawled.
“Now, Dar. What makes you think I’ve got bad news?” The blue gray eyes twinkled. “C’mon. You’ve had a nice, relaxing week, no stress, no frantic phone calls. No urgent emails.”
A dark brow lifted.
“All right. We’re planning a recap and strategy session tomorrow for the stockholder’s meeting. Remember you’re our main presenter this quarter.” Her boss relented. “I had a very interesting pow-wow with several of the senior board members on Friday. Seems they’re now finding you sort of intriguing.”
Dar rolled her eyes.
“You didn’t tell me your father was so highly decorated either, Dar, or that your mother was a critically well known artist. Erlich was sniffing around, saying how it was great timing to put your bio in this year’s company yearbook, so he dug out the files on you and your parents. Quite the family you are.”
Dar sighed.
446 Melissa Good
“Nothing to be ashamed of,” Alastair told her mildly. “It’s just great press.”
Dar leaned forward. “So what about the part where I’m gay?”
Her boss shrugged. “Do you want to make it an issue? I never pictured you as a crusader for gay rights, Dar.” He studied her. “In fact, I don’t think you ever personally mentioned it to me. I mean sure, we heard rumors, and there was that whole mess with Elena Nechovia, but…”
Dar shrugged.
“Of course, you never mentioned anything personal about yourself. I mean, you could have actually had three heads and sixteen children by a Tibetan yak, and I’d never have known.” Alastair now sounded a bit peeved.
“I have an ‘if you ask, I’ll tell’ policy,” Dar remarked dryly. “You never asked.” She glanced up as María entered with a small tray and set a gently steaming cup on the desk along with a plate of pastries. She winked at María and gave her a tiny wave, as the secretary waggled her fingers back and left. Dar picked up the cup and sipped from it. “I’ll pencil in the meeting. What time is it?”
“Four-thirty our time,” her boss stated. “Good. I’m looking forward to it. Maríana has been giving the press what details they wanted about you, by the way.”
Dar looked distinctly alarmed.
Alastair grinned and waggled his fingers. “Bye.”
“Hold it, hold it.” Dar held a hand up. “Listen. I’m going to go ahead with that project of mine today. Is that still fine with you?”
Alastair considered thoughtfully. “Well, we discussed it at the board meeting. I don’t see any problem with it, no.” He paused. “Is it on my worklist?”
Dar nodded.
“Hang on.” Alastair pecked at his keyboard for a minute. “Wh—oh, that. No, no, no. No, no. What, are you kidding? No, no…ah.” He rested his chin in his hand and read the screen intently, then flicked a gaze towards the camera. “Did you write this?”
“Partly.”
“Nice job,” her boss complimented. “All right, go ahead with it, but let’s not make a press announcement until the stockholder’s meeting. It would be a little on the sensational side right at the moment.”
Dar nodded. “Will do.”
“MS. KERRY, HERE are the reports you asked for. Is there anything else I can get you?” Mayte put the folders down and gazed at her boss.
Kerry tugged one over and opened it. “No. That’ll do for now. I’ve got to make the decisions on who’s going to migrate to the new network first, and every single account manager is giving me a sob story over why they should be put on the top of the list.” She glanced over her shoulder Eye of the Storm 447
towards the window, with its late afternoon shading. “Thank goodness it’s been quiet here today. Haven’t heard a peep out of anyone in an hour.”
Mayte scratched her ear. “Um, yeah. I was going to get some hot tea.
You want some?”
“Sure.”
Mayte eased out of the office, leaving her in the quiet of the big room. Kerry leaned back and stifled a yawn, reflecting on the fact that though she had a fantastic time on vacation, it was nice to be back here.
She slid down in her leather chair and carefully turned the cuffs on her silk shirt up another fold, gazing down at her stockinged feet under her desk. She looked up as a little gopher popped up on her screen and chit-tered at her. “Hey!” She chased after it with her mouse pointer, but it scuttled behind a window, and peeked out at her, poking its tongue out.
“How in the hell does she do that?”
The little gopher program was one of Dar’s and she frequently amused herself by changing it around and sending it over to pester Kerry. The animal was cute, with a snub face, and little black button nose, and the neatest thing was, every time he was different.
Today, GopherDar was wearing a tiny surfer outfit, complete with flip flops and wraparound sunglasses, and he proceeded to dance a hula across the bottom of her screen while she giggled in pure reaction. “You are sooo twisted.” She popped up a netmessage screen and typed exactly that in and sent it over to her boss’ computer.