A big grin spread across the ex-SEAL’s face. “For real?”
Kerry nodded.
“Hot damn!” A chortle of joy escaped. “C’mere!”
He held out his arms and Kerry scrambled over and threw herself into them, not minding the wetness one tiny bit. She felt the laughter as they hugged each other. “I couldn’t believe it,” she said as they released each other. “I called Dar, and she sounded so happy.”
Andrew shook his head in amazement. “Damn, that’s good to hear,” he breathed. “I knew things were getting easier, but I never Red Sky At Morning 311
figured it would go this fast.”
“Me, either,” Kerry admitted. “They’re both pretty stubborn.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” he chuckled. “You just stop by to tell me that? Y’coulda just used the land line, kumquat.” He went back to drying himself off.
Kerry shook her head. “No,” she said. “They asked me to stop and pick you up for a family dinner.”
Andrew stopped in mid-motion and let the towel fall, his eyes fastening on Kerry and his eyebrows lifting up. “’Scuse me, young lady?” he asked in a surprised tone.
Kerry reviewed her statement, then blushed. “Oh crap.” She started laughing. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Uh-huh.” Andrew snorted. “Damn straight.”
“Speak for yourself.” A slim finger pointed at Andrew. “That got me in enough trouble the other week.”
Andrew cocked his head at her. “Trouble? I thought them folks were all right with you and mah kid?”
Kerry smiled briefly. “They are, but a couple of nosybodies saw you pick me up the other night and thought I was cheating on Dar.” She chuckled, shaking her head. “What a morning.”
Her father-in-law’s jaw dropped. Then it shut with a click. “That is not funny.”
“It wasn’t then,” Kerry admitted. “But we laughed about it later on that night. Dar’s secretary María chewed everyone a new...um...” She paused. “Anyway...”
Andrew frowned. “Ah do not like that,” he said. “Them people got no sense at all.” He dried one ear. “Ain’t they got better things to do than spread all kinds of foolishness?”
Kerry regarded the horizon. “Well,” she pursed her lips, “there’s a lot of folks there who aren’t really comfortable with Dar and me, and...”
Her eyes narrowed slightly. “A few with personal agendas, too, I guess.”
“Uh-huh.”
“The guy who saw us was kind of, um,” Kerry blushed slightly.
“He liked me.”
“Ah.” Andrew snorted softly. “Figgers.”
“And the other person doing the most talking kind of used to like Dar,” she concluded. “But we got it all settled, so...” But she frowned, Clarice’s continued aggressiveness coming into memory. “I suppose people will be people.”
“Jerks’ll be jerks,” Andrew amended succinctly. “Ain’t no changing
’em. Like a few we bumped heads with down south.” He shook his head. “Mah wife ain’t doing no cooking for us, is she?”
Kerry found herself glad of the change of subject. “Actually, I was told to pick up a bucket of Captain Crab’s Takeaway Seal.” She grinned at him.
312 Melissa Good Andrew put his hands on his hips. “Mah wife say that?” He watched Kerry nod. “Uh-huh. All right then, we’ll just go get us exactly that.” He draped his towel over the railing and headed for the cabin.
“Y’all just stay put, kumquat. We’ll give ’em some crabs.”
Uh-oh. Kerry sat down on the center console. Is that good or bad? She nibbled her lower lip as she thought about her father-in-law’s sometimes peculiar sense of humor. “Dad?” she called down the hatch.
“Yep?” Andrew answered.
“You’re not talking about live crabs, are you?”
“Nope.”
“Or the icky kind, right?”
“’Scuse me?”
“The ones that require medication?”
“What?”
Kerry sighed. “Never mind.” She swung her feet back and forth idly. Guess I’ll just have to wait and see for myself.
DAR STRETCHED HER legs out along the couch, the cool leather warming to her bare skin. She settled her arm in its sling and exhaled in satisfaction. It had ended up being a nice day after all. Laundry had gotten done, a set of cookies had been dubiously prepared, and she’d even managed to spend a lot of the day lying down as she’d promised she would.
“Don’t tell me you watch this,” Ceci commented from the loveseat.
Dar glanced at the television. “Sure. All the time,” she replied. “We love the croc guy.”
“Dar, he’s a lunatic,” her mother complained. “His brains have all dribbled out, and he uses cat food stuffed through his ears as a replacement.” She was curled up in the smaller couch’s confines, a visible smudge of chocolate present on the knee of her white cotton pants.
Dar had known better. She had put on a pair of ragged denim cutoffs and an old gym shirt, so of course she hadn’t gotten a drop of anything on her. “Nah, he’s not that bad. I like the way he respects animals.”
Ceci’s silver-blonde eyebrow lifted. “Dar, he doesn’t respect animals, he sleeps with them.”
Dar pointed. “No, that’s his wife,” she said mildly. “She’s not an animal.”
“Dar, that’s not his wife. That’s a chimpanzee.”
Dar looked closer. “Oh. Sorry.” She tilted her head. “I saw the hat and thought it was Terry. It’s hard to tell up in that tree.” She leaned back against the soft cushion and let her eyes close, more tired than she’d expected to be. For a while, she’d tried to do a little work in her office, but after a few minutes her head was pounding, and using only Red Sky At Morning 313
one hand was driving her nuts.
Oh well. Dr. Steve had warned her about that, right? She’d gotten off pretty lucky, he’d told her, showing her the scans of her head. The swelling inside her skull hadn’t really put much pressure on her brain, but still, it was there.
Expect some blurred vision, he’d said. And the headaches. Maybe a little dizziness. Dar sighed silently. At least he’d promised it would be temporary, which was a damn good thing, because it was going to take a lot of concentration and long hours in front of a keyboard to produce the analysis everyone and their uncle was waiting for.
Dar felt her breathing slow, and the sounds of the condo faded a little. She could feel Chino’s warmth pressed against her legs, and if she concentrated, hear the faint sounds of movement from her mother.
Her mother. Dar freed herself for a moment of thought about that.
She felt a little off balance, thinking about the talk they’d had and the hours they’d spent together afterward. It had been a curious, almost weird feeling as they’d both let down barriers and simply gotten along as two people who had more in common than either of them had ever realized.
Dar took a deep breath and released it. She frowned as her brain analyzed the intake of air and detected something unusual on it.
Garlic. Lots of it, and spices, too. Dar opened one eye and peered around in surprise, almost jumping when the expected empty air was suddenly filled with a very solid-looking Kerry. “Hey. Where did you come from?”
“Saugatuck,” Kerry replied with a grin. “Glad to see you’re behaving and taking a nap.”
Dar frowned. “I wasn’t napping.” She glanced over at her mother, who muffled a smile. “Was I?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “What the heck is that smell?”
“Ah.” Kerry turned and pointed toward the dining room table, which had sprouted some mysterious-looking buckets and assorted bags. “Crabs.”