Mark sat down next to her and handed her a lidded cup with a straw sticking out of it. Kerry took it, surprised at the chill that stung her fingers and caused condensation to run down the outside. She sipped gingerly at the straw and was rewarded with a mouthful of chocolate milkshake. “Mm.”
“I saw you guys out here,” Mark said. “I figured it wasn’t a cool thing. Brent ran down and got that from the shop. He said you guys talked.”
Kerry sucked down another mouthful. “We did.”
“So...he’s going to be okay?”
She nodded. “I think so.”
Mark looked out over the water, and then back at Kerry. “I’m really glad you fired that bitch,” he said. “Because I was getting ready to, like, do something radical to her driver’s license record and get her ass arrested for something really gross.”
Kerry exhaled. “I’m not sure it was the right way to do it,” she admitted. “But it’s done. I guess I’ll deal with the fallout.”
And she would, she realized. In a series of decisions whose repercussions would probably be with her for a long time to come, it was just one more she had to come to terms with.
She thought it was the right choice.
Time, of course, would tell.
DAR PAUSED AT the stoplight, casting her gaze at the bulk of the Capitol building while she waited for the traffic to flow again.
Suddenly a familiar figure appeared, accompanied by two younger 352 Melissa Good men. Dar blinked, surprised at the coincidental presence of Roger Stuart at just the same moment that she was passing the spot.
Obeying an impulse she didn’t stop to analyze, Dar swung the car into a parallel parking spot and shut the engine off; then she opened her door and got out just as the senator reached her car.
They stared at each other for a moment, then the statesman relaxed slightly, watching her warily as she approached. “Roberts,” he murmured, inclining his head a trifle.
“Hello, Senator,” Dar found herself saying. “Mind if I have a word with you?”
It was obviously the last thing in the world Roger Stuart expected.
He hesitated, watching her intently with his cold, green eyes, then he shrugged. “Go to the office. I’ll meet you there,” he instructed his aides, who were watching Dar with equal suspicion.
“Sir—”
“Go on,” Stuart instructed sharply. He waited for the men to reluctantly retreat, then turned back to Dar. “Well?”
Why the hell am I doing this? Dar wondered. I can’t trust this man further than I could pick up that car and toss it. What the heck am I doing?
And yet...
“I’d like to give you something,” Dar said. “It’s information I obtained from a naval base in Florida.”
The senator looked at her as though she’d grown a second head.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
“What’s this all about?” Stuart asked, slightly intrigued despite himself. “Why are you bringing this to me? Is it a trick? Another one of your machinations?”
With a sigh, Dar turned and removed her briefcase, taking a second copy of the data from it and handing it over. “No,” she said briefly.
“Look at it. If you think it’s worth your attention, do something about it. If not, chuck it. I don’t care.”
The senator let his eyes fall to the top page. “What is this?” He picked up the cover sheet and examined the summary. “I don’t know what you ex...” He looked up at Dar sharply.
“I gave it to the military’s legal department,” Dar said evenly. “I think it’ll end up in a shredder. Now I’m giving it to you. I’ve done my patriotic duty, so whatever happens, the ball is in your court.” She turned and tossed her briefcase into the car.
“Why me?” Stuart asked curiously, half his attention still on the summary.
Dar looked at him. “You’re the only senator I know,” she said, then her lips quirked. “Not to mention, the only one I’m related to.”
Sour lemons had nothing on the face she got for that claim.
“Kerry’s fine. She thinks of her family a lot. Call her sometime.”
Red Sky At Morning 353
Dar got it all out, then she got back into her car and started it, rolling up the window and pulling out without a backward look.
Dar felt a weight she had hardly been aware of lift off her shoulders. Now she could go home.
She hoped there would be ice cream at the airport.
Roger Stuart stood on the sidewalk, watching the car disappear into the distance. His hands curled around the papers, and after a moment, he tucked the sheaf under his arm, straightened his coat lapels, and started off down the street with a determined stride.
Chapter
Twenty-one
THE BOAT BOBBED lightly up and down on the waves, a round moon painting a pure cream stripe across the black waters. On the stern, a small table was set with candles and crystal, the remains of a light supper evident.
Kerry lifted her glass and extended it. Dar touched hers to it without comment, and they both took a sip.
“Long week,” Dar said after a quiet moment.
“Very,” Kerry agreed. “Glad it’s over.”
Dar got up and reached out, catching Kerry’s hand and pulling her up. They walked to the padded benches and sat down together, Dar enfolding Kerry in her arms. The ocean rocked them gently, cradling them as the tide moved outward, tugging against the boat’s anchor.
The sound of the land was completely absent out here. Only the waves rustled and the rigging softly clanked in the wind, and the city was a blur of light on the horizon that seemed remote and unimportant.
Kerry closed her eyes and drank in the scent of the sea. The breeze blew against her, and she could almost feel the tang of salt in it as it brushed across her skin. She let it take away the stench of the day’s stress as she leaned back against Dar and soaked in her partner’s loving warmth instead. “You think I was wrong?”
Dar was quiet for a bit. “No,” she answered finally. “You were actually more tolerant than I’d have been.”
“I kind of pushed her into it,” Kerry admitted. “She heard me talking to you on the phone.”
“Did you say anything you wouldn’t have if she hadn’t been there?”
“Mm, no.” Kerry sighed. “But I keep thinking there should have been some way for me to turn that around. To come to an understanding with her.”
“She wasn’t thinking with her brain cells, Ker,” Dar said pragmatically. “Ovaries don’t generally do well on their SATs.”
Kerry chuckled wryly. “I guess.”
“No guess.” Dar rested her chin on Kerry’s shoulder and blew lightly in her ear. “No regrets. You did the right thing.”
Kerry leaned her head against her partner’s. “Thanks, boss.”
Red Sky At Morning 355
Dar bit her ear, then licked it, making Kerry jump slightly. “I love you,” she murmured. “We have something in common now, y’know.”
Kerry enjoyed the sensation before the words percolated through it.
“Only one thing?” she asked, tilting her head back and kissing Dar on the lips.
Dar let the kiss linger, then she rubbed her cheek against Kerry’s.
“Another thing. Now I know what it’s like to do something because it’s the right thing, not because it’s what I want.”
“You mean, with the Navy?”
Dar nodded. “It was a club, one that I really wanted to belong to once upon a time.”
Kerry hugged her.
“And then at some point in this, I realized I never would have belonged even if they’d taken me,” Dar continued softly. “I never would have been one of them, Kerry. Never. Not and been true to myself.”