Hmm. Dar set her interesting revelation aside as she sat down behind her desk and crossed her arms on it. “All right, what can I do for you?”
“So, how are you, Dar?” Clarice asked, seating herself cautiously.
“Never been better,” Dar replied with complete honestly. “What do you want?”
“Haven’t changed, huh? Straight to the point.” Clarice cleared her throat. “Well, you remember my mom?”
“Mm.” Dar nodded. Clarice’s mother lived in Coral Gables, and she’d always thought the two were close.
“She’s getting on, and the doctor doesn’t want her living alone anymore. She wants me to come back here and live with her. So I was wondering if there was anything in the company available for me.” She paused. “Here.”
Oh. Something simple for a change. Dar sat back and propped a knee up against the edge of her desk, looking up at the ceiling as she brought to mind a list of openings in operations in the area. Her peripheral vision told her Clarice was watching her with a look that mixed curiosity and something else. “There might be one or two things, but I’ll have to check with Kerry,” Dar replied. “It’s her ballpark, unless you want to change divisions. When are you looking at making the move?”
Clarice exhaled, obviously relieved. “As soon as I can. Listen, I’m sorry about this whole mess-up, Dar.” She got the words out in a rush.
“Paul’s new, and he’s young, but he really did sound like he knew what he was doing, and I—”
“Don’t apologize to me,” Dar cut her off. “Do yourself a favor and don’t cover up for him. Everyone takes the heat for their own mistakes, remember?”
Clarice pursed her lips and exhaled. “You sure haven’t changed much at all.”
That got an amused quirk of Dar’s lips. “You expected me to? Hope you weren’t holding your breath,” she remarked. “There’s a reason everyone would rather deal with Kerry.”
A shift. “Yeah, she’s pretty sharp,” Clarice said. “Where’d she come from?”
Dar sensed a ruffle in the waters. “She was part of an account we consolidated down here,” she said. “I’ll send her a note, tell her you’re looking to relocate.”
“Thanks.” Clarice stood up. “I’ll go talk to her myself. I just wanted 54 Melissa Good to make sure you didn’t have a problem with it. Maybe she’ll have a minute now.”
“I’m sure she’ll find time,” Dar answered.
“Hmm...she’s really efficient, that’s true,” Clarice said. “I can see I have a lot to learn from her.” She turned and walked out, closing the door behind her with a distinct snick.
Dar gazed plaintively at her ceiling. She was reaching over to hit her intercom button when her inner door cracked itself open and a blonde head poked inside. “Ah. I was just about to call you.”
Kerry entered and closed the door behind her, running the fingers of her right hand through her hair as she made her way across the office. “We got the overseas links to the UK straightened out,” she announced. “And they were able to get permission for that new link station in India.”
“Good.” Dar laced her fingers together behind her head and leaned back. “Clarice was on her way to see you. She wants to move back here.” Dar considered. “And I think she’s heard about us.”
“Sweetie, you drinking my tea in a meeting doesn’t really help hide that.” Kerry perched on the edge of Dar’s desk and let her hands rest on her knee. “Not that you weren’t welcome to it.”
“Damn.” Dar exhaled. “I did do that, didn’t I? Oh well.” She laughed softly. “Have you had lunch yet? Want to go downstairs?”
“Is that an invitation from my boss?” Kerry answered playfully.
“No, I haven’t; and I’d love to, since all I’ve had so far today is a handful of chocolate kisses.”
“Good.” Dar stood up. “I’ll be down at the base Friday and all next week, eating God only knows what.” She slipped on her jacket and straightened it, smoothing the line of the crisply tailored skirt in the same motion. “C’mon. I think they have pot roast today.”
“Is that going to be a little weird for you?” Kerry asked, as they walked out the door and through the outer office. María was already at lunch, and the room was, for once, quiet. “Going back there, I mean, not the pot roast.”
“A little,” Dar admitted. “I’ve got a lot of memories invested in that place, both good and bad.”
Kerry waited until they were on the elevator before she spoke again. “Can I come down there with you one of the days, just to see it?
I’m curious.”
“Hgrm.” Dar held the door open for her. “It wasn’t exactly the nicest place in the world to grow up, Ker. Mostly sand, palmetto scrub, and mosquitoes.”
They strolled across the lobby, passing several people headed in the same direction who called out greetings. “Is that a no, then?” Kerry asked. “I mean, if you’d rather I didn’t, that’s okay, Dar. I think you know enough of how I feel about your upbringing to know you’ve got nothing to be embarrassed about.”
Red Sky At Morning 55
The noise in the lunchroom stalled further conversation, and they got in line after exchanging hellos with Mark and Duks, who had snuck in just ahead of them. Dar took the opportunity to capture a chocolate mousse hiding behind two pieces of fruitcake and listen to the chatter.
She’d been frequenting the lunchroom more often the last few months—
not as regularly as every day, but at least once a week, so her presence no longer drew outright stares and whispers.
She still found it easy to imagine the covert attention, though. But she’d been dealing with that since her first overall promotion to regional manager, and by now, it was more an amusing way to pass the minutes than anything else. Or play with their minds. Dar reached out an idle hand and arranged a lock of Kerry’s blonde hair, getting a raised eyebrow from her lover. She tweaked the hair, and Kerry turned her head, a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. “I’d love you to come on down to the base with me.”
“Next Friday good?” Kerry asked, the corners of her eyes crinkling in amusement. “I’ve got stuff scheduled the rest of the week.”
“Fine.” Dar turned her attention to the cafeteria server. “Pot roast, potatoes, gravy on the side.” She watched the lady assemble the plate, looking up inquiringly with her spoon over the two choices of vegetables. Dar merely raised an eyebrow at her and received her plate, naked of green invaders. “Thank you.” She followed Kerry over to the large round table where Duks, Mark, Mariana, and several others were already seated, discussing a movie that had just opened the previous week.“You seen it, DR?” Mark asked as they sat down. “Your kinda flick, I thought.”
“Why? Did it exceed the severed body part quotient of Aliens? ”
Kerry asked, making everyone chuckle. “During dinner the other night, we were watching Braveheart on disc, and boy was I glad we weren’t having steak.”
“Hey!” Dar objected. “It was your pick, remember? Not mine. I wanted to watch The Ancient Secrets of Rome, but no...”
Another laugh went around the table, easy and unforced. Dar dipped her roast into her gravy contentedly, enjoying the banter as Duks and Kerry started arguing over the historical accuracy of the picture. She listened to Kerry’s laugh and watched the smiles go around the table, and it occurred to her quite suddenly that for once she was damned happy with her life.
She paused in mid-bite, just to savor the knowledge. Then she washed her mouthful down with a sip of milk and pretended she didn’t see Kerry stealing a spoonful of her mousse. “Hey.”