she muttered under her breath, knowing a moment of dark triumph as everyone started to sit down around the steaming plates of food.
Dar picked up the gleaming carving knife and fork and studied the turkey, giving the rest of the table a wryly speculative look. “This’ll be interesting.” She tapped the edge of the fork against the turkey breast.
“Let’s see if my reputation as a butcher has any legs.”
More laughter. Kerry leaned back in her chair as she watched her partner bravely hack at her creation as everyone else helped themselves from the dishes of vegetables, and Duks poured glasses of rich, red wine.
“Hey, Kerry, heard you ran into some bad weather. How bad was it?” Mariana asked, as she buttered a roll. “Any problems?”
Kerry hesitated a moment, catching Dar looking right at her, the taller woman’s hands still for a moment. “No problems,” she answered briskly. “I lucked out. We had to land in New York, and Dar changed the plan.” She picked up her glass and took a sip of the wine. “To a much better plan…don’t you all agree?” She held up her glass and indicated the dinner.
62 Melissa Good
“Definitely.” Duks held up his own glass, and the others followed suit. “Here is to Dar’s plans. May they always be as successful.” He paused. “And result in delicious meals for us.”
Everyone laughed again, and Kerry joined in, releasing the troubles of the moment to the future with the faintest of shrugs and a much lightened heart. The choice was, as Dar had said, in the past. What ever happened next would happen.
“For a novice, you’re doing a great job carving that breast, Dar,”
Mariana observed.
“There’s a breast novice joke in there somewhere,” Dar replied dryly. “But my parents are here.”
“Dar!”
Chapter
Four
DAR WOKE JUST before the alarm went off and silenced it before it had a chance to ring. It was still dark outside, and by the scant starlight coming in the window, she could just barely make out Kerry’s features, peaceful in sleep.
For a moment, Dar debated not waking her up. They’d meant to go to bed early, since she knew she had to leave for the base first thing, but somehow they’d ended up watching a Croc Hunter special, and before she knew it, two AM was staring them in the face.
Whoops. Dar rubbed her eyes, wishing she could close them and go back to sleep.
The movement, however, woke Kerry, and she gazed up at her with half-opened eyes, a smile sketching its way across her face. “Can I come with you?” she said.
Dar spoke at the same time. “You want to come with me today?”
They both stopped and blinked.
“Wow,” Kerry remarked mildly. “The invisible psychic fiber hub’s up and passing packets, huh?”
A laugh escaped from Dar. “I guess.” She rolled over onto her back and stretched. “I was just thinking I’d like to have an outside opinion while I go through there. I know I’m biased.” Was that just an excuse to have Kerry along, though? Dar examined the thought carefully and decided it could go either way, but the fact that she wasn’t impartial was incontrovertible.
Kerry reviewed her schedule. “Well, I’ve got a marketing meeting I can reschedule, two conference calls that are just follow-up, and some small odds and ends. Yeah, I can clear my day,” she decided. “And, come to think of it, since you’re going to be allocating my resources right and left to Uncle Sam, I think I’d better be there to see how much trouble you’re going to get me into.”
Dar turned her head and regarded the dimly visible profile in amusement, remembering the agony Kerry had gone through not so very long ago and wondering if she was qualified to do the job Dar was asking her to. Since her promotion, Kerry had blossomed into the position, exceeding even Dar’s admittedly biased but high expectations for her. She felt briefly like a mother bird watching its offspring soar 64 Melissa Good proudly. “You don’t seriously think I’d overextend you, do you?”
A soft chuckle came out of the darkness. “No. C’mon, Dar. You know our systems and infrastructure better than anyone else, including me. I was just kidding.”
“Mm. You’re pretty close,” Dar told her. “I’d say, if I had to judge both of us, you’re doing a better job than I was as VP.”
There was absolute dead silence from the other side of the waterbed for several long heartbeats. “I think my brain just exploded,”
Kerry finally spluttered.
“Good thing this is a waterbed, then.” Dar rolled up out of it and stood. “C’mon. I know I need the run this morning or I’m not going to be awake enough to drive south.”
“Start the coffee. I’ll just suck up my neurons and be right with you.”
“You’ve got it,” Dar agreed before heading out of the bedroom and through the living room with Chino frisking at her heels. She opened the back door for the dog, then started the coffee running. By the time she turned around, a sleepy Kerry was trudging into the kitchen. “That was quick...use the vacuum?”
“Sucked them up with a straw.” Kerry pulled open the refrigerator and removed a jug full of juice, sloshing it around a few times before she popped the top open and poured herself a large glass full. “Can we stop talking about brains while I drink this? It’s got pulp in it.”
Dar slid both arms around her and rested her cheek against Kerry’s head. “Sure.” She listened to the soft, distinct sounds of swallowing as their bodies touched through two thin layers of cotton and swore she could feel the cold juice as it traveled into Kerry’s stomach, under where her hands were resting. She rubbed the spot, and Kerry gurgled as a chuckle interfered with her drinking. “Ah ah ah...don’t you dare bring that in here.”
Kerry glanced over to see Chino in the doorway, a big stick in her mouth and a guilty expression on her face. “Honey, where’s your toy?
Where’s Hippo? Play with that instead, okay?”
Chino dropped her find immediately and dashed off, to return with a stuffed fleecy animal in the vague shape of a hippopotamus. “Growf.”
She dropped it expectantly at Kerry’s feet.
“Oh. So now I guess you expect me to play with you?” Kerry put the glass on the counter and her hands on her hips. “How about you running with me and mommy Dar, hmm? That should tire you out.” She reached behind her and patted Dar’s thigh. “I’ll get your gear, if you fix the coffee.”
Dar released her. “Go for it.” She nudged Kerry toward the door and busied herself in pouring.
AS LUCK WOULD have it, they hit rain halfway to the base.
“Figures.” Dar drummed the fingers of her right hand on the padded Red Sky At Morning 65
console next to her. “Hope you like mud.”
Kerry looked up from her laptop, which she’d been busy working on. “Mud?” She regarded her pristine, nicely starched white shirt. “You did tell me not to wear this, didn’t you?” Her eyes studied the wash of heavy rain hitting the windshield, then a smile appeared. “But you know, this reminds me of the first time I rode in your car.”
Dar’s lips twisted into a wry smile. “I’m sure that’s not one of your fondest memories.”
“Au contraire,” Kerry objected. “It most certainly is, Dar. That was the start of everything; that was one of the biggest turning points in my life. You know that.”
It was quiet except for the rattle of Kerry’s keyboard for a little while, as Dar indulged herself in memories as she drove. “You know what I remember the most from that night?” she commented, after about fifteen minutes.
“Huh?” Kerry looked at her. “Oh, no. What?”
“Getting home, sitting down on the couch, and not being able to stop thinking about you.”