Her old boyfriend straightened, then blew out a breath. “Other than having my goddamned ego dragged over a bed of nails and my bank account emptied? I’m great.” His lips twisted. “Will you take a check?”
“Don’t worry about it.” Dar shook her head slightly. “It was worth the kick just to see if I could still do it.”
“Wench.” Chuckie’s face relaxed a little as he realized Dar was serious. “Just for that, you’re gonna take us out to the steakhouse.” He pointed toward the parking lot. “Now that I proved ship captains do spend too much time sitting on their butts, let’s go.”
The four others strolled ahead, leaving Chuckie and Dar to walk together toward the parked cars. “Wench.” The Naval officer gave her a look. “I’m gonna have to explain to half the base tomorrow why I got Band-Aids all over my hands from that damn course.” He held up his hands, visibly scuffed and scraped in the streetlamp light.
“Me, too,” Dar admitted, holding up her own hands in evidence. “I don’t get much in the way of calluses pounding a keyboard.”
“Ah.” Chuckie sighed. “We’re getting too old for this.”
Dar chuckled. “Yeah.” She flexed her hands, wincing a little.
They were both quiet for a few strides. “Ass kicking or not, it’s 126 Melissa Good good to see you, Dar,” Chuckie finally said softly. “Got some good memories of us.”
“So do I,” Dar replied. “Your letters to me in college used to crack me up.” She reflected on those long past times. “I’m sorry we lost touch.”
Chuckie shrugged one shoulder. “We knew we would. That was two real different worlds we were going off into.” He glanced at Dar. “I knew I didn’t end up doing too bad; always wondered where you ended up. Might have figured you to be some top brass somewhere.”
“I used to wonder if I’d made the right choice.” Dar inhaled, and looked around. “Now I know I did, but...” She shook her head.
“Definitely had second thoughts.” She raised her voice. “Hey, head over to the third row. I’ll drive.”
“Don’t trust Mike?” Chuckie laughed. “He’s not half as bad a driver as your daddy ever was.”
“No. I figure I’m the only one who’s likely to have room for all of us,” she said dryly. “Unless you ended up getting a Suburban. Did you?”
“Hell no,” Chuckie snorted.
“That’s what I thought.” Dar angled her steps toward the Lexus.
“C’mon, I figure it’s going to take my shock absorbers to handle you herd of steers anyway.”
“Ooh...” Her old friend laughed. “I think you hang out with us just so you can feel petite, in that case.” He bumped Dar’s shoulder with his own. “Hey,” his voice dropped a little, “you going with someone right now, Dar?”
The approach came around a blind corner and surprised her.
“Yeah,” she managed to answer, on an uneven breath. “Yeah, I am.
Why?”
He shrugged. “Just asking,” Chuckie said. “I’m between ships, if you catch my drift, and I thought if you were too, maybe we could hook up, for old time’s sake.”
Dar realized she had about ten seconds before they caught up with the four others waiting. She lifted a hand and unlocked her doors. “Not a chance.” She softened the words with a smile. “I’m very taken...and very happy about it.”
“Ah well.” Chuckie returned the smile. “Just the way my luck’s been running. What’ve we got here?” He turned his attention to the car.
“Good Lord, do you mean to tell me you drive a damn Lexus?”
“Yep.” Dar opened the driver’s side door and watched them pile in.
“Hey, one of you guys has to get in the far back. You can’t all fit in there.”
“Heh,” Mike chuckled. “Wanna bet? You forget what service we’re in, Dardar.” The back seat was filled to the brim with squished sailors.
“More room in here than in a Polaris. Get driving.”
Dar rolled her eyes, but slid behind the wheel and started the Red Sky At Morning 127
engine. “Why do I get the feeling I’m gonna regret this?” She felt the car rock as the men in back started singing and moving back and forth.
“C’mon, Dar, sing with us. I know you can,” Duds chortled. “What do you do with some drunken sailors...”
Dar sighed as she pulled out of the parking slot, but joined in anyway, filled with a very mixed set of emotions. It had been a day far too full of conflict, and she found herself sure of only one single thing.
Five sailors and fifteen beers equaled the tonal quality of six dozen sets of dogs’ toenails on a chalkboard.
Jesus. Dar hoped she survived the short drive to the steakhouse.
KERRY YAWNED AS she collected her steaming mug of hot chocolate and wandered back into the living room. Chino butted the back of her knees and almost made her trip, the animal very glad to see at least one half of her family after the long day. “Hey, cut that out,”
Kerry chided the dog. “You aren’t the one who’s going to have to clean this tile if I spill chocolate all over it.”
“Gruff.” Chino pounced on her hippo and brought it over, crouching down and shaking it, begging for some play time.
“Okay, let me put this down,” Kerry laughed, setting aside her cup and grabbing the toy. “Go get it...g’wan.” She tossed the stuffed animal to the other side of the apartment and watched Chino scramble after it, her toenails sliding on the hard surface.
“Bring it here.” Kerry sat down on the couch and tugged the toy free of Chino’s very white teeth, throwing it over past the dining room table as the retriever acted true to her breed and fetched it. “Good girl.”
She played with the dog for a while, taking a moment in between tosses to turn on the television and stretch her body out along the couch with a sense of relief.
It had been a very long day, with a surprisingly nice ending. Kerry smiled, remembering the hour spent patiently coaxing Andrew into sharing her sushi in the little sushi dive on the beach she and Dar loved to go to.
Mental note, Kerry, she reminded herself. Don’t take SEALs to sushi bars unless you want to know things about the fish you’re eating that would make the plots for excellent sci-fi movies. He’d finally settled on the cooked variety of sashimi and some stir-fry chicken, leaving Kerry to her more adventurous raw tidbits. They’d shared some sake, though, and she’d enjoyed the evening very much, listening to stories of Dar’s harum-scarum youth and hearing the note of unconscious pride in Andrew’s voice even when recounting the goriest details.
Kerry leaned back against the leather surface, tensing and relaxing her muscles as she idly watched Steve Irwin cavort across the screen, hugging a crocodile to him and enthusing over its toothy good looks.
128 Melissa Good
“What a whack job,” she commented. “Did you know he has his own toy set now, Chino? Should I get you one? You want to chew Steve’s head off?”
“Gruff.” Chino tossed the slightly soggy hippo up to land on Kerry’s side.
“I’ll take that as a no.” Kerry tossed the toy again, then slid down and put her head on the couch arm, allowing her eyes to close briefly as she considered the tasks she had left to do that evening. A wash was due, and she had those reports to go over, and there was that project Dar had left her.
Kerry let one eye open and regard the room, then she closed it again. Or she could just take a nap here on the couch, which was nice and warm and comfortable. Maybe she could compromise, she reasoned, snoozing until Dar called, which would definitely wake her up.
Yeah. That was a good idea. She reached over and picked up her cell phone, which was on the coffee table, and brought it closer, resting her hand on it as she allowed the sleepy feeling to take over and relax her, easing away the last of the lingering headache that had aggravated her all day long.