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Was she being idiotic? Dar reviewed her reasoning again. Should she have just let Kerry take her to the damn hospital? Kerry was upset, and Dar hated when Kerry got mad at her, especially if it was for a good reason. Glumly, she opened her eyes and reviewed the off-white popcorn ceiling. She has a good reason. No, she has several good reasons to be pissed off, because I am acting like a stupid adolescent again, aren’t I?

“DAMN, DAMN, DAMN,” Kerry muttered to herself as she walked through the living room and entered the kitchen. “What in the heck’s wrong with her, Chino?” she asked the Labrador, who had followed her. “I swear, she’s got a streak up her back this wide...” Her hands spread apart, and she let out an exasperated gust of air. “Jesus!”

Chino sat down in front of her cookie jar and looked up expectantly. “Gruff.”

Kerry allowed herself to be distracted for a moment. “Oh, you think I came out here for you?”

“Gruff.”

“Hang on.” Kerry went to the refrigerator and took out one of the frozen gel packs they kept ready for overly rambunctious gym sessions.

She set it on the counter, then retrieved a cookie from its jar and held it.

“What do you say?”

Chino obediently sat up, lifting one paw and placing it neatly on Kerry’s knee. “Aorgh.”

“Good girl.” Kerry gave her pet the treat and watched her crunch it contentedly. “Why can’t you teach Dar to do that, huh? She never listens.”

Her conscience nudged her as soon as the words slipped out. That’s not true, Kerry, and you know it. She sighed and went to the pantry, retrieving a soft, fluffy maroon towel from the laundry area. Dar did listen to her. “I got her to try green beans the other week, right?” she commented to Chino. “Maybe it’s because she usually does listen to me that this is driving me so nuts.”

Kerry leaned against the counter. “Or maybe it’s because it just doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Chino nuzzled her knee and gave it a lick.

“But you know what, Chino, me yelling at her isn’t helping,” Kerry admitted quietly. “It’s just making her tense and giving me a stomachache.” She squared her shoulders and folded the towel around the ice pack. “Time to go make nice and have a snuggle. You with me?”

“Gruff.” Chino wagged her tail.

“Good girl. C’mon.” Kerry released a deep breath and let the irritation wash out of her. A smile returned to her face as she started back toward the bedroom.

198 Melissa Good Dar raised her head as footsteps approached, and girded her loins.

Metaphorically. “Kerry, listen...”

“Here you go.” Kerry reentered the room and sat down on the waterbed railing, carefully leaning over and placing the wrapped ice pack against Dar’s shoulder.

“And here.” She set a glass down by the table. It had a straw sticking out of it, the kind that bent. “In case you get thirsty.” Kerry brushed her fingertips over Dar’s lips. “You know something, I forgot it was Friday night.”

Dar’s fine, dark eyebrows knit together over the bridge of her nose.

“Huh?”

“It’s Friday night,” Kerry repeated. “We’re not a drug overdose, a multi-car accident, or an attempted homicide. We’d have been sitting in that waiting room until well after dawn.” She put the tip of her finger on Dar’s nose. “So I think it’s for the best we did this.”

Slowly, a faint grin spread over Dar’s face. “And here I was about to give in and meekly let you drag me off there,” she admitted, a huge wave of relief almost making her shiver.

“You? Meek?” Kerry leaned over and replaced her finger with her lips, kissing Dar gently. “Never.” She pulled back and went nose to nose with her lover. “Besides, I’m really tired.”

“You look it,” Dar replied. “C’mon into bed.” She reached out and doused the bedside lamp.

Kerry nodded in agreement, then stood and walked around to the other side of the waterbed, getting in carefully and squirming under the freshly laundered sheets until she felt the warmth of Dar’s body very close by. She put her head down on the pillow and folded her hand over Dar’s as it lay on the taller woman’s stomach.

Their fingers twined.

Kerry could see Dar’s profile in the dim starlight from the window, and the faint curve of her ear close by. “Dar?”

There was a soft crackle of movement as Dar turned her head, and the light now reflected faintly off her open eyes. “Hmm?”

“I love you.”

The face opposite Kerry dissolved into a grin. “You even love me when I’m being a stubborn cranky bitch?” Dar asked in a low drawl.

“What’s up with that, Kerrison?”

“I’m a sucker for a cute face,” Kerry smiled, “and a bad attitude.

What can I tell you?”

Dar kissed her soundly. “Thanks,” she murmured into Kerry’s half-open lips. “I love you, too.” She felt Kerry smile before her kiss was returned in equal measure.

“HOLD STILL.”

“I am holding still,” Dar answered through gritted teeth.

Red Sky At Morning 199

“Dar, you are not.” Dr. Steve circled the X-ray machine and nudged her over a little. “Now, will you stop wriggling?”

Dar’s lip twitched into an almost snarl. She’d been under the device for hours, at least, and the hard table was stressing her to her limits.

“Wasn’t three hundred pictures enough? You going for a record?”

“Dar.” Dr. Steve leaned over and put a hand on her forehead with surprising gentleness. “It’s only been five minutes. Give me another five minutes, and it’ll be over, okay?” The doctor gave her a pat, then went back to adjusting the X-ray machine’s aperture. “Kerry, keep her busy while I do this, willya?”

“I’ll try.” Kerry walked to the end of the table and pressed her body up against Dar’s socked feet, which only just rested on its padded surface. Toes flexed against her belly, and she rubbed them through the cotton, smiling down the length of the long denim-covered legs stretching before her. “Hey.”

Grumpy blue eyes peered back at her. “It felt better this morning,”

Dar griped.

Kerry laughed softly. “Dar, you are something else,” she said. “I swear, if someone poked you through the belly with a spear, you’d call it a flesh wound and stick a Band-Aid on it.”

“Oh, she told you that story, huh?” Dr. Steve looked up from his settings. Usually a trained tech would perform the procedure, but the doctor knew his unruly patient better than to subject one of his innocent staff to her. “It’s hereditary. Her daddy’s the same damn way, and believe you me, Kerry, it used to about drive me insane to take care of these two.”

“Hey,” Dar objected. “We weren’t that bad.”

“Yes, you were,” her family physician corrected her. “Be still, Paladar Katherine, or I’ll tell Kerry about you and that tailpipe.”

Kerry watched her lover’s eyes widen in alarm, and she stifled a giggle. “You know,” she cleared her throat. “I only wish I’d had a doctor like you when I was growing up. The practice that my family used was about as patient friendly as those open-back hospital gowns.”

The doctor looked up at her and grinned. “That right? Bet they made a hell of a lot more than I do, then.” He adjusted one last dial.

“Okay, behind the shield, Kerry.”

Kerry gave Dar’s toes one last squeeze, then joined Dr. Steve behind the lead shield. “Remember to get her neck while you’re in there,” she whispered to the gray-haired man. “She’s been having backaches.”