The Labrador licked her face all over and managed to get fur over every square inch of Kerry that she touched. Kerry loved it all and sat on the floor and gathered the delighted dog into her arms.
Home.
“Coffee, Ker?”
“Absolutely.” Kerry exhaled happily. “Absolutely.”
196 Melissa Good EYES CLOSED, DAR mentally traced the path her briefcase had taken that day. She’d had it in the green room, taken it with her on the way to the airport, locked it in the car while she was in Dairy Queen. It had gone through x-ray, then been put in the overhead bin for the flight. Taken out again when they landed, it had sat in the back of the car all the way home.
So…when the hell had someone put the papers in it? Dar went over the steps one more time. The only two places that were even remote possibilities were at the Stuart house and in the car while they were getting ice cream, taking into account that someone would have had to get the rental opened and then locked it up again. No one had known they were going for ice cream, so that left the house.
Who had put it there? Cynthia? Kerry’s sibs? None of them would have known the importance. Ah well. She exhaled. Probably doesn’t matter now anyway. At least in her own mind, she had them back and some squid wasn’t running around with them in Washington.
Dar stifled a yawn and relaxed on the leather sofa in their living room. It was, aside from the low buzz of voices in the kitchen, blessedly quiet in the condo, and Dar dropped her head against the plushy stuffed arm of the sofa, welcoming the rich scent of the leather and the warmth of the long stripe of sunlight that was coming in the front window and painting a golden swath across her body.
She could, she acknowledged dutifully, go into her study and find out what was in her mailbox waiting to pounce on her. She could—Dar wriggled into a more comfortable position and closed her eyes—but she wasn’t going to. Tomorrow would come soon enough, and if there was anything of a truly disastrous nature, she’d have been paged before now, right? Hm. She pulled her cell phone out and made sure it was on. Nope; no pages, no calls. Good.
A cold nose investigated her arm, and she opened her eyes.
“Hey, Chino. Did you give up on getting cookies from mommy Kerry?”
Sad brown eyes regarded her, then Chino climbed up onto the wide couch, settled down with a grunt, and licked all of Dar’s exposed skin within her reach.
“Aw.” Dar stroked the Labrador’s soft, thick fur. “I missed you too, baby.” She quickly looked around to make sure no one had heard her, then ruffled the dog’s ears. “You’re such a sweetie, aren’t you?”
Chino put her muzzle down on Dar’s chest and exhaled happily.
Dar exhaled too. It was over. Damn, she was glad it was over.
Thicker Than Water 197
Now they could settle down and get on with their life together and concentrate on happier things. Like Christmas, for instance.
Dar wiggled her toes in mild glee as she considered the boxes she had hidden in the crawl space. Presents for Kerry, of course, and Chino, but also for her parents, something she hadn’t done for many years, and for the assorted friends Kerry had invited over for the Christmas party.
“Christmas party,” Dar had firmly insisted. “Christmas, Christmas, Christmas, not birthday.”
But Kerry had snickered, which meant she’d at least have to suffer through a cake and a chorus. Hm. Dar mentally made a note to ask, in a circumspect way of course, if the cake was to be Kerry’s double chocolate mousse, killer cake. That was worth a round of Happy Birthday to You, if nothing else was.
Yeah. Dar grinned and licked her lips at the thought.
“HOLY COW, KERRY,” Colleen rubbed her friend’s arm sym-pathetically, “what a nightmare.”
“Yeah.” Kerry was sprawled on one of the two stools in the kitchen. “You can say that again. Thanks a bunch for staying over here.”
“No problem,” Colleen said. “I was glad to do it. Chinie’s a sweetie, and Dar’s folks are great people.”
“They sure are.” Kerry smiled. “You have no idea how glad I was to see them when they showed up. Oh, my God, Col, I was literally standing in a pit full of vipers, with that bastard Kyle coming right at me when BAM! Talk about the cavalry coming over the hill.”
Colleen grinned. “Dar’s father is so hooked on you. It’s so sweet. You should have heard them when they showed the television report and we spotted you, just before they left. Man, the two of them went off.”
Kerry sighed. “That so sucked.” She rested her head on her hand and leaned an elbow on the counter. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a lousier couple of days, I can tell you that. After we got back to the hotel, Angie called and told me the staff thought it would be better if I didn’t come over to the house, because of Dar.”
“To hell with them.” Colleen snorted.
“Well, I didn’t go,” Kerry said. “And it was because of Dar, not for their benefit. She was hurting.” She paused. “God knows, I was hurting, too. We needed some space.” She thought about that night. “I don’t know what I would have done if Dar hadn’t been there, Col. I just don’t.” She could hear a faint tremor in her own voice. “That first night…Jesus. I was so sick. I got a migraine, and 198 Melissa Good I passed out in the bathroom…”
“Wow.” Colleen gave her a concerned look. “What happened?”
“Just too much stress, I guess.” Kerry felt irrational tears rising. “But then, Dar happened. She wasn’t supposed to come up until the next day, but she just dropped everything and came that night. I don’t know what I would have done if she hadn’t.”
Colleen put a hand on her arm and squeezed.
“I think that was the worst I’ve ever felt,” Kerry whispered.
“But Dar held me and made that all go away. It was incredible.”
She let out a long, shaky breath. “She saved my sanity.”
“Hey.” Colleen gently put both arms around her and gave her a hug. “You poor kid.” She patted Kerry’s back, then rubbed it.
“I’m glad tall, dark, and daunting was there to make things right, Ker. I know I didn’t start off being a fan of hers, but I’m glad this time I was so damn, dead wrong.”
“Mm.” Kerry returned the hug. “Tall, dark, and doofy sometimes. That’s how she hurt her arm again. The dork picked me up and carried me to the bed in the hotel. I was too sick to realize what she was doing.”
Colleen laughed a bit. “Oh, really?”
“Yeah.” Kerry got up off her stool, went to the refrigerator, and took out a pitcher of juice and swirled it. “Want some?”
“Sure.”
“Hey, Dar?” Kerry called into the living room. “Want some juice?”
“Does it have chocolate in it?” the droll answer came back.
“Ew. Orange juice and chocolate?” Kerry made a face. “No, honey. I’ll get you some milk.”
“Mmmmmilk,” Dar drawled in response as she appeared in the doorway, looking appealingly tousled in her T-shirt, cutoff shorts and white socks. Chino came trotting in behind her, yawn-ing. “Chino wants some milk, too.”
Colleen chuckled. “Like owner, like puppy.”
Dar paused and put a hand on her hip. She lifted one eyebrow in mock menace. “You saying I look like that dog?”
“No.” Kerry handed her a glass and leaned up to give her a kiss. “You just act like her—adorably loyal and cute to a fault.”
She watched Dar’s eyes go round in startlement, then glance at Colleen and back to her. “Oh, don’t go all formal on me now, Dar.