“Uh huh.” Dar walked over to one of the tables and put her bag down, opening the top of it and pulling out the laptop. “Do you have a..” She looked around at the room “No, probably not.”
“I think they last retrofitted it with electricity in place of gas lamps.” Kerry felt a flood of humor come through her body, making her feel giddy. “So if you’re looking for a projector hon, give it up.”
“Mm.”
“Did I tell you they had the Titanic hearings in this room?”
Dar looked up at her, hands still on the keyboard, eyebrows lifted.
Kerry winked at her, then she went over and leaned against the table, facing the slowly filling room. She remembered the last time she’d been here, and the face off she’d dealt with.
An evening of utter aggravation stress and anxiety that had ended peacefully in Dar’s arms and as she thought that, she turned to watch her beloved partner mess with her demo , thinking about their conversation just moments ago.
Dar sensed the attention and glanced at her. “Something wrong?”
“Not a damned thing.” Kerry said. “I was just reflecting on the fact that there is no luckier son of a bitch than me anywhere.”
Dar’s left eyebrow hiked up.
Kerry just smiled and turned around, moving away from the table and into the center of the chamber. “Ladies and gentlemen, if we could please get seated since we have a limited time for this demonstration and I know you all want plenty of time to ask questions.”
There were some surprised looks, and some annoyed looks, but Kerry returned a smile to all of them, waiting for the group to settled down behind their desks and grudgingly give her their attention. “The last time we had a conversation you were all wondering how we knew what we knew when we knew it.” She said. “This time, we’re going to show you how much information is out there that people like us have access to, and people like you want access to.”
Now she had their attention. “”Or you think you do.” She added. “So lets get started.”
**
It was late, and it was dark outside the airplane windows as they flew along the east coast on the way home. Dar had the hood on her hoodie up surrounding her face, and she was sound asleep in her seat, her long body relaxed.
Kerry was close to being the same, but her mind was slower in winding down and so she was quietly sipping some Kahlua and cream as she listened to the drone of the engines in the mostly silent plane.
The demo had gone fine. Dar had answered questions in a calm and straightforward manner and therefore had scared the living crap out of everyone in the room up to and including Kerry’s mother.
Outrage, shock, disbelief, and calculated interest all wound up in a ball as both the positive and negative of the systems ability occurred to the distinguished audience in turn.
They had shared all that with Gerry Easton, who thought the whole thing was hilariously funny and she’d gotten a chance to meet Alabaster the Labrador who had made her fiercely miss home and Chino and led to them taking a red eye home instead of waiting until the following morning.
So here they were, content to leave the politics to the politicians and she had come around to the decision that whatever happened did. Dar had said, if they lost the contracts, there would be others and the staff they had on board would shift over to those.
And if no other contracts were found, and it turned out they needed to shrink rather than grow, then that’s what would happen.
They would go on their vacation. They would let the chips fall where they may, and since they both tended to potato chips and not gambling chips, the fallen ones would be taken care of by the tongues of two Labradors so in the end –
What would be would be. Kerry put the cup she was drinking from down, and let her eyes close, turning her head to the right to face her sleeping partner.
The sounds around her shifted a little, and took on a hint of echo and she could feel herself start to fade out glad of a chance to get a nap before they landed and would have to drive home.
Two flight attendants in the galley just forward of their seats were talking in low tones, and now, curiously the words sharpened in her hearing as she hovered on the brink of sleep.
“Boy, I’m glad that computer glitch got cleared up.”
“No kidding! It’s been a nightmare with flight ops the past two weeks. What was it, two hundred cancels, and those four near bang ups on the ground? Sheesh.”
“They couldn’t schedule half the planes yesterday. But it was smooth tonight.”
“Sure was. Don said everything’s running like normal again. Glad they figured out what the problem was but damn it took them a long time.”
“Sure did.”
Kerry let her eyes open and she studied Dar’s sleeping profile as the words faded, and the attendants moved off down the aisle. They had done that, she and Dar. Two anonymous women sprawled in seats at the front of a half empty airplane, and
Should they have done it sooner? Could they have? Kerry sighed, and closed her eyes, shaking her head slightly. It didn’t really matter, did it?
Water under the bridge. That was in the past. She couldn’t change it, so they just had to carry on and take each moment as it came.
**
‘Good morning, Kerrisita.” Maria waved at Kerry as she passed the open door to her office. “Did you have a nice trip back?”
“We did.” Kerry paused in the doorway, a cup of coffee in her hand. “Very quiet flight, and no traffic when we drove back to the island.” She paused to take a sip. “Which reminds me, I’ve got to find a real estate agent and have them come in this afternoon. Dar and I are going to find a place somewhere around here to live.”
Maria looked surprised. “I thought you very much liked the place you have?”
Kerry shrugged. “It’s a condo.” She said. “We want some place more like a house, with a yard. Some place the dogs can run around, and we can personalized more. Dar used to live around here, matter of fact.”
“That is so nice. Would you like me to make those arrangements?” Maria asked. “I have how you call them, the contacts?”
“Sure.” Kerry smiled. ‘That would be awesome, Maria. You know us.” She said. “Something on the waterfront, with a slip for the boat and a yard.”
“Si.” Maria nodded. “I will have my cousin come in to talk with you. She and her husband have many clients in this town, and also, Coral Gables.”
“Sounds good.” Kerry toasted her with her coffee cup and headed off to her own office. “Good morning Mayte.” She said, entering the outer chamber. “You ready to move down the hall?”
There were boxes scattered around, half full. “Ah Kerry yes.” Mayte paused in the act of putting papers in one of them. “I like the new office very much but I will miss being around here with you and my mama.”
“You needed your own space.” Kerry said. “Dar and I will be just fine here, right Zoe?”
The younger girl smiled, from her place kneeling in front of another box. “Yes, ma’am” She answered slowly. “I will do my best.”
Kerry smiled and walked past, entering her own office and it’s sedate sunniness. There was a distinct scent of waxed wood from the floors and fresh paint from the walls and as she crossed through the beams of light from the window she felt a sense of contentment.
From the room next door she could hear Dar’s voice on the phone, and a moment later her presence was detected and Chino came trotting in with Mocha at her heels. “Hey kids.”
“Growf.” Chino came over and sat down next to her chair, tail wagging.
Kerry sat down behind her desk and put her cup down, reaching for her mouse to wake up her desktop system. She studied her screen and chuckled, starting on the first of her list of new mail, glancing up at footsteps to see Mark entering. “Hey.”