Dar waited for the phone to answer. “Wonder how long the cell sites'll be up.” She mused. “Batteries can't last that long.” She listened. “Yeah, this is Dar Roberts.” She announced. “Yeah, happy new years to you too. Listen. There's a power outage up here in Michigan. Do a search and tell me what the deal is, will ya?”
“You should put a t shirt on, Dar.”
Dar looked down at herself, then at her partner, one brow lifting. “What?” She covered the phone with one hand. “It's cold!”
“Under the sweater.” Kerry fished a cotton shirt from Dar's bag and handed it to her. “It's layers, right?”
“Oh.” Dar juggled the phone and the shirt, pulling off her sweater and laying it on the dresser as she donned the shirt, then put the heavier garment on over it. “Yeah, I”m here.” She listened to the phone. “Ah. Okay. Thanks. Bye.” She closed the phone. “Iced over high tension power lines snapped.”
“Ah” Kerry brushed her hair. “Well, that's fixable at least.”
“Not before we have to make heat I hope.” Dar put her arms around Kerry from behind and leaned against her, watching their dual reflections in the mirror. “Maybe everyone'll decide to go to bed early.”
“Mmm... maybe we'll inaugurate the green room.” Kerry snickered. “We can put our initials on the wall.”
Dar looked at her in puzzlement. “Didn't you say this is where they put the married people in your family?” She watched Kerry nod, eyes twinkling. “And married people don't have sex in the Stuart clan?”
Kerry regarded her. “We've had this whole parents and sex conversation, Dar.”
“Ah... that's right. Kerry Cabbage Patch Stuart. I forgot.”
They both chuckled. “Let's go downstairs.” Kerry said. “See if they have any crackers and cheese at least. I'm starving.” She patted her companion on the side and they sat down to put their shoes on. With the dim gray light outside, it was almost twilight in the room, and without any electricity they could hear the pops and creaks of the house around them.
“Hope mom has candles around.” Kerry stood up. “If this lasts all night it could end up getting creepy.”
They left the room and walked along the hallway towards the stairs, coming face to face with Aunt Mildred. “Hi there.” Kerry mustered up a smile. “Crazy weather, huh?”
The older woman merely stared at her, then she turned and started down the steps, leaving them behind.
Dar and Kerry sighed in unison, then followed her. “At least mom didn't invite my uncles.” Kerry uttered under her breath. “Next time, please tie me up.”
The main entry of the Stuart family house was filling with guests, but even with all the people the chill was evident. Someone had put candles in glass jars around the space, and there were two servants putting more out between taking heavy overcoats from their owners.
There was no press around this time. Dar could see a line of them outside, but they weren't getting much for their efforts, and she put her hand on Kerry's back as they reached the bottom of the stairs and paused. “There's your brother.” She indicated the far corner of the space. “Should all the black sheep gather together?”
“Baa.” Kerry was glad enough to agree. She led the way through the crowd, ignoring the veiled and not so veiled stares as they were recognized, and then she had to stop as a woman got directly in her path. “Excuse me.”
“Don't you have any shame?” The woman asked her.
Kerry stared thoughtfully at her, one had going back to put a halt on Dar's forward motion, as she sensed her beloved partner about to take severe offense. “No, actually I don't” She answered in a mild tone. “Please get out of my way, Aunt April. This isn't the place to make a scene. My mother wouldn't appreciate it.”
The woman shook her head. “Your father would be so ashamed.”
Kerry squeezed Dar's hand. “He had a lot of reasons to be ashamed. Now please excuse us.” She pushed past the woman, keeping tight hold of her growling spouse. “It's going to be one of those days isn't it?”
“I vote we go back to bed.”
“Soon, hon. Soon.”
“It was a complete screw up.” The stocky man told Dar, as they both held drinks and watched the candle lit crowd in the grand hall. “They knew those towers needed repair, but all that warm weather we had made them push it off.”
“A mess.” Dar commiserated. “They know how long it'll take to fix it?”
The Governor shook his head mournfully. “I was hoping it was some systemic mistake, because I knew I'd be seeing you today and maybe I could ask you to fix it.” He winked at her. “But no, they've got to take the grid offline, repair the cables, and power it all back up. Maybe late tonight. Probably tomorrow. I'm getting lambasted in the news.”
“As if you could do something about it.”
“Not only that, instead of sitting in my office being a martyr to public opinion I'm here, having a glass of the late Roger's good scotch and wondering how Cynthia's going to pull off hot canapés.” The governor chuckled wryly. “Ah, the life of a public servant.”
“You can have it.” Dar was happy enough to be holding up her bit of wall, the presence of the state's magnate keeping off any of Kerry's bolder relatives. “I'm looking forward to retiring.”
The Governor eyed her alertly. “Do tell?” He said. “Aren't you a little young for that?”
Dar smiled, lifting her glass of white wine in acknowledgement. “Been 15 years. I want to see the world a little without worrying about my cell phone ringing because someone's mainframe crashed.” She spotted Kerry returning, carrying a plate. “I gave them six months notice. They're working a package for me.”
“Wow.” He said. “After everything that just happened? I heard you were neck deep in the recovery effort. Someone told me they were looking to suck you into the public sector.”
“After everything that just happened.” Dar restated the words. “Life's too short.”
“Going to go out on your own?” He asked, with a shrewd glance at her. “Be your own boss?”
“Eventually. I'll have to stay out of the business for a while. Then probably get back in, do some consulting.” Dar replied. '”Or who knows? Maybe I'll open a dive shop down in the keys where our cabin is. Leave tech alone.”
“More power too you, lady.” He tipped his glass back at her. “Don't tell my wife she'll be jealous.”
“Jealous of what?” Kerry arrived, offering up her small china platter.
“Are those sliders?” Dar started laughing.
“My sister picked the menu.” Kerry confirmed, with a smile. “They're brisket sliders, matter of fact. With horseradish sauce.”
“Nice.” The Governor took one. “I was just telling Dar here my wife would be jealous of her retiring.”
“Ahhh.” Kerry waited for Dar to serve herself, then took a sandwich and put the platter down on a nearby table. “I”m looking forward to that myself. I've got such a bucket list to get through.” She took a bite of the slider. “Mm.”
“You too?” The Governor exclaimed.
“Oh yeah.” Dar licked a bit of the horseradish sauce off her fingertips. “I think we're going to start with a visit to the Grand Canyon, then a cruise somewhere.”
“White water rafting.” Kerry clarified, with a grin. “I figure I should get the camping stuff out of the way first because I know Dar doesn't like it much.” She wiped her lips with a small napkin. “I think we're going to fly into Vegas, then rent an RV and do the tour.”
He chuckled. “Well, I can't say I don't envy you ladies.” He munched on his own sandwich. “Wish I could look forward to the same, but I've got four kids, and three of them are in college at the moment. I'm lucky I can manage Pizza Hut on Fridays.”