"Mm." Kerry sipped her coffee. "Maybe," she conceded. "She's been all right on the phone. It's just that she gets these family idea things and doesn't understand where I'm coming from." She went back to finishing her breakfast, leaving Dar to study her in silence.
"Y'know," Dar said, after a long pause.
Kerry put her fork down and wiped her lips neatly with a napkin. "I know." Her lips twitched into a reluctant smile. "I know that I was the one who was all over you to reconcile with your mother, and did my damndest to aid and abet that by any means I could think of."
Dar's eyes warmed.
"But your mother didn't stand by while your father threw you in the loony bin, Dar." Kerry went on in a more serious tone, "and even though you had issues, they weren't those kind of issues, were they?"
Dar didn't immediately answer. She sat quietly for a few minutes, sipping the remainder of her coffee, a thoughtful expression on her face while Kerry finished up. "At the time," she said, as Kerry stood to take the plates back over to the sink, "they felt like a lot worse issues."
She got up and took Kerry's cup, following her over to the counter. "But I was young, and clueless, and looking back, yeah." She set the cups in the sink and gave Kerry a kiss on the back of her neck. "I didn't have those kinds of problems."
Kerry waited. "But?" she asked, after a pause.
"But nothing." Dar reached around her to wash off the dishes, trapping her neatly. "Gonna show her your tattoo?"
Kerry chuckled, a low throaty sound while she wiped off the dishes as Dar washed them. "Pick her up for dinner in my red pickup truck in a leather, no strap bustier. How's that?" She smiled, her good humor restored. "Actually, I'll show it to my sister. She'll tell my mother because she can't keep her mouth shut about stuff like that."
"Here we go with that sibling thing again." Dar put the plates up and they walked back through the living room, Chino trotting behind them. "You want to grab a shower? I threw the bags in the car already."
"Sure." Kerry stifled a yawn. "When are your folks due by?"
"Six," Dar said. "Assuming Dad doesn't cause chaos in Government Cut again."
"Uh oh."
AIRPORTS GENERALLY SUCKED. Kerry shouldered her carry on and eased her way through the crowded terminal, assaulted on all sides by loud voices in many languages echoing off the terrazzo floor. The Miami airport was large, sprawling, disorganized, and difficult to navigate at times around the groups of travelers standing with what seemed like month's worth of luggage.
She'd left Dar by the International gates, their extended hug completely unnoticed by the surging crowd as they parted and she'd continued on to her domestic gate further down the concourse. Announcements echoed overhead, but she let them bypass her as she got in line for the security check and tried to pretend she wasn't bummed.
She put her backpack on the belt pulling her laptop out and placing it in a tray along with her cell phone and her PDA. Then she watched it disappear into the X-ray before she walked through the portal as a bored looking guard waved her on. "Thanks." She picked her things up and restored the laptop to its place, then she shouldered the bag and headed down a long, badly carpeted slope toward the waiting area.
Her gate was crowded. Apparently the flight before hers was late getting out. So Kerry bypassed it and went to the small brewpub at the end of the terminal and claimed a seat, letting out a long breath as she eased her pack to the floor.
"Can I get you something?" The bartender stopped by, glancing around the mostly empty space.
"Amber, and a plate of wings," Kerry answered, after reviewing her options. "Thanks."
"No problem."
The bartender moved on, and she turned sideways in her high bar chair, resting her elbows on the back and the bar top and hooking her feet on the rungs.
She was bummed. Kerry flexed her hand, rubbing the edge of her thumb against the ring on her finger. She wasn't really sure why, since she and Dar often traveled independently and anyway, she'd be joining her in a week.
She really wanted to get on Dar's airplane and not her own, and that was sort of pissing her off. "Thanks." She accepted the cold glass of beer from the bartender, and took a sip. Her PDA alert light stuttered red and she put the beer down and picked it up.
Hey. Why the hell would they put a Budweiser Brew House in the international terminal?
Kerry chuckled in reflex and typed out an answer. Are you in there? She was glad of the distraction, her unease calmed by this disassociated communication that had become their way of staying in each other's pockets when they were separated.
It was either that, Burger King, or a health food place. What do you think?
Kerry thought that the fact they'd both ended up in the same bar in two different terminals was pretty funny and also predictable, but she only chuckled and sent back Enjoy your wings.
You too.
"Now, why can't we both be having wings together?" Kerry sighed. "Ah well. Stop being a jerk," she reminded herself, taking another sip of her beer, and forcibly putting aside her gloom. The bartender came back and deposited her plate of wings. She nibbled on one leaned back watched as her gate cleared, and things around her started to settle down.
After a moment, she put her wing down, divested of its flesh, and licked her lips. "Should have packed that damn bustier."
"Ma'am?" The bartender looked up from cleaning his glasses.
"Just talking to myself," Kerry said. "You know us crazy travelers."
"Yeah." The bartender eyed her, moving a little ways away to continue his cleaning. "Have a great trip."
A loud sound made them both turn and look out into the concourse to see a woman racing across the carpet, her arms outstretched, her voice panicked as she chased a white chicken across the hall. Kerry watched the crowd dodge out of the way of the women and bird, then she turned and looked at the bartender.
He shrugged. "It's Miami."
Kerry picked up her beer and took a healthy swig, and then she toasted the terminal. "It's Miami."
DAR CLIMBED THE spiral stairs up to the first class section of the big 747 giving the flight attendant a brief smile as she went down the aisle and put her briefcase in the overhead, settling into her seat and leaning back to observe the space around her.
It was quiet. Two other travelers had taken seats, on the other side of the plane from her, but it didn't look like the section was going to be very full. Dar was glad for that. Even though she certainly had a decent amount of space and a seat that reclined into a bed, she still didn't like people crowding in around her.
Well, except for Kerry.
"Can I bring you a water?" The flight attendant stopped by her. "Or perhaps a glass of wine?"
Dar considered, glancing up at the woman. "Got any milk?"
The woman's eyelashes blinked. "Yes of course," she rallied. "One moment."
"Thanks." Dar watched her move off in search of her requested beverage. After a moment, she got up and opened the overhead, rooting in her backpack for two magazines, then sitting back down and tucking them into the pocket on the side of her seat.
Flying bored her. Dar folded her hands in her lap and studied the tops of her thumbs, wishing she could fall asleep and wake up on the other side of the world. No matter how comfortable her seat, it still meant she had to stay relatively still for eight or nine hours and suffer the dry air and incessant drone of the engines for all that time.
"Here you go." The flight attendant returned with a goblet of milk and a cocktail napkin, depositing both in the tray next to Dar's right hand. "Enjoy."
"Thanks." Dar picked up the glass and sipped from it. Her tongue was still tingling a little from the extremely spicy chicken wings, and the cool, rich milk both tasted and felt good in her mouth. She got halfway through it before her ears popped slightly, and the flight attendant came over the PA system announcing the door had been closed and everyone should get ready for departure.