<ROFL>
Kerry cocked her head at the screen. What's so funny?
Tell you when I see you. I have to head out. Tell your crazy family I say hi and try to have a good time, okay?
Okay. Kerry typed. Have a good meeting. Love you.
Love you too, later. DD
Kerry chuckled and closed the window, and then she ran her eye over her mail. Not finding anything really urgent, she closed the program and got up to put the laptop back on the dresser.
"Hey, you up?" Angie stuck her head in the door, blinking in surprise to find her older sister in a pair of shorts and a sports bra apparently wide awake. "Boy, you have become an early bird haven't you?"
Kerry chuckled. "I have," she admitted. "I was doing my traveling exercise routine and then chatting with Dar for a bit. C'mon in."
Angie entered, still in her nightgown. "What's a traveling exercise routine?" she asked. "Is that what you do every morning?"
"No." Kerry turned and leaned against the dresser. "At home, Dar and I usually either go for a run in the morning, or if it's too hot and sticky which is often, we go to the island gym or to the pool," she replied. "I just have a few things I do when I am out of town like some sit-ups and push-ups and stuff."
"You're nuts," Angie informed her.
"I am," her sister cheerfully agreed. "But it makes me feel good to do it, so who cares?" She spread her arms out. "Hey, I even joined a softball team. Our company's doing a league."
"Oh my god." Angie rolled her eyes. "You always wanted to do that. You used to bitch about it all the time I remember."
Kerry grinned. "Yeah, I know. But this was something that just came up. It should be fun though." She folded her arms over her chest. "Hey, want to go roust Mike up?"
Angie grinned back. "Actually, I was going to suggest we do that, and then we go out and grab some breakfast somewhere. I gave my cook the morning off because she had a dental appointment."
"I'm all for that," Kerry agreed instantly. "Let's go for it." She headed for the door. "We can get some ice cubes to get Mike awake."
"Ker?"
"Hm?" Kerry paused at the door, with her hand on the knob.
"You going to go wake him up like that?" Angie asked, pointing at her sister's lack of real clothing.
Kerry glanced down at herself, and then she shrugged. "This is what I go out jogging in," she said.
"C'mon. You can't tell me Mike's more conservative than the ghost of Commodore Vanderbilt."
Angie followed her out, shaking her head. "Guess we'll find out in a minute."
DAR RESISTED THE urge to stick her hands in the pockets of her dress slacks as she entered the big dining room along with the rest of their team and Sir Melthon's people. There was a huge sideboard set up, and everyone was definitely in a much better mood today.
Deal was done. Papers were signed. Now they were partners, and as partners, they were no longer the bad guys so everyone was chilled out and a lot friendlier.
"Hello, Ms. Roberts." The man who had been pounding her mercilessly with questions yesterday was now all smiles. "John Status, by the way." He held a hand out. "No hard feelings, I hope?" He had a distinct, rolling accent that was almost musical.
"Not at all." Dar amiably gripped his hand and released it. "I like hard questions. People who don't ask them either aren't serious about dealing with us, or don't know what they're doing."
Status grinned. "Now there's a good solid saying." He took a seat next to Dar at the table. "I'm the lucky man who gets to be in charge of our company net."
Dar was mutely delighted to be sitting next to another nerd. She left Alastair on her other side discussing grouse hunting with two of the other men. "Gets to be, or is?" She was aware of the servers moving around them and the smell of something roasting.
"Is," John said. "Am. Whatever," he clarified. "I've been here for about a year, and the first thing I was asked to do is hook us up with a global network provider." He glanced around. "From this side of the Atlantic."
"Ah." Dar nodded. "We'd heard that." She gave the server a nod as he filled her glass with something that smelled like apples and cinnamon. "It's been tough for us to grow here because of the bias."
"Eh." John lifted his hands.
"I understand the bias. If the positions were reversed, it would be the same on our side," Dar said. "No one wants to work with people who are different and hard to understand. Our business methods are very polar."
The man sat back. "You know though, most Americans don't understand that," he observed. "They just come over here, and try to ride over people with high pressure sales jobs. They never come in and say, well, here's what we do. You interested?"
Dar smiled.
"Now, understand it helps that his nib's godson came in like a raving loony about you," John said. "We were all saying, if Hans has his knickers in that kind of an uproar must be something to it."
"Hey Dar, your admin people in yet?" Alastair interrupted them.
Dar checked her watch. "Quarter to nine? Sure. Mine is anyway. What do you need?"
"Can you get one of the big portfolios headed this way?" her boss asked. "The one that shows all the lines of business?"
"Sure." Dar opened her phone and dialed her office number. "Excuse me." She apologized to John.
"No problem." John turned to his plate, which had just been delivered, complete with a selection from the sideboard. "Ahh--now that's the thing."
"Hey, Maria. Good morning."
"Ah, good morning Jefa," Maria replied. "How are you? How is the England?"
"So far, very interesting and successful," Dar said.
"Need a favor."
"Of course."
Dar paused, as her PDA buzzed. "Hang on a second." She opened it and glanced at the screen. "Hm. Hey Maria, can you ask Mark to check out what's going on over near Boston? One of the supplemental links just came up and they're using some unusual bandwidth for the links."
"Surely," Maria said. "Is that all, Dar? How is Kerrisita? Is she having a good time with her familia?
Dar closed the PDA. "She's fine, and her speech went great," she told her assistant. "Alastair needs one of the circus tent displays sent over here, can you get that in the works?"
"I will call over to the Sales right away, Dar," Maria said. "Oh, and Senora Mariana has delivered some packages to the office here for you and Kerrisita. I think they are your softball costumes."
"What color are they?" Dar chuckled. "Please don't tell me they're either yellow or purple."
"No, no, it is a pretty blue," Maria said. "And the pants are white. Mayte was showing me hers last night, and they are very, very cute." She paused. "The shoes were very strange. They had nails in the bottom. Is that right, Dar?"
Her boss chuckled, and then glanced down as her PDA buzzed again. She opened it, and after a minute, her brows creased. "What the hell?"
"Como?"
"Maria, can you conference Mark on? I'm getting pages that aren't making any sense. I think the monitor's gone whacky again." Dar paged through the messages.
"Surely. Hold on for one moment, Dar." Maria put her on hold.
"Something wrong?" John asked.
"Ah." Dar shook her head a little. "I think it's just--"
Maria came back on the phone. "I have Mark, Dar, but--"
"Hey! Boss!" Mark's voice echoed through the phone, sharp with excitement. "Holy crap!"
Dar felt a surge of adrenaline, but she wasn't entirely sure why. "What's up?"