Dar sorted through that, and didn't find anything altogether that dangerous in it. "Okay," she said slowly. "So...when was this?"
"When you were in New York." Kerry sighed.
"Uh huh. Same night you got this?" Dar indicated the tattoo.
Kerry nodded.
"It wasn't anything!" Tom spoke up suddenly. "All Kerry was doing was giving me an ego shot on the damn bike. We didn't do nothing!"
Dar looked at him. "I know that," she said. "Question is what is it they're looking to illustrate using it?"
Kerry put her hands on her hips and stared disgustedly at the broken tarmac. "I've had it," she finally said, turning and heading for the Lexus. "I'm quitting and becoming an itinerant poet. Then maybe no one will give a crap what I do." She opened the door and got in, slamming it behind her.
That left Dar and Tom facing each other across the Harley. Dar sighed, and produced a brief smile. "It's been a rough couple weeks," she said. "Last thing we need is to drive back to town and be greeted with a front page story."
Tom stuck his hands into the pockets on his jeans. "Dar, I'm real sorry."
"Wasn't anything you did." Dar shrugged. "What did you tell the reporters, anyway?"
"Not much." He admitted. "I just couldn't get what they were after, so they kinda just left when I wouldn't tell them me and Kerry had been...um...like, hanging out together or whatever."
"Yeah." Dar pushed her sunglasses up on her nose. "Well, thanks, Tom. Nice bike. Don't worry about the picture, okay?" She lifted a hand to wave goodbye and headed for the car. Circling the back of it, she got in the passenger side and closed the door, half turning in the seat to face the huddled, silent Kerry. "Hey."
Kerry sniffled, and wiped the back of her hand across her eyes. "I'm so sick of this."
Dar leaned further over the center console, and gently gripped Kerry's forearm. "Ker?"
Kerry sniffled again. "Yeah?"
"I'm sick of it too."
Kerry took off her sunglasses and looked at Dar with tear moistened eyes. "I know it's chickenshit."
Dar shook her head. "Just human." She slid her grip down to clasp Kerry's hand, then drew the hand up to kiss its knuckles. "Let's just go do what we need to do, then we can sit down and decide where we go from here."
Kerry looked at her hand, now pressed gently against Dar's cheek. She gave the fingers clasping hers a squeeze, and exhaled, nodding a little in answer.
"Want me to drive now?" Dar asked. "I can try it left footed."
"No." Kerry gathered her wits. "Just open my coke for me, and gimme a Snowball. I'll live." She started the car and put it in gear. "Dar, what are we going to do if that does end up on the front page of the Herald?"
"Won't." Dar was busy ripping cellophane with her teeth. "You're not a communist sympathizer. You might make the business page though." She removed the soft, fluffy pastry and handed it over. "And if it does, we just deal with it."
Kerry bit into the marshmallow top, tearing it apart ruthlessly. "How's ILS going to deal with their VP Ops being a biker chick?"
"About like they did with their VP Ops being a gay redneck." Dar took a sip of Coke. "We'll all cope."
Yeah. Kerry settled into her seat, gazing ahead into the slowly fading sunlight. "Know what I'm going to do if it happens?"
"What?"
"Frame a copy and send it to my mother."
"Ouch."
IT WAS DINNERTIME before they pulled into the driveway. Kerry parked the Lexus and opened the door, sliding off the leather seat to the ground and stretching her back out. "Ugh."
"C'mon, Chino." Dar got out on the other side and opened the back door, allowing the Labrador to jump to the ground. She shouldered her laptop and waited for Kerry to join her, then she limped up the steps to the front door of the condo.
They had debated stopping at the port. Chino had tipped the balance, since neither of them wanted to leave their pet in the car while they checked on things and bringing her onboard the ship just wasn?t an option.
Dar keyed the door open and entered, waiting for Kerry to pass her by and then shutting the door. "You want to change, and we'll run over there?"
Kerry dropped her briefcase and overnight bag on the love seat. "You want to hear the politically correct corporately responsible answer or the truth?"
"Me either." Dar limped past her and went into the bedroom. "Is there really a point? We're both fond of saying we can trust our people, aren't we?"
Kerry trudged into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, removing a bottle of juice and pouring herself a glass. "Good point." She called back into the living room. "How about we commit to being there early tomorrow morning? We can assess what's going on, and decide what we want to do."
"Uh."
Kerry took a sip of juice, and cocked her head. "Did you say something?"
"Uh."
Drawn by this odd utterance, Kerry left the kitchen and entered the living room, finding Dar sprawled on the couch looking at her injured foot with a frown. "What's wrong?"
"That." Dar pointed.
Kerry walked over and sat down, cradling Dar's foot in her lap and examining it closely. "Oh." She grimaced. "Ow."
The foot was swollen and an angry red color. Dar folded her arms across her chest and glared at it. "Stupid god damned fish."
"Let me go get the antiseptic. Or we could go see Dr. Steve."
Kerry slipped into the bathroom and returned, setting the antiseptic bottle and cotton balls down as she prepared to render first aid. Chino came over and started to help, licking Dar's face thoroughly with a serious expression.
"That's it, Chi. You keep mommy Dar busy while I do this."
Dar reached over the dog and picked up the mail on the coffee table, laying it on her stomach and flipping through it to distract herself. A Hammacher Schlemmer catalog caught her eye, and she opened it, browsing the pages idly. "Want a pair of space socks?"
Kerry tweaked one of Dar's toes. "No, honey, I don't." She wiped around the fish bite carefully with her swab.
"Automatic vacuum cleaner?"
"For?" Kerry looked around. "We have a cleaning service, remember?"
Dar sighed. "How about a train set?"
"You just like buying toys." Kerry peered at the bites on the bottom of her partner's foot. "Dar, these really do look bad."
"Great."
"I don't know if Dr. Steve was a horrible idea." Kerry went on, with a slightly apologetic tone. "I know you don't like to, but I'd hate to see these really get infected, you know?"
"I've had my tetanus."
It was one of the few things they consistently fought about, Kerry privately admitted. Dar hated doctors, and Kerry both sympathized, and understood why she did. In fact, she wasn't fond of doctors herself, though in Dr. Steve she'd finally found one she not only trusted, but liked. "Dar."
"Okay."
Kerry paused in mid breath, taken aback by the unexpected capitulation. She looked at Dar in surprise.
Dar shrugged a little. "It really hurts." She admitted. "And you're right--I don't want it to get worse if I have to spend the next week in hiking boots on the deck of some damn half assed cruise ship," she said. "So, if you want to give Steve a call, I'll go feed Chino."
Kerry gave the long leg wrapped around her a gentle pat. "For being such a good girl, I'll take you out to dinner after he's done. How's that?"
Dar produced a charming smile. "Only if you promise to never, ever, ever tell anyone I was either good, or voluntarily went to the doctor."
"Deal."
Kerry got up and edged between the couch and the coffee table, leaning over to give Dar a kiss on the lips. She stayed there almost long enough to get a crick in her back, then straightened up and headed for the phone.
Dar ruffled Chino's fur with one hand, and laid the other across her stomach. Aside from her foot really hurting, she also found herself completely unwilling to argue with Kerry, especially since she knew Kerry was right and she was only arguing because that's what she always did.