The phone only rang once before it was answered. "Hey, sweetie."
Dar's lips twitched. "You know, it could have been someone other than me calling from here," she commented wryly.
"Not on our home number." Kerry replied, a smile evident in her voice. "They'd have called on the cell."
Our home number. The words sent a little tickle down Dar's back even after all this time. "You're right. Shows how long a day it's been." Dar reached up and rubbed her left temple. "I'm done with the sales crap."
"How'd it go?"
"All right, I guess," her partner replied. "But two of the directors caught me afterward. Apparently they've got some BS they overheard from our friends. Want to spill it to me offsite."
Silence. Dar could almost imagine the look of skeptical surprise on Kerry's face. "Yeah, seemed pretty stupid to me, but I've known the two of them for ten years. They're not idiots."
"Sounds pretty bizarre."
"Anyway, I told them I'd meet them over at the Hyatt," Dar said. "Shouldn't take long. I'm sure we already heard most of it last week from the jackasses' mouths." She was aware of a pensive quiet from the phone. "You interested in joining us?"
Kerry chuckled, after a moment's hesitation. "I think you know me too well."
Dar smiled. "Hey, me and two straight women. What a party. Of course I'd invite you." She finished packing up her case. "Especially if you're in those cute overalls you were wearing the other day...that'd shock all the Cubans at the Hyatt happy hour."
Kerry chuckled again, but this time the sound was entirely different. "Oh, the scandals you weave, Madame Roberts. No, you go meet your undercover friends and get the dirt. I'll be here hanging out doing the domestic thing."
Dar's eyebrows lifted. "Domestic thing?"
"Baking cookies."
"Cookies?" Dar's ears perked up. "You're making fresh cookies?"
"The Food Network is dangerous," Kerry asserted. "But if you time it right, you might get some hot from the oven," she teased. "So don't get too dirty."
"They'll be lucky if I sit down," Dar said. "See you in a little bit, Ker."
"Okay--hey, listen. Remember that story from the news last night?" Kerry said. "The car at the drug store?"
"Yeah?" Dar's hand hovered over the button.
"We were there when they were. I saw the guy they're looking for. He was a creep."
It was the last thing she'd expected to hear. "Really?"
"Yeah," Kerry said. "But I'll tell you all about it when you get home. Go scoot and find your snitches."
"Okay. Yeah," Dar replied. "Strange timing, I guess. Be home soon." She released the line and shouldered her briefcase, turning off the desk lamp as she headed for the door.
MIDDLE OF THE summer on a Monday made for a very slow night at the bar. Dar gave the greeter at the door a nod as she entered, sweeping her eyes around the sparsely occupied lounge until she spotted her two colleagues near one of the floor-to-ceiling plate glass windows.
Stacy waved at her. Dar headed in that direction, only to be intercepted by a hovering and obviously bored waiter. She stopped as the man looked inquiringly at her.
"Can I get you something, ma'am? We have chocolate martinis on special tonight."
Much as the thought of a chocolate anything was intriguing to her at the moment, Dar shook her head. "Jamaican coffee, please." She indicated the small group of chairs near the window. "I'll be over there."
"Right away, ma'am."
Dar continued on her way and took one of the seats opposite Stacy and Rhonda. They both had glasses in front of them, with enough half eaten fruit matter to indicate their alcoholic content. "All right. So what's up?"
"Gee, Dar...it's great to see you too." Stacy gave her a wry grin. "Been a while."
Dar crossed her arms. "Half hour, didn't you say?" she asked pointedly. "I didn't come here to be social." She accepted the steaming mug the waiter handed her, and took a cautious sip. The coffee was hot, and pungent with a touch of rum and Tia Maria.
"No, you never really were the social butterfly," Stacy acknowledged. "Though we had some pretty good times back in the old days, out on the road."
"Eh." Dar tilted her head slightly. "I still remember you ending up doing the tango with the chef at that Italian place in New Mexico," she admitted. "They ever stop teasing you about it?"
Rhonda snickered.
"No." Stacy laughed. "They haven't. Trust you to remember that one, too. I think that was the first night I ever saw you drink something other than milk," she added. "Though tough as that damn account was, we were all due it. What a hemorrhoid case that was."
Ah, yes. Dar smiled faintly, and nodded. "Yeah, it was," she agreed.
"Dar, is that the first place you banged heads with that Shari woman? I remember her from that account. You fired her there, didn't you?" Rhonda asked. "That's why she was so familiar when she came into that bar. I remember her pitching a fit in the building as security was throwing her out."
"Yeah." Stacy nodded. "I didn't see her when she came in, but Rho did, and then when she and whatserface..."
"Michelle Graver," Dar supplied evenly.
"Yeah, from Vista, wasn't it?"
"Yeah."
Stacy slowly twirled her straw as she sucked on it. "They sat down, and it wasn't a minute until they were yelling at each other, and the first word I recognized was your name."
Dar grunted. "Yeah, well." She shrugged one shoulder. "Shari and I go a long way back," she said. "So it wasn't the first time we'd met. I had a decision to make and it could have gone either way, but she'd taken the piss out of me one time and I gave her the boot."
"I remember." Rhonda signaled the waiter, and indicated their near empty glasses. "Dar? You up for a second?"
Dar glanced at her cup, which was still half full. "I'm fine."
"So, anyway." Stacy retrieved a tortilla chip from the table and loaded it with salsa. "They didn't know us from Adam's housecat, naturally. They sat at the table behind us, and let me tell you, they lit into each other like nothing."
The waiter returned, putting down two fresh fruity looking drinks. "Anything else I can get you ladies? Some hors d'oeuvres, perhaps?" He picked up the basket of tortillas. "I'll get some fresh chips. Would you like to try one of our combo plates?"
"Sure." Rhonda shooed him away. "Thanks."
Dar slowly sipped her coffee, appreciating the slight burn as the alcohol hit her in the belly. For her, that night in New Mexico had been a great one. The sense of personal vindication had nearly made her giddy. She'd more than welcomed the chance to share a night out with her co-workers, though they'd never known just why their sullen, loner regional tech manager suddenly decided to be social.
She'd had fun. Gotten a little drunk, but not nearly as much as they had, and enjoyed the simple pleasure of sitting back and relaxing after a tough day of work. Even going back to her hotel room alone hadn't bothered her. She remembered spending time on the room's balcony looking out over the New Mexico desert, happy for a change.
Ah. Or she'd thought she'd been happy. Dar felt her cheeks move into a silent grin. Now she knew she'd only been satisfied because over the last couple of years she'd had a much closer acquaintance with happy. "So, they were fighting."
"Like weasels," Stacy agreed. "Graver was pissed off because of some plan of hers that'd gotten screwed up, and I swear, I thought she said she'd offered you a job."
"She did," Dar acknowledged. "Her damn company recruited Kerry and I, matter of fact."
Stacy gaped at her. "Really?"
"Had no clue who we were, but yeah," Dar chuckled. "We were in the show room night before it opened getting our gear set and they thought we were staff geeks."
Rhonda started laughing, covering her mouth hastily. "Oh, my god."
"Wasn't funny then, but I'm laughing now," Dar admitted. "And actually, Graver did offer both of us jobs later on, but I think we all knew that was just a piece of BS."