“Shop,” Dar replied, “for groceries.”
Clemente waved his hands in a very Cuban manner. “Of course. Give me a list and I’ll have Rosalita pick everything up for you and put it away.”
“I don’t have a list,” Dar muttered. “Can she just pick up the normal stuff people have in their houses?” She glanced at the kitchen. “Just, whatever?”
The man’s brow crumpled like corrugated cardboard. “Ms. Roberts, I can’t have her shop for something I don’t know what to tell her to shop for.
What is it you need?” He peered at the kitchen. “Bread? Fruitas?”
Dar sighed and motioned for him to follow her. “Look.” She opened the refrigerator. “I need things other than this.” She lifted her hands and let them drop. “If I go, I’ll end up with a case of Oreo cookies, six gallons of milk, two tins of Edy’s ice cream, and a jar of peanut butter.”
Clemente covered his eyes. “Dios mío.” He rubbed his face. “You want…orange juice? Bananas? Soup?”
Dar thought. “Bananas are good,” she answered cautiously. “Uh, grapefruit juice. Maybe some English muffins?”
“Si, si.” Clemente pulled a pen from his pocket and scribbled.
“Marmalada?”
284 Melissa Good
“Apricot is okay, or grape.” Dar considered. “Oh, and some tea.”
“Pekoe, China?” Clemente inquired.
“The kind you put in a cup and drink,” Dar replied wryly. “Just some bags. If they have herbal stuff, that’s good.” She drummed her fingers on the counter. “They have strawberries?”
“Si, Driscolls.” the man answered, making a note. “They have a nice box today. The big ones, si? All laid out like roses, very nice.”
She flashed him a grin. “Get me a box of those…and two big bars of milk chocolate.”
She gave him a few more items, then watched him leave, sighing as the door closed behind his round figure. “That’s taken care of.” She found herself grinning in anticipation of seeing Kerry’s face when she actually had something more than milk to offer her. She got herself a glass, and checked the terminal, seeing the blinking mail-waiting flag. “Mail.”
“Dar Roberts, seven mail, none urgent,” the terminal replied, displaying the screen.
She reviewed them. “Read six.” Her face was already creasing into a smile as her eyes saw the author.
Sent by: Kerry Stuart
Subject: Party
Time: 7:34 PM
Hey…
Just wanted to drop a note to say hi. Hope the party went well. You were right about Eleanor, she was all over me like white on rice at the meeting, and if she didn’t tell me twelve times I was wasted where I was, she didn’t say it once. I haven’t been buttered up that bad since some Young Republicans found out who my father was when I was in high school.
Wonder what she’d do if I told her I’d rather work for Moammar Kadafi than her? At least with him, you know where the knife is coming from. And he’s cuter. She smells like slightly rancid make-up foundation.
Anyway, she made a particularly disgusting joke about you, and I think she’s testing me to see if I tell you about it. So I’m not going to. But I did pull the plug out of her remote control while she was doing the
presentation, so she looked like an idiot for about ten minutes while she was standing there clicking fruitlessly and nothing was happening.
I am ashamed to say I enjoyed that a lot.
See you tomorrow.
K
Dar burst into laughter, putting her cup down to keep from spilling it, and leaning over the counter. “Oh god.” She snickered, imagining the progressively more frustrated Eleanor pounding the buttons. “Oh god, I’m sorry I missed that.” She gasped, still chuckling. “Reply,” she told the Tropical Storm 285
machine. “Audio record,” she added, with a grin.
“Hey, Kerry...it was worth having to suffer through that damn party just to get home and read this. Whenever I see her in a meeting from now on, I’ll remember the image you put in my head of her clicking on that stupid remote she loves so much and getting frustrated.”
Dar paused.
“Hope you had fun Rollerblading...I’ll, um, see you tomorrow after my appointment. We’ll see if that little jaunt up in Orlando made any difference. I think it did, because I haven’t had a headache since the storm.”
During another pause, she could feel several thoughts struggling to get out and be voiced, but the words just wouldn’t come to her.
“Anyway, have a good night.”
Dar stared at the screen a moment, then sighed. “Send.”
She chuckled softly as she scanned the other messages, none of which really required her attention before the morning. She took her milk and wandered out onto the porch, where the breeze blowing out against the waves was growing steadily cooler. Dar settled into one of the padded deck chairs and propped her feet up against the stone railing, leaning back and gazing out over the water.
The soft sound of the surf crashing against the seawall lulled her, as she idly watched the stars wink overhead. “Star light, star bright…” she murmured. “What would you wish for, Dar? Hmm?”
Prudently, the stars remained silent.
The phone buzzed softly inside, and Dar jumped, shaking her head a little to clear it before she ducked inside and grabbed the wireless receiver.
“Hello?”
“Hey.” Kerry’s voice sounded wry, yet amused.
“Well, hello,” Dar replied, taking the phone with her and resuming her seat. “Didn’t expect to hear from you tonight. I just answered your mail.”
“I know. That’s how I knew you were home,” came the answer, along with a slight chuckle. “I, um…just wanted to make sure you didn’t freak out when I come in looking like a Klingon tomorrow. I had a close encounter with a truck.”
There was a split second of dead silence, then Dar sat up straight, her heart pounding. “W-what? Are you all right? What happened? Did you get the license plate number?”
“Dar! Dar, slow down,” Kerry interrupted quickly. “No, no, it was parked at the time. Behind the bakery. Colleen and I usually go down there and reward ourselves with a doughnut after we finish. I was coming around the corner and didn’t realize a delivery truck was parked right in front of me.”
“Oh.” Dar settled back, still unnerved. “Ow, I bet that hurt.”
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“Yeah, my head slammed into the side mirror. I have this huge lump there.” Kerry sighed. “I have ice on it. Probably will go down before tomorrow morning, but there’ll still be a bruise.”
“Well…” Dar breathed a sigh of relief. “Damn, sorry to hear that. Did you get your doughnut, at least?”
A snorting chuckle. “Two of them. Colleen bought them for me. She felt bad because she was distracting me when it happened.”
Dar had a sudden desire to personally make sure the bump was not serious, and she had to bite her tongue to keep from telling Kerry she was on her way over there. “You sure you’re all right?” she finally asked hesitantly.
The warmth in Kerry’s voice was unmistakable. “Yeah, but thanks for asking.” A pause. “Well, I’d better let you get going. Just wanted to…um, warn you. “
“Glad you called,” Dar said quietly. “See you in the morning.”
“Good night.”
The line went dead, and Dar tucked the phone against her chin, staring out over the waves, evaluating her sudden gut-level response.
Okay, she was a goal-oriented, over-controlling alpha bitch who didn’t trust anyone, and who refused to leave even the slightest details to chance.