So she’d shown up a little early that morning to pick Kerry up. Well, okay, a lot early, and had been treated to the sight of sleepy green eyes that brightened perceptibly when they recognized her. Kerry had dragged her back into the bedroom and they’d spent an hour snuggling before the rising sun nudged them awake again in time to go to the airport.
Dar sighed, then glanced up at Maria. “Maybe I’ll take a walk downstairs and get some club soda or something.” She stood and stretched, then settled her jacket over her shoulders and headed for the door. At the elevator she bumped into Duks, who was also headed down. “Morning,” she commented, leaning back against the elevator wall. “Ready for the meeting this afternoon?”
“Don’t ask me that.” Duks rubbed his eyes. “I’ve been going over financials for the last two days. I have such a headache, I can’t tell you,” he complained grumpily. “What about you? They’re going to hit you with those facilities additions, you know.” He studied Dar’s face, noticing that the tense lines and faint shadows that used to characterize it had faded, replaced by a noticeably more relaxed expression. “Let me guess, you have all the answers already.”
Dar shrugged. “I have some of them…and enough evasions to get by with on the others.” She held the door open as they reached the bottom floor. “You headed for the cafeteria?” she inquired. “I’ll buy you a cup of coffee, how’s that?”
“I never turn down that kind of offer.” Duks laughed as he followed her through the line, glancing at her choice. “None for you?”
Dar waved him off. “Must have picked up a bug or something, my stomach’s bothering me.” She set the bottle of club soda down, then nodded at Duk’s steaming cup and handed the cashier a bill. They took their drinks and went to a corner table, away from the early lunch crowd. Dar noted the eyes following her and saw the veiled interest. Idly she wondered what list of rumors was currently making the rounds. “So.” She leaned on her elbows, and twisted the top off the bottle, taking a small sip and grimacing as it hit her empty stomach. “What do you think José will try?”
Duks took a swallow of coffee and pondered the question. “He’s been quiet, too quiet,” he mused. “You’d better watch your back, my friend. I think whatever he’s up to, it’s got you in the center of it.”
“Probably,” she agreed.
“You don’t look worried,” her friend remarked. “My assistant overheard Eleanor’s two poodle girls talking about Kerry. Seems Eleanor is convinced she can turn her.”
Tropical Storm 377
“Well.” Dar had to smile. “She’s welcome to try, but, um…” She waggled her hand. “I think I’ve got a pretty good handle on her loyalties.”
Duks smiled back. “Feels good, doesn’t it?”
The dark head tilted in question. “What, having one up on Eleanor?”
Steady eyes regarded her, as a slight grin quirked Duk’s lips.
“Oh.” Dar felt a faint blush creeping up her neck, and she studied her bottle, turning it over and over in her hands. Finally she looked up. “Yes. Yes it does.”
He leaned forward, dropping his voice. “Dar, please believe me when I say that I am so, so, happy for you.” He watched her eyes flick around the room in obvious discomfort. “I really like her. I think you picked a good one, this time.” Pale blue orbs fastened on him intently. “A blue chip.” He winked.
Dar covered her embarrassment by taking a long swallow of fizzy liquid.
She appreciated the sentiment, and Lou had been a good friend for many years, but still. She cleared her throat. “Glad you approve.” She managed to keep her tone droll, but she knew her lips were twitching into a helpless grin and she felt awkwardly exposed. Her cell phone’s beeping was a welcome interruption. “Excuse me.” She pulled the instrument out and flipped it open.
“Yeah?”
“Hi.” There was a world of tension in the voice.
“Hey,” Dar responded, instinctively gentling her own. “Flight okay?”
“Right up until it pulled up to the gate,” Kerry replied with a sigh. “I’ll call you later.”
“Okay, take it easy,” Dar replied quietly.
“I’ll try,” came the answer, then a momentary pause. “I love you.”
Dar closed her eyes, and consciously blocked out her surroundings. “I love you too.” She spoke the words clearly and intently. “If you need anything, you call me, okay?”
She could hear the smile right through the phone. “I will. Bye.”
Dar folded the phone closed, and opened her eyes. She was grateful that Duks had found something desperately interesting in his coffee cup, and he gave her a moment to compose herself before he looked up. They looked at each other in awkward silence for a moment, then the financial officer smiled reflectively. “You know, Dar, times like this, times when I see something in us so beyond the animal, are when I come closest to giving in and believing in the grace of something higher than myself.” And he stood, putting a hand on her shoulder for a gentle squeeze before walking off into a rising hum of lunchtime chatter.
“IS THAT ONE yours, Kerry?” Her mother’s voice echoed in her ears, and she turned.
“Yes, I’ve got it.” Kerry reached over and grabbed the handle, hoisting it clear of the belt and setting it down next to her feet. “That’s it, just this and the carry-on.” She attached the strap to the rings on the duffle bag and slung it over her shoulder. It seemed curiously lighter than it usually did, but she put that down to her own nervousness. “Let’s go.”
“Do you have that? Let me get a sky cap, dear.” Her mother eyed her.
378 Melissa Good
“Goodness, you’ve put on weight, haven’t you?”
Kerry let the memory of Dar’s voice wrap around her like a comfortable jacket. “Yes I have, thanks, I feel great,” she replied. “Are we ready?”
Her mother looked like she wanted to say more but instead simply nodded. “Yes, I wanted to stop at the store on the way. Is that a new coat you have there?” She examined the garment. “I don’t recall it.”
Kerry shifted her shoulders a little. “Yes, it comes with this zip-in liner.”
She opened a flap as she walked, knowing it would distract her mother. “We do get the occasional cold day down there.” The softly textured, chocolate-colored leather smelled wonderful, and if she concentrated, she could get a whiff of a familiar scent. Dar had looked at her in puzzled question when she’d asked her to put the thing on—the sleeves only coming halfway down Dar’s long arms, and the fabric tight over her broader shoulders. But Dar had as she was asked and had handed it back, watching in bemusement as Kerry then buried her nose into it and broke into a smile.
And she did again, watching the dull brown brick walls of the airport go by and taking a breath of cold air as they exited from the terminal into a cloudy November day. A thin drizzle was falling, dusting them with moisture as Kerry glanced around, taking in the gray and brown landscape, where trees had already shed their leaves and the grass its color. It struck Kerry’s eyes as strange, almost alien, so used to the vivid colors of the subtropics as she was now.
She followed her mother to the car, where a driver was waiting, pulling open the door as they approached. He took Kerry’s bags from her, and she slid in after her mother, leaning back in the soft seat and folding her arms over her chest after she put her laptop case between herself and the car door. Her mother spoke to the driver, and she let her thoughts drift back to that morning, before she and Dar had left the apartment . She’d found the taller woman gazing at the sunset lithograph in her living room as she’d come out of the bedroom and crossed to her.