“Hmm. Best for her if she never came back into it,” Liz stated softly as she reached for the tablecloths to fold.
“DID YOU KNOW we could get this stuff twenty-four of twenty-four a day?” Gerald Easton pointed at the screen. “They keep telling me they got a cable channel for everything; now I believe it.” They were watching the Military Channel, a station which showed earnest programs featuring the armed services. “Damnedest thing. Look at that, Dar, they’re selling fatigues like it was the Home Shopping Network.”
Dar stretched her legs out and crossed them, letting her head rest against the couches soft back. “Makes money. Lots of civs collect and use that stuff.
Jesus, eighty-eight bucks for a pair of reg boots?”
“Hmph.” Easton sucked on his pipe and shook his head. “Modern crap.
What in the hell is someone going to do with a case of MREs? I wouldn’t feed those things to Alabaster. She’d bite me right in the, ah…”
Tropical Storm 403
“Leg,” Dar supplied with a dry grin. “Well, we’re between games, Gerry.
It beats watching ‘Pilgrims: Reevaluating the Conquest of America’ again.”
“Communists.” The general snorted. “Fashionable nowadays to see history in the worst light possible.”
Dar muffled a grin and looked up as Jack appeared in the doorway, hefting a football.
“You up for some catch, Dar?” The tall blond man grinned. “Weather cleared, figure we could work up an appetite outside.”
“You bet.” Dar pushed herself to her feet and followed him willingly outside, laughing as Alabaster plowed past them, anxious to escape the tiny teeth of her nine voracious puppies for a little while. She moved across the still damp lawn as the sun filtered down, and took a breath of the cold the wind swept down, pushing aside the little unease in her guts she’d had since mid-morning. Baby, give it a rest, Dar. Just because Kerry didn’t call you twice probably means everything’s fine. She’s out with her family, and maybe even having a good time. “G’wan.”
Jack tossed her the football, which she caught one-handed, then examined. “Nice one,” she complimented its owner, noting the scuffing of long use before she wrapped her fingers around the laces and tossed it back.
“So, how’s things with the company?” Jack asked, throwing the ball back to her. “Still running the world behind the scenes?”
Dar caught it and whipped it back, putting a little more arm into the throw. “More or less. You win some, you lose some. It’s been a pretty good year for us this year.”
“Yow.” Jack shook his hand as he caught the football. “Jesus, Dar, you can still put a sting on that thing, you know?”
“Sorry.” Dar grinned.
“Yeah, right.” Jack winged it back. “You ever regret doing that stuff?” he asked offhandedly. “I mean, you know, someone with your skills could make good bucks in the service.”
Dar stopped in mid-throw, and put her hands on her hips, or rather, one hand and one football. “Are you trying to recruit me?”
He stuck his hands in his pockets and looked up through boyish eyebrows. “Who, me?” He laughed sheepishly. “I don’t know, Dar, you always fit into the military world. I was just wondering if you didn’t sometimes think about coming back in.”
Dar juggled the football then threw it back. “Too late for that,” she told him. “I’m too used to giving orders, I’d never last a minute.” It was, she knew, an honest admission. “I’d be telling some five-star to get his starched ass out of the way so I could get to a mainframe and end up scrubbing heads with a brillo pad.”
Jack caught the ball and threw it back. “Just a thought,” he commented.
“Can’t blame me for trying, can you?”
They played for a while longer, then switched to a new game, where one of them would take the ball and try to get past the other. “Tag or tackle?” Jack asked, playfully.
“Me and what bulldozer are going to tackle you?” Dar snorted.
“Chicken.” He grinned.
404 Melissa Good Dar felt her competitive spirit surge. “All right, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She grabbed the ball and took off running as he yelped and jumped after her.
“Shit, Dar! Not fair!” He ran faster, skidding past her as she dodged and jumped over a small hedge in the yard. He jumped the hedge after her, then there was only an open field in front of them. “Ah. I gotcha now.”
“Think so, huh?” Dar leaned forward and sped up, lengthening her strides until she was running full out, hearing his determined steps behind her. “Man, you pilots spend too much time sitting on your butts,” she yelled back as she powered between two tall trees at the end of the rolling field and slowed, letting him roar past her and skid to a halt in the wet grass. “Heh, my score.”
“You…you…” Jack shook a finger at her. “Damn, Dar, for someone who spends all day behind a desk, you sure got a pair of legs on you.”
She flipped him the ball. “Your turn.”
He considered, then bolted away, tucking the ball under his arm with a professional air. Dar gave him a few steps grace, then she started after him, running at a slight angle to his path. She closed on him and waited for him to dodge away. She then changed her angle again and sped up, correctly predicting his next turn and hurling her body against his, wrapping her arms around him and letting her momentum and weight swing them both around.
They landed in the grass with a thump.
“Shit.” Jack sighed.
Dar released him and sat up, dusting the knees of her jeans off as she broke into a laugh.
Jack scowled, then he laughed too. “I should have remembered not to challenge you,” he admitted. “You always had a way of coming out on top.”
She was about to answer when the cell phone clipped to her belt chirped.
She retrieved it and opened it up. “Yes?”
“Happy Thanksgiving,” Kerry’s voice sounded a touch strained, but otherwise warm.
“Same to you. How are things?” Dar stretched her legs out before her and plucked a grass stem, as Jack reclined on the grass, putting his hands behind his head and gazing up at the clouds.
“Okay.” Kerry sighed. “Mom’s been working on me all morning, trying to convince me of how much more appropriate it would be for me to come home now, so she has time to prepare for the wedding.”
“Ah.” Dar exhaled. “So you haven’t broken the news to them yet, huh?”
She kept her tone sympathetic. Alabaster trotted over and nuzzled her, and she petted the Labrador absently. “Sounds like it’s going to cause a big bang.”
“Yeah,” Kerry muttered into the phone. “What are you doing?”
Dar wiggled her sneakers. “Sitting in the grass, actually. I was just playing some catch with Jack,” she admitted. “Getting some exercise in before we go inside and have Mamma Easton stuff us until we explode.”
“Boom!” Jack mouthed, spreading his hands out in pantomime. Alabaster ambled over and nosed him.
“Wish I was there,” Kerry admitted. “Sounds like a lot more fun than it is here. I’m going to run into town for a while with Angela, just to get away from Tropical Storm 405
all the nonsense. I took a look at the mail, by the way, and answered that one you sent and a few others.”
“Good girl.” Dar smiled. “Getting away sounds like a good idea. Maybe after today, they’ll settle down a little.”
“Maybe,” Kerry replied, reluctantly. “Well, anyway, let me get going.
Just wanted to say hi, and I hope you enjoy your dinner.”
“You, too,” Dar answered.
“Not likely,” came the uncharacteristically pessimistic retort. “But I’ll give it the old college try. Talk to you later, Dar.”