Roberts.”
Dar stepped forward, straightening to her full height and pinning Michelle with pale blue eyes. “If that’s how you base your business decisions, then I won’t regret losing the contract,” she said softly. “Are we done?”
Without a word, Michelle gestured back towards the door, and they reentered the meeting room, where Kerry had disconnected her laptop and resumed her seat next to John.
“Excuse me for a moment.” Michelle picked up both proposals and left the room. This time the hounds stayed behind, glancing at everyone with suspicious eyes.
Dar sat down next to Kerry, putting her elbows on the arms of her chair and steepling her fingers before her face. She could feel the eyes of the entire room on her, and it was a struggle to keep her face calm and relaxed. I think I blew this one, she admitted quietly to herself. If I was going to play her game, I should have played it all the way, not backed off. Damn, I think I need more than a stupid vacation. I need to get my head back on straight and remember what the hell my job is. A certain grimness settled over her. Not spend time running around a stupid park, playing games.
The door opened again, and Michelle re-entered, a thoughtful look on her face. She looked at the two proposals still grasped in her hand for a moment, then inhaled and tossed one at Jerry. “Thanks for your time.” She tossed the other at Dar. “I’ll be in touch.” Then she simply left, taking her hounds with her. Mickey Mouse smiled at them from the clock on the wall, his fingers pointing out the time, the solid ticking echoing in the shocked stillness of the room for what seemed like an endless instant. Then Dar collected herself and stood up, picking up the contract and handing it to John. “Here you go.” She let her hand fall on Kerry’s shoulder. “C’mon, we’ve got a plane to catch.”
Kerry got up and followed her quickly out of the room, across the hallway, and into the waiting elevator, which slid closed behind them, blocking the view of the glassed-in conference room.
Dar leaned back against the wall and crossed her arms, giving Kerry a cheerfully triumphant grin. In silence, the blonde woman pumped her fist down and mouthed. “Yes!” Dar poked out the tip of her tongue in response, then wiped her face of its glee as the doors opened to let them out on the ground floor. They didn’t relax until they were in the rental car, pulling out of the lot, and heading towards the airport.
“That was amazing,” Kerry gushed. “Dar, I thought for sure after those nasty comments…I never thought she’d pick us.”
The executive slowly shook her head. “Me either, to be honest. I thought I really blew this one.” She pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number from memory. “Beatrice? He in?”
“You did?” Kerry looked confused. “Wow, I thought you handled it great,” she objected. “You were by far the coolest and most prepared person in there. You didn’t even react when she tossed that packet at you, it’s like you Tropical Storm 211
expected it all along.”
“Hah!” Dar snorted, putting her fingers over the microphone on the cell.
“Good acting job.” She grinned in almost giddy relief, then took a breath.
“Alastair?” A pause. “Done deal.” She held the phone away from her ear as various whooping and squawking noises issued from it, chuckling as she waited for the racket to die down. “Yeah, about fifteen minutes ago … No, I’m on my way to the airport, John has the details.”
“Dar, you are a goddess.” Alastair’s voice crackled through the connection. “I’m sending you something for this, and you better the hell not turn it down, or I’m coming down there personally and making sure you don’t, got me?”
“Wasn’t just me, Alastair,” Dar objected. “The website team, Mark, the docs people, and especially my assistant Kerry, who gave the proposal, had a big part in it.” She caught a blush out of the corner of her eye, and gave the blonde a playful nudge with her elbow.
“You can take care of them, I’m going to take care of you,” the cheerful voice replied. “Let me go. That’s John on the other line, probably needing his pants dry cleaned. Bye Dar, God bless you.”
Dar folded the phone and tucked it into its belt holder, then exhaled.
She’d gotten lucky, all right. Big time. Michelle had made her decision based on business reasons, though Dar suspected it had been a close thing. She also suspected she hadn’t heard the last from Ms. Graver. But for right now, it was done, and she was headed home. “Hope he doesn’t send me caviar again,” she joked wryly.
“I’m glad it all worked out. It was nice of you to say everyone else was involved,” Kerry commented with a smile.
“You were,” Dar said. “I didn’t do a damn thing other than throw a few smart-ass comments around and pick the right people to do the right thing for me.” She pointed at Kerry without taking her eyes off the road. “You did a sharp as hell demo, my friend. You had them in the palm of your hand.”
Now Kerry did blush, blinking with a mildly bemused look on her face.
“Um, thanks,” she stammered softly. “Glad I did all right. But it was your plan, Dar. When everything works, it’s easy to show it off, you know?”
Dar grinned. “I know. So we all did good,” she confided, as she drove past an elaborate water tower. “Hey, there’s MGM.”
“Ooo.” Kerry peeked at it. “Next time, I wanted to do the Tower of Terror.”
Dar checked her watch, then glanced at the park, then glanced at Kerry’s nose-pressed-against-the-glass posture and considered. “Well…” She turned into the left lane, then waited for traffic to slow. “There’s later flights.”
Kerry glanced over her shoulder, startled. “Dar, you don’t….” She saw the sparkle in those blue eyes and stopped. “Promise me something?”
Dar blinked as she completed her turn into the parking area. “Okay, sure.”
“Promise you’ll come back here, when we’ve got more time?” Kerry asked.
After a short pause, Dar said, “All right.” Green eyes met hers. “I promise we’ll come back here. Now, c’mon, grab your shorts. Let’s change and have a 212 Melissa Good little fun. We earned it.”
IT WAS DARK, the lights of the airfield being the only illumination as they finally took off for the short flight back to Miami. Kerry snuggled down into her leather seat, stifling a yawn as she gingerly eased her shirt away from the back of her neck. “Jesus, even with the sunblock, I still got burned.” She stretched out her body, then relaxed. “Ugh.”
“Awww.” Dar had leaned back, folding her hands over her stomach.
“Did I tire you out?” Blue eyes sparkled mischievously. “Maybe you shouldn’t push yourself so hard.”
Kerry looked at her. “I’m being tweaked, aren’t I?” she asked, biting off a grin. “Yes, you did, as a matter of fact. I’m exhausted, and I just remembered I have to go do that global volunteer thing tomorrow.”
Dar closed her eyes. “I’ll bring you some carrot juice.”
A little silence ensued, during which Kerry peered at her. “Are you going to be there?” she asked curiously. “I didn’t know that. I thought it was just for regular workers.“
Dar shrugged nonchalantly. “It rotates. One of the senior execs has to do it every year. Just so happened this was my year.” A blue eye appeared. “Is that okay?”
“Well, yeah, of course,” Kerry stammered. “In fact, that’s great. A bunch of the Associated people are going to be there. I’d…” She paused awkwardly.
“Like them to see I’m not as bad as they think?” Dar inquired with a wry grin.