“Buenos días, Kerrisita,” the secretary replied with a smile. “Dios mío, did you spend the weekend at the beach?” The younger woman’s face was a rosy pink, and her arms held a tinge of the same color.
Kerry entered the outer office and walked over, carrying a steaming mug.
“Not exactly.” She gave Maria a conspiratorial smile. “I got the boss to take a few hours off in Orlando.”
“Did you now? Bueno, bueno.” Maria laughed. “I hear things went good there.” She applauded. “Did you get to see the Mickey Mouse?”
The blonde woman perched on the corner of the desk and sipped her tea.
“Let’s see…I got to see Mickey Mouse, I got to the water park, and we got to see Epcot.” She grinned at Maria’s open-mouthed stare. “Oh yeah, and MGM
on the way out of town.”
The secretary picked up the phone and started punching numbers. “Ay! I am calling the Vatican, it’s a miracle,” she announced. “I will tell the Pope.”
Kerry grinned. “It wasn’t that hard, really. We had a lot of extra time between meetings, and there really wasn’t much to do other than that,” she explained. “Besides, it was just what the doctor ordered. I’m glad Dar got a chance to relax a little.”
Maria studied Kerry’s sunburned features, which made her blonde eyebrows stand out and enhanced the vivid green of her eyes. “You look like you had a good time, eh?”
“I did,” the younger woman admitted. “It was a very interesting bid meeting, I didn’t really realize it was as cutthroat as it is. But Dar really handled them. I mean, Jesus, Maria, she just walked in there and took over.”
Kerry shook her head. “She blew the clients away. I was just sitting there in awe the whole time.”
“Si, si, she does that.” Maria nodded. “Comes and boom, boom…it’s all over,” she explained. “Is why so many people, they don’t like her.”
“She intimidates people, yeah, I know.” Kerry smiled wistfully. “It’s kind of hard to get past that.” She stood up. “Well, I’ve got stuff to do.”
“Si. Oh, Kerry, did you get something for her for Boss’s Day?” Maria asked, remembering. “I got her a little basket of chocolates. I know she likes them.”
Tropical Storm 249
Kerry glanced down at her tea, then back up. “Um, yeah, I did. At the park, as a matter of fact.”
“Bueno.” Maria sighed. “That is two things, then.” She fiddled with her pen. “She makes like she does not care, but I think, Kerrisita, I think she does.”
“I think so too, Maria,” Kerry told her. “And it’s really a shame, because she does such great work, you’d think people would appreciate that.” She shook her head and turned to go. “See you later.”
“Ay.” The secretary watched her leave. With a slight smile, she spoke to the closed door, “Chica, if she had to get some help, better that it was help like you.” Then she went back to her letters.
MARK GREETED DAR cheerfully as she joined him on the elevator.
“Morning, Dar.” “Where’s my…oh, thanks.” He grinned as she handed him a manila envelope. “I hear my efforts were worth it?”
“Yep.” Dar leaned back against the elevator wall, and produced a faint grin. “We got it. Blew their socks off, in fact,” she added. “Everyone kicked butt on this one. When I get to my office I’m gonna go process some bonuses.”
“Got mine.” Mark waved the envelope.
Dar rolled her eyes. “Jesus, Mark, get a grip, will you? It’s not that great a picture.” But she chuckled.
Unable to resist that temptation, the MIS chief opened the envelope and peeked. Then he raised his eyes to Dar and made an appreciative face. “That camera liked you. I don’t know what you consider not great, but…ooo-la-la!”
“Mark, shut up.” Dar gave him a look. “I did it because I promised I would. I don’t want to hear about it for the next six months, okay?”
Prudently, he tucked the envelope away under an arm for later study.
“Gotcha, boss,” he replied crisply. “Speaking of which, wanna join us for lunch today? We missed you on Friday.”
Dar relaxed a little. “Sure. If they don’t keep me in meetings all day long over the Netops fiasco on Saturday.”
Mark grunted. “Shit, yeah. What a mess that was.” He glanced at her.
“You get some sun? You look a little burnt.”
“A little,” Dar replied as the doors opened on the fourteenth floor. “I did the Volunteer Day Saturday.” She headed towards her office. “And got to walk around in the parks a bit.”
Mark moved off down the side corridor that held the MIS offices. “Didja have fun?” he called back as she was about to enter her outer office.
Dar stopped and turned, regarding him with an expressionless look as she put one hand on the doorknob. Then she winked and let a brief grin shape her lips, before she continued on into the room.
“Hmm,” Mark hummed, as he punched in the security code that would open the door to his own office. He waved a hello to the four or five engineers and analysts who made the place home and ducked inside his own, mostly darkened office. He dropped into his padded leather seat and looked up as his assistant wandered in. “Hey, Bill.”
“Hey.” The tall, lanky man wandered over. “Whatcha got?”
Mark rubbed his fingertips before he gently removed the picture from the 250 Melissa Good envelope and set it on his desk. “My bonus.” He viewed the item approvingly.
Dar was looking right at the camera, a faintly self-deprecating look on her face as she leaned against a wooden pylon with one shoulder, crossing her long legs at the ankles in a casual, relaxed pose. The sleek black fabric of her swimsuit contrasted with her tanned skin, and the firm, just visible muscles dipped and curved, especially noticeable across her shoulders and in her thighs. “Boy, that’s nice.”
Bill obligingly walked around the desk to see the picture right side up, then almost choked. “Son of a bitch. Where in the hell did you get that?” he squeaked.
“Heh. Pays to do good work, okay?” Mark smirked. “She’s got nice legs, huh?”
Bill leaned closer. “Nice everything. Man, my gonads just crawled up inside my tonsils to get a better look.”
Mark chuckled. “Sure beats working for José. Can you imagine him in a swimsuit?”
Bill made a gagging sound and mock-upchucked into the MIS chief’s garbage can. “Hey, we’ve got that new 64-bit color scanner that just came in.”
He gave Mark a hopeful puppy look.
His supervisor sighed. “Much as I’d love to put that on my desktop, she’d kill me.” He looked at the photo regretfully. “I’d love to have been the one who took the picture, though.”
DAR SMILED AS she entered the office. “Morning, Maria.”
The secretary looked up. “Buenos diás, Dar.” She noted the hint of sun in her boss’s face and the relaxed expression. “And how are you today?”
After a moment’s thought, Dar said, “Great. Things went well up in Orlando, but you probably heard about that already.”
Maria rolled her eyes. “Oh yes, Mr. Montarosa was dancing in the hallways. You would think his wife had finally given him a son.”
Dar burst out laughing. “I’m glad I wasn’t here to see that, ” she remarked with a grin. “But yeah…it was good; definitely a worthwhile trip.”
The secretary hid her surprise at her boss’s good spirits. Dar, laughing on a Monday? “Kerrisita tells me you even got a minute to see the Mickey Mouse,”