Tropical Convergence

Chapter One

THE CONFERENCE ROOM was almost full, every seat at the long table taken except for the one at the head. Late afternoon sunlight poured into the room, resisting the valiant efforts of the several ton air conditioning plant to alleviate its effects, and after a moment of shading his eyes, Mark Polenti got up and walked over to the glass panel. "Son of a bitch." He lowered the shades. "You could cook a damn egg on this thing."

"No kidding," Peter Prescott, one of the IT group leaders, agreed. "I start sweating just thinking about going out to my car."

With a shake of his head, Mark returned to his seat. The MIS-- Management Information Systems--manager picked up and flipped his pen, settling back in one of the leather chairs that ringed the table. "Long damned summer."

"Mm."

"Yeah."

Agreement chimed in from around the table full of assorted technical managers. "I wouldn't go outside for ten minutes longer than I had to," Peter added. "Man, I see those freaking tourists on the beach and you can just see them frying like turkeys at Thanksgiving."

"You got that right," Mark snorted.

The door to the conference room opened, and they all turned. Eyes opened wider as the newcomer commenced to dance inside, jiving to a song apparently audible only to her as she made her way across the room and ended up bouncing into the chair at the end of the table.

Relatively short, but sporting a lithe muscular build, the woman placed a leather folder on the table, then shrugged out of her neatly tailored blue jacket and draped it over the back of the chair, before she leaned on the padded surface in a jaunty finish to her dance.

"Hi, guys." Kerry grinned at them. "Is today not an awesome day, or what?"

The operations department heads all looked at each other, and then peered down the table as their blond leader sat down. Kerry was dressed in a no nonsense business suit, with an impeccably pressed cream-colored silk blouse, but her pale, summer-cropped hair was so tousled it appeared that she had stuck her head out of some car window on the way back from lunch.

"Um." Mark cleared his throat. "Yeah, it's okay," he allowed. "We got the espresso machine working again, at least." His eyebrows quirked. "Did you...like drink a couple cups to celebrate or something?"

"Nope." Kerry laced her fingers together in front of her on the table. "Guess again."

"Did we make our numbers?" Peter hazarded a guess.

"Yes, but that's not why I'm jazzed," she replied.

"Did your dog have puppies?" Ellen Jasmine chimed in from across the table, her weathered face wrinkling up in a grin.

"No, no, no." Kerry waggled her hand. "No puppies, no kittens, and neither Dar nor I are pregnant so don't even go there." She danced a little in her seat. "C'mon, c'mon...we've only been talking about this for a month."

Mark made a face. "Don't tell me you're all whacked about going to the technology convention."

Kerry grinned widely.

Her audience wasn't sure whether to laugh or groan. "Jesus." Mark covered his eyes. "Man, I thought I was the primo geek in this place." He pointed at Kerry. "Not any more. You win. I give."

Kerry opened her leather folder, and chuckled. "Actually," she glanced around and lowered her voice, "I could give a gopher's wazoo about the convention. I've been waiting to go back to Disney World with Dar since forever." Her face creased into a grin again, her summer tan emphasizing the bleached lightness of her hair, and the vivid green of her eyes.

"Ahhhh!" Ellen laughed. "Now I get it!"

"Augh...Orlando in July? Kerry, you're gonna regret it," Mark objected. "Not even the Mouse could get me up there in this weather."

"You," Kerry pointed at him, "have obviously never done Disney with Dar." She pulled out her agenda. "Now, let's see where we are this month." She smoothly switched gears, her voice dropping a few notes and becoming more businesslike. "Okay, I've got some good news, and some bad news."

The room settled down, and became more serious. Around the table, eyes met in mild apprehension. Even though most in the room trusted Kerry, and all liked her, they also knew exactly where her loyalties were.

"Let me get the bad news out of the way," Kerry said. "First of all, let me make it clear that in no way do I, or Dar for that matter, hold anyone here responsible for the fact that twenty percent of our contracts up for renewal this quarter did not sign." She looked up, meeting the eyes facing her squarely. "Our service was not in question, nor was it a factor in the signings."

Mark exhaled. "Fuckin' lowballers."

Kerry's expressive face twitched a little. "For the record--when sales brought the final numbers to the table, it was Dar who drew the line and said we would not counter bid them. Okay?" She gave them a moment to absorb the words. "Dar said she would not trade off our service levels for paper numbers. We decided we couldn't provide acceptable levels of response for the dollars they were suggesting." She paused. "I agreed wholeheartedly."

Bodies relaxed around the room, falling back into the leather chairs with faintly audible squeaks.

"Kerry, that's an amazing thing to hear," Ellen said, in a serious tone. "I have a friend who works for our friends out west, and last time something like this happened, they took big time heat for it."

Kerry rested her chin on her hands. "Dar would never let that happen," she said. "But let me tell you, those meetings in Houston last week weren't pretty."

"Yeah, I bet," Mark muttered. "But, Kerry, I saw those freakin' numbers. No way in hell those guys can deliver what they said they would."

His boss shrugged one shoulder lightly. "Time will tell. But in the meantime, we have twenty percent of our budget we need to find funding for, or else lose it. That means you all need to look very carefully at your books and see if we have room for slack," she warned. "If we have a repeat next quarter, things are going to get very tight around here."

Everyone nodded in grim understanding.

"Now, on the bright side." Kerry changed gears again. "We did make our service numbers. In fact," she smiled warmly, "we exceeded them. I'm very proud of that, and so's Dar." Her eyes twinkled a little. "And so, even though I know you all must have heard about the salary freeze..."

Mark cleared his throat. Ellen looked away out the window. The rest of the table found something to study that didn't involve middling height blond women. Everyone knew how much Kerry hated office gossip, and wise people didn't bring it up in her presence.

"It doesn't apply to us," Kerry finished quietly. "I've processed the first of this quarter's raises and bonuses, and they should be hitting your work lists by the time you get back to your offices." She almost smiled at the instinctive gasps at the unexpected statement. "Please let your people know that we appreciate all the hard work they've put in this year, and we hope they continue through the rest of the year."

For a very long moment there was silence around the table. Then Mark rocked forward and thumped his elbows against the table. "Holy crap, boss. My socks are still bouncing off the walls here," he said. "Aren't the rest of those guys gonna be pissed?"

Kerry leaned back in her chair, extending her legs and crossing them at the ankles. "Well." She steepled her fingers and tapped the tips against her chin. "First off, no one should be talking about it." One blond eyebrow cocked meaningfully. "But second, if someone has a problem, direct them that way." She jerked her thumb sideways, in the general direction of Dar's office.

"Not to you?" Ellen asked, curiously.

Kerry's nostrils flared slightly. "Dar's orders," she replied briefly. After another moment of silence, she nodded. "Okay, so, next on the agenda..."

Her staff shifted around the table and leaned forward, sorting their own papers and relaxing. Kerry took the opportunity to silently evaluate them, absorbing the air of surprise at her last statement. They knew her to be a fierce defender of her own prerogatives, and one of the very few people in the company not only willing, but also able to stand up to their legendary Chief Information Officer.

Of course, Kerry had the inherent advantage of being married to and living with Dar and while that didn't quite diminish her courage, it at least made it understandable to everyone in the room.

Ah well. Kerry folded her hands over her stomach, twiddling her thumbs idly. Everyone would get over it in a few days, and after all, there was Disney World to contemplate.

It wasn't that she was making light of the company's troubles-- they weighed on her shoulders more than most. But as she'd told her staff, the troubles hadn't been laid at their doorstep, and the best thing they all could do right then was keep doing their jobs.

And that meant putting on a good show at the convention. "Everyone ready for the trade show, since I mentioned it?"

"Advance team's packed and itchin'," Mark replied, checking something off on his agenda.

"Who's in charge?" Kerry asked. "You going?"

Mark glanced up at her. "Peter. He's buds with Eleanor's chief whiner. They get along great."

"He the one with the pierced eyebrows?"

"Eh..."

"Good choice." Kerry spun her papers. "Okay, tell me what didn't come in on time this week."

"DAR, LISTEN."

"I'm listening." Dar Roberts selected a colorful dart from the case resting on her knees and let it fly, grinning in triumph when its point buried itself in a new wall mounted target. "I'm not hearing anything but bilge wash so far, but I'm listening."

"Bilge wash? You been out on that boat of yours again?" Alastair McLean chuckled.

"Been around my daddy," Dar replied, launching another dart. "Alastair, we've been around and around with this. We both know there's no damn good answer."

A long sigh issued through the phone.

"I've put as much pressure on every supplier we have, pushed as hard as I could, got everyone down to the lowest cost they can do without losing money," Dar said.

"I know that."

"Cut our costs to the bone. We don't have any padding, not one area that I can point to and say fluff."

"Dar, I know that too."

Dar thwacked another dart in the target, nailing the bull's-eye. "So why are we still on this call? What else do you want from me, Alastair? Want me to sell my desk? Have Kerry bake cupcakes and run a raffle for you? What?"

Another long sigh. "You could can those raises."

"No."

"Dar."

"No," Dar repeated firmly. "Take it out of my check if you want to. Those people deserve it."

Her boss grunted. "Hell of a time for you to be turning into Robin Hood."

The inner door to Dar's office cracked open, and a shaggy blond head poked inside. Dar's face responded with a wide grin, and she twirled a dart in silence, pointing at the phone and mock aiming at it. "Me, Robin Hood? Get out of here. I value my people as much as you value yours."

Kerry snapped her fingers in silence, and then pointed at Dar, biting her lip.

"Ahem." Alastair cleared his throat. "Walked into that one didn't I?" he admitted. "All right, but please, Dar, try to drum up something good at the convention, will ya? I need something other than bad news for the board meeting next month."

"Do what I can."

"I know I can count on you Dar," Alastair concluded. "Good luck."

The line clicked off. Dar rolled her eyes, as she waited none too patiently for Kerry to cross the carpet and arrive at her side. "Hey there."

"Hi." Kerry sat on the edge of Dar's desk, dangling her feet and allowing her moderate heels to slip off. "He sounds worried."

"He is," her partner agreed.

"You don't sound worried."

Dar flipped another dart at her board, a newly christened present from Kerry. "Wanna know the truth?' She searched Kerry's face intently. "I don't know how much I really care."

Kerry reached over and ran her fingers through Dar's thick, dark hair, moving the slightly shaggy bangs out of her pale blue eyes. "Yeah, I know," she murmured. Dar's tanned skin was a shade darker than her own, and there were several sun-lightened streaks in the locks her hand stirred.

Dar's lashes fluttered and she fiddled with a dart. "Ah, I still do care." She half shrugged. "I just can't take the whole thing so damn seriously anymore."

"It's okay," her partner said. "I have to admit I'm more excited about going back to Disney World with you than I am about the convention, so don't feel bad."

Dar peeked up at her. "Really?"

Kerry grinned wholeheartedly. "Yeah. I keep trying to figure out how we can run the display scenarios from our PDA's." She scratched Dar behind the ears with her fingertips. "How'd you like to go up a little early to check out the convention center?"

Dar slid open the flat drawer at the front of her desk and withdrew a folder, dexterously opening it with her thumb and displaying the contents.

"Mmm...I think those are plane tickets." Kerry cooed in delight.

"I think you're right," Dar agreed. "C'mon." She got up, curling her arm around Kerry's waist and drawing her up as well. "Let's go get some bags packed, Yankee."

Kerry amiably returned the hug, resting her head against Dar's shoulder and reflecting on her lover's surprise at finding their bags already packed. "Hey, Dar?"

"That's me."

"If we get a memory upgrade for my Palm, I really think I can run the data apps."

"While we go down the water slides?"

"Yeah."

Dar walked her toward the door, considering the question. "You'll need a waterproof case for it," she finally concluded. "I think the dive shop has them in blue."

Kerry only chuckled, as they walked through the door, and headed for the elevator.

AHH. KERRY CLOSED her eyes, and exhaled, enjoying the slight chill of the condo's air conditioning against her recently showered skin as she lounged on the couch. She could still faintly smell the spices of their stir-fry dinner in the air, and feel the ache of their joint sparring session in her upper arms.

Life was good. Even though she wasn't entirely sure she was going to really catch on to kickboxing, she found she loved every minute of the classes they were taking for it. It was a new skill for Dar as well, and the learning process felt exciting and fun.

Besides, Dar looked so cute in boxing gloves.

"Hey, Ker?"

Kerry opened one eye, and rotated it around toward Dar's bedroom. "Yeah?" She wiggled into a more comfortable position flat on her back on the couch, and waited.

"Think a T-shirt'll be okay on the plane?"

T-shirt. Kerry considered the question with due seriousness. "Tank top," she disagreed. "Like that nice pale blue one you had on the other day."

The faint scuff of bare footsteps intruded into the living room, accompanied by their maker. "What?" Dar queried, putting her hands on her hips. "The damn planes are air conditioned, Kerry."

"I know," she agreed readily. "But I really love you in that tank top, and if you get too cold, I can always warm you up." She studied the tall, lithe figure in its worn jeans and bra. "Or you could go like that."

Her lover sauntered over and took a seat on the edge of the couch, draping her arm over Kerry's hips and gazing affectionately at her. "Does that mean you'll wear your new suit on the plane then?" she asked, with a grin.

"The gray one?" Kerry hazarded. "Dar, it's sorta see through."

Dar grinned.

"Hm." Kerry slid her hand up the inside of Dar's thigh. "Nah, let's save it for the wave pool," she conceded. "I am so looking forward to this trip." Her face creased into an easy grin. "I have such cool memories of the last one."

The blue eyes twinkled brightly. "Me too," Dar said. "I wish we didn't have the stupid convention to deal with, but I guess it's as good an excuse as any to spend a week up there." She leaned a little against Kerry. "You all packed? Dad picked Chino up while you were in the shower."

"Yep, I'm all set. One medium-sized case full of fun clothes, and a garment bag for the monkey suits. You all ready? I'll go start up the buggy."

"Just have to put my shirt on." Dar leaned forward, smiling as Kerry's arms slipped around her neck and they kissed. After a few moments of increasing intensity, she braced herself and slid around, stretching out half beside, half over Kerry's body.

It was a good size couch, and they had a lot of practice fitting on it together. Dar kept up the kiss as she slowly eased her hand under the fabric of Kerry's cotton shirt, tracing a path up the center of her belly and ending up curling her fingers around the curve of Kerry's right breast.

Even after a year and a half, her body's reaction to Dar's gentle touch still grabbed Kerry right in the guts, making it hard to think straight. Kerry returned the attention, easier for her since there was nothing between her partner and herself except the thin silk of Dar's bra.

She loved the way Dar's body fit her hands. "We're gonna miss the plane," Kerry whispered, circling Dar's navel with her index finger.

"We can drive." Dar bit her earlobe gently. "My folks and I used to all the time."

Kerry lost herself in the rich scent of Dar's skin. She paused, and then poked her partner in the ribs very gently. "Know what?"

Dar went nose to nose with her, licking her lips with an attentive tongue. "What?"

"Let's drive." Kerry undid the top button on Dar's jeans. "It'll be fun." She let the rest of her thoughts drift away, burned off by the heat of passion igniting in her guts. "You... me..."

"Corn dogs on the turnpike. Yeah." Dar laughed softly. "I'm all for it."

Kerry laughed with her, and savored the touch of Dar's bare skin. She loved how Dar felt, loved the silky texture of her skin, and the light twitches of her reactions as Kerry's hands explored her.

She loved the low hum of approval when it tickled her ear, and the pressure as Dar slid her thigh between Kerry's and tugged off her shorts.

And you know, sometimes life just rocked.

TWO HOURS LATER, they were sitting side by side in Dar's Lexus, tooling down the Florida turnpike as the last of the sun disappeared behind the pines bordering the road. Kerry had the passenger seat pushed all the way back, and her bare feet propped up against the dashboard while Dar leaned back in a relaxed attitude with one hand on the wheel.

"Y'know, I think this really is a good idea," Kerry commented. After they'd been companionably silent for a few minutes, she chose a new CD to listen to. "We need a car up there anyway, and with all the time getting to the airport in Miami, and from the airport up there, it's probably a wash."

"Uh huh." Dar reached behind her, and removed a bottle of YooHoo from the cooler in the back seat. "And we've got better in-flight refreshments."

Kerry slid the CD into the drive and leaned back, circling one knee with her arms. She watched the passing scenery, and decided most of the state of Florida had a lot in common with parts of the state of Michigan in terms of flat terrain and boring horticulture. "Is it like this all the way up?"

Dar glanced around in the twilight. "Pretty much," she admitted. "We used to leave at 4:00 a.m. to get up here. Dad always said there wasn't nothing to look at, no sense in wasting sunlight on it," she recalled, shifting the car into the left lane to pass a dawdling truck. "You go on road trips much?"

Kerry laid her head back against the seat. "Not with my family, no," she replied, in a quiet tone. "But when we went to camp in the summer, yeah. All of us in the bus. That was kinda fun." A brief flash of civilization whipped by, a lone white house facing the road with an old, half-rusted bus in front of it. "It wasn't really a wild and crazy camp--it was from my school. But Angie and I counted the days till we went there and we were always sorry to leave."

Dar moved to the right again, and settled back. "Where was it?"

"Up in the mountains," her partner replied. "We had these precious little cabins with maid service twice a day, and a valet to do our laundry. You know." Her eyes slid sideways. "Well, no, you don't know, but I look back on it now, and realize how bloody damn pretentious it all was."

"Eh." Dar chuckled a little. "I went to the Y camp one or two summers, but when I got old enough, I went to the summer programs on base."

Kerry's lips twitched. "No valets, huh?"

"No." Dar shook her head. "You had kids who grew up on a military base, who had that mindset to begin with, and who lived in that culture. We did war games, camping, hunting..." A smile appeared. "I had a blast. It was one of the few times I remember just being really..." She paused.

"Happy?" Kerry guessed.

"Content," Dar amended. "Accepted, maybe." She moved to the left again to bypass a Lincoln Town car. "I was so damn sure that was the world I wanted."

"Well." Kerry swiped the bottle of YooHoo and took a swig. "I never felt that way at camp. I was just glad to be out from under my parents' eyes. It was all so damn fake. They had comportment classes, for Pete's sake."

"What?"

"How to walk, talk, and greet people without tripping and dumping your bad white wine on them," Kerry translated. "That and lanyard making. Jesus, do you know how many lanyards I made? Every damn color in the rainbow and let's not talk about the potholders."

Dar snickered. "You and I come from such different planets," she said. "Only thing I made in camp was a belt from old ammo cartridges I collected on the base and rifle webbing someone had thrown away." She glanced at Kerry, watching the corners of her mouth curve up in a smile. "I'd have taken a potholder and used it to wipe my..."

"Dar!"

"Hey, you know what choices you have out in the bush?" Dar said. "Now you know where I got my dislike of camping from."

Kerry burst out laughing. "Oh my god, you have no idea how funny that is. In our camp, one summer, they got the wrong toilet paper delivered. It was that brown craft paper kind of stuff they usually have in really bad rest stops?"

"Ow."

"Yeah." Kerry nodded, still chuckling. "Well, me, the little rebel that I was, stole a case of it, and led the rest of my cabin in TPing the lead counselor's house so badly you couldn't even see the door." She did a little dance in her seat. "Oo...oo...the little bitch turned red as a tomato and didn't talk to us for a week!"

"Troublemaker."

"Angie was so pissed at me." Kerry snickered. "But that woman already hated my guts so..."

"Why?" Dar asked, curiously.

Her partner paused in mid-thought. "I have no idea. She made me really uncomfortable. I figured she was trying to get something from my parents," Kerry said. "She gave me the creeps."

Dar watched the Lexus' powerful headlights carve up the road ahead of them for a long moment, and then she turned her head toward Kerry. "How old were you?"

"High school," Kerry replied. "Why?"

"Hm." Dar tapped her thumb against the steering wheel. "Ever think maybe she was interested in you?"

Kerry's brow creased. "Well, yeah--I mean, I said she was, Dar," she replied, then paused when she watched Dar's eyebrow hike up expressively. Realization hit, and she inhaled in slight surprise. "Oh. You mean...that kind of interested? Like...romantically?"

"Uh huh." Dar returned her attention to the road, flicking her eyes to the passing sign and noting its contents. "Wouldn't surprise me. You were cute in high school," she drawled, with a slight smile. "I've seen pictures."

Kerry remained absolutely silent for a few minutes, sucking absently on the neck of the YooHoo bottle as she watched the shadowed trees flash by. Finally, she snorted a little, half surprised and half disgusted. "Never would have crossed my mind," she admitted. "I think I...Brian and I had just started going out. I wouldn't even call it dating. It wasn't that serious. I probably would have freaked out if she'd..."

"Tried to seduce you?" Dar stretched out her free arm and laid it over Kerry's shoulders. "She'd have been an idiot, given your folks, but..." She scratched Kerry's neck with her fingertips. "You were really an adorable kid."

Kerry blushed slightly. "You know, I really never even thought anything like that. By that time, I'd learned just how far people would go to get in with my father, I just..." She exhaled. "Assumed she was more of the same."

"Well, maybe she was." Dar sensed her partner's discomfort. "I was only presenting another point of view." She tugged on Kerry's earlobe. "Want a pit stop?" She pointed to a sign indicating a rest stop ahead. "It's all commercial now, but I can show you where they used to sell the tackiest Florida souvenirs this side of Key Largo."

Kerry relaxed, and finished off the chocolate soda. "Sure," she agreed. "We've got plenty of time."

Dar signaled and pulled to the left, preparing to leave the highway.

After a second, she glanced at Kerry, not surprised to find herself being studied by those sea green eyes. She winked at her partner and was rewarded by a grin, which she returned.

The ride was turning out to be a darn sight more interesting than she'd remembered it.

PEOPLE WERE SO funny. Kerry leaned against the wall and watched some of their fellow travelers walk by. They were pretty much oblivious to everything on their way to get food, or drinks, or relieve themselves, and yet virtually every other one of them paused to look at the figure studying the turnpike map on the wall.

Of course, Kerry was doing the same thing, but she felt she had an innate right to, since the sleek body wrapped in faded denim and cotton tank top belonged to her partner. Dar's jeans were the old, ripped ones Kerry had found way back when for their biker school reunion. She had her tank top tucked in them and boy, she looked good.

She'd recently gotten her second summer haircut, and it left most of her shoulders bare. The last few months of their life had been a lot of work, true, but almost every weekend spent down at the cabin and their new gym classes had given Dar a deeper tan and added a little more muscle to her tall frame.

Mm.

The rest stop was an interesting combination of retail outlet and tourist hard pitch. Kerry wandered around in the main lobby, examining the racks of leaflets as she sucked on a cone full of frozen strawberry yogurt. Florida was definitely both tourist driven, and eclectic, and she riffled through advertisements for things as varied as a mystery house where things ran uphill, to Monkey Jungle, to Weeki Watchee. "Paladar?"

"Yes?" Dar's voice erupted from right behind her, even after all this time making Kerry jump. "You rang?"

"What the heck is a Weeki Watchee?" Kerry selected the lurid pamphlet from the rack and held it up. "It looks like a mermaid farm."

"Sorta," Dar agreed. "It's a place where mermaids give shows, and sell trinkets."

"Mermaids?" Her partner eyed her. "Not manatees?"

"Mermaids," Dar assured her, pointing at the colorful page. "Women in fish tail costumes with big breasts."

Kerry stared at the advertisement. "And people go there? Really?"

"Well." Her partner examined the ad. "They have nice gardens, too, and I think a snack bar."

Kerry giggled, and wandered off, shaking her head. The rest stop was a relatively small place, with a central lobby that had restaurants off either side, and a set of surprisingly clean restrooms. There was also a gift shop, where you could, if for some reason you had forgotten to purchase candy oranges or bright pink flamingo Christmas lights somewhere else, obtain those last minute gifts to bring back home with you.

Hm. "Snow globes." Kerry selected one and shook it, amused by the white plastic flakes drifting down on the palm trees and beach. A flash of motion caught her eye and she glanced to one side, spotting her own reflection in the mirrored back of the display case.

The neatly pressed, carefully ironed and tucked prep she'd once been now was gone. Kerry felt her eyebrows lifting as she reviewed her cutoff, ragged shorts and long, faded T-shirt.

Correction, long faded T-shirt that didn't even belong to her. She'd also let her hair grow out longer than usual, not really out of control, but giving it a touch of shagginess she hadn't had since she'd been small. The overall effect, given her tan and the sun bleaching of her already pale locks, was that of a beach rat caught out shopping.

"So, rat...get shopping," Kerry cheerfully directed herself, toasting her reflection with her yogurt.

She spotted a stuffed alligator and picked it up, finding herself smiling at its toothy cotton visage. She tucked the toy under her arm and continued browsing. To her booty, she added a package of chocolate covered orange slices and a T-shirt before she dropped it all down on the counter and removed her wallet from the back pocket of her shorts. "Hi."

"Hi," the cashier replied. "Yawannalotta?"

Kerry blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Yawannalotta? Big this week."

At a total loss, Kerry instinctively looked around for her native guide, who plunked down a twenty dollar bill on the counter. "She'll take three," Dar pronounced, "and take the rest of this Floridiana out of that."

"Three of what?" Kerry whispered.

"Sure." The cashier took the money and rang up Kerry's purchases. She gave Dar back some change, then punched in some numbers in a black machine nearby and handed over the resulting pink and white tickets. "There ya go. Ya'll have a great old day."

"Thanks." Dar took the tickets, the change, the bag, and a totally befuddled Midwesterner and hauled them all out of the gift shop and out into the lobby. "Here. Put your Lotto tickets away. If you win on 'em, I get ten percent."

"My what?" Kerry took the tickets and examined them. "Oh!" She nibbled her cone. "Jesus, you know in all this time down here I never bothered to buy one of these things?" She followed Dar outside, trading the stinging chill of the air conditioning for the warm soup of the night air. "Thank you for buying my junk, sweetheart. You didn't have to do that. I've got my wallet."

Next to them, a minivan with Dade County plates had just parked, and the side door slid open allowing a gaggle of children to emerge. They bolted for the doors to the building, with a harried looking woman chasing after them. In the back of the van Mickey Mouse droppings were squeezed into every square inch.

A man got out of the driver's side and shut the door with an air of martyred exhaustion. He glanced at Kerry and Dar and gave them a civil nod before he trudged after his family.

Dar watched him go. "Think it'd be cruel to tell him he's going in the wrong direction?"

Kerry peered after him, then glanced at the big "Northbound" sign over the door. "What if he isn't, and that's all just from last time?" She pointed at the van. "And you didn't answer me about buying my stuff."

"Uh huh." Dar unlocked the Lexus, tossing the booty inside on the rear seat. "You bought dinner." She glanced at the van again. "Mom had a point."

"About?"

"Only one." Dar pointed at her chest and slid into the driver's seat.

"Ah. Hm. Yeah." Kerry got in on the passenger side and settled comfortably into the big leather seat. "That restaurant was pretty good, wasn't it? I really liked those spices they used."

Dar sucked up a mouthful of milkshake and set her cup into its holder before she started up the car. "It was pretty good, but yours is better," she said. "I like those crunchy things you put in."

"Peanuts?" Kerry chuckled. "Or do you mean the water chestnuts?"

"Whatever it is." Dar backed carefully out of the spot she'd parked in, and navigated her way through the parking lot and past the massive truck park. "I like it." She let an aggressively speeding Volvo pass them by, and then got into the merge lane to return to the turnpike.

"Careful, Roberts. If it's the water chestnuts that's almost a vegetable."

"Pfft." Dar stuck her tongue out. Once on the road, she leaned back in her seat and relaxed, enjoying Kerry's nearby presence and the prospect of spending the long trip at her side.

It was quiet. The roads were nearly empty now that they'd left the more populated part of Florida, and at the end of the drive there was some serious fun waiting for her.

Life was good. Dar tapped the side of her thumb against the wheel and nodded a little to the music coming out of the speakers. "So, what did you think about that bird theory?"

Kerry had shed her sandals, and now had her bare feet propped up on the dashboard again. "Dar, did you know that it's pretty darn likely you'd have been tied to a tree and beaten to death by the teachers at my high school just for thinking about the bird theory?"

Dar looked at her. Both eyebrows shot up. "What did they have against birds?"

"Nothing." Kerry neatly nibbled an exact circle around her cone.

"But boy, did they have a problem with Darwin."

"Ah."

"Mm." Kerry agreed. "You know something, it's funny, but I think that was the first time I found myself questioning the absolute nature of my religion," she mused. "I remember seeing something--on PBS, I guess--about species evolution, and the way they explained it, it just made so much sense, Dar."

"Uh huh. Always pissed me off they insisted on calling it the theory of evolution instead of the science of it," Dar agreed. "I had this argument with someone on base about it and the woman wanted to have me jailed for heresy."

"Mm." Kerry nodded. "That's about what happened to me when I went into school the next day and started asking my teachers about it. Hooboy." She finished up her treat and dusted her fingertips off. "But you know, for me it never caused a problem if I bought into evolutionary science but still believed in God, and in Jesus and the Bible," she continued. "Seeing the exquisite wonder of how life works, how could anyone not believe in a higher power?"

Dar stretched her arm across the divider and let it rest casually on Kerry's shoulders. "It's easy for people to get stuck in a narrow view, Ker. You know that. Even those guys, the scientists--they were practically fist fighting over the idea that dinosaurs evolved into birds...and it's so structurally obvious." Dar's voice grew a touch more animated. "All you have to do is look at those carnivorous dinosaurs, and look at an ostrich, and it's right there in your face."

"Dinosaurs into birds, lizards into snakes, proto-hominids into us..." Kerry mused. "Whoops...guess I'm going to hell for that last one. Again." She chuckled. "Hey, what did you think about that one we saw the other night about humans being water mammals during their evolution?"

The theory was an interesting one, Dar conceded. "Navy brat's the wrong person to ask about that," she joked. "I always assumed I was some kind of freak otter." Her face grew faintly introspective. "For me, the water was always home."

"Yeah," Kerry agreed, with a smile. "You're so natural underwater. I thought of you when I was watching that show. I wish I felt that comfortable."

"Give it time," Dar advised her. "I've been diving since I was two."

Leaning back, Kerry tipped her head to one side and regarded the thick, black night sky. It was fun to just sit and talk. Dar had an active, intelligent mind and she was as curious about many things as Kerry was. Keeping your mind in a learning state, she'd realized, made you a lot better at whatever you did. You were always open to new ideas, and new ways of looking at things. "Hey Dar?"

"Yeeeesss?"

"Wanna play 'what is it?'"

"Okay." Dar grinned. "You start." She gave Kerry a few microseconds. "Animal, vegetable, or mineral?"

"Would I pick a vegetable for you to guess? Give me a minute."

Dar drummed her fingers on the wheel and waited, humming under her breath, already anticipating the game. Would it be an animal? Kerry liked animals. She'd pick a strange one though.

Platypus duck, maybe?