Tropical Storm

Chapter Twenty

THE ALARM WENT off in the pre-dawn darkness, startling Dar out of sleep. She stared at it in confusion for a moment, then rubbed her face and slapped at it, turning off the loud buzzer. It was very quiet in the condo, and she rested her chin on her pillow for a moment, wistfully thinking of how much nicer it had been to wake up the day before.

Funny. Dar sighed and rolled out of bed, mechanically trudging to the bathroom. She had never considered herself to be lonely before. Her life had been busy, true, but now she wondered how many of her activities had just been a way to fill up the time. It had been unexpectedly nice just to have someone to talk to over their very impromptu brunch yesterday, and she couldn’t even begin to remember what it was that they’d talked about.

Puppies? Politics?

Dar splashed water on her face, and shook her head as she exchanged her pajamas for her running clothes and sat down in the silent living room to put on her sneakers. Whatever it had been, she’d spent most of the time laughing, something she didn’t remember doing a lot of in the past few years. She sat thinking about that for a minute, then prodded herself to her feet. “C’mon, Dar, get moving. Two extra laps around the island this morning, remember?”

To make up for missing out the last couple of days, she’d decided, waking up an extra hour early for it.

It was very quiet as she closed the door behind her and exited into the cool air, crisp with the wetness of dew and the breeze from the sea. Her sneakers sounded loud on the gravel as she turned off onto the small path, then she took a deep breath and broke into a slow jog to give her muscles a chance to wake up and stretch before she pushed them.

The water sloshed against the seawall as she turned into the onshore wind, which was bringing the scent of brine and salt to her lungs. There was no other sound, save the far-off clanking of the port and a soft hoot of a tugboat chugging by in the channel. She could see the running lights of the boat and left it behind her as she headed off into the south.

On the sixth ring around, she could feel the strain start to shorten her breathing, and it pissed her off. Instead of stopping, she pushed herself on, speeding up her pace and forcing herself to complete eight rings, by which time the sun was pouring over the horizon, and she was sweating freely.

She slowed as she came around the northern edge of the island for the eighth time, dropping down into a jog and letting her heartbeat begin to slow.

She ended up on the seawall, staring out into the dawn light and letting the Tropical Storm 247

sea breeze blow her damp hair back off her forehead. Slowly, she sat down on the concrete wall and let her legs dangle over into the light spray from the waves.

For so long, she’d believed she didn’t need anyone to complete her life.

Maybe because she hadn’t had a choice. It had been easy to confuse sterile isolation for happiness, since she hadn’t really known the difference. She’d dealt with loneliness by ignoring it and convincing herself that keeping busy was the key to a satisfying life. Now… Dar exhaled into the mist. Kerry’s innocently held-out hand of friendship had shaken loose that belief and forced her to look at herself objectively for the first time in a long while.

The past week had shown her just how much of a lie her complacency really was. Going forward with Kerry would add a complicated, difficult, troublesome facet to her life, and the potential for pain and personal problems was likely to disrupt her ordered existence beyond repair.

The intelligent and rational view told her to put a halt to their budding relationship. It could only bring trouble to both her and Kerry, and might result in a professional disaster for both of them. It would be better, smarter, for her to sit Kerry down, and just…tell her no. Back off. Push their relationship back to a strictly professional level.

Dar was startled by the sudden sting of tears and the wave of misery that accompanied the thought. Confused, she rubbed her face and clamped an arm over her suddenly aching chest. Just the thought of giving up that smile… Dar imagined the hurt, and then the pain in the green eyes as she turned her away, and knew she couldn’t stand it. I can’t do that to Kerry. Hell, I can’t do that to myself.

With a shaking hand, she wiped the tears from her face and ran her fingers through her damp hair. Somehow, she’d find a way to make it work.

Her heartbeat settled, and she took a few deep breaths, letting the salt spray cool her down. Okay. It’s just another challenge, Dar. Remember what Dad always told you. Break your challenges up into tiny bites, and by the time you’ve finished, you’ve eaten a buffalo, tail and all.

That brought a wry, shaky smile to her face, and she got to her feet, stretching out her legs and straightening her shoulders. Time to start the day.

MARIA LIKED THE early morning. She made it a point to enter the building at seven AM, before even the most virtuous of the other administrative assistants, and she used the time to catch up on the piles of correspondence Dar’s position generated, along with the volume of electronic mail, requests of all sorts, papers to review, and other matters that fell under her jurisdiction. It gave her nearly an hour, sometimes a little more, before her mercurial boss appeared, bringing with her a whirlwind of activity, and she enjoyed the quiet time, thinking it was a good way to start the day out.

Especially on a Monday, which was never a good day, and most especially since Dar had been gone most of the previous week and items had been stacking up, awaiting her attention.

She heard the elevator open, and the soft sound of footsteps traveling down the tiled hallway and continuing on past her door. A smile crossed her 248 Melissa Good face as she recognized them as being more than likely Kerry’s, who came in early for much the same reason she did. The young woman was still getting used to her new position and was anxious to make a good impression.

Maria approved of that. She liked Kerry, and was glad her supervisor had found someone she felt she could work with, and who seemed to be willing to put in the same kind of effort that Dar herself did. And as an added bonus, Kerry seemed to also like the sometimes difficult, often impatient and aggressive vice president, which was quite a surprise to the secretary, given where Kerry had come from.

She wondered if Kerry knew just how close she’d come to being fired?

With a sigh, Maria turned her attention to a stack of reports, sorting them and notating the ones Dar would want to see first thing. She noticed the lengthy report regarding the massive outage on Saturday and put that one on top.

After a few minutes, the door opened, and Kerry poked her fair head in.

“Good morning, Maria.”

“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.”

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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,”

she informed Dar, not missing the way a little sparkle came into the aqua of her eyes at the mention of her assistant’s name.

“Yeah, we had some extra time,” Dar replied offhandedly, then she paused and thought. “God, you know, I haven’t been in one of those damn parks for so many years…it was nice to visit again.” She leaned against the door to her inner office. “It felt good to relax a little.”

Maria almost held her breath, watching the gentle, introspective look cross Dar’s face. Dios mío…something has changed in her. “Is good. You needed a vacation,” she told her firmly.

Dar smiled and pushed away from the doorframe, then entered her office.

Closing the door behind her, she crossed to her desk. She put down her briefcase and seated herself, flipping on her desktop computer and leaning back in the chair. Then she opened the case and pulled out something Tropical Storm 251

wrapped in terrycloth, and uncovered it, holding the glass dolphins up to the sunlight coming in her window. With a smile, she put the piece down on the front of her desk and centered it, pleased at the sparkles of rainbow-colored light it scattered everywhere. There. She watched it for a moment longer, then turned her attention to the small, colorful basket sitting in the center of her desk. Mmm. She sniffed appreciatively. Chocolates. A grin appeared, and she munched on the treats as she brought up a disgustingly long list of things to do.

It was almost lunchtime before she looked up after wading through most of the really urgent matters. She’d just gotten off of a conference call about the network failure and was sipping on her second cup of coffee when a soft knock came on her inside door. “C’mon in.”

The door eased open, and a blonde head poked itself inside. “Good morning.”

Dar felt a smile creasing her face unbidden. “Good morning.” She leaned back and motioned the younger woman forward, watching green eyes drift to the dolphins and then back. “Hell of a day, huh?”

Kerry came over to the desk and perched on the corner of it. “It’s been busy, yes. I didn’t realize how things could get backed up when you’re not around for a few days.” She gave Dar a rueful grin. “I just now got my inbox cleared.”

“Me too.” The dark-haired woman propped her head on her hand. She’d been resisting the urge to wander over to Kerry’s office all morning, knowing the blonde woman had as much work to do as she did. “I’ve got staff meetings all afternoon, and José scheduled a new business meeting tomorrow at nine.”

“Marketing wants me to attend some kind of service review panel later on today, and I have a whole bunch of reports on my desk that I think have something to do with network response time.” She pushed back her hair. “I’m not sure where they came from.”

Dar snorted softly. “I can guess. I told them I wasn’t going to touch the response-time issue until exec funded more bandwidth. Looks like they’re trying an end-around. They figure you’re easier to approach than I am. So Marketing’s looking to snare you in.”

Kerry’s brow creased. “Do you want me to send them back?”

Long fingers drummed on the desktop. “No, go ahead.” Dar mused.

“Let’s see what they’re up to.” She reached out and tapped Kerry on the knee.

“Be careful, though, that’s not a nice bunch.”

Dar’s eyes took in the trim figure seated on her desk. “You look nice.”

Kerry smiled impishly at her. “So do you. I like that blue suit.” Her eyes met Dar’s. “I was wondering if it would be strange here today.” She paused, appearing to gather her courage, then went on. “Listen, Dar, I was thinking about this a lot last night.”

“So was I.”

Kerry hesitated. “If… If this is going to be hard for you, if… I-I’d rather we don’t go forward…with this…if it’s going to cause you problems.” Her voice was awkward, and stumbling. “So, if you’re reconsidering, it’s okay, and I understand.”

Dar stared at her dumbly. How arrogant… She’d never considered that 252 Melissa Good maybe it would be Kerry who wanted out of this. She felt her jaw clench hard, and a lump form in her throat. Another lesson. How stupid of me. She shifted her gaze out the window for a long moment, then back. She struggled to keep her voice even and calm. “Second thoughts, huh?”

“No,” Kerry answered very softly. “Not on my part, I just don’t want to see you get hurt.” She stared at her hands, folded in her lap. “I remembered how people talk around here, and I know how much this all means to you.”

Dar stared out at a sailboat making its way against the wind.

“I know what the rules are,” Kerry went on. “I read them again this morning just to make sure I couldn’t find a loophole in them.”

At last, Dar turned back toward her, watching Kerry’s painfully tense body posture shift a little. “Did you want to find one?”

“Yes,” she replied simply.

Dar could see that she was shaking. That was all right. The sense of relief that flowed through her was making her tremble just as much. She reached up and clasped the blonde woman’s hands in hers. “Kerry.” She had to stop a minute. “I’ve been alone for a long time. I used to think that was the best way for me, because I had some very bad experiences when I was younger.” Sea green eyes peered at her uncertainly. “This past week, you made me realize how wrong I was,” Dar said quietly. “What would hurt me is to turn away from this, just because of the risk.” She felt Kerry’s fingers tighten around hers. “I’m not afraid of a little talk.”

Kerry let out a long, shaky sigh of relief. “Okay, I just…wanted to give you one last chance to say stop,” she managed to get out. “Okay?”

They regarded each other in silence for bit. “You just scared the crap out of me. You know that, right?” Dar finally said, in an attempt at humor.

“You?” Kerry wiped at her eyes in irritation. “I don’t know what I would have done if you had taken me up on it.” She exhaled. “You don’t know how hard that was.”

Dar studied her quietly. “I know that you’re a braver person than I am for doing it.” She stood up and gently folded her arms around Kerry, hugging her. “Listen, I have to meet Mark and a few other guys for lunch. Why don’t you join us?”

Kerry returned the squeeze, then sat back. “Sure, that sounds good.”

Unconsciously her hand found itself stroking Dar’s arm. She became aware of it and tucked her hands under her arms, giving the taller woman a wry look.

“We’d better not sit next to each other, though.”

Dar chuckled, and patted her cheek, a motion that slowed and became a caress as she felt the soft skin under her fingertips. Kerry leaned into the touch, hoping no one decided it was time to barge into Dar’s office.

“I see what you mean,” the taller woman murmured with a wistful smile.

The phone buzzed, and she had to make a conscious effort to tear her eyes from Kerry’s and punch the button. “Yeah?”

“Dar, we’ve got a problem in Singapore.” The voice came through. “They can’t get the circuit agreement complete down there, and we need a conference call.”

“Now?” Dar asked.

“Yeah. Unfortunately, I’ve got six people already hanging on. I was going Tropical Storm 253

to bring you in and two people from Infrastructure.”

She came very close to telling them to work out their own problems, but a pair of hands descended on her shoulders and squeezed them.

“I’ll bring you up some lunch,” Kerry whispered. “I think they have meatloaf today.”

Dar smiled. “All right.” She directed her voice to the phone, but her eyes went to Kerry’s face. “Thanks,” she mouthed. Kerry winked, and patted her back, then headed for the door. “Psst!” Dar hissed softly, then when her assistant turned, tossed her a wrapped chocolate.

Kerry caught it and returned a smile, as she slipped out the door.

“Sorry, Dar, did you say something?” the voice queried.

“Me? Nope, just here waiting,” the executive replied blithely.

“WELL, I DON’T think there’s much doubt that we really dropped the ball here.” José Montarosa was hammering on the table. “What if that building had been severely damaged? How long would it have taken us to route around it?” He looked right at Dar. “Well?”

Dar glanced up from her doodling. “We couldn’t.” She went back to the paper, drawing a sailboat.

An awkward silence fell. “Excuse me?” José asked.

“We could not,” Dar repeated. “What part of that don’t you understand?

We don’t have the secondary resources to replace that facility.”

“A single point of failure—is that what we’re talking about?” another supervisor asked, incredulous.

Dar’s blue eyes opened in mock surprise. “I guess it is.” She added another sail.

Eyes shifted around the table. Mariana leaned forward, glancing at her in a little discomfort. “Dar, this isn’t a joke.”

The Operations VP let her eyes go around the table. “You’re damn right it’s not. But I’m not going to sit here and pretend to be either shocked or surprised, when I told you people this was a possible consequence when you voted to set it up this way.” She shrugged and sketched in a seagull.

There was another awkward silence as everyone digested her pointed reminder. “All right, so…what are we going to do about it?” Montarosa asked, sitting back.

“You’re going to give me the budget to run a duplicate location,” Dar replied, not looking up. “Or we’re going to have more pointless meetings like this one for a few months, until you realize there is no other option and give me the money anyway.” She started on a different sketch, this one of a pony.

“You just let me know, okay?”

“Dar,” Duks leaned close to her, “you feeling all right?”

Dar stared at him, puzzled. “I feel great,” she replied, then looked around at the table. “Other than the fact that I had to spend six hours Saturday night, until five AM Sunday morning, yelling at people until I got the building back up, that is.” She paused. “Frankly, I coulda done without that.”

They all looked at each other. “Well.” José cleared his throat. “Do you have an estimate on how much we’re talking about, for a duplicate facility?”

254 Melissa Good Dar finished her pony’s tail. “I sent the full document to everyone here this morning.” She glanced up. “Along with a recap of the Disney deal, and the Singapore mess.” Her eyes flicked to the startled faces. “Mail server acting up? You all didn’t get that?”

“Um, no, I saw it,” Mariana said hastily. “I think we can table this until everyone’s had a chance to look it over. Agreed?”

José nodded. “Yeah, sounds good. Lemme take a look.” He cleared his throat. “Disney was good news, Dar.”

The pale blue eyes flicked to him. “I hear you were dancing in the hallway.” She smiled. “Anyone take pictures?” A low round of laughter followed as everyone relaxed a little.

“Must have had good weather, you got a sunburn,” José retorted. “Let me guess, you were doing research on the property?”

Dar chuckled. “Something like that, yeah,” she admitted. “It was worth it.

I think it was the presentation that really pulled them in. We modeled it on their actual running system and used one of their restaurants as the demo set.” Her voice took on a touch of enthusiasm. “Knocked their socks off.”

José snorted. “Dar, you could present garbage bags and sell them.” He brushed her off with a backhanded compliment. “Nobody knows what the hell you’re saying anyway.”

Mariana gave her a brief smile. “You always do knock socks off, Dar.”

“I didn’t do the presentation,” the executive replied mildly. “My assistant did.” She finished off her pony’s head and added eyelashes.

“Wait, you left it to some green kid?” The sales executive leaned forward in disbelief. “What kind of irresponsible shit is that?”

Eyes shifted back to Dar, expecting a fierce outburst, but Dar only shrugged. “I had confidence in the package, and I trusted Kerry to present it.”

She sketched in an ear. “Which was more than your entire goddamn team could do in four months, José, so I wouldn’t knock it, if I were you,” she said.

“Besides, we won.”

“Well,” Eleanor crossed her legs and straightened her skirt a little, “she seems capable…and a nice person. I was surprised, Dar.” She gave the dark-haired woman a sweet smile. “I was expecting a sour geek or a beautiful airhead. You managed to mix and match quite nicely.”

Mariana saw the dangerous glint appear in Dar’s eyes.

The VP Op’s sketching stopped dead. “Eleanor, I think I said it well enough last time when I pointed out Dar doesn’t hire people to be friends or look pretty,” Mariana told the woman forcefully. “She makes my job easy.

And Ms. Stuart is extremely well qualified for the position.”

Dar put down her pencil. “Are we done here? I’ve got two more meetings to go to.”

“Yeah, I guess we are.” José threw down his pen and stood up. “C’mon, Eleanor, let’s go get a cafecito.” The Sales and Marketing executives left, leaving Mariana, Dar and Duks still sitting there. “So, what’s up with you, chica?” Mariana asked, leaning on the table and peering at her friend.

Dar looked at her. “With me? Nothing. What is it with you all today?”

She tossed the pencil onto the table. “Jesus Christ, what’s the problem, did I grow horns or something?”

Tropical Storm 255

Duks patted her arm. “Hey. Hey, relax. You’re just really laid back, and we’re not used to that, my friend. Is this what Mickey Mouse does to you?”

Dar lifted her hands and let them fall onto the arms of the chair. “What, because I’m not screaming and yelling like a maniac, there’s something wrong?” She looked at the table. “All right, I’ll start bitching at someone. Will that make everyone feel better?”

“Dar.” Mariana gazed at her steadily. “C’mon now, can’t we just ask how you are?”

“I’m fine,” Dar responded. “Can’t I be in a good mood for once?” She spread her hands out to either side in question. “What in the hell’s wrong with you people?”

“Dar.” Mariana patted the table. “There’s nothing wrong with you being in a good mood. It just happens so infrequently. We were afraid we’d missed something, like your birthday.”

“Or your company anniversary,” Duks chimed in solemnly. “Which if we passed it by, you would be happy, no?” He picked up Dar’s pad and studied it. “You have good talent at this.”

Dar took the pad back from him. “You didn’t miss anything,” she said. “I just took a couple hours in Orlando and chilled out.” Her fingers curled around the pencil. “I needed some time out.”

The HR VP got up and circled the table, taking the seat next to Dar. “Hey, I’m glad to hear that,” she said in a sincere tone. “I know it’s been a rough year, my friend, and I worry about you sometimes.” She ignored Dar’s rolling eyes. “And especially since I heard you were under the weather the other day.

You finally go see someone about those headaches?”

Dar frowned. “You know, Mariana, I’d really hate to think someone’s reading into my medical files.”

“Uh uh.” The personnel director held up a hand. “Not me, my friend. Just gossip. But now that you confirmed it, is everything okay?” She leaned forward. “Dar, I’m asking as a friend, not because I need to know for the company.”

Dar glowered at her, then sighed. “Everything is perfectly fine, as a matter of fact. Dr. Steve thought he saw something in my EKG during my last physical, but it turned out to be nothing.” She paused, seeing the honest concern in her friend’s eyes. “But the stress is getting to me a little, I guess.

That’s what the headaches were all about.”

“Ah.” Mariana nodded.

“So, I took the opportunity to just relax a little while I was up there, and over the weekend, and I decided to try and not let this stuff get to me too much,” Dar said. “Last thing I want is to have to start taking drugs at my age.

This damn job’s not worth it.”

Duks grunted. “That is the truth,” he agreed. “It is good you feel that way, Dar. I, too, have been concerned about you.”

Had they? Dar suddenly wondered if she’d been crabbier than usual, or what. She didn’t think she had, but in retrospect, who knew? “Been a tough year.” She half shrugged.

“It has,” Mari murmured. “Well, look, maybe after Kerry settles in, you can take some time off. She seems pretty sharp. I’ve heard good things about 256 Melissa Good her from a lot of people,” she complimented the absent woman. “Did she really steal that bid from those guys?”

Dar found herself smiling. “She’s damn good,” she agreed. “They didn’t know what hit them, stupid bastards. She nailed it.”

“Good to hear.” Mariana smiled at her. “She’s a sweet person, and you know something? She’s in your corner, Dar. Talks about you like you were the greatest thing since sliced white bread.” She sat back and gazed at the taller woman, noting the blush visible even under Dar’s tan. “You look good. You got some sun there, eh?”

Dar gave her a slight smile and nodded. “Are we done analyzing me now?” She stood up and dusted herself off. “Gotta go.”

Duks and Mariana watched her leave, then eyed each other. “You know, Dukky, if I didn’t know better, I’d say our good friend there found something other than Pluto and Goofy up in Orlando.”

Lou Dreyfus let a faintly sardonic smile twist his lips. “You could be right, Mari.” He slapped the table. “Well, let’s get going.”

KERRY FINALLY GOT back to her office after a very interesting meeting with the marketing people. It was obvious they didn’t like Dar. It was obvious that they wanted to be Kerry’s friend. It was obvious that they wanted her to give them dirt on her boss. Her phone rang and she picked it up. “Yes?”

“Oh, Ms. Stuart, glad I caught you in,” Eleanor Anastasia’s voice oozed through the receiver. “We were hoping you’d be able to attend a conference call tomorrow. It’s with the regional marketing people, and they just have some general questions regarding some of the new operations policies.”

“Um… Sure.” Kerry pulled out her PDA, and flipped it open. “When?”

“One o’clock, but we’re gathering for lunch downstairs beforehand, if you’d like to join us.”

I’d rather handle electric eels barehanded. “I’m sorry, I can make the meeting, but I have things I have to do just before that.” Like make sure my boss has lunch, for instance. She’d gotten a peculiar pleasure out of selecting items for Dar, and an even bigger kick from the smile she’d gotten when she delivered the tray.

“Well, that’s too bad, because we’re all dying to just let our hair down with you, but perhaps next time.” Eleanor sighed. “Tomorrow at one, then.”

“I’ll be there.” Kerry hung up the phone and made a face at it, then she turned her chair around and gazed out over the water. She felt a lot more relaxed than she had this morning, now that the “issue” was out of the way with Dar. “Mmm. I don’t know if I’m going to last until Wednesday, though,”

she commented to the window. Last night’s surfing on the internet had turned up lots of…interesting…things. Most had made her blush. She’d been honestly surprised at the range, though—from women’s health sites to pages and pages of amateur fiction.

That had certainly been a revelation. She’d had no idea there was so much creativity out there. She’d ended up reading some of it until way too late, but it had certainly given her ideas. Maybe that’s why she wanted to make sure Dar was sure before… Well, one thing at a time. She heard a gentle knock on her inside door, and she felt a flutter deep inside her. “C’mon in.”

Tropical Storm 257

The door opened, and Dar slipped inside, her jacket off and her shirtsleeves rolled up. “Hey, there.” She sauntered over and collapsed into Kerry’s visitor chair, letting her hands drop onto the arm and crossing her legs at the ankles. “How’d it go?”

Kerry inched her chair forward and propped her chin up on both hands.

“Dar, do you know what a limpet is?”

“Sure.” The executive nodded. “It’s a mollusk that attaches itself to a flat surface and lives off of it.” She paused. “Why?”

“I’m a flat surface.” Kerry gave her a wry look. “They want to suck me dry of information, chiefly about you.” She sighed. “They paint you in shades of black, black, dark brown, and black.”

“How’d I rate the dark brown?” Dar smiled sardonically.

Kerry gazed at her disheveled boss. “Hey, listen, are you still open for that dinner and a movie?” she inquired. “Tonight, I mean?” She felt her throat go dry, and she swallowed, waiting for Dar to answer.

A soft, low chuckle reassured her. “I was just coming over here to see if you were interested in doing something,” Dar admitted. “I, um…” She shook her head and crossed her arms. “Sure, you wanna see Soldier?”

“Ooo.” Kerry’s brows rose. “Yeah, I like Kurt Russell. I really liked Escape from New York.”

Dar laughed. “Ssssnake,” she hissed, causing Kerry to giggle. “Yeah, me too.”

“Great. If you want to, we can stop by my place. I’ll put something together, then we can go to the movie from there.” Kerry went through her food inventory, and decided that no matter what she had, it was better than Frosted Flakes and chocolate milk. “Okay?”

Pale blue eyes peeked back at her from under long, dark lashes. “Sounds good to me.” Dar hauled herself out of the chair and patted Kerry’s desk.

“Pack it up. I’ve had about enough of this place today.” She walked through the door that led to the back corridor and let it close behind her.

Kerry waited, then she twirled herself around in her chair, accepting the half excited and half nervous churning in her guts as the price she’d have to pay for her bold invitation. “Well,” she straightened the stack in her inbox,

“maybe we’ll end up talking about movies all night.” Sure. She licked her lips as she thought about what it felt like to have Dar kiss her. “Or, maybe not.”

She shut down her PC and stood, glad the day was over. Glad the night was starting. Just… Kerry exhaled, glad.