“Oh, sure.” Dar glanced around. “That would be fine. And, hey, listen, Clemente. Can I get your people to do something for me?”
“Surely. What can we do?”
“Shop,” Dar replied, “for groceries.”
Clemente waved his hands in a very Cuban manner. “Of course. Give me a list and I’ll have Rosalita pick everything up for you and put it away.”
“I don’t have a list,” Dar muttered. “Can she just pick up the normal stuff people have in their houses?” She glanced at the kitchen. “Just, whatever?”
The man’s brow crumpled like corrugated cardboard. “Ms. Roberts, I can’t have her shop for something I don’t know what to tell her to shop for.
What is it you need?” He peered at the kitchen. “Bread?
Fruitas
?”
Dar sighed and motioned for him to follow her. “Look.” She opened the refrigerator. “I need things other than this.” She lifted her hands and let them drop. “If I go, I’ll end up with a case of Oreo cookies, six gallons of milk, two tins of Edy’s ice cream, and a jar of peanut butter.”
Clemente covered his eyes. “
Dios mío
.” He rubbed his face. “You want…orange juice? Bananas? Soup?”
Dar thought. “Bananas are good,” she answered cautiously. “Uh, grapefruit juice. Maybe some English muffins?”
“
Si, si
.” Clemente pulled a pen from his pocket and scribbled.
“
Marmalada
?”
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“Apricot is okay, or grape.” Dar considered. “Oh, and some tea.”
“Pekoe, China?” Clemente inquired.
“The kind you put in a cup and drink,” Dar replied wryly. “Just some bags. If they have herbal stuff, that’s good.” She drummed her fingers on the counter. “They have strawberries?”
“
Si
, Driscolls.” the man answered, making a note. “They have a nice box today. The big ones,
si
? All laid out like roses, very nice.”
She flashed him a grin. “Get me a box of those…and two big bars of milk chocolate.”
She gave him a few more items, then watched him leave, sighing as the door closed behind his round figure. “That’s taken care of.” She found herself grinning in anticipation of seeing Kerry’s face when she actually had something more than milk to offer her. She got herself a glass, and checked the terminal, seeing the blinking mail-waiting flag. “Mail.”
“Dar Roberts, seven mail, none urgent,” the terminal replied, displaying the screen.
She reviewed them. “Read six.” Her face was already creasing into a smile as her eyes saw the author.
Sent by: Kerry Stuart
Subject: Party
Time: 7:34 PM
Hey…
Just wanted to drop a note to say hi. Hope the party went well. You were right about Eleanor, she was all over me like white on rice at the meeting, and if she didn’t tell me twelve times I was wasted where I was, she didn’t say it once. I haven’t been buttered up that bad since some Young Republicans found out who my father was when I was in high school.
Wonder what she’d do if I told her I’d rather work for Moammar Kadafi than her? At least with him, you know where the knife is coming from. And he’s cuter. She smells like slightly rancid make-up foundation.
Anyway, she made a particularly disgusting joke about you, and I think she’s testing me to see if I tell you about it. So I’m not going to. But I did pull the plug out of her remote control while she was doing the
presentation, so she
looked like an idiot for about ten minutes while she was standing there clicking fruitlessly and nothing was happening.
I am ashamed to say I enjoyed that a lot.
See you tomorrow.
K
Dar burst into laughter, putting her cup down to keep from spilling it, and leaning over the counter. “Oh god.” She snickered, imagining the progressively more frustrated Eleanor pounding the buttons. “Oh god, I’m sorry I missed that.” She gasped, still chuckling. “Reply,” she told the
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machine. “Audio record,” she added, with a grin.
“Hey, Kerry...it was worth having to suffer through that damn party just to get home and read this. Whenever I see her in a meeting from now on, I’ll remember the image you put in my head of her clicking on that stupid remote she loves so much and getting frustrated.”
Dar paused.
“Hope you had fun Rollerblading...I’ll, um, see you tomorrow after my appointment. We’ll see if that little jaunt up in Orlando made any difference. I think it did, because I haven’t had a headache since the storm.”
During another pause, she could feel several thoughts struggling to get out and be voiced, but the words just wouldn’t come to her.
“Anyway, have a good night.”
Dar stared at the screen a moment, then sighed. “Send.”
She chuckled softly as she scanned the other messages, none of which really required her attention before the morning. She took her milk and wandered out onto the porch, where the breeze blowing out against the waves was growing steadily cooler. Dar settled into one of the padded deck chairs and propped her feet up against the stone railing, leaning back and gazing out over the water.
The soft sound of the surf crashing against the seawall lulled her, as she idly watched the stars wink overhead. “Star light, star bright…” she murmured. “What would you wish for, Dar? Hmm?”
Prudently, the stars remained silent.
The phone buzzed softly inside, and Dar jumped, shaking her head a little to clear it before she ducked inside and grabbed the wireless receiver.
“Hello?”
“Hey.” Kerry’s voice sounded wry, yet amused.
“Well, hello,” Dar replied, taking the phone with her and resuming her seat. “Didn’t expect to hear from you tonight. I just answered your mail.”
“I know. That’s how I knew you were home,” came the answer, along with a slight chuckle. “I, um…just wanted to make sure you didn’t freak out when I come in looking like a Klingon tomorrow. I had a close encounter with a truck.”
There was a split second of dead silence, then Dar sat up straight, her heart pounding. “W-what? Are you all right? What happened? Did you get the license plate number?”
“Dar! Dar, slow down,” Kerry interrupted quickly. “No, no, it was parked at the time. Behind the bakery. Colleen and I usually go down there and reward ourselves with a doughnut after we finish. I was coming around the corner and didn’t realize a delivery truck was parked right in front of me.”
“Oh.” Dar settled back, still unnerved. “Ow, I bet that hurt.”
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“Yeah, my head slammed into the side mirror. I have this huge lump there.” Kerry sighed. “I have ice on it. Probably will go down before tomorrow morning, but there’ll still be a bruise.”
“Well…” Dar breathed a sigh of relief. “Damn, sorry to hear that. Did you get your doughnut, at least?”
A snorting chuckle. “Two of them. Colleen bought them for me. She felt bad because she was distracting me when it happened.”
Dar had a sudden desire to personally make sure the bump was not serious, and she had to bite her tongue to keep from telling Kerry she was on her way over there. “You sure you’re all right?” she finally asked hesitantly.
The warmth in Kerry’s voice was unmistakable. “Yeah, but thanks for asking.” A pause. “Well, I’d better let you get going. Just wanted to…um, warn you. “
“Glad you called,” Dar said quietly. “See you in the morning.”
“Good night.”
The line went dead, and Dar tucked the phone against her chin, staring out over the waves, evaluating her sudden gut-level response.
Okay, she was a goal-oriented, over-controlling alpha bitch who didn’t trust anyone, and who refused to leave even the slightest details to chance.
Right?
Right.
So naturally, it was her responsibility to make sure her employee, a valuable company asset, was all right.
Right?
Right.
Just part of the job. It was completely professional and normal for her to want to personally supervise the placing of cold ice packs on Kerry’s head, preferably while she was tucked into Dar’s waterbed.
Slapping the side of her head, she started laughing. “I’m going out of my mind,” she concluded, as she pushed herself to her feet.
Insanity feels,
she mused,
surprisingly good.
KERRY CLOSED HER eyes as she replaced the cold compress on her head, wishing the throbbing would at least ease a little. In addition to her head hurting, her chest and arm also ached where they had impacted the truck, and she’d twisted her ankle as she frantically tried to stop.
Ow.
She hated getting hurt, and even more so, she hated being a klutz. She’d never been truly graceful, even though she’d plodded through a few years of lessons in posture and her somewhat fondly remembered gymnastics classes, but she’d worked hard over the years to try and stop tripping over her own two feet and conquer an admittedly shaky sense of balance.
She’d learned to dance, and through a determined application of exercise developed enough confidence to be able to walk in a slim-line skirt with moderately high heels and not worry about going head over bottom into a punch bowl.
So plowing headlong into a parked truck—a big, dirty, white, parked truck no less—was just really embarrassing. Kerry winced and shifted the compress, closing her eyes as the damp fabric covered them and a drip of
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chilled water ran down her face.
Colleen had convinced her to not take anything for the headache, and also told her she’d probably be best off not falling asleep immediately. So here she was, listening to the Discovery Channel and trying not to think about how much her head hurt.
Yeesh. Klutz.
“Isn’t she a beaut?” The man’s voice was so full of incredulous enthusiasm, Kerry just had to look.
“No,” she muttered back, seeing the wide-open jaws of a crocodile apparently snapping at the narrator’s butt. “It’s a frigging crocodile about to bite your ass off, you goofball.”
Ow. Talking hurts.
She let her eyes close again and refreshed the compress.
A soft knock came at the door. One green eye appeared, its brow lifting in outrage. “Who in the hell is knocking on my damn door at eleven o’clock at night?” Another, more hesitant tap, and she groaned. “Hang on.” She got to her feet and trudged across the apartment, leaning against the door and putting her eye to the security glass. It was amazing how quickly she could forget about a headache when she really had to. She pulled back the bolt and jerked open the door. “Hey.”
Dar was leaning casually against the frame, her hands playing with her keys. “I, um…had to go check something out at the South Miami office. I thought I’d stop by and see how you were feeling,” her boss explained.
Kerry felt a smile pulling at her lips. “Wow. Um, c’mon in.” She stepped back and allowed Dar to enter, closing the door behind her and taking a breath before she hesitantly moved in for a hug, still timid in their newly physical relationship. “Oh,” she murmured softly into the leather of Dar’s jacket as the long arms closed around her. “That feels so good.” Her body tingled with the contact, and she found herself delighted at Dar’s unexpected presence. “I’m so glad to see you.”
“Let me see.” Dar released her and gently tipped her head back, examining the discolored lump. “Mmm, that looks nasty. How’s it feel?” She looked intently at Kerry’s eyes, relieved to see only a bit of bloodshot coloring them as they gazed into hers.
“Well.” Kerry grinned sheepishly. “Up until about two minutes ago, it felt lousy.” She blinked up at Dar. “I’m just sore all over. And Col said it wouldn’t be a good idea to go right to bed in case I had a mild concussion or something.” Her eyes searched Dar’s face. “I can’t believe you’re here. That was so nice of you.”
“Shhh.” Dar stroked her cheek. “Don’t you be spreading rumors that I’m nice, okay?” She smiled. “You’ll ruin my reputation.”
Kerry laughed softly. “Oh, right. I forgot.” She sighed. “Well, I was just moping around, putting cold washcloths on my head…unless you have a better idea for this.”
“Mmm.” Dar considered. “I’m no doctor, but let me see what I can do.
You mind a little company?”
“Not yours.” Kerry shook her head. “I mean, if you can stay for a few minutes…I know you’re on your way home.”
“Don’t worry about it, I hardly sleep anyway,” Dar told her blithely.
“Where are your towels?”
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Kerry showed her, then, like a curious puppy, followed the taller woman as she entered the kitchen and opened the freezer. “I thought about using ice cubes, but they’re so big, they’re hard to handle, and the cold hurts.”
“Mmm-hmm,” Dar agreed. “You have a Ziploc bag?”
“Uh, sure.” Kerry retrieved a gallon-sized one and handed it to her.
“Here.”
Dar took it, then pulled the blender further out onto the counter and took the top off, filling it to the brim with ice. She put the top back on and powered the machine on, watching as it reduced the ice to snowcone status. She pulled the top off and dumped the contents into the Ziploc bag, which she wrapped in the towel. “C’mon.” She led Kerry back into the living room and settled in one corner of the couch, patting the seat next to her.
“Okay.” Kerry sat down, then smiled as Dar leaned back and patted her chest. She lay back against the taller woman’s body and stretched her legs out along the couch. Dar slid an arm around her and placed the compress on her head. It was much colder than the water she’d been using, and she could feel the tense ache in the bump slowly start to ease.
“How’s that?” Dar’s voice inquired from over her shoulder.
Between the comfortable, warm backrest and the sheer pleasure she felt just being in Dar’s presence, Kerry felt like she was pretty damn close to Heaven, in fact. “It’s perfect,” she murmured quietly. “Thanks.”
Dar propped her feet up on the coffee table and relaxed, gazing over Kerry’s shoulder at the television. “What are we watching?”
“Some bleeping nutcase who loves to kiss crocodiles,” Kerry replied.
“Oh,
the Crocodile Hunter
,” Dar supplied promptly. “I watched one the other week where he and some woman were lugging around crocodiles in the mud.” She paused. “I hope he pays that woman a nice amount.”