Stormy Waters: Book 10 in The Dar & Kerry Series

by Good, Melissa

  "Me too." Tom agreed, opening the gas tank and inserting the filler. "Some of the guys, though, they were too wussy, but you know what? Chicks dig it."

  Well, it was hard to argue on that since both she and Kerry were undeniably chicks, and they both did like them. "Great paint job. How is it to ride?" Dar asked. "I rented one a few months back and liked how it handled, but it wasn't that good long distance."

  "I remember that." Kerry murmured.

  "Oh, it's great." Tom told her readily. "I thought it was gonna be a little tough on my...uh..."

  "Buns." Kerry supplied.

  "Yeah, those too. But it's been cool," Tom said. "Sure you don't wanna trade up to one, Ker?"

  "Hmm." Kerry regarded the big bike wistfully. "They sure are cool." Her eyes went to Dar's face. "They just really pissed us off when we went to go buy one." She saw the faintest twitch at the corner of her partner's mouth, and sighed as she leaned against the pump.

  "Well, you should go get one at bike week, like I did." Tom said. "Hey, speaking of, how'd the tat come out, Ker? Did'ja go through with it?"

  Kerry obligingly unbuttoned and pulled down the shoulder of her short sleeve cotton shirt, exposing the tattoo. "I did." She confirmed. "And you were so lying to me, Tom. It hurt like crazy. I think I made the poor guy deaf from my screaming."

  Tom examined the tattoo, and then gave Kerry a very respectful look. "Well...uh...mine was on my arm." He flexed his bicep, displaying a beautiful parrot. "I think it'd hurt a lot more right on your...uh..." His eyes dropped to Kerry's tattoo, then averted, as he blushed slightly. "You know what I mean."

  Dar reached around Kerry's shoulder and encircled her with both arms as she re-buttoned her shirt. "We know what you mean," she said. "And I'll keep that in mind when I go get mine done."

  Kerry turned and looked up at Dar in surprise.

  "Anyway, hey, I'm glad I ran into you guys," Tom said. "Something sorta weird happened on Friday, and I don't really know what to make of it." He put the gas nozzle back in the pump and closed the gas cap. "I was at the bar and some women came up to me."

  "That was weird?" Dar was aware of Kerry's intense regard, but she merely laid her arm over her partner's shoulders and addressed Tom instead. "Why? You're not that bad looking."

  Tom scratched his nose. "Well, this was kinda serious, you know? One of them said they were some kind of reporter or something, and they were asking questions about you guys, or mostly Kerry, really."

  It stopped being funny, and Kerry stopped thinking about tattoos, no matter how startled she was. "What?" She turned around and faced Tom. "Questions about me?"

  Tom had the grace to look both abashed and embarrassed. "Um...about you and me, matter of fact."

  "You and me what?" Kerry spluttered. "You and me in kickboxing class, or drinking beer together?" She was aware suddenly of Dar's close presence behind her, and felt the warmth of her partner's hands as Dar put them on her shoulders.

  "They had...you remember when I showed you the bike?" Tom seemed a little uneasy. "And we kinda...you took that picture with me?"

  Kerry's eyes narrowed. "Yes."

  "I guess I was showing it to the guys at the bar, and I guess..." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, I got it blown up and one of the copies sorta disappeared."

  Dar snorted softly, but didn't make any comment.

  "Jesus." Kerry exhaled. "Where did the reporters say they were from? Was it the Travel Channel?

  Tom shook his head. "No, uh...the Herald, you know? Some kind of story they were doing about the port, and some ships...and I guess about you."

  "And they have that picture, right?" Kerry covered her eyes.

  "I guess. They mentioned it, so..." Tom shrugged sheepishly. "I mean, no one thought much about it, Kerry. I knew it kinda went walking, but you know, it was a rocking picture, so..."

  "Uh oh." Dar said. "How bad was this photo?"

  "Me and Tom on the bike," Kerry still had her eyes covered, "with me posing as a biker chick."

  Dar sorted through that, and didn't find anything altogether that dangerous in it. "Okay," she said slowly. "So...when was this?"

  "When you were in New York." Kerry sighed.

  "Uh huh. Same night you got this?" Dar indicated the tattoo.

  Kerry nodded.

  "It wasn't anything!" Tom spoke up suddenly. "All Kerry was doing was giving me an ego shot on the damn bike. We didn't do nothing!"

  Dar looked at him. "I know that," she said. "Question is what is it they're looking to illustrate using it?"

  Kerry put her hands on her hips and stared disgustedly at the broken tarmac. "I've had it," she finally said, turning and heading for the Lexus. "I'm quitting and becoming an itinerant poet. Then maybe no one will give a crap what I do." She opened the door and got in, slamming it behind her.

  That left Dar and Tom facing each other across the Harley. Dar sighed, and produced a brief smile. "It's been a rough couple weeks," she said. "Last thing we need is to drive back to town and be greeted with a front page story."

  Tom stuck his hands into the pockets on his jeans. "Dar, I'm real sorry."

  "Wasn't anything you did." Dar shrugged. "What did you tell the reporters, anyway?"

  "Not much." He admitted. "I just couldn't get what they were after, so they kinda just left when I wouldn't tell them me and Kerry had been...um...like, hanging out together or whatever."

  "Yeah." Dar pushed her sunglasses up on her nose. "Well, thanks, Tom. Nice bike. Don't worry about the picture, okay?" She lifted a hand to wave goodbye and headed for the car. Circling the back of it, she got in the passenger side and closed the door, half turning in the seat to face the huddled, silent Kerry. "Hey."

  Kerry sniffled, and wiped the back of her hand across her eyes. "I'm so sick of this."

  Dar leaned further over the center console, and gently gripped Kerry's forearm. "Ker?"

  Kerry sniffled again. "Yeah?"

  "I'm sick of it too."

  Kerry took off her sunglasses and looked at Dar with tear moistened eyes. "I know it's chickenshit."

  Dar shook her head. "Just human." She slid her grip down to clasp Kerry's hand, then drew the hand up to kiss its knuckles. "Let's just go do what we need to do, then we can sit down and decide where we go from here."

  Kerry looked at her hand, now pressed gently against Dar's cheek. She gave the fingers clasping hers a squeeze, and exhaled, nodding a little in answer.

  "Want me to drive now?" Dar asked. "I can try it left footed."

  "No." Kerry gathered her wits. "Just open my coke for me, and gimme a Snowball. I'll live." She started the car and put it in gear. "Dar, what are we going to do if that does end up on the front page of the Herald?"

  "Won't." Dar was busy ripping cellophane with her teeth. "You're not a communist sympathizer. You might make the business page though." She removed the soft, fluffy pastry and handed it over. "And if it does, we just deal with it."

  Kerry bit into the marshmallow top, tearing it apart ruthlessly. "How's ILS going to deal with their VP Ops being a biker chick?"

  "About like they did with their VP Ops being a gay redneck." Dar took a sip of Coke. "We'll all cope."

  Yeah. Kerry settled into her seat, gazing ahead into the slowly fading sunlight. "Know what I'm going to do if it happens?"

  "What?"

  "Frame a copy and send it to my mother."

  "Ouch."

  IT WAS DINNERTIME before they pulled into the driveway. Kerry parked the Lexus and opened the door, sliding off the leather seat to the ground and stretching her back out. "Ugh."

  "C'mon, Chino." Dar got out on the other side and opened the back door, allowing the Labrador to jump to the ground. She shouldered her laptop and waited for Kerry to join her, then she limped up the steps to the front door of the condo.

  They had debated stopping at the port. Chino had tipped the balance, since neither of them wanted to leave their pet in the car while they checked on things and bringing her onboard th
e ship just wasn?t an option.

  Dar keyed the door open and entered, waiting for Kerry to pass her by and then shutting the door. "You want to change, and we'll run over there?"

  Kerry dropped her briefcase and overnight bag on the love seat. "You want to hear the politically correct corporately responsible answer or the truth?"

  "Me either." Dar limped past her and went into the bedroom. "Is there really a point? We're both fond of saying we can trust our people, aren't we?"

  Kerry trudged into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, removing a bottle of juice and pouring herself a glass. "Good point." She called back into the living room. "How about we commit to being there early tomorrow morning? We can assess what's going on, and decide what we want to do."

  "Uh."

  Kerry took a sip of juice, and cocked her head. "Did you say something?"

  "Uh."

  Drawn by this odd utterance, Kerry left the kitchen and entered the living room, finding Dar sprawled on the couch looking at her injured foot with a frown. "What's wrong?"

  "That." Dar pointed.

  Kerry walked over and sat down, cradling Dar's foot in her lap and examining it closely. "Oh." She grimaced. "Ow."

  The foot was swollen and an angry red color. Dar folded her arms across her chest and glared at it. "Stupid god damned fish."

  "Let me go get the antiseptic. Or we could go see Dr. Steve."

  Kerry slipped into the bathroom and returned, setting the antiseptic bottle and cotton balls down as she prepared to render first aid. Chino came over and started to help, licking Dar's face thoroughly with a serious expression.

  "That's it, Chi. You keep mommy Dar busy while I do this."

  Dar reached over the dog and picked up the mail on the coffee table, laying it on her stomach and flipping through it to distract herself. A Hammacher Schlemmer catalog caught her eye, and she opened it, browsing the pages idly. "Want a pair of space socks?"

  Kerry tweaked one of Dar's toes. "No, honey, I don't." She wiped around the fish bite carefully with her swab.

  "Automatic vacuum cleaner?"

  "For?" Kerry looked around. "We have a cleaning service, remember?"

  Dar sighed. "How about a train set?"

  "You just like buying toys." Kerry peered at the bites on the bottom of her partner's foot. "Dar, these really do look bad."

  "Great."

  "I don't know if Dr. Steve was a horrible idea." Kerry went on, with a slightly apologetic tone. "I know you don't like to, but I'd hate to see these really get infected, you know?"

  "I've had my tetanus."

  It was one of the few things they consistently fought about, Kerry privately admitted. Dar hated doctors, and Kerry both sympathized, and understood why she did. In fact, she wasn't fond of doctors herself, though in Dr. Steve she'd finally found one she not only trusted, but liked. "Dar."

  "Okay."

  Kerry paused in mid breath, taken aback by the unexpected capitulation. She looked at Dar in surprise.

  Dar shrugged a little. "It really hurts." She admitted. "And you're right--I don't want it to get worse if I have to spend the next week in hiking boots on the deck of some damn half assed cruise ship," she said. "So, if you want to give Steve a call, I'll go feed Chino."

  Kerry gave the long leg wrapped around her a gentle pat. "For being such a good girl, I'll take you out to dinner after he's done. How's that?"

  Dar produced a charming smile. "Only if you promise to never, ever, ever tell anyone I was either good, or voluntarily went to the doctor."

  "Deal."

  Kerry got up and edged between the couch and the coffee table, leaning over to give Dar a kiss on the lips. She stayed there almost long enough to get a crick in her back, then straightened up and headed for the phone.

  Dar ruffled Chino's fur with one hand, and laid the other across her stomach. Aside from her foot really hurting, she also found herself completely unwilling to argue with Kerry, especially since she knew Kerry was right and she was only arguing because that's what she always did.

  She felt a little adrift. She could feel changes coming, and the thought excited her more than frightened. But first, they did have this damn bid to get through, so she decided to focus on that for now. In the meantime, she would go and get her foot fixed up, and keep Kerry from getting any more stressed than she already was.

  "You hungry, Chi? You want some dinner?" Dar swung her legs over the side of the couch and got up, going to the kitchen with a very attentive Labrador now glued to her knee. "Let's go get you fed."

  "Growf."

  DR. STEVE SHOOK his head as he examined Dar's foot. "Munchkin, between the two of you, I swear I should just tie you up in hammocks for a month and not let you outside for a minute."

  "Long as it's the same hammock." Dar replied benignly, her eyes closed and her hands folded over her stomach. "I'm cool with it."

  Kerry was loitering behind the examination table, leaning on her elbows. "Count me in too."

  "Tch, tch. You wild children." The doctor finished his work and turned around to face Dar. "Honey, I'm going to have to give you a shot of antibiotic.?

  "Okay."

  "Now, I don't want to hear all that guff about..." Dr. Steve paused. "S'cuse me?"

  Dar shrugged. "Go ahead. Anything to make that damn foot feel better."

  Her doctor and old family friend put his hands on his hips. "Who in the hell are you?" He asked. "You ain't no Dar Roberts I know." He looked over at Kerry. "You get her drunk before you brought her in here?"

  "Nope." Kerry idly played with a bit of Dar's hair. "Hasn't had a drop, though that'll change when we get done." She gave the lock a tug, and was rewarded by Dar turning her head and peering up at her. "Dar's just come to her senses, right honey?"

  "Right." Dar kept her eyes on Kerry while Dr. Steve prepared the shot, since she never had liked to watch large pieces of sharp steel enter her body and didn't figure on starting any time soon, or now for that matter.

  She could sense the doctor's approach. Kerry must have sensed it too, because she slid her hand forward and cupped Dar's cheek, a welcome warmth in the cool air of the office. Dar let herself get lost in the soft green eyes regarding her, and she didn't even feel the prick of the needle.

  "Okay, there you go." Dr. Steve wiped the area with a bit of cotton. "I'm gonna give you a prescription, too, you little rugrat. Wish you knew for sure what kind of fishie that was." He patted Dar's leg. "But you should be okay, long as you don't aggravate things."

  Obligingly, Dar sat up and swung her legs off the table, leaning her weight on her hands as she watched Dr. Steve writing her prescription. He was dressed in a short sleeve plaid shirt and Bermuda shorts, and hadn't bothered to assume his white coat for his afterhour's patients. "Did you look at Kerry's eye?"

  Dr. Steve looked over his shoulder. "C'mere, Kerry."

  Kerry walked over to him and stood in the light, as he tilted her face a little toward him and studied her.

  "I'd say her eye was green." Dr. Steve announced. "Just like the other one." He grinned at Kerry, who grinned back. "No headaches or anything from it, young lady?"

  "No..." Kerry hesitated. "Well, not from that anyway. We've had a tough week."

  His eyebrow rose. "It's Monday."

  "Exactly."

  Dr. Steve patted her cheek. "Well, you take it easy, okay? Nothing in that crazy world of yours is worth getting sick over."

  "You got that right." Dar limped over and laid a hand on Kerry's shoulder. "So, take this stuff, and what else? Don't tell me to stay off it Steve. I've got a damn ship I have to be crawling over the next couple of days."

  Dr. Steve frowned at her. "Honey, how do you expect that thing to heal if you're stomping all over with it? Any shoe you put on there's gonna hurt." He pointed out. "Less you want to go barefoot, like you used to."

  "Still does." Kerry teased gently. "But I'd never let her do it on that dock."

  Dar sighed. "I'll figure something out." She too
k the prescription. "Thanks. Sorry to pull you out from dinner." She stuck the paper into her pocket as the doctor led them to the back door, opening it so they could get out.

  "No worries, rugrat." Dr. Steve patted her on the back and headed for his open topped Jeep. "You take care." He said. "And keep off that foot!"

  Dar got into the car, this time Kerry's smaller blue one, and shut the door. She waited for her partner to get in on the driver's side and gave her a look. "I can't not go."

  Kerry started the car, then leaned on the steering wheel and regarded her. "Didn't you just agree with him that the job isn't worth your health?"

  Blue eyes blinked unrepentantly. "No."

  "No?"

  "I agreed the job wasn't worth YOUR health."

  "Jesus."

  "Not hardly." Dar set her sunglasses onto her nose. "C'mon. We'll figure out something."

  "Yeah." Kerry put the car in gear, and pulled out of the driveway heading toward the beach. "I'm sure we will."

  THEY ENDED UP going by the port anyway. It was near nine o'clock, but the piers were bustling with activity and Kerry had to steer around several groups of rushing workers as she edged her way toward their ship. The air was full of the sound of heavy machinery moving, the clank of cranes, the hoot of warning klaxons as huge pieces of steel swung overhead, and the ever-present hiss of welding torches. "Looks busy," she commented.

  "Very." Dar agreed, peering out the open passenger side window. "Are those protestors?"

  "Yeah." Kerry nodded. "Looks like it."

  "Hmph."

  Kerry parked near their terminal, and got out, watching with some slight anxiety as Dar hopped out on her side and shut the door. "You going to be okay?"

  "Fine." Dar put cautious pressure on her foot, and immediately regretted it. "Ow."

  "Want to stay with the car, and let me run in?" Kerry circled the Lexus and came to Dar's side, resting her hand on Dar's arm.

  "No." Dar stubbornly started toward the pier, limping heavily. "C'mon, let's get this over with."

  Kerry followed her, trotting to catch up, then walking along at Dar's side. For once, she didn't have to stretch to keep up, and halfway there she put her hand on Dar's back, giving the surface a gentle rub with the edge of her thumb.