Ick. They felt swollen. She brought the foot up to rest on her knee and examined it, scowling at the red, puffy skin and the tender area that covered the top and part of the bottom of her foot. It hurt. Her head hurt. Her shoulders hurt from the tension of the night, and she wished--
What did she wish?
Dar found herself too tired to focus on the big picture, and resorted to a short term goal instead. She wished she was tucked in bed with Kerry, and a cup of hot chocolate, and Advil. There, that was doable, wasn't it?
Kerry entered the kitchen wearing a knee length t-shirt. "For a day that started out really cool, it sure ended disgusting, didn't it?"
"Uh huh." Dar agreed mournfully. "I want to go back to yesterday."
Kerry came over and leaned against her, rubbing Dar's back with the tips of her fingers. "Did you take your drugs?"
"Uh huh."
"Tired?"
"Ugh." Dar closed her eyes and let her head rest against Kerry's. "I can just see tomorrow's gonna suck."
"Uh huh." Kerry glanced up as the microwave beeped. "I smell hot chocolate." She eased past Dar and removed two mugs from the cabinet, setting them down on the counter and leaning up to retrieve the pot. "Let's worry about tomorrow, tomorrow."
Oo, mental synergy. Dar snaked an arm around Kerry and held her gently, nuzzling her arm as she attempted to pour the hot chocolate out. "Thanks for taking care of the police, by the way."
"No problem." Kerry managed to get the beverage into the cups despite the distraction. "They were very understanding, once I explained about how big a company we are, and how many new hires we have, and how it was natural for someone to get lost on the wrong floor and wander into the wrong office and be discovered accidentally by me."
Dar sipped her chocolate. "You're kidding, right?"
"No." Kerry took her elbow. "C'mon, let's go curl up on the couch. I had all the time in the world, like the thirty seconds it takes the elevator to go from fourteen to one, to come up with that story. I thought I did pretty good."
"Hell of a lot better than I'd have done." Dar agreed, willingly allowing herself to be towed to the couch. She settled next to Kerry on the soft leather, and eased her foot up onto the table.
Kerry used the remote to start a quiet CD, and turn a seascape on the television screen. The lights were low in the room, and she exhaled as she allowed the peace of the moment to descend on her. The chocolate was sweet on her tongue and she could feel the warmth traveling down into her stomach, easing the slight uneasiness from a shared dozen ill-advised spicy chicken wings.
"Ker?"
"Mm?"
"Love you."
Thoughts of chicken wings flew out the window. "I never get tired of hearing that," Kerry admitted. "Love you too."
Dar draped her arm over Kerry's shoulders. "You know something?"
"Nope." Kerry leaned back and put her feet up next to Dar's. "My brain's a cheap plastic colander at the moment."
"Ah." Dar turned her head and nipped Kerry's earlobe. "I knew this yellow stuff reminded me of something." She puffed a bit of Kerry's hair up with a short breath.
"Spaghetti?" Kerry suggested.
"Corn silk."
"Hmm. I don't like corn silk."
Dar pulled back a little. "You don't?"
Kerry shook her head. "No. It makes me itch," She explained. "Every time I get us fresh corn I have to have someone in the store husk it for me. Otherwise I end up scratching my arms raw after I finish digging the suckers out of those honky wooden bins."
"Hmm." Dar took a sip of her chocolate. "Learn something new every day."
"Too bad, too, because I love corn, and I love the smell of it when it's fresh." Kerry went on, a touch mournfully. "Especially the white corn."
Dar considered. "You could wear gloves."
"Oh, Dar. Can you imagine me shopping in Publix in white gloves up to my armpits?"
"I saw someone shopping last year in a mink."
"Real?"
"Dead." Dar clarified, then paused. "Oh, I see what you mean...yeah, I think it was real."
"Ugh. That's so un-PC." Kerry shook her head. She reflected a moment more. "We're babbling like idiots, aren't we?"
"Not really." Dar exhaled, half closing her eyes. "Everything you've said so far makes sense." She put her cup down and put her arm around Kerry. "And you were right. That story you told the cops was a good one."
"Mm." Kerry got rid of her cup and half turned, snuggling into Dar?s embrace. "To hell with the cops. You tell me a story."
Both of Dar's eyebrows lifted, and her blue eyes widened. "What?"
"Tell me a story." Kerry repeated. "C'mon, I know you know some."
Dar searched through her memories, hoping her partner wasn't expecting a once upon a time kind of tale since she'd been reading things other than Jack and Jill since she'd been a pre-schooler, and Andrew had never subscribed to Mother Goose.
Did she know any stories suitable for Kerry's adorable ears? "Wanna hear about my tenth birthday?"
"Sure." Kerry pressed her ear against Dar's chest, listening to her heartbeat. It had that odd little echo beat, from the anomaly she had in her chest, a rhythm Kerry had become quite fond of.
"Okay," Dar said. "When I was ten years old, we moved from Florida to Virginia because that's where my dad was stationed for a while."
"Mm. I can't picture you in Virginia."
"Neither could I," Dar agreed. "I missed my friends on the base something awful, and I hated the new school I was in. They made us wear uniforms."
Kerry cocked an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I know. Military brat doesn't like uniforms," Dar acknowledged. "It was a skirt, Ker. What can I tell you?"
Kerry's nose wrinkled. "Pleated?"
"Yes."
"Uuuugh."
"Anyway, since I didn't know squat about skirts, I put the damn thing on backwards," Dar said, "And wore it to school that way." A faint, self deprecating smile appeared. "No one noticed until lunchtime, but then some pissass rich girls cornered me in the cafeteria and started teasing me."
"Kids are so cruel, sometimes," Kerry agreed softly. "Most of them steered clear of us, but there was always talk, and they were always careful to make sure I heard it."
"Mm...well, they were all mostly older girls, and I guess they figured I was safe to make fun of," Dar mused. "I'd promised my dad I wouldn't make trouble in school, that I'd give it a while until I got used to everything."
"Ah."
"First time I ever broke a promise to him."
"Mm." Kerry nodded gently against Dar's body.
"I took hold of the biggest of them..."
"Bigger than you?" Kerry interrupted.
"Yeah," Dar agreed. "I didn't hit my growth spurt until I was, I think, twelve or thirteen. Anyway, I grabbed the biggest one and just tossed her over onto the ground and ripped her skirt off."
"Oh gosh." Kerry covered her eyes.
"Then I asked her which one of us was more ridiculous looking." Dar half smiled at the memory. "She was crying, the other kids were laughing and then the principal showed up." She chuckled. "He told me I was going to get a spanking. I told him..."
Kerry giggled.
"...my dad was going to kick his ass," Dar finished. "So we all ended up in the principal's office, and they called in the girl's parents, and my parents, and it was quite the circus in there. It turns out the girl's mother was an old acquaintance of my mother's, but not a fondly remembered one."
"Oh, my god. Did you end up in jail?"
"No." Dar shook her head. "We ended up in Dairy Queen," she said "We'd both been suspended for two days, and I was just so pissed off. I told them I'd rather go to reform school than stay there with those stuck up pieces of--"
"Would you really have?" Kerry asked. "Rather been in reform school? Dar, you're not a criminal."
"I would have fit in better there," Dar replied honestly. "And my father said just to give him a little time, and he'd fix it so we could go back home."<
br />
"Did he?"
Dar nodded. "I found out later he gave up a big promotion and a job he really wanted for it," she said. "But when I asked him about that, he just said his family and us being happy was more important to him than what he did."
Kerry pondered that for a minute. "There's a moral to this story isn't there?"
Dar hugged her. "Maybe." She exhaled. "Or maybe I'm just being nostalgic. That jackass who broke into the office tonight reminded me of that girl."
Kerry shifted and raised her head, kissing her partner on the lips. "Your father's a smartie." She rubbed noses with Dar. "And I like stories with a moral." She gave Dar a hug back, burying her face into the side of her partner's neck, and biting her gently.
"Oo."
"Mm."
"What was that about morals?"
Kerry just chuckled.
DAR SPENT A good while after she woke before dawn just relaxing in the darkness, her eyes mostly closed as she listened to the soft cycling on and off of the air conditioner. It was comfortable in the bedroom, the conditioner putting enough chill into the air to make the warm waterbed surface under them feel good, and there was a sense of peace in the townhouse that was very appealing.
It certainly was appealing to Dar, who was perfectly content to lie there and enjoy it as she pondered the coming day.
"Meatballs," Kerry muttered, under her breath. "Banana compote."
Dar's eyebrow twitched and she turned her head slightly to get a better view of her still sleeping, yet surprisingly chatty, partner. "Ker?" she whispered.
"Pencils don't do it." Kerry insisted.
Instantly, Dar's mind was alive with possibilities and she tried to figure out what Kerry was dreaming of. Pencils? Meatballs? What was banana compote, anyway? "Keeeerrry?" she warbled softly. "I loooooovvveee you."
Very slowly, a green orb appeared, focusing on her and visible in the low light from the clock. "I thought I heard a gopher."
"Hi."
Kerry rolled over onto her left side and snuggled back up to her partner. "Honey, you can wake me up saying you love me any day of the week," she uttered. "But did you have to do it before sunrise?"
"What were you dreaming about?"
"I wasn't." Kerry shook her head, then paused. "Why? Was I babbling again?"
Dar chuckled.
"Y'know, Dar, I never used to talk in my sleep before I met you." Kerry complained. "I'm sure my brother and sister would have mentioned it."
"How do you know?" Dar asked, reasonably. "You guys didn't sleep in the same bed, did'ja?"
Kerry's face scrunched up. "No!" She poked the taller woman in the ribs. "But Angie and I went to camp together," she explained. "I never would have lived it down if I talked in my sleep. What was I saying?"
"Gettysburg Address."
Kerry chewed on her lip. "Can't believe I actually remember that. Must be subliminal." She shook her head and closed her eyes.
Dar put her arm around Kerry and exhaled. "You were actually talking about meatballs and bananas."
Kerry opened one eye again. "Together?" she asked a touch hesitantly. "Hmm. Maybe I was dreaming I was pregnant."
Dar considered the question. "Something you aspire to?" she queried cautiously, her mind flashing back to a certain dream she'd had near the beginning of their relationship.
"Not unless you're volunteering to make me that way."
Dar's eyes widened slightly. "I think we need to go back to sleep."
"Good idea." Kerry gave her a pat on the belly.
Dar pulled the covers up and tucked them around Kerry's shoulders. They had at least an hour before it was time to get up, and she intended on using every minute of the time productively. Peace settled back down over the room after a moment.
It didn't last that long. "Ker?"
"Mm?"
"You know I can't really make you pregnant, right"
"Sure you could." Kerry gave her another comforting pat. "You can do anything you put your mind to. I have total confidence in you."
Silence fell for another brief moment. Then Dar cleared her throat gently. "That old Christian school of yours was a little light on science, huh?"
Kerry chuckled throatily, her shoulder shaking. "You know, I do remember what I was dreaming about," she admitted. "I was organizing a potluck for our office."
"Ah. That's where the pencils came in," Dar mused.
"No one knew what to bring. No one had any idea of what the heck was going on. It was like a teacher's workday in Idiotville. She complained. "I'm glad you woke me up. I was just getting to the point where I was going to start..."
"Throwing food?" Dar suggested. "Seems to be a standard practice in our circle."
"Ahem."
They both chuckled. Then Kerry sighed. "Well, I'm up now." She lamented. "You?"
"Yeah."
"How about we have a biscuit on the porch and watch the sun rise then go over to the gym?" Kerry said. "I grabbed a new flavor coffee at the market the other day and I've been meaning to try it."
It sounded pretty appealing to Dar, who gave up on her snoozing plans with only a faint regret. She reached over and turned on the bedside lamp, which produced a soft glow calculated not to shock the eyeballs. Kerry had selected the appliance replacing a somewhat brighter one that had been a holdover from Aunt May's day. "Go go go."
Kerry waited for Dar to roll up out of the waterbed before she followed suit, rubbing her bare arms as the chill air hit them. She grabbed the shirt Dar tossed her and slipped into it, then briefly wished for a pair of slippers as she followed Dar out of the room.
Chino was already waiting at the back door, tail wagging gently as they entered the kitchen. Dar detoured to let the Labrador out, and paused on the steps to watch the pre-dawn stars twinkle in the sky.
The air was warm and full of moisture, and the scent of salt water and grass was thick. Dar sucked in a lungful, almost able to taste the richness on the back of her tongue as a breeze brushed over her body. She could remember air like this as part of her world from the time she was old enough to recognize anything. She spared a brief moment of nostalgia for a time when all it would have meant was another lazy summer day full of thunderstorms and dust, and maybe some coconuts to break open.
With a faint sigh, she turned and leaned on the door jamb, watching Kerry as she measured coffee from a lidded container into their coffee machine. Despite the faded shirt and sleep disheveled hair, or maybe because of it, she found herself smiling at the sight.
"So." Kerry leaned on the counter and watched the water start to percolate through the grinds. "We've got an executive meeting at nine. What's the angle you're going to put on that, Dar?"
"Shh." Dar circled her and kissed her on the back of the neck. "I don't want to talk about angles until we're in the car on the way there."
Kerry turned her head and peered up at her partner. "Just trying to mentally prepare," she protested mildly. "It's going to be a free for all, y'know."
"I know." Dar rested her chin on Kerry's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. We'll just take it as it comes. Now," she bumped her lightly, "what was that about sunrise and a cookie?"
"A biscuit." Kerry bumped her back with a tolerant grin. "I think I have some whole wheat crackers we could try."
Dar snorted.
"Yeah, okay. Grab the banana nut cakes from the fridge and I'll get the coffee." Kerry acknowledged. "And I'll figure out something safe to talk to you about."
Dar paused in the middle of removing a package of muffins, and looked at her. "That's not what I--"
Kerry raised her eyebrows.
"Ker, it's going to be an entire day of that crap. Any reason to start it early?" Dar asked plaintively.
"Yes." Kerry looked back at her seriously. "I want to be ready for it, and I want a comfort level with how you feel about all this stuff before we go in there. It would make me feel a lot better."
Dar blinked. "Oh."
"You asked." She shrugged slig
htly, a faint twitch starting at the corners of her mouth. "But I like being able to answer you honestly, and not have either of us freak out, you know that?"
On the verge of slightly freaking out, Dar relaxed instead. "Yeah," she agreed. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking." She put the muffins down and removed a package of whipped cream cheese, setting it down as well. "Story of my life lately."
"That's the second time you said that recently." Kerry poured the now finished coffee into a carafe and snagged two cups. "C'mon." She led the way to the sliding glass doors to their porch and paused, as Dar reached past her to unlock them and push them open.
They walked outside and settled down at the table, the sound of the surf now more audible as a fairly strong breeze fluttered their shirts against their bodies. "Oo." Kerry set her burden down and walked to the balcony, enjoying the fresh air.
Dar took a seat at the table and poured two cups of coffee, fixing Kerry's and setting it next to the other chair. She removed a muffin from the container and cut it in half, studiously covering both the flat surfaces with cream cheese.
Kerry came over and sat down, taking her cup and sipping at it. "Thank you."
Pale blue eyes flicked up and regarded her. "You're welcome." She handed Kerry half the muffin and took the other half for herself. "You know something?"
Kerry nibbled at her muffin. "You have no clue what you're going to do in that meeting," she stated, eyes twinkling very gently. "I figured that out while we were walking out here because if you did know what you were going to do, you'd have said it already instead of pushing me off since yesterday."
Dar took a bite of her muffin, more than a little disconcerted. "Um..."
"Am I wrong? It's okay if I am. I was just--" Kerry half shrugged. "You know." She slid one foot under the table and rubbed Dar's with it. "I don't want to rattle you, hon. I just feel rattled myself, and I hate that."
Dar, of course, hated it also. She wasn't really feeling rattled as much as she was feeling like she was not in control of whatever was going on and she hated that even more. Things were happening that surprised her, and knocked her off guard, and it was difficult to keep having to adjust her inner plans to account for totally bizarre?
Off balance. It struck a chord somewhere, and suddenly Dar remembered exactly why she hated feeling that way, and exactly when she'd been taunted about her reaction to it. "Huh."
Stormy Waters: Book 10 in The Dar & Kerry Series Page 38
