by Melissa Good
“Is it shining on anything interesting?” Colleen asked impishly.
Kerry peered at the receiver, her brows knitting. “Are you all right?” She glanced outside. “It’s shining on the ocean, and a few boats that I can see, and the patio. Why?”
The redhead laughed softly. “Never mind, Kerry. You going to spend some time there yet?”
“Um, probably. I think they need the electricity to run the ramps to get on and off the ferry.”
“Oh, right,” Colleen agreed amiably. “Well, your place survived quite nicely. We didn’t get flooded or anything like that, so we’ll all be here when you saunter home.”
Kerry smiled. “That’s great to hear, I’m glad everything was okay.” She watched as Dar turned and leaned on one arm, peering back at her from outside. “I, um…I’ll talk to you a little later, okay?” She hung up and went to the door, peering out and blinking. “Well, everything’s okay at my place.” She was still carrying the phone and held it out to Dar when the older woman motioned for it.
“Might as well find out what the prognosis is for getting power back.”
Dar dialed quickly. “Then I guess I’d better make sure everything’s on track at the office.”
Kerry nodded. “Um.” She bit her lip on a grin. “Want me to get you some frosted flakes?” Her eyes twinkled. “I think that would be better than ice cream for breakfast, though,” she cleared her throat, “not by much.”
Dar gave her a look as she listened to something on the phone, then hung it up. “Power’ll probably be back up after lunchtime, and they’ve got a generator running down at the beach club, so I think we’ll take a ride down there so I don’t have to get flack for my choice of breakfast cereals.” She paused and drummed her fingers on the phone, then turned and gazed out at the calming seas. “Matter of fact…you in the mood to take a ride?”
“A ride?” Kerry followed her gaze. “Oh, you mean on the boat?” She let out a sigh. “I’d love to, but I’m not exactly dressed for it.”
“Oh, we can fix that.” Dar grinned.
“We can? Well, okay. Sure. I’d like that…since we’re kinda stuck here, and it’ll be cooler out there, I guess.”
Half an hour later, they were in, of all things, a golf cart with Dar’s apartment number on it, dodging downed branches on the road which circled the island. Other carts were out and about, with sightseers and island staff, the former driving slowly and pointing, the latter dragging debris out of the way.
Kerry sat back and enjoyed the ride, as they went past clusters of apartments and drove around past a large structure, then circled the marina and ended up in a cluster of shops where the rumble of a generator was evident. She hopped out and followed her taller companion, who pointed at the doors as they went by.
“Video shop, bookstore, health food store, Island Market. Ah, here we go.” Dar pushed open the door of a small store which held various items of casual and beach apparel. “Think you can find something in here?”
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Kerry made a beeline for a rack which held one-piece Speedos in rich, bold colors. “Oh yeah.” She grinned, checking the sizes and selecting a purple one, then choosing a pair of shorts and a tank top to go with it. She handed a credit card to the clerk, surprised when he merely stamped it on her charge ticket, then handed it back to her, along with a pen for her signature. She smiled up at him, receiving a shy smile in return. “Thank you.” She took her package and followed Dar out, catching up with her as she headed for the door to the market. “Dar, he didn’t check my credit card.”
“No.” Dar glanced sideways at her. “Not… Well, let me put it to you this way, Kerry—on this island, if you’re running a scam, it’s in the multibillions.
You don’t bother with little bitty stuff like bathing suits.” She held the door to the small grocery store open. “Besides, the only way you could get on the island is with a resident, which he knows I am. He figures if anything comes up bad, I’ll take care of it.” She paused. “Which, of course, I would.”
Kerry stopped short. “You don’t have to worry about that.”
Mild blue eyes regarded her. “I wasn’t,” Dar replied quietly. “Let’s pick up a couple of things to take on the boat with us. Might as well make an afternoon of it.”
They walked out with a cute little basket, which held, Dar discovered, a set of plates and silverware and was large enough for sandwich fixings and savory side orders. She flipped open her cell phone and dialed, getting Mark Polenti’s cell phone in two rings. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Mark replied over the faint sound of a rattling keyboard.
“Everything survived, no problems, just no power. It’s going to be mildewy as hell in there on Monday.”
“Good,” Dar murmured.
“You like mildew?” Mark answered confused.
“No, no. I mean, good that everything survived,” Dar explained. “All the processing get shifted up in time?”
“Yeah, everything except Bank of New Zealand. I went in and kicked their processors onto the generator and got them going,” the MIS chief muttered. “I’m dialed in now, remotely administering them. They had a payroll transfer due yesterday and according to them, you don’t pay those guys, they get real ugly.”
Dar smiled. “Good work, Mark. Thanks for taking care of that for me.”
“Mmph.” Mark cleared his throat. “Heard you weren’t feeling great. You okay?”
A faint smile crossed Dar’s face. “Yeah, I’m fine, just had one hell of a headache. The weather probably brought it on.” She paused. “Poor old Kerry here volunteered to give me a ride home, then got stuck when the weather hit.” “Um, that explains her logging on from your terminal, I guess, “ Mark commented after a brief pause. “And why her car’s still in the parking lot. We moved it under the covered area in the back, along with about a half dozen others.”
“Thanks, I’m sure she’ll be glad to hear it.” Dar chuckled. “Well, I gotta go. I’ll have the cell phone on if you need me.” She hung up and steered the cart along the marina. “How about I drop you and this stuff off here, then go 140 Melissa Good grab some muffins or something for breakfast?” She suggested. “They took care of your car at work, by the way.”
Kerry nodded. “I know, I spoke to Andreas in security last night. That was really nice of them.” She hopped out as Dar slowed the cart to a halt at a particular slip, which had a nicely proportioned boat docked in it. “This it?”
“Yep, here.” She handed Kerry a set of keys. “The cabin should be stocked with towels and all that, and I had it filled with gas last week.”
“Great.” She smiled gently. “Thanks for trying to keep me amused, Dar.
You know you don’t have to. I don’t blame you for getting me stuck here.”
Blue eyes regarded her enigmatically. “I know, but we’ve got nothing better to do, so…” She waved, and started off down the dock, leaving Kerry to make her way carefully onto the gently rolling deck of the boat.
“STOCKED, SHE SAYS.” Kerry muffled a giggle as she explored the neatly made cabin of the cruiser. It had a small bathroom complete with an equally small shower and a tiny bedroom with a bed just large enough, maybe, for two people. So long as they really liked each other. She suspected Dar would have trouble with the length, though. The interior was warm polished wood, with blues and greens in the curtains that covered the portholes and the bedding on the bed. It felt warm and cozy, and welcoming.
She brushed her fingers against the fabric.
She liked it. It felt comfortable here, and she moved with the boat’s motion from long experience. “Well, onto the next area: the kitchen.” She put her bag down and ducked into the small galley, which had a compact refrigerator. She opened it, surprised to feel a residual coolness, then realized the boat must have been hooked up to dock power. She put the lunch fixings inside and closed the door, confident it would keep them cool enough until Dar started the engines up.
To one
side was a microwave, range, and a sink with taps for both salt water and a limited tank of fresh water. A cupboard held nesting pots and two pans and unbreakable cups which were clipped in place and dangled softly as the boat moved. “This is pretty darn cool,” she commented to herself, turning around and surveying the area.
Outside the galley was a compact sitting space, with a wooden table surrounded by two built-in benches catty-corner to each other. A soft, comfortable-looking chair was bolted along the open end of the table, and both a television and a stereo were in closed, watertight cabinets overhead.
Kerry grinned, then ducked into the bedroom and changed into her new suit, checking her reflection in the mirror and scowling at it a little. She threw her shorts and tank top over it and tucked her borrowed T-shirt and shorts into a drawer, then she trotted up the stairs and onto the deck.
It was in two levels, one which held the bridge and controls, and the lower level which had thick cushioned seats on the long sides and across the back of the stern. Kerry lifted up the cushions, and in a storage compartment under the first one, she found safety gear, floatation devices, flares, and safety rings. Under the other were two full sets of scuba gear, including two tanks nestled into clips on the bottom. “And you never use this,” she chastised her Tropical Storm 141
absent boss. “Dar, what are we going to do with you?” She sat down for a moment and just shook her head. “Boy, if I had a place like this, and a boat, I’d be…” She imagined her friends over, and what great parties they could have.
Then she stopped and considered Dar’s words the previous evening. “You shouldn’t do this alone, and I…don’t have time, anymore.”
Don’t have time? Or was it that all these nice things were pretty useless if you didn’t have anyone to share them with? “C’mon, Dar, with your looks?
Don’t tell me you can’t get and keep a boyfriend,” she muttered. “They’d have to be out of their cotton-picking minds not to want to spend time with you.”
She swung her feet a little, thumping her heels against the fiberglass, thinking.
The soft whine of the cart approaching broke her reverie, and she turned to see Dar parking the vehicle in the small spot that seemed to be designed for it near the bow of the boat. She was carrying a pair of bags and hopped onto the deck with negligent grace, dropping down into the lower area with a chuckle. “They’re doing one hell of a brisk business.” She set the bags down.
“Everything all right?”
“Looks great.” Kerry noted that her companion had stopped back at the apartment to change into a bathing suit, which she was wearing under a long T-shirt. “This is like a regular floating hotel room.”
Dar snorted softly. “Yeah, Aunt May had rich tastes. Took me a while to get used to it. I was more inclined to a fifteen-foot dive boat with a single back deck and one chair as an amenity.”
Kerry grinned. “But you did get used to it, eventually.”
The taller woman chuckled self-deprecatingly. “Eyah, as I got older, I developed a disgusting craving for creature comforts.” She walked around the perimeter of the boat, casting off the lines. “Hang on, now.”
Chuckling, Kerry said, “I learned how to hang on crewing a racing yacht going thirty knots, thanks.” She leaned back on her hands and soaked in the sun. “You get tossed from one of those, you remember it.”
Dar seated herself at the controls and started the engines, adjusting the throttles until she heard an even tone. Then, she skillfully backed the boat out, swinging around and nudging the motors into a speed just past idling to get them out of the marina. As soon as they cleared the outer buoy, the breeze picked up, and Dar swung the bow towards the southeast, arcing smoothly over the still choppy waves towards a hazy horizon. Kerry perched next to her, enjoying the salt air and the sunshine, and the cool spray that jutted up from the boat when they hit the waves.
“Wow, it’s nice out here,” she murmured.
Dar closed her eyes briefly and took in a lungful of the air, letting memories wash over her for a long, aching moment. Swallowing a lump in her throat, she finally said quietly, “Yeah, it is.”
They anchored off one of the small islands that dotted the coastline and felt the boat settle down into a quiet bobbing. With the engines shut off, the rhythmic wash of the waves became audible, along with the gentle clank of the boat’s rigging. The sun was fully out, and only high, wispy clouds disturbed the perfect blue of the sky.
“I’m going in for a swim.” Dar stood and stripped off her T-shirt and tucked it neatly on the console. “You interested?”
142 Melissa Good Kerry strolled to the railing and peered over. The water was a rich blue-green and smelled of salt and mystery. “Depends, are there sharks down there?” She peered over her shoulder at the taller woman, who was leaning casually against the curve of the cabin door. Dar, she decided, looks really good in a bathing suit. She had one of those long, swimmer’s builds, with just enough softness covering her muscles so that she didn’t look like a body builder or anything. Just…strong and solid. “The lake we raced on didn’t have sharks,” she explained apologetically.
Dar chuckled. “Well, there might be a few, but I’ve been in these waters since I was four years old, and I haven’t been nibbled yet.” She walked to the rail and hopped up onto it, then dove into the water cleanly, surfacing several yards away from the boat.
Kerry watched her for a moment as she dove down again, then popped up and began to stroke lazily around the boat. “I suppose it’s a little early for shark lunch, so…” She shrugged, then tugged off her shirt and shorts and left them folded on the cushion, moving to a more prudent spot in the stern before stepping up onto the fiberglass railing and jumping in.
She surfaced with a splutter. “Oh. It’s warm.” She ducked her head under water and opened her eyes, blinking against the painful salt. The sun penetrated the green for quite a ways down, outlining waves of golden particles that disappeared into the depths. She could only do it for a moment, though, before it stung her eyes too badly, and she surfaced. “Whoa.”
Treading water, her wet, dark hair slicked back, Dar held out a mask with a mild grin. “Here, this works better.”
“Thanks.” Kerry adjusted the mask, having a bit of difficulty treading water at the same time, then put her face back down, peering into the depths with interest. A school of tiny fish swam by under her, looking for all the world like a flock of birds, even to their splitting and rejoining to some mysterious pattern. Kerry lifted her head up. “Wow, it must be so interesting down there.”
Dar grinned from her spot where she hung onto the anchor line. “We’re pretty shallow right now, only about thirty feet,” she explained. “There’s a coral ridge that goes up and down the coastline here. So, if we were down there, we’d be seeing all kinds of fish.”
With efficient strokes, Kerry swam over to her and grabbed the line as well. “You’re making me jealous. Now I know I have to get certified. I tried coaxing some of the guys at Associated into doing it, but they were all scared.
I bet I can get at least one or two people at the office join in, though.”
Dar studied her in silence for a long moment, then gave a slight nod.
“Wait here.” She reached up and grabbed the gunwale, pulling herself upright out of the water and pressing her body up and over the railing.
Kerry blinked. “Wow, I couldn’t do that even when I was doing gymnastics six times a week,” she murmured, impressed. “Heck, I don’t think the guys who did rings could do that.”
Dar came back and unhitched a section of the railing, pulling it back and seating herself on it. “Okay, we can do a really quick, really easy short dive with just the stuff I have here.” She handed Kerry a vest-like garment. “Put that on.”
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Kerry did, buckling it around her chest and tightening the straps so it fit snugly. “Okay.” She felt a thrill of excitement. “What’s next?”
Dar
handed her a pair of booties. “Now these.” She waited. “Okay, now slip these on over the booties and tighten them around your heels.” She gave Kerry a pair of swim fins.
“That’s a little…oh, okay, I got it.” Kerry bit her lip a little as she concentrated. The vest provided some buoyancy, fortunately, and after a moment she looked up. “Okay.” She waved her feet, feeling the powerful surge against the water, and grinned. “Oh, that feels neat.”
Dar handed her down a snorkel. “Put that through the loop in the mask.
Yeah, that’s right. Now turn around, and hold onto that anchor line.”
Kerry did so, facing out towards the horizon. She felt the splash as Dar entered the water behind her, then experienced a moment of jostling as something was attached to her back. She felt the weight difference immediately. “Oh, is that the tank?”
“Yep.” Dar’s hand suddenly appeared beside her ear, holding a round object with a mouthpiece. “Okay, this is how this works.”
Her voice was right up next to Kerry’s ear, and it took a moment for the words to register. “Um. Okay, that’s a regulator,” she repeated.
“Right,” Dar agreed. “See this button?” She pointed to a round spot on top of the piece of gear. “That’s a forced expel.” She put the mouthpiece under water. “Water can’t get in, but if you press this…” She did so, and a stream of bubbles erupted. “Got it? You put that in your mouth, and just breath in normally.”
Kerry fit the mouthpiece between her teeth and sucked in, mildly surprised when air happened. “Fowfh.”
Dar patted her. “Okay, I’m not going to go into the dive computer or anything, because we’re just going down a few feet today. Hang on while I get my gear.”
“Owflk.” Kerry nodded, looking around and getting used to having the regulator in her mouth. What seemed like moments later, Dar was back with similar equipment. She put her flippers on, then swam closer, and Kerry felt a touch at her waist as Dar’s arms circled her.
