by Melissa Good
Mike snorted. "Too late. She's going there next week." He was plowing through a bowl of soup and rolls, having turned away the salad. "London, Paris, some place in Germany--then what was it, Ker, a vacation in the Swiss Alps?"
Kerry wiped her lips. "That's the plan, yep," she said, mentally making a note to give her brother a hug for the quick response. "We've got business meetings for the first week, and then I think we're taking some time and doing some touring around the Alps, maybe hang around for Oktoberfest."
"Well," Cynthia said, "isn't that lovely?"
"Sure is," Mike said. "Hey, can I come work for you, Kerry? I can carry your briefcase around and pretend I understand one word in ten you're saying."
The PDA beeped softly. Kerry opened it, and glanced at the screen.
Tell your mother to kiss my ass.
Kerry looked up from the screen, directly at her mother.
"Yes, Kerrison?" Cynthia peered back at her. "Did you want to say something?"
It was tempting. But Kerry knew she couldn't, not like that. Not yet, anyway. "Dar says hello," she reported. "She's sorry the timing of our travel worked out like it did. I know she would have liked to have been here to help too."
"Now," her mother smiled, "isn't that so gracious of her. I am certainly glad she's enjoying her travels. Do you know where you're staying in London? Some friends of ours just got back from there."
Kerry looked back at the note.
I've just spent the night in a dive bar with twisted English karaoke going on in the middle of a smoke pit with darts added into the bargain. I told Alastair if he did that to me again I was quitting.
"I think she's enjoying the culture," Kerry commented mildly. "They're at the Stafford. Dar said it was nice."
These people are pissing me off. You better get over here fast, before I cause an international incident.
D
"And she's looking forward to me joining her." Kerry scribbled a reply and closed the lid. "The feeling's mutual." She wiped her lips as the waiter removed her salad plate. "So, Mike. What's up with your new job? You started telling us about it before we left for dinner."
"Well--"
KERRY WELCOMED THE cool breeze as they stepped outside into the wide entranceway. She moved to one side to let her family emerge behind her, and stood on the top of the drive, her hands shoved casually in her front pockets.
"That really wasn't too awful." Angie murmured in her ear. "Was it?"
"Nah." Kerry licked her lips. "That was great crème brulee." She drew in a breath of air tinged with pine and waited as her mother's aides attended to bringing her car around. Mike came up to stand next to her, and she bumped him with idle affection. "Hey."
"Hey," Mike responded. "I'm glad you're here, even if you aren't."
"Eh." His sister shrugged her shoulders a trifle. "Actually I don't mind it. It's great to see you guys." She glanced past Mike as her mother approached them. "Being the black sheep's not so bad."
"Kerrison." Cynthia was fussing with her bag. "I'm very upset with you!"
News flash. "For what?" Kerry turned to face her. "Paying for dinner?"
"Of course. So inappropriate." Her mother frowned. "My staff had it taken care of."
Kerry rolled her eyes a trifle. "I'm the vice president of a multinational corporation. I can afford it," she said, in a mild tone. "I think I actually get paid more than a Senator does," she added.
"Kerrison!"
Mike made a sound like a duck being shot at. He shuffled a step away from Kerry, while Angela merely covered her eyes with one hand.
"Well, we're a public company. It's published in our annual report." Kerry shrugged. "Anyway, it's no big deal, Mother. I was glad to do it. How often do I get to take my family out for dinner?"
Cynthia took a breath, and then merely pursed her lips.
"I'm glad I'm in a position where I can do that," Kerry continued, in a quieter tone. "I'm not sure why that's upsetting."
"Ma'am?" One of her mother's aides approached. "Your car is ready."
"One moment." Cynthia held a hand up. "Of course, I understand," she said. "Forgive me, Kerrison. It was a generous gesture, and I do appreciate it."
Kerry smiled at her. "No problem." I guess we'll see you at the house tomorrow, once we get all those boxes packed up."
"Indeed, yes." Her mother looked happier. "It will be so nice to have you all there. I'm very much looking forward to it."
There was a truth there, Kerry felt. "I'm looking forward to it too."
Satisfied, her mother lifted her hand and then followed the aide toward the limo waiting for her. She got in the car, and waved at them, and they waved back.
"It would have been funny if you offered her a ride home in the back of the truck," Mike commented, smiling as he waved. "Or even in the front seat."
"Mike." Angie chuckled. "You're a bigger troublemaker than Kerry."
"I gotta be better than her at something," Mike replied, as they descended the steps and crossed the parking lot, dodging between the cars trying to leave. "Thanks for dinner, sis!" He put his arm around Kerry's shoulders. "You rock."
Kerry chuckled wryly. "Actually you guys are cheap dates," she told her siblings. "You should see the bill when Dar and I go out for a night on the town." Her lips twitched into a grin.
"Party city?" Angie asked. "I don't know, Dar didn't seem the type to me."
"Well--no, not really that kind of stuff," Kerry said. "We go out for dinner, maybe a little bit of dancing. Dar doesn't drink much, but she likes champagne."
"Hm," Mike mused. "I figured her for a Jack Daniels woman."
"No way." Kerry beeped open the doors to the trunk. "Bubbly and the good stuff too. We've got a few seafood restaurants we like to hit." She opened the driver's side door. "It doesn't take much stone crab and Cristal to beat what we had in there, let me tell you."
"Fancy fancy." Mike got in the back and sprawled across the bench seat.
"Yeah." Kerry closed the door and started the truck. "Then the next night we stop at Burger King. My life's a study in eclectic."
Her siblings laughed. "You actually eat Burger King?" Angie asked.
"Sure." Kerry carefully pulled out of the parking lot, waiting until she saw her mother's limo drive off in the other direction. "Wendy's is my favorite fast food though. They have killer spicy chicken sandwiches." She settled back into the seat and concentrated on driving, the roads not quite as familiar as they used to be.
All in all, she had to admit, it hadn't been that bad. Her mother, after those first few jabs, had kept her conversation to superficial matters and they'd talked mostly about Mike's new job, the weather, local news, and a light mention of the conservative rumblings at the national level.
Having her mother as a Senator was very strange, and Kerry found herself almost unable to wrap her mind around it. In a way though, it gave her some small insight on how perhaps her mother felt about her, since her life in Miami and with Dar was so outside her experience as well.
So odd.
"Hey Ker?" Angle half turned in her seat to face her sister. "Do you really get paid more than Mom?"
Kerry laughed. "Oh, hell yes," she said. "Any bets she has her goons google our annual report when she gets home to find that out?"
Mike snorted.
"Well." Angie chuckled. "At least this bunch is a lot nicer than the old ones were. They don't give me the creeps, and they stay out of the way, mostly."
"Yeah, they're okay," Mike agreed. "I think one of them is gay, but don't tell Mom," he advised. "I caught him and one of the cleaning staff out behind the kitchen door the last time I was at the house."
"What were you doing back behind the kitchen?" Angie asked, her brows arching. "Mr. Nosy Butt."
"Uh oh." Kerry could hear a very familiar argument starting. "Here we go."
"Hey, it's not my fault you never see the fun stuff," Mike retorted. "If you'd get your butt out of the library once in a while you would."
Kerry smiled, keeping her eyes on the darkened road as she let the good natured trading of insults go on around her. It felt like home used to be, back when they were all running around on the second floor of the big house, when the biggest thing they had to worry about was knocking over one of the alabaster statues near the stairs.
George Washington had toppled to his demise from an ill judged tackle on her part. She could almost see his white head tumbling down the steps, thumping and cranking all the way down until he reached the bottom, and the marble floor, and shattered into dozens and dozens of pieces.
She chuckled.
"You think that's funny?" Mike poked her. "Hah! And I thought you were on my side!" He poked her again. "Holy crap." He grabbed her shoulder and squeezed it.
"Mike!" Kerry hissed. "I'm driving! What the heck's your problem?"
"You've got muscles like a wrestler!" Her brother accused her.
"How would you know?" Angie jibed him, giving him a shove back against the seat. "Leave her alone, you weirdo."
Kerry suddenly felt fifteen years younger. "Stop pawing at me and I'll take my shirt off and show them to you back at Angie's." She warned her brother.
"And your tattoo." Angie teased.
"What?" Mike squealed, crawling up from the back seat and up halfway into the front of the truck. "You got one? You did?" He slid forward and almost landed on his head, between his sisters. "Bowah--"
"Oh for the love of--" Kerry released one hand off the wheel and grabbed him. "Mike, if I have an accident driving this damn thing I will never hear the end of it so cut that out! Sit still!" She checked her mirrors, glad to see she was almost alone on the road. "You want us to get pulled over by the cops?"
Mike twisted around and hung his legs over the seat back, his head almost hitting the console. "That would be funny as hell," he said. "Can you see the headlines in the Sentinel? We'd be the talk in the coffee shop for a month."
"Oh god." Kerry heard her cell phone go off. "Now what? Shh, both of you." She pulled it off her belt and keyed the speaker. "Kerry Stuart."
"Hey," Dar said.
"Hey." Kerry glanced quickly at the display. "Why are you up? It's 3:00 a.m. there, isn't it?"
"I can't sleep." Dar complained. "You're not here in bed with me."
Oh god. Kerry felt a sudden rush of blood to her face, as her siblings burst into laughter. "Thanks, hon." She sighed. "Things weren't chaotic enough in the cab of this pickup with my nutcase family here."
Dar chuckled. "Hey, it's the truth," she said. "How'd dinner go? Did you guys scandalize the town?"
"No, we didn't." Angie spoke up. "How are you Dar? How's England?"
"Annoying the crap out of me. Thanks for asking," Dar answered. "Other than that, I'm fine thanks, Angela. How's the packing going?"
"Ugh. Hard work." Mike announced, folding his hands over his stomach.
"Like you've done any." Kerry gave him a withering look.
"Everything's going fine, thanks for asking Dar." Angie covered her brother's mouth. "Thanks for lending me your significant other for a few days to help."
Dar chuckled again. "Well, she wouldn't let me rent her." She sighed. "But you better take good care of her or I'll reroute your paychecks to feed starving wolves in Oregon."
Mike was laughing so hard he was making the seat shake.
"You're so romantic," Kerry said, affectionately. "That's one of the things I adore the most about you, Dardar. Dinner went fine. We're headed back to Angie's house now." She slowed before the turn up to her sister's road. "You should try and get some sleep."
"Okay," Dar agreed. "Just wanted to find out how things went. Talk to you later, Ker. Love you."
"Love you too." Kerry closed the phone and put it on the seat next to her, aware of the sudden and almost awkward silence from her siblings. She let that go on for a few minutes, and then she glanced at them right before she pulled into Angie's driveway. "Least she got you two to stop fighting."
"Yeah." Angie sighed. "You guys sound so storybook married."
Kerry smiled, as she parked the truck turning off the engine and popping the door open. "That's probably the nicest thing you've ever said to me, sis. Thanks." She got out and Angie hopped out on the other side.
They looked at each other, and then they both slammed their respective doors, leaving Michael hanging upside down in the front seat.
"Hey!" he yelled through the door. "Hey! Help me out of here!"
Kerry and Angie bolted for the house, running up the sidewalk toward the front door as the horn started honking behind them, laughing as they headed for the door.
DAR WOKE UP as the early light shone through the window, her internal clock as dependable as it was at home despite the five hour time difference. She studied the outline of the sill, content to lay there wrapped around her pillow as sleep slowly receded.
Softly, far off, she could hear the sounds of the city. Horns and the sounds of machinery, no different than any other city she'd ever woken up in save the one where she lived. Out on the island, there was no real traffic, and if anything penetrated the soundproofed walls of the condo it was the roar of the ocean and the occasional hoot of a barge.
Or sometimes a mating peacock.
The peace there was something she'd come to appreciate. It gave her a period of space in which to live, and get ready for the day before she had to cross the water, and enter the insanity of Miami traffic and head to work.
Spending the morning with Kerry, going through their routine, the gentle banter, the morning run, or walking over to the gym in bad weather, talking together, or being silent together--she found with a start like that, her entire attitude at work had completely changed.
People used to absolutely avoid her. Dar realized that. She knew that she'd done a lot to foster the notion that she was likely to bite people's head off in the morning unless she'd at least gotten a gallon or two of café con leche into her, and that if you wanted anything, you'd better wait until after lunch.
Now? People actually approached her in the damned elevator on the way up to the fourteenth floor. Dar rolled over and stretched her body out. Sometimes some of them even smiled at her, and occasionally, when she was in a particularly mellow mood after one of their long joint showers, she smiled back.
Less coffee, less stress, less screaming, more fun. Dar smiled at the ceiling. Life was charming the hell out of her at the moment despite the fact she'd had to spend the previous night in a smoky pub. Stifling a yawn, she pulled the covers back and rolled up out of the bed and onto her feet, stretching her limbs out as she wandered over to the window and peered out.
Raining. Dar pondered the gray exterior glad she had her long coat handy. The meeting was not that far away, perhaps ten minutes. She reveled in the notion that she had a reasonable amount of time to order breakfast and shower before she had to get ready.
Nice.
She sat down at the sleek desk near the window and flipped open the room service menu, propping her head up on one hand as she studied its contents. After a minute she closed the book and touched the speakerphone keypad, dialing room service and placing her order with the amiable and cheery voice on the other end.
With that done, she opened the screen to her laptop and started it up, leaning back in the chair as she waited for it to boot. Since it was in the middle of the night back at the office, she really didn't expect there to be much mail but you never knew, and anyway, sometimes Maria forwarded her unintentionally funny jokes she'd come to enjoy.
The room was pleasantly cool, and she felt a sense of contentment as she watched some birds fly past outside the window, turning her head back only when her laptop beeped wanting attention. She keyed in her password and let it continue starting up her secured session to the office.
Mark had found them biometric laptops. They had a scanner attached that took fingerprints. Dar had tried one for a period of a week and ended up almost tossing it of
f the balcony on the 14th floor as the technology was just not ready for her.
Either that or she had weird fingerprints. Mark swore it worked for him. They were going to try retinal scanners next, but she figured if the stupid thing couldn't even read her index finger, they had scant chance of being able to read her eyeball.
"Technology sucks sometimes," she informed her laptop. "It's never where we want it to be, is it?"
The laptop bleeped back at her.
"Shut up." Dar leaned forward and reviewed her mail. As expected, there was nothing too urgent and she picked through them with casual interest, pausing to smile at a forwarded picture of a sunbathing cat from Kerry, and to shake her head at yet another request from Mariana for people to stop cooking fish in the building.
"Ah." She saw another one from the Mariana, and opened it. It was the softball team lineup, listing Kerry as captain and laying out the game schedule. She reviewed it, nibbling her lip as she realized they'd only be back from Europe a few days before the opening night. "Hm."
Mariana had told everyone that winning wasn't as important as participating. Dar understood that intellectually, but she knew full well that no one wanted to lose, least of all her, and really least of all her curiously competitive partner.
So. She opened a message and addressed it to Mark.
Hey. Make sure everyone shows up for those practice games since we'll be out here. I don't want to look like a jerk when we play the first one.
D
She reviewed it then sent the mail. That left the problem of when she and Kerry were going to practice, and she frowned. Maybe getting involved in the softball thing when they were traveling wasn't the best idea.
On one hand, she figured she could probably handle a game without much preamble, trusting what she thought of as a reasonable set of athletic skills and a cursory memory of the sport to carry her through.
Kerry, however, though she had good reflexes and could handle her body, really had nothing to go by in terms of knowing what to do in the game, and Dar had gone and volunteered her as captain.
