Dar and Kerry Series - Short Stories

by Melissa Good

  The roast beef had been excellent, she'd enjoyed the baked potato, and she and Dar had exchanged spoonfuls of chocolate mousse. It was one of the few times she'd had a 'convention' dinner and thoroughly liked it. They'd danced several times together, and all in all, they'd so far had a very good time.

  At a company party. Who'd have thunk it?

  Dar was talking to Duks about some of the upcoming projects for next year, but Kerry found she'd rather study her partner's tanned, muscular shoulder than join in. Dar had nice skin, smooth, with just a few scattered freckles distributed over it's surface.

  Pretty.

  She was still in vacation mode, she decided. Though a lot had happened to them in a week, it hadn't seemed nearly long enough to her now that it was over. The last day in on the boat she'd found herself wishing it was only the first day out, no matter how much trouble they'd gotten into.

  Maybe it was the candelight dinner Dar had treated her to, there on deck, with fresh caught lobster and a bottle of wine, just them and the stars and the music of the sea.

  "Ker?"

  Kerry propped her fist against the chair arm and rested her chin on it. "Hm?"

  "Feel like going home?" Dar asked, in a low voice. "I've had about enough socializing."

  "Have you been reading my mind again?"

  Dar chuckled. "C'mon. Let's say our goodbyes." She turned to the table and straightened. "Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's been fun."

  "Yes, it has." Mari agreed, with a smile. "It's time for me to get going as well. Early start tomorrow."

  A groan went around the group. "That is true." Duks said. "Tomorrow we start the filing torture."

  Dar stood up, and the rest of the table did as well, pushing chairs back and saying farewells as they edged through the still partying crowd heading for the door. As she walked across the room, her eyes caught the looks of people she passed, recognizing that for one of the first times ever since she'd started working for the company, there were more friendly expressions

  than not.

  She felt Kerry reach for her hand and clasp it, a glance showing that the blond woman had done it unconsciously. Dar folded her fingers around her partner's, rubbing her thumb against Kerry's knuckles. She was aware of just how precious it was, here she was the notorious Ice Bitch strolling through the ballroom holding hands after all, but she'd gone past caring what other people thought about her and Kerry.

  What she cared about was what Kerry and she thought about each other. She gave Kerry's hand a squeeze, and felt her ease closer and return the gesture with a shoulder to shoulder bump. They stopped by the cleaning closet pressed into emergency service as a coat room and reclaimed their leather, then strolled outside and across the now empty courtyard.

  "Brr." Kerry exhaled, watching her breath fog. "Need more antifreeze, I guess."

  Dar blinked her eyes in the dry air, scowling a bit as she turned the collar up on her jacket. "Yeah. This is ridiculous." She watched Kerry puff more little clouds as they waited their turn at the valet stand. "You want to stop for a.. um.."

  Green eyes peeked at her from under long, blond lashes. "Nightcap? Dixiecup, the last thing I need is more alcohol."

  "Cup of coffee." Dar amended, with a smile. "That stuff they had in there wasn't worth drinking."

  Kerry considered. "Yeah." She decided. "Pick someplace nice."

  "Got your ticket?"

  The blond woman offered her pocket to Dar, stifling a yawn as the taller woman slipped a hand inside and retrieved the valet stub. Then she leaned against Dar's conveniently warm, sturdy form as they waited for the car.

  Her cell phone rang as they got in. She waited for the valet to shut her door before she answered it, glancing at the caller id as she opened the flip. "Hey, Angie."

  "Happy new year, sis." Angela replied, with a chuckle. "Where are you?"

  "In the car." Kerry leaned back as Dar adjusted the driver's seat all the way back before she put the car into drive. "We're just leaving our company party. What about you?"

  "Family's all here at the house.' Angie said. "The usual, you know."

  "Mmhm. How's mom doing?"

  "Better." Her sister replied. "She's going to take dad's seat."

  Kerry's eyebrows shot up. "Really?"

  "Yes, really. It's been pretty wild around here. But I think it'll be okay." Angie said. "Hold on."

  "My mother's taking my father's senate seat." Kerry informed Dar, as she listened to muffled sounds on the phone.

  "Hm." Dar turned out of the hotel parking area and started east.

  "Hey, sis!" A different voice came on the line.

  "Hey, Mike." Kerry smiled in reflex. "How are you?"

  "I've got a girlfriend!"

  "Another one?" His sister laughed. "That was fast." She kicked off her shoes again, and wiggled her toes, glad of the heat in the Lexus. "Hope this one lasts longer than the rest of them."

  "Well, I'm not the monogamist you are." Her brother admitted. "But we'll see. Anyway, happy new year, sis. have fun!"

  "Thanks, you too. Tell everyone I say hi." Kerry responded.

  "Will do. Bye!"

  Kerry folded the phone and tucked it away. "That's so weird." She said,after a moment of silence.

  "About your mother?"

  "Yeah."

  They both were quiet for a little while, as Dar navigated the traffic filled streets. Then, as they were about to turn onto Biscayne Boulevard, Kerry turned suddenly to her partner. "You know, Dar, now that I.."

  At the same time, Dar started speaking. "Maybe we should just go."

  They both looked at each other. "Couch, pj's, hot chocolate, us." Kerry supplied succinctly.

  "Watching the ball drop on the big screen." Dar concluded. "Yeah." She neatly turned the car in a big U, and headed for the causeway. "Much better plan."

  Kerry wiggled her toes again in contentment.

  **

  Half an hour later they were undressed and lying together on the couch in a comfortable snuggle of flannel covered bodies. "Jesus." Kerry examined her sleeve. "I haven't worn these since I was in college back home."

  "You look adorable in them." Dar assured her. "Doesn't she, Chino?"

  The Labrador lifted her head and perked her ears up. "Growf."

  "See?" Dar chuckled.

  "I look like a dorky prep in them." The blond woman corrected her. "Look.. they're even plaid."

  "Better that than an overgrown elf." Dar lifted the hem of her Christmas green flannel nightshirt. "Shoulda come with a tassel hat."

  Kerry put her head down on the padded couch arm, relaxing into its comfortable surface as Dar wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. Times Square was being displayed in all its frenetic, crowded glory, and the thought foremost in Kerry's mind was one of utter relief that she wasn't there.

  "You ever do that?" Dar asked, idly riffling her fingers through Kerry's hair.

  "Be in Times Square?" Kerry asked. "Yeah." She watched the screen. "Year before I went to college. Whole family was in New York for some political thing or other. I ducked out of a function and went down there."

  "And?"

  Kerry was silent for a moment. "And it was incredible how completely alone you could feel in a crowd like that." She laid her hand on Dar's thigh. "I' ll take this view anytime."

  Dar kissed her on the curve of her neck, then repeated the act on her lips when Kerry turned her head. "How about this view."

  Kerry gazed up into those blue eyes. "Bite me, Big Apple." She turned her back on the television and indulged in a festivity much more to her liking.

  The ball dropped, the fireworks crackled, and Dick Clark cheered, all in vain, paling before a celebration as old as time itself.

  Happy New Year, Ya’ll!

  Ghosts of the Past

  Missy Good

  The small eight seater prop plane buzzed over Blackwell Field, coming around to the end of the runway and lining up to land. "Be down shortly." The pilot said. "Got y
our seat belt on?"

  "Yeap." His passenger responded. “I done buckled up.”

  The pilot glanced at the bit of silver mirror fastened to his console, studying the man behind him. "You from around here?" He asked. “Y’sound local.”

  "Yeap. Just outside Ozark."

  The pilot nodded, making a last adjustment before he aimed for the strip and slowed the props, pulling the nose of the plane up as the wheels touched down lightly, bounced, then made a more confident touchdown.

  As they taxied towards the small building that serviced the regional field, the trees on either side bent and rustled, the smell of pine flushing through the plane as the pilot jacked the windows open to let some air in.

  He parked the plane near a rusted hanger, and shut the props off, running through a short checklist on a clipboard that had seen far better days.

  He glanced behind him, to find the tall, broad shouldered man in the back peering out one of the small oval windows. "Need a ride somewhere?"

  "Ya'll got a car rental place round here?" His passenger asked. ‘Ain’t been in these parts in a while.”

  "In town." The pilot said. "I go through there I can drop ya."

  The man smiled briefly. "Thanks. That's all right." He extended a hand. "Name's Roberts. Andy Roberts."

  The pilot took his hand in a brief clasp, then released it. "Josh Blackwell." He said. "For you ask, yeah, somebody's great great something to do with this here field." He studied his passenger's face. "You all part of old Duke's family? I heard Sally's getting married this here weekend."

  "Yeap." Andrew turned and popped the door open, pushing the step out and letting in a cool breeze. "That's mah sister. Promised I'd see her get hitched." He climbed out and stretched, blinking into the golden sun starting to set over the trees. "So here ah am."

  Josh climbed out and opened the boot, removing a duffel bag he handed over, glancing at the patches on it as he did so. "Oh hay. You're the one went for the navy huh?"

  "Yeap." Andrew shouldered his duffel and waited for the pilot to lead the way. "I done went for the Navy."

  "You been overseas?"

  "Yeap."

  The pilot merely nodded in response, and headed for an old pickup truck parked on the edge of the field.

  **

  Andrew pulled his wallet out of his jeans and removed a credit card from it, handing it over to the single clerk behind the counter at the one desk car rental agency. The rest of the building was a mishmash of a rural supply and liquor store.

  Behind the hardware desk a man was seated, tipped back to lean against the wall with a ball cap tugged forward over his eyes, apparently fast asleep.

  The clerk took the card and went over to a stamping machine, putting a form in it and pressing an imprint. "Two hundred dollar on the card for gas an damages."

  "All right." Andrew agreed. "What if ah don't damage it and put the gas in?"

  "Put the charge back." The man handed over the card and pushed a set of papers over the counter. "Sign."

  Andrew did, and picked up the set of rusty keys on the desk. He turned and walked out, carrying his duffel over to the blue pickup truck and tossing it behind the driver's seat. Then he got in and adjusted it all the way back, giving the stick shift a waggle before he closed the door.

  He paused, and leaned on the steering wheel, looking out and down the dusty street with storefronts on either side. "Lord." He sighed and shook his head, starting the truck and putting it into gear. "Place aint' changed a damn bit."

  He pulled out and started through the town, twilight already starting to dim the details as faint lights sprung on behind old glass windows. After a few minutes driving, his cell phone rang.

  Keeping his eyes on the road, he pulled it out and answered it. "Yeap?"

  "Hey sailor boy."

  Andrew smiled in pure reflex. "Hey there pretty lady." He responded. "I done got here."

  "So I imagined. Changed any?"

  "Naw."

  "You know, I would really like to have gone with you." Cecilia's voice sounded a touch peeved. "It's been how many years, Andy? They might have grown up."

  Her husband snorted. "Enough I came." He said. "Ain't going to put you through mah whole family of assholes and mules. Aint worth it."

  "Well, I hope they don't make you miserable." Ceci said. "If they do and Dar hears about it she'll send their welfare checks to India."

  Andy chuckled wryly. "Ya'll are something."

  "You know she would." Ceci said. "She doesn't mess around."

  No, Andy thought, his daughter didn't mess around. If Dar said she was going to do something, you could take a safe bet on it.

  Dar had wanted to come with him, along with Ceci, and then Kerry had chimed in too. He could readily imagine the reaction on both sides and while he felt the hoohah would be fun to watch, he really had no desire to mess up his sister’s wedding for it.. "Ah'll be fine. Just going to see that hitching then head back."

  "Well, be careful." His wife said. "Call me tomorrow, okay?"

  "Ah will." Andrew said. "I done love you."

  The smile was very audible in Ceci's voice. "I love you too. Stay away from those snake handlers, okay?"

  Andrew chuckled and closed the phone. He drove out of the town and into the dark roads around it, only a few lone drivers coming the other direction. He glanced to the side as he passed the high school he'd gone to, and the church right near by, it's white clapboard siding almost reflective in the isolated streetlights.

  Small houses were scattered along the road, with ramshackle fences and the odd silhouette of a car up on blocks, or a truck in pieces. Then the road was plunged into darkness, and he was passing the cemetery.

  Wrought iron gates, and the hint of starlight on tombstones, and then Andrew slowed, turning his head and looking into the shadows, sure he'd seen a figure there. But on second look, the path was empty, and with a shrug he drove on, turning right off the paved road and onto the dirt one that would end up in the driveway of the house he'd been born in.

  He saw the barrel fire before he got to the end of the road, dark figures around it holding cans in front of the two story looming house behind it. He parked the truck in the cluster of other ones and paused, letting his hands rest on the steering wheel.

  His arrival had been noted, and he could see male forms moving towards him, one holding a flashlight. "Wall, this is gonna be fun." With a sigh, he opened the door, then slid out from behind the wheel and straightened just as the first figure arrived next to him.

  "Whoin the hell... son of a bitch it is you." The man said, pointing the flashlight beam on Andrew's face. "You little motherfucker."

  Andrew regarded him. "Lo there Jon"

  "Who is it?" Another voice came closer. "Ah, crap. I can't believe it." A lanky, tow headed man came into the circle of light. "Candy Andy."

  "Lo there Stu." Andy responded mildly.

  Both his brothers were shorter than he was, and slighter, and as the eldest Andrew didn't feel he needed to respond to their jackassery. 'Ya'll want to move out of the way? I got people to see."

  "Yeah? Be glad the old man's gone. He'd have blown your head off if he'd caught you here." Stu said. "You ain't wanted."

  "Stewy!" A younger, female voice cut through. "Is that Andy? Get the hell out of my way you idiot."

  Stu was shoved aside and he backed up as a woman appeared. "You had to ask him, huh Sally? Daddy's wishes didn’t mean nothing to ya?"

  "Andy." The woman threw herself into Andrew's arms. "Thanks for coming. Ignore these assholes." She turned. "Get the hell out of here. This is my marriage and I say who's coming to it."

  "Bitch." The two men retreated, back to the oil drum, joining a group of others standing there. Laughter rose as they all stared pointedly at the truck, but Andrew had already dismissed them.

  "Lo Sally." He regarded his sister. She had dark hair and eyes, and a sturdy body, her features bearing just a hint of the same angular planes as his own. "You done
stirred up a nest here ddn'cha"

  "Oh forget them." Sally said, gazing up at him. "I'm glad you're here. You got a bag? C'mon let's get you settled down before I have to get mah gun and shoot one of those a holes"

  Andrew grabbed his duffel and followed her, getting a lungful of moss and dirt and old wood as he climbed up onto the porch and into the house.

  "Daddy's ghost's gonna whup your ass, Sally!" Stu called in after her.