Winds of Change Book Two

by Melissa Good

  “Yuk.” Kerry took it and tossed it across the garden, then retreated back to the little outdoor stove to measure out some dried green tea leaves and added a handful of mint leaves along with it into the ceramic teapot.

  “C’mere.” Dar’s voice echoed softly over the garden, along with the rasp and scuff as she trotted down the steps. “Give me that.”

  Kerry smiled as she poured the heated water over the leaves, then set the top on to let the herbs steep. There was something charming and old fashioned about the beverage and she enjoyed mixing the tea leaves with other things to mix it up a little.

  “Got orange peel in there this time?” Dar cocked her arm and tossed the ragged lamb. “I brought out the cookies.”

  “Mint this time.” Kerry left the pot alone and went over to the bar again, gripping it and steeling herself for the effort of doing a chin up. She paused a moment then lifted herself off the ground, letting her legs relax.

  “Nice.” Dar sprawled in the canvas bucket chair, watching her. She took the lamb Chino tossed onto her stomach and threw it again. “You’re getting better at that.”

  Kerry managed a grin as she got through a couple more of the exercises, feeling the burn in her arms. “Thanks, honey.”

  “And you look sexy doing it.”

  “Dar, no one looks sexy doing pull ups.” Kerry let herself down and released the bar, shaking out her hands. “At best, you don’t look like a wuss.”

  Dar chuckled. “When I was in school they always tried to make me use the girls’ bars,” she said. “Idiotic.”

  “Cause you were too butch?” Kerry leaned over the chair and gave her a kiss on the head.

  “No. I was nearly six feet tall at the time. The bar was only a foot over my head. I could hop and get my chin over it. I finally just started using the guys’ high bar.”

  “And your gym instructors didn’t realize this? Where did they park their guide dogs?” Kerry asked. “Or were they just oblivious?”

  “I was a smart ass. They didn’t like me.”

  “That’s my favorite part of you.” Kerry grabbed the lamb and sent it flying. “Their loss.” She went over to the table, retrieved the teapot and poured out two cups, adding honey to them. Then she came back over to where Dar was sitting and set the tray down. “I never got the chance to try that in high school. We did do the uneven bars when I messed with gymnastics, though.”

  “Bet you were cute.” Dar picked up her tea and blew cautiously on it, then sipped.

  “Bet I was a complete dork and I have pictures to prove it,” Kerry said. “I think I hold my school record for falling flat on my butt, or worse on my head.” She handed Dar a cookie and took one, then sat down and leaned back as the dogs came trotting over. “Ah, the cookie monsters heard us chewing.”

  Dar broke off a bit of her cookie and offered it to Chino. “Want to turn on the news?”

  “Nope.”

  “Me either. Turned off the phone and I’m just going to enjoy the rest of our night.”

  Kerry lifted her tea cup and they touched edges with a soft clash of crockery. “Sounds good to me.”

  KERRY TAPPED HER boxing gloves together then edged around and started punching the heavy hanging bag in front of her.

  It was midmorning and she was thoroughly soaked in sweat, but satisfied with her efforts so far. She felt a deep burn in her shoulders as she pounded the bag’s surface.

  Dar was doing bench presses nearby, flat on her back on the pressing bench, steadily lifting a bar in an easy rhythm up from her chest.

  Kerry moved around to get a better look and amused herself by watching the play of the light on Dar’s nearly bare body, admiring the sculpted shape as she studiously exercised.

  A moment later the swinging bag swung a little further than she’d expected and whomped her backward. She rocked back off her feet and landed on her butt, arms flailing. “Whoa!” she yelped. “Ouch!”

  Dar racked her weight bar and got up, scooting over to where Kerry was now flat on her back, knees hiked up and one arm over her eyes as she laughed silently. “You okay?” Dar went down to one knee and put her hand on Kerry’s stomach. “Ker?”

  Kerry chortled softly. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She wiped the sweat from her eyes. “Serves me right for lusting after you in public.”

  “Huh?” Dar sat down next to her. “When were you doing that?” She glanced around, but the gym was empty save the two of them. She reached over and smoothed the sweat dampened hair from Kerry’s eyes and watched them close briefly, then open again.

  “Just now.” Kerry extended her legs out on the padded surface and folded her hands over her stomach. “I was so busy watching you I didn’t realize the bag was swinging at me and it smacked me in the head.”

  Dar leaned over and kissed her on the lips. “You really give my ego a boost.” She smiled. “But try not to do that, hon. You’ll end up with a bruise.”

  Kerry contentedly absorbed the look of affection in Dar’s eyes as she regarded her. “My ego raises your ego one.” She exhaled. “What a couple of goofy saps we are.”

  “We are,” Dar said. “Want to go for a swim?”

  “Yes.” Kerry sat up and tugged on the glove strings with her teeth. “That would feel absolutely awesome right now. I’m soaked.”

  Dar gently removed the strings from her incisors and untied the gloves for her, both of them sitting there on the padded ground splashed in warm sunlight from the windows. “Indoor pool, then hydro, then shower.”

  Kerry got up and collected her gear. “Then lunch.” She followed Dar through the gym toward the changing area. “I’m so damn glad we took today off. It’s so nice to chill out and spend some time just doing stuff.”

  “Uh huh.”

  “Just during the week when it’s quiet here instead of on the weekend, when it’s packed.” Kerry exchanged her boxing outfit for a swimsuit. “Not having to be at the office.”

  Dar came over and leaned on the teak wood locker. “Tired of our new one?”

  Kerry thought about that as she got her towel out and wrapped it around her neck. “I like our new place.”

  “I do, too,” Dar said after a long silence.

  They walked toward the gym’s indoor pool and passed through the door into a humid, chemical scented space with thick plastic panels surrounding a placidly lapping concrete lake.

  Kerry put her towel on a ring hung on the wall. “I just like spending time like this not working,” she admitted with a wry grin. “Maybe after our vacation I’ll get it out of my system. I think I got the idea of not working in my head after we got let go, so that minute of ‘oh cool!’ is still in there.”

  Dar nodded in a thoughtful sort of way. She hung her own towel and stretched her arms out, flexing her hands and then putting them on her hips. “Yeah,” she eventually responded. “Is what it is I guess.” She walked over to the side of the pool and dove in.

  Kerry folded her arms over her chest and thought about that for a long moment, long enough for Dar to surface and stroke across to the other side of the pool with an easy motion. Then she shrugged and went to the side of the pool, preparing to dive in herself.

  Her attention was drawn by the sound of the door to the pool room opening and closing and she glanced over to see a tall, heavily built man entering. “Good morning,” she said, vaguely remembering the man’s face but not entirely sure of from where.

  He paused, and regarded her. “Morning.” He changed direction and headed her way. “Been wanting to speak to you two people.”

  Kerry wasn’t surprised to hear the motion of water and a splash as Dar came up out of the pool, sensing the compression of the air as Dar arrived at her back.

  The man’s voice was gruff but not threatening, but it was nice to have that presence behind her anyway. “Sure,” Kerry said. “What can we do for you?” She remembered who the man was just as he closed on them.

  “Hello, Jim,” Dar said. “What’s up?”

  He nodd
ed at Dar. “My daughter told me all about what happened at the store. I appreciate your getting involved, Roberts, because I don’t like people being jerks to anyone on this island, much less my kid.”

  “He was a jerk,” Dar said. “I didn’t appreciate that either.”

  Jim nodded again. “So thanks for that. But now we come to this. I don’t like the way you people live, and I don’t want my kid exposed to it.”

  He stopped speaking and regarded them.

  “Too fucking bad,” Dar responded promptly. “Grow up and come into the twenty first century. Kerry and I don’t bother anyone.” She put her hand on Kerry’s back and felt the tension under her fingertips.

  “I know that,” he said. “Or I’d have already had you kicked out of here. I’m not into bullshit and I don’t think you are either. But my daughter means everything to me.”

  Kerry put her hands on her hips. “What exactly do you think we’re going to do to her?” she asked. “She told us you didn’t like gay people. Okay. I get it. My father didn’t either. But you think we’re going to sell her tickets to a Melissa Etheridge concert and turn her gay or something?”

  He paused and looked at her.

  “I was gay before I met Dar,” Kerry said. “And I was brought up in a very conservative family, went to Sunday school, went to Christian high school, you name it. Didn’t stop me from being gay.”

  “We don’t recruit.” Dar looked and sounded faintly amused. “Jim, I grew up on a Navy base. If proximity to testicular overload could have kept me straight, it would have. Trust me. I saw more well hung naked men before I was ten than you probably have in your life.”

  Kerry pinched the bridge of her nose. “That was a mental image I didn’t need,” she muttered.

  “That’s not the point,” Jim said. “I don’t want her getting any ideas.”

  “Well, all I can tell you is, any ideas she might get won’t be from us. We’re in a closed relationship.” Kerry said. “I’ve never talked to your daughter about anything other than artisanal cheese and French bread.”

  Dar leaned closer. “I get the protective father thing, Jim. I’ve got one, too. Lucky for me he’s not a closed minded bigot like you are.”

  “I’m not a bigot,” he said. “I just don’t like gay people. I don’t want them around my family.” He didn’t seem angry, just resolute. “So my advice to you is find some other place to live, because I’ve got ways to make it very uncomfortable for you here. Don’t push me to that.”

  Kerry felt Dar’s whole body stiffen and she put her hand out to stop her forward motion. “Not worth it, hon.”

  Dar stopped and went still and took a few breaths. “No, you’re right,” she said in a flat tone. “Jim, you better find yourself a new place to live. Because if it’s the last thing I do on earth I will ruin you and you will truly regret ever saying that to me.”

  The ice in Dar’s voice put a chill down Kerry’s spine. She stayed still and watched Jim and Dar lock eyes, keeping her jaw locked shut on the torrent of angry words piling up behind her tongue.

  Jim’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t take threats well, Roberts.”

  “Neither do I,” Dar responded instantly, a rasp on the edge of her voice. “Especially not a slimy, pointless threat like yours is. I’ve lived here a decade and paid your resident’s fees. You took them and you knew damn well what my lifestyle was. So now I save your damn daughter from being raped and you threaten to have me evicted? Fuck you. Fuck you and everyone like you.”

  Dar was furious. Kerry had never actually seen her this angry and she was at a loss to know what to do to defuse it. Or if she should, because that anger felt clean and right to her.

  It was at that point where dangerous things could happen and for a moment she was sure they would. Dar’s body was vibrating with tension and Kerry knew there was a potent, actual threat in the tall frame next to her.

  Maybe Jim realized it. Or maybe he was smarter than he appeared, because he took a step back and lifted one hand up in a holding gesture. “I can see this has the potential of getting very unpleasant for both of us.”

  “Are you used to having people just run away or cave in when you threaten them?” Kerry asked with a note of curiousness in her voice. “Please don’t expect that from us.”

  He turned his eyes to her. “I am used to that and people usually do back off. I’ve got a lot of power on this island and most people who live here want to.”

  Kerry felt Dar shift next to her. “I appreciate that. It’s a very nice place to live. But the business Dar and I are in? You don’t want to get in that kind of fight with us.”

  He exhaled and put his fists on his hips, shifting his attention from Kerry to Dar’s set, cold expression. “Know what? You’re right,” he said. “You did me a big favor. I’m just scared and my wife is scared, that you’re going to influence our daughter. Especially that she told us you offered her a job. I get crazy.”

  Kerry felt Dar slowly relax next to her. “That was my screw-up,” she said. “She said she wasn’t going to college and we just started a new business. She’s a bright kid. I had no idea you were a homophobe until after I asked her.”

  He shook his head. “She’s going to work for me,” he said, “but I’m...” He lifted a hand again and then let it fall. “Apologies. Just stay away from her.” He turned and walked hurriedly out of the pool area, letting the door swing shut behind him.

  Dar let out a long, shaking breath. “Mother fucking son of a bitch.”

  Kerry nodded. “What you said.”

  “I think I’m going to throw up.” Dar folded her arms over her stomach, hunching her shoulders and blinking. “Holy crap.”

  “We absolutely are going to move,” Kerry said after a moment. She put her hand on Dar’s arm. “But at our time and when we feel like it, not his.”

  “Yeah.” Dar went over and sat on one of the high top chairs scattered around, leaning back and covering her eyes with one hand.

  “You okay, hon?” Kerry went over and took hold of her free hand, chafing the cold fingers between her own. “I thought for a minute I was going to be a witness to murder there.”

  “Close. I was seeing blood red,” Dar admitted. “What an idiot.”

  Kerry saw the pulse point fluttering against the skin of Dar’s neck and she shifted her hands, moving them to her shoulders and gently massaging them. “Easy, babe,” she murmured. “Just breathe, huh?”

  “Ungh.” Dar grunted. “What a jerk.”

  “Maybe we should have gone into work instead,” Kerry said. “This wasn’t what I was expecting to get out of our pool session.” She continued to knead the skin across Dar’s shoulders and felt the tension slowly ease.

  “Holy crap he pissed me off.”

  “Yeah. I know.” Kerry leaned over and kissed the damp skin behind Dar’s right ear. “Really not worth you getting so worked up, my love. There are always idiots in the world, you know?”

  “I know. I just didn’t expect...” Dar leaned to one side, resting her elbow on the chair arm and letting her head lay on Kerry’s shoulder. “Didn’t expect to get that kind of reaction for doing something I thought was right.”

  No. Kerry sighed, and draped her arm over Dar’s shoulders. She remembered with somber vividness the moment in her own life when she had to face that hatred and she knew in her gut what Dar meant.

  “Why the hell do people have to be so damned stupid?” Dar asked. “At what point is humanity going to grow the fuck up and stop inventing reasons to hate?”

  “C’mon. Let’s go back home and play with our kids,” Kerry said. “I’ve about lost my taste for the facilities here today.”

  Dar got up off the chair and took Kerry’s hand in hers as they walked across the concrete deck back toward the gym. “You know what we could do?”

  Kerry cleared her throat a little. “Find a place in the Grove?”

  “Mind reader.”

  KERRY FINISHED PACKING their overnight bags and set
them down near the door. She glanced over her shoulder at the couch where Dar was curled up with both dogs draped over her as she studied a small notebook.

  She was wearing a pair of dark cargo pants, a rugby shirt and looked quite adorable to Kerry’s appreciative eyes. Especially with Mocha curled up behind her left knee, resting his small head on it.

  It was quiet and peaceful and the stress of the morning had slowly dissipated, though the feeling of disappointment didn’t. Looking around at this place she’d called home for the last few years now made her a little sad.

  Ah well. Kerry sighed and leaned against the door, dismissing the thoughts as unproductive. It was late afternoon. They had about a half hour before they would have to leave for the airport and she’d just received a call from the marina letting her know that Andrew and Ceci were pulling into a guest slip and tying up.

  “Hon?” Kerry went over and perched on the arm of the couch. “We going to tell your folks about Jim?”

  “Yes,” Dar said without looking up. “In case he decides to try something stupid while we’re gone I want them to know what’s up.”

  “You think he will?”

  Dar shrugged. “Depends. Did he really back off or did he just not want to end up in a boxing match with me?”

  Kerry got up and went to her briefcase and Dar’s somewhat retro looking messenger bag and started putting the folders full of presentation material into them. “Are we letting your dad drive us to the airport?”

  “Nah, I’ll just park the truck there.”

  Dar got up and set Mocha down on the floor, then walked over to the dining room table and handed over her notebook. “I’m glad we’re going out of town tonight.”

  “Me too. I still feel kinda slimy after what happened this morning.” Kerry tucked the notebook into Dar’s bag along with a sack of hard candies. She fastened the flap and stood back, resting her hands on a chair and considering if she’d remembered everything.

  “Thanks.” Dar nibbled her ear, sending her thoughts rapidly off track. “For taking care of all the details so I don’t show up there with half my gear forgotten.”