by Melissa Good
It didn’t take long. She had her drink and was sucking contentedly on it when she caught a motion out of the corner of her eye and turned to see a tall, hooded figure casually making its way towards her. Right on time. Briefly, Kerry wrestled with her conscience, considering what she was doing was meddling rated a twelve on a one to ten scale.
On the other hand, she reasoned, as Andrew paused and watched a seagull before he continued. On the other hand, this is my family now, and I love them. Dar understood that, right? “Hi, Dad.”
“Hey there, kumquat.” Andrew dropped into the chair across from her. “Whatcha got in the glass?”
“It’s a fruit and yogurt milkshake.” Kerry pushed it towards him.
“Try it.”
He picked it up and sniffed it suspiciously, then took a small sip.
“Huh. That ain’t half bad.”
Kerry smiled, then leaned forward and cocked her head. “Did you get hurt?” A bandage covered half the shadowed face, almost obscuring his right eye.
“Naw.” Andrew returned her glass. “Some damn crazy stuff the VA’s doin’.” He cleared his throat. “Gov’ment gimme pig kinda thing.”
“Are they trying to fix some of the scars?” Kerry inched her chair closer. “That’s where the really bad ones were.” She peered curiously at him, noting the embarrassed glower that was the very image of his daughter’s. “Can I see?”
“No you may not, young lady.” Andrew growled at her. “So don’t you be looking at me like that.”
Kerry gazed compassionately at him.
“Stop that.”
She gave him her best sad puppy look, the one that always worked on Dar.
“I said stop that,” the tall man rasped. “Those damn green eyes ain’t workin’ on me, hear?”
She mentally counted to ten.
“Aw, shit.” Andrew scooted his chair closer. “It ain’t hardly nothing.
Damn doctors were just tryin’ t’fix it so it didn’t smart so damn much.”
Kerry lifted a hand up slowly and touched the fastener on the bandage, feeling the skin tense under her touch, as Andrew’s eyes closed in reflex. She pulled the white gauze aside, and leaned closer. “Oh. I see.”
The two large, knotted scars that had almost covered the right side of his face had been seemingly removed, replaced by what looked like a thin layer of reddened, tacked in place skin. “Is that a graft?”
The blue eyes opened and regarded her. “Fake. Some new stuff,” he muttered.
“Ohh. Artificial skin. Yeah. I saw a special on that.” Kerry gently put the bandage back into place. “Cutting edge technology. In fact, um,” she Eye of the Storm 97
laughed softly, “we administer the mainframes it was developed on.”
“Yeah, well, won’t look any prettier, but it sure damn ’nough feels better,” Andrew admitted. “Hurt to move the other way.”
Kerry brushed his other cheek with her fingertips, resisting the urge to give him a hug. “I’m glad. I know Dar will be glad to hear it too.”
“Mmph.” Andrew leaned back and stuck his hands in the pockets of his hooded sweatshirt. This was his summer version, she realized, as it had the sleeves cut off to expose his muscular arms. “How’s my kid?”
“She’s all right.” Kerry settled back too. “It was kind of a tough couple of days.”
“You go up there with her?”
Kerry nodded.
“Good girl.”
They were silent for a bit.
“She kind of knocked everyone’s socks off,” Kerry finally said, feeling her way very cautiously.
Andrew smiled, his eyes briefly glinting with paternal pride. “I bet.”
Then he fell silent again.
“I...got to meet your wife.” Kerry saw the flinch. “At the service and then we stopped by where she lives this morning.”
His eyes focused on something out on the horizon and he remained quiet, watching and listening.
Kerry took her time, wanting above all not to hurt him. “It’s...I’ve been wondering all day what I was going to say to you when I saw you.”
“She’s doin’ all right,” Andrew finally rasped. “Ain’t she?”
How to answer that? “No. I don’t think she is.” She spoke on an exhale. “She seemed really alone.”
He stared at her intently, devouring everything.
“I mean she lives in a nice place but,” Kerry clasped her hands to keep them from shaking, aware of how delicate a line she was treading,
“everything was very...stark, very plain and functional and it was so strange. There weren’t any colors.”
The waiter drifted back over. “Something for you, sir?”
“Whiskey,” Andrew answered in a clipped voice.
Kerry waited for the waiter to leave then put a hand on Andrew’s knee. “I’ll stop, if you want me to.”
“No.” He seemed tired. “G’wan. She wasn’t...sick or nothin’, was she? I mean...”
“I don’t think so, no.” She took a breath. “Just very alone.” Kerry steeled herself. “I think she really misses you.”
He was totally motionless for a long moment. “Thought she’d have started over by now,” he answered in a remote voice. “S’what she said she’d do. Find her someone who wouldn’t run off on her like I done.”
Kerry took his hand in hers. “That’s not what she did.” She took a breath. “I think she lost the most important thing in her life and there was nothing that could replace that, so she didn’t even try.”
The waiter came and delivered Andrew’s shot. “Get you folks an 98 Melissa Good appetizer or something?”
“Um...a basket of Cajun shrimp,” Kerry told him, just to make him go away.
The shadowed eyes regarded her in bleak shock. “Dar tell her about me?” Andrew finally asked bluntly.
“No,” Kerry replied quietly. “She promised she wouldn’t and I know she’d never break a promise to you.” She took a folded piece of paper from her shirt pocket and put it in the palm of his hand, closing his fingers around it. “And I didn’t think I had the right. Not without talking to you first. But I did write down the phone and the address.” Her eyes searched his face. “If you wanted to use them.”
His hand tightened around the paper and he sat very still, blue eyes shifting in intense thought. “She didn’t forget about me, huh?” he asked, at last, in a mild wondering tone.
The awful tension gripping Kerry relaxed. “I don’t think anyone who met you could forget you,” she murmured. “You’re a very special person.” She leaned back, emotionally exhausted, then deliberately picked up the shot of whiskey and downed it in a single gulp. “Brr.” She shuddered as the alcohol burned its way down, sending a relaxing flow through a body not accustomed to the hard stuff.
Andrew blinked at her in surprise, then drew his hand back and opened it, looking at the piece of paper before he tightened his fist and stuck it into his pocket. “Yer pretty damn special yourself, Kerry,” he remarked in a gentle voice. “I can see why my kid’s so stuck on you.” He watched her lick her lips. “You want ’nother one?”
Kerry rubbed her nose. “Um. No. I don’t usually do that. I was just a little wound up. Sorry. I’ll have him get another.”
Andrew snagged her smoothie glass and sucked on that instead.
“Naw. This is all right.” He looked up as the waiter put the basket down.
“Can you get me one more of these damn things?”
“Um, sure.” The man looked confused but willing, and left, after marking down something on his pad.
Dar’s father leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “How’d my kid handle it?”
Kerry took a shrimp, examining it. “It was rough. I think what happened really hurt her.” She booted the bags next her lightly. “I got her some treats. Just to cheer her up a little.”
Andrew peeked into the bag. “Lord.” He managed a slight grin. “Got you enough chocolate there?”
Kerry smiled back. “Want to come help administer it?”
The answer came back surprisingly fast. “Yeap. I think I’d like to do that. Need to talk at her about a few things anyhow.”
Kerry put a bill down on the table and picked up the styrofoam plate of shrimp. “C’mon.” She offered him a spicy nugget. “Share?”
“I’d better take custody of them bags,” came the gruff reply, as Andrew joined her and they walked down the patio into the setting sun.
“No sense in risking good chocolate. You might trip or something.”
Eye of the Storm 99
“You sound just like Dar when you say that.”
“Doncha mean she sounds like me?” Andrew countered, tasting a shrimp. “Jesus H. Christ in a Humvee, girl. What the hell are you eating there?” He swallowed a mouthful of the drink he’d taken along.
“Um. It’s kinda spicy, huh?” Kerry smiled sheepishly. “Sorry.
Shoulda warned you. I’ve gotten to like things a lot hotter since I’ve met Dar.”
“Heh.” Andrew chuckled.
“Hmm?” Kerry gave him a puzzled look and saw the amused twinkle in his eyes. “Ow.” She realized what she’d said and groaned.
“Daaaadd.”
“Heh. Tips of yer ears turn pinker than a pig’s butt, y’know that?”
Kerry reached her free hand up and covered her ear in reflex. “Ugh. I know, I know.”
DAR WAS SPRAWLED on the beach, her butt firmly perched on dry sand and her legs stretched out into the surf, glistening as the incoming tide washed over them. She leaned against a piece of up thrust coral rock and tossed bits of broken shell lazily into the water, watched alertly by a curled up Chino next to her.
She wiggled her toes and watched the long shadows cast by the setting sun behind her flicker, the warmth on her back and shoulders combined with the somnolent salty air coaxing her almost into sleep.
The waves moved in softly with their familiar rush and hiss, and the faint tinkle of shells being left behind for lucky hunters to find. Dar closed her eyes and enjoyed the peace, sorely needed after the past few days.
At least she had a whole day tomorrow to relax before the new week started. She ran through a list of possible activities, then decided to ask Kerry if she’d like some time underwater. A nice trip out on the boat.
Maybe they’d picnic…
Dar opened her eyes and gazed out at the empty horizon. “Damn, my life has sure changed, Chino.”
“Rrfh.” The Labrador licked her chops and put her head back down on Dar’s thigh.
“I used to work all weekend.” She stroked the dog’s soft ears. “Or sleep. If I’d finally worn myself out enough. I definitely never looked forward to Fridays before.” Now, she not only did, but also resented when meetings or conference calls kept her late at the office, and she wondered briefly just how much that had impacted her job performance.
Probably a lot, she admitted privately. She knew she used to keep up on every minute detail, sometimes startling staff members with her sharp questions. That…just didn’t happen anymore. She had let a lot of things slip, left a bunch of issues resting on her crew, and mostly on Kerry’s shoulders, trusting them to do their jobs, and hoping it didn’t come back to bite her in the butt.
100 Melissa Good It felt so strange.
But so far…so far, no major disasters had happened, amazingly enough. Little things, sure, but they always did anyway, and she’d come to realize lately that maybe, just maybe she’d been a touch too involved.
“Bet I drove everyone out of their cotton picking minds, Chino,” she confessed. “I’m lucky they didn’t toss me off the fourteenth floor balcony.” She stifled a yawn and tossed a last shell into the water. “We’d better go back. See what your other mommy’s been up to, hmm?” She leaned over. “Where’s Kerry?”
The milky ears shot up and Chino raised her head, cocking it to one side.
“Go find Kerry,” Dar urged with a grin, watching as the puppy scrambled to her feet and ambled off. She pulled herself up and dusted her shorts off, then followed, digging her toes into the warm sand with a feeling of distinct pleasure.
“HMM.” KERRY DUCKED into the kitchen. “She must have taken Chino for a walk.” She put her packages down, slipped the chocolate out and set it on the counter. “She loves to run on the beach.”
“My kid or the dog?” Andrew asked, leaning on the counter.
“Yes,” the blonde woman answered, with a smile.
“Mmph. She always wanted a dog.”
“She told me,” Kerry replied quietly.
The tall man pushed off the counter and went to stand by the sink, gazing out at the water. “Wasn’t easy for a kid. The way we lived.” He paused. “Moving round all the time. Dar didn’t make too many friends.”
“Moving doesn’t always cause that.” Kerry moved over and leaned next to him. “I lived most of my life in the same spot. I knew a lot of people, but I figured out pretty early on that most of the people who wanted to be friends with me had a motive.”
Andrew nodded a couple of times.
“It wasn’t that bad, really. I had a lot of fun growing up. I think it was best before I was old enough to realize what was going on with my family,” she mused. “I was a pretty happy kid.”
They stood in silence for bit. “Miss yer family?” Dar’s father finally asked.
Kerry had to think about that. “I miss my sister…and my brother. We were close.” She paused. “My aunts and uncles…we used to have big gatherings. They’d all be there, with all my cousins. We’d get pretty rowdy sometimes.”
Andrew merely listened and watched, a natural state with him.
“I don’t miss checking myself in the mirror six times before leaving my room.” A distant look entered the green eyes. “Or never being quite good enough.” Her head cocked to one side thoughtfully. “Being here on my own was such a change. I’d go back there for holidays and wonder how I ever lived like that for so long.”
Eye of the Storm 101
The outer gate clanked, audible even through the closed windows, and they peered out to see Dar entering with Chino bouncing around near her knees. A smile crossed Kerry’s face in unconscious reaction at the sight, as the crimson rays turned her lover’s tanned skin a burnished golden hue. She wore a very brief, cut off sleeveless sweatshirt and a pair of ragged denim shorts and there certainly was a lot showing to admire.
“Good Lord,” Andrew complained. “Think she’s living in the streets with them clothes.” He shook his head and stomped to the door, flung it open, and put his hands on his hips. “Whatcha think ye’re doing out there half naked young lady?”
Dar’s dark head jerked up from where she brushed off the sand from her knees and she blinked. “Dad?”
“J’think it’s the mail man talkin’ t’you like that?”
His daughter straightened up and mimicked him, putting her hands on her hips, then glanced down her long frame. “Half naked? This isn’t half naked.” She paused, then grinned and pulled off the sweatshirt, leaving nothing but her sports bra and muscle tone. “This...is half naked.” She spread her arms cheerfully. “See?”
“Lord have mercy.” Andrew clapped a hand over his eyes. “Git in here.” He pointed off to his right. “And you stop laughing.”
Kerry was leaning over the sink, trying to catch her breath from giggling. “Oh god. I can’t.”
Dar trotted up the steps with Chino scrambling next to her and entered. “C’mon, Dad. It’s not like you’ve never seen my in my underwear.”
One blue eye appeared. “There was a lot less of you t’see when you were six and running round without yer clothes on, I’ll tell ya that,”
Andrew groused. “Or when you were a tot and pulled yer diapers off all the time.”
“Dad.” Dar rolled her eyes.
Kerry felt a new set of giggles coming on.
“Damn good aim you had,” her father went on, irrepressibly. “Used them thing
s like a slingshot.”
“Dad!” his daughter got out an outraged squawk.
“Heh. Teach you to sass me, won’t it?” But the blue eyes twinkled gently. “Didn’t figure back then, though, such a scrappy little thing’d grow up so damn pretty.”
It caught Dar off guard. She produced the most tongue tied, bashful look Kerry had ever seen on an adult human being and she sorely wished she had the digital camera to capture it forever. “I’m not surprised.” She distracted Andrew from his blushing offspring. “Look who she takes after.” She winked at him, then laughed. “Oh. Neat. Now I can say I made a sailor blush.”
“Sonofabiscuit,” Andrew muttered.
“I’m going to go get some email sorted.” Kerry slipped past them and diplomatically left the two alone. “Come get me when you feel like dinner.”
102 Melissa Good Dar watched her go wistfully, then took a breath and ducked into the laundry room, retrieved a white cotton T-shirt and pulled it on. “Better?”
She gave her father a wry look.
He grunted, but his mouth twitched into a grin.
“Thirsty?” Dar went to the refrigerator and retrieved a pitcher of grape juice. She could feel the unspoken emotion between them and it was making her a little nervous. “Wasn’t expecting you to be by. You in the neighborhood?”
He took the glass she offered and held it. “Not really. Kerry done gave me a call. Had a few things to say.”
Dar was a little surprised, but she nodded. “Want to go inside?” She led the way into the living room and staked out a corner of the couch, watching him settle into the corner of the loveseat at right angles to her.
They were both, she realized, a little uncomfortable. “What’s the Band-Aid about?”
He reached a hand up and touched it. “Just some stuff they’re doing to make it hurt a little less.”
“Mmm.”
They were silent for a bit.
