Her father chuckled softly. ”I noticed.”

Dar found a smile winding its way onto her face. ”All right, let me go dump some water on my head.” She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and reached for the brace. ”Stupid thing.”

”Here, gimee that.” Andrew took the brace and slipped it on with experienced hands. ”Think I still remember how, seeing as how I spent half yer damn childhood sticking some kinda bandage on you.” He adjusted the straps.

Dar leaned back and watched him. ”Swelling’s almost gone, at least that’s working out.” She sighed, lifting her leg as he finished and pushing herself upright. ”Thanks.” She stood up and almost fell as a wave of dizziness washed over her. ”Damn.”

”Aw hell.” Andrew grabbed her hastily. ”Hang on.” He got an arm around her and lifted her up, cradling her like a child. ”All right, take it easy, rugrat.”

Dar blinked as her head finally cleared, and she sucked in a breath.

”Okay. I’m all right.” She rubbed her temples irritatedly. ”You can put me down.”

Her father snorted. ”Yeah, yeah.” He walked out of her bedroom ignoring her protests, and finally let her down on the couch. ”Quit yer bitchin, will ya? I’ve had to carry a lot heavier things’n you a hell of a lot farther than that,” he reminded her. ”You remember Moose?”

Dar settled back against the couch and caught her breath. ”Yeah, I sure do. I used to think he was an alien, never saw a human being eat as much as he did.”

”Yeah, well, I had to carry his butt out three miles a couple years back. Damn near killed me. I made him eat Christly granola bars for three months after that.” He sat down next to her and patted her thigh.

”So don’t you fuss at me.”

“Okay.” Dar capitulated meekly.

He rubbed his hands together.“‘Hungry?”

“A little.”

“Got me some aigs inside,” Andrew said. “Fancy kitchen setup you got there.”

Dar managed a wry smile. “Kerry’s touch,” she said. “I never did learn to cook.”

“Sa’llright.” Her father chuckled. “Neither did I.” He stood. “I’ll bring in what I scrabbled up. It probably won’t kill you.”


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Dar stifled a yawn, and nodded, pensively staring at the table as he disappeared.


Chapter

Twelve

KERRY FELT LIKE she had a huge, red, white and black target painted right on her chest as she walked into the building. She already had a stomach ache, and she hadn’t even hit the elevator yet. She nodded nervously at the guard as she moved past him.

”Ms. Stuart?” The man said, leaning towards her a little.

”Yes?” She paused, wondering if he had orders to stop her or something.

He walked around the desk and came closer. ”Is Ms. Roberts doing okay?” He shuffled his feet nervously, and looked around. ”I know you guys usually come in together, so... ”

Kerry smiled warmly at him. ”She’s fine, thanks for asking,” she reassured him. ”Did anyone else from fourteen come through here yet?”

He knew what she was asking. ”No, ma’am. You’re the very first. ”

Kerry nodded. ”Okay, thanks. I’ll tell Dar you were asking for her.”

Her green eyes twinkled. ”Wish me luck today.”

He licked his lips. ”Are you...” He left the statement unfinished.

”Oh no.” Kerry shook her head firmly. ”But someone has to hold the paper bag up while everyone else jumps through it, you know?”

She knew the word would spread within minutes. ”Dar asked me to.”

He nodded. ”Gotcha.” He sketched a salute at her. ”Good luck, ma’am.”

Kerry continued on, riding in solitary splendor up to her floor, and exiting into a very empty corridor. Her steps took her to Dar’s office first, and she used her key for the first time, letting herself in to where Maria would usually already be working. The outer office was somberly silent. The secretary’s desk was neat as a pin, but missing the usual personal items Maria had kept there. Her cube of pictures, for instance, and the intriguing prism that scattered light over the room, a gift from Dar.Kerry felt irrationally sad at the sight and she ran a hand over the wood of the desk, swallowing down a surge of frustration. ”This is so senseless.” She picked up the contents of the in box, then she moved into the inner office, feeling her lover’s absence like a physical blow.

She noticed that Dar had left everything the way it was. Even the fish were sitting forlornly on the clean surface of the desk, the light from the window catching them in flashes of blue and crimson. The only thing Hurricane Watch

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she’d taken, Kerry realized, were the dolphins she’d given her.

”Oh, Dar,” Kerry exhaled, feeling sick. The laptop sat on her desk in silence, giving mute testimony of its owner’s abandonment. She wondered what had gone through Dar’s mind as she’d given that up. It was the tangible badge of her office, really, giving her access into the heart of the company. Giving her the authority, which now, albeit briefly, rested in Kerry’s hands. With a sigh, she collected what was in Dar’s inbox as well, and then stepped around the desk, and headed for the back entrance to her own office.

She could, she knew, boot up the computer in Dar’s office and work from there, but she had no intention of sending that particular message.

She even had Dar’s passwords, the ultimate expression of her lover’s trust in her, and if she’d wanted to, she could have brought down mainframes all across the world with Dar’s top clearance and access.

But she had no intention of sending that message either.

She entered her office and put the papers down, reaching over and booting up her computer, then grabbing her coffee cup and trudging across the hallway to get some coffee.

Her back was to the door, and she didn’t see who entered, but it also gave her a moment to decide on her response when the newcomer greeted her.

”Kerry.” Mariana’s voice sounded very tired.

The blonde woman turned, and took a breath. ”Hi.”

”I didn’t expect to see you here,” the Personnel VP told her honestly. ”How’s Dar?”

Kerry took a sip of her coffee. ”She’s all right, taking it easy at home.” She paused. ”She tried to call you last night.”

The other woman sighed, and leaned back against the wall. ”I went out and got drunk,” Mariana admitted. ”I saw her number on the caller ID. I was going to call her back today.” She looked at Kerry. ”You know Alastair has put a hold on her resignation.”

”Yes, I know,” Kerry answered quietly. ”I spoke to him,” she exhaled, ”Let’s go into my office a minute.” She followed Mari into the room and closed the door. ”Look, I don’t know what’s going to happen...” she began.

”He’s on his way here, Kerry,” Mariana told her wearily. ”And he’s very upset.”

”I know,” Kerry responded. ”I talked to him for about an hour yesterday. I told him everything, about José, about Eleanor, and about that pig bastard.” She sat on the edge of her desk. ”And I told him it was all my fault.”

”Your fault?” Mariana started forward. ”Kerry, what in blazes are you talking about? What do you mean it’s your fault?”

”I lost it.” Kerry gazed at her. ”I...lost...it. Dar went all that time without giving in to his harassment, not a word from her, and she could have wiped the camp with him,” she told Mari, ”and I blew it. I blew it 144

Melissa Good

because I couldn’t keep the lid on when he needled me.” She put her coffee down and got up to pace. ”Without that, he’s got nothing...nothing, Mari. Even with those stupid pictures, he still has nothing, but with that, he had enough to...” she stopped, and leaned on the window’s cool glass. ”He hit Dar in her one weak spot,” she concluded softly. ”Me.”

Mariana slowly sat down in one of the visitor’s chairs. ”No,” she disagreed quietly. ”Oh, yes, I mean sure, you’re right, but he never should have gotten that far, Kerry.” She leaned on her elbows. ”Dar was right. I should have stopped it.”

The woman looked like a truck had driven over her. Kerry sighed.

”Well, no sense crying over spilled milk, they always say.” She turned and regarded her mail, wincing at the pages and pages of urgent marked messages. ”Let’s see what happens when Alastair gets here. I know he considers Dar a very valuable employee.”

”That he does,” Mariana agreed. ”She’s really come through for him on a number of occasions. She’s really come through for all of us, and that’s why this whole thing is so stupid.”

Kerry regarded her hands, folded on the desk. ”You said you should have stopped it. Why didn’t you?”

The older woman glanced at the carpet. ”I spent half the night thinking about that,” she admitted. ”And the conclusion I came to was that we’re all so used to Dar doing the dirty work, taking the hits and drawing the fire to herself that we’ve all gotten to be...” she paused. ”It was easier just to stand back and let her go at him. I never thought for a minute he’d ever get even a step up on her. He’s so out of her league.”

Kerry nodded, accepting that. ”I was hoping that was the case.” she said softly. ”I was hoping it wasn’t just that everyone was standing back and letting her take a fall.” She glanced up at Mariana’s startled expression. ”She once told me that everyone she’d ever trusted in business had turned on her, and last night, before we went to sleep, she told me if I...if it turned out that I saw everyone here celebrating her leaving, that I shouldn’t feel bad about it.”

A soft exhale. ”Kerry, I think you know that’s not true.” Mari spread her hand out. ”You’ve got a dozen empty offices to prove it,” she stated. ”You’ve got a division in pieces, the CEO headed out on the first flight. Duks wouldn’t even come in today. Hell, I only came in because I can’t avoid it. All the stuff that’s going to hit the fan is going to hit my fan. For god’s sake, most people don’t hate her.”

”I know,” Kerry acknowledged softly. ”But, I guess the few that do are so much more vocal, it seems that way sometimes.” She turned a pencil over in her hands. ”When I started all I heard for the first few weeks was what a horrible bitch she was.”

Mariana sucked on her lower lip.

”I had to find out for myself how wrong they were,” Kerry sighed.

”But most people don’t get that chance.”


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”She doesn’t make it easy,” Mari stated quietly. ”She keeps everyone at arm’s length, Kerry, even Duks and I, and we’ve been friends for years,” she sighed. ”Even Mark, who everyone knows is hopelessly in love with her.”

Kerry’s lips tensed into a faint smile. ”You know, I never saw her like that. I mean I knew she had a tough side, because I saw that right off, but there was always something else. I don’t know. I could always just see there was more to her than the alpha bitch.”

”Well.” Mariana gave her a wry look. ”You had a mitigating circumstance, as the lawyers like to say.” She pondered that. ”But I see your point. If this does work out all right, I think we need to change the way some things are handled, do some workgroup things to try and reduce some of the stress and the infighting.”

“Too bad we can’t do some of that today.” Kerry rubbed her temples. “I think I’ve got a migraine coming on already.”

Mari stood. ”I’ll go talk to them,” she stated quietly. ”I think they’ll be so glad to see you, they won’t say peep one, but I’ll make sure of that.”Kerry’s phone rang, and she watched the keypad indicating it was a forwarded call from Dar’s office. ”Here we go.” She punched the button. ”Operations, Stuart.”

”This is John Adams in Providence. We’ve had an order pending for a new circuit for a week. What the hell’s going on down there?”

Kerry sighed inwardly, giving Mariana a look. ”Just a moment.

What’s your account ID?” She typed in a number and started to work.

THEY WERE BOTH a little nervous, and a little tongue tied, Dar realized, as they sat quietly, her stretched out on the couch with Chino on her stomach, and him on the love seat, his back to the window and his face thrown into shadows by his sweatsuit hood. Well, neither of them were real conversationalists, but someone had to start things.

”You have a place to stay?” she asked, quietly, nursing a tall glass of chocolate milk.

”Couple of ‘em,” her father answered. ”This place, that place, you know.” He regarded her in silence for a moment. ”I do a few little things here and there. They give me this card.” He pulled a small folder from his waist pocket and displayed an innocuous looking silver plate that looked like a credit card. ”I just put everything on that and they take care of it.”