“My mother once painted a sky like this,” Dar said. “I remember it… from when I was still in grade school. She had it hanging over the couch in the living room.”

“Mm.” Kerry tilted her head, amazed at the vividness of the color. “It’s so rich. Why is that, Dar?”

“Angle of inclination.” Dar exhaled. “And the moisture in the air.”

Kerry took a sip of her wine as she gazed at the sky. “Or maybe God’s just in a great mood,” she murmured. “I know I sure am.”

Her eyes drifted from the sunset for a moment. “Thank you for having this incredible idea.”

Dar lifted her glass and touched its rim against Kerry’s.

“Here’s to us.” She took a mouthful and waited for Kerry to do the same, then she gracefully inclined her head and they kissed, exchanging a little wine and a lot of affection.

The breeze lifted a little and tangled their hair together as they settled down to watch the day’s ending.


26 Melissa Good DAR WAITED UNTIL the sky was completely dark and the canopy of stars fit over them from horizon to horizon. It was an amazing sensation—hearing the rustle of the waves and seeing nothing but flat blackness that extended to a sparkling blanket seemingly rising out of nothing.

Kerry was curled up next to her, fast asleep. After their long day of diving and sun, that wasn’t surprising, really, but Dar was glad to see her partner getting some much needed rest. Her father’s death and the stress of the previous month had taken a lot out of her, and Dar intended their little trip to be as relaxing as possible.

She lifted her hand and combed her fingers through Kerry’s hair, brushing it back from her face.

Kerry’s eyelids trembled just a little, and she stirred, snuggling closer to Dar and sliding an arm over her stomach. Then she relaxed again, a puff of exhaled breath warming Dar’s skin.

“Atta girl,” Dar murmured, watching the slow rise and fall of her lover’s ribcage. “You just take it easy. No getting sick.” Kerry had an appointment with their family doctor scheduled upon their return, to repeat tests that not long ago had shown a dangerous rise in her blood pressure, among other things. To hell with the company.

Both of them leaving at once was throwing ILS into chaos, but Dar couldn’t care less. Given her own behavior to the contrary, Dar readily acknowledged the hypocritical nature of her wanting Kerry to put herself before work, but it was what she wanted nonetheless and she refused to apologize for it. She idly twirled a bit of Kerry’s pale hair around her finger, admiring its softness. Already two days in the sun seemed to have lightened it, or maybe Kerry’s deepening tan just provided a greater contrast. Whatever.

Dar watched Kerry’s jaw muscles move a little, then her eyes fluttered open and the tip of her pink tongue appeared. “Hey, sleepy.” She ran the tips of her fingers over Kerry’s back as the smaller woman stretched.

“Mmmm…” Kerry rolled over and gazed up at the night sky.

“Oh, that’s gorgeous,” she murmured. “Look at those stars. There must be a zillion of them.”

“Mmhm.” Dar eased onto her side and wrapped her arms around Kerry, gazing at Kerry’s profile. “Beautiful.”

Kerry felt the attention and turned to meet Dar’s eyes. She still felt sleepy, and a little bemused at having dozed off over their little snack, but she had no real desire to do much about it other than snuggle back up against Dar’s warm body and return to her dreams.

She lifted a hand and stifled a yawn. “Think I overdid it today.”

Me, too, Dar concurred in wry, silent agreement. “How about a shower and an early bedtime,” she suggested.

“Ooo.” Kerry found the idea very appealing. “Yeah, I like that.” She laced her fingers with Dar’s. “We could have some hot Terrors of the High Seas 27

chocolate. It’s a little chilly out here.”

With a smile, Dar lifted herself to her feet and offered Kerry a hand up. They walked together single file around the side of the cabin and down into the stern. Dar turned on the outside lights and reviewed their gear. “I’m going to pull in the buoy. Meet you inside.”

Kerry unexpectedly circled her with both arms and gave her a big hug. “Me and some hot chocolate’ll be waiting.” She released Dar and gave her a pat on the side, then eased through the cabin door.

Dar chuckled softly to herself as she walked to the side of the boat and pulled in the buoy line, then secured the orange buoy to the side of the boat and removed the upright, flexible pole that held their divers flag. The flag indicated to anyone passing by that there were divers under the water, possibly near the surface, and theoretically the boaters would give the spot a wide berth.

However, as in coastal areas where manatees lived and signs to that effect were posted, adherence to the rules varied from ship captain to ship captain, and if you were in an area used by numerous pleasure boaters, you took a risk. Dar herself had a small scar on her back from when she was younger and a miscast shark hook had snagged her and almost pulled her air hose from her first stage.

Out here, there wasn’t much chance of that kind of problem.

Dar fastened the flag into its catches and cast an eye around the stern, checking to make sure everything was in its place. She nodded in satisfaction and entered the cabin, closing the door behind her. Kerry was in the small galley, busy with the cocoa tin, her dark purple swimsuit outlining her body nicely. They had the hatches open, so the night breeze was blowing through, cooling the place off without them having to actually run the small air conditioning unit with which the boat was equipped.

“Everything shipshape, cap’n?” Kerry asked, looking up at her with a mischievous grin.

“Argh.” Dar made a quasi-pirate noise. “I’ll duck into the shower first.”

Kerry continued her task. “We could try getting in there together.”

Dar snorted, shaking her head. “Not even if we were Barbie dolls.” She entered the head and flipped on the light, stripped out of her suit and hung it on one of the hooks on the back of the door.

They had gotten tubes of body soap, conveniently able to also hang on hooks, and she squeezed out a generous amount of apricot scented wash as she turned on the water and stepped under it.

It felt very good to scrub the salt spray off her skin. Swimming in the sea was interesting, and often refreshing, but the minerals in 28 Melissa Good the water made a shower afterwards something she always looked forward to. It also helped prevent sea lice. Dar loved marine life in all its forms, but she drew the line at providing a home for it on her person.

Dar rinsed her hair, then stepped out from under the shower and toweled herself off. She opened the tiny medicine cabinet and removed a glass bottle, unscrewed the top, and pulled out the dropper and filled it. She tilted her head and let several drops fall into her right ear, then did the same with her left. Ear infections weren’t something she much liked, either, and the drops would dry out her ear canals and help prevent infection.

She tucked the towel around her body and sauntered back out into the cabin. “Next.” She traded places with Kerry, who slipped past with a grin. Dar relaxed against the counter as she waited for the water to boil, reaching up and turning on the marine radio to listen to the weather reports.

Funny, how the crackling of the radio and the sound of the shower are so similar.

The water kettle hissed. Dar turned and picked it up, then poured water over the cocoa mix in the cups on the counter. The scent of chocolate enveloped her and she grinned, stirring the foamy liquid with a spoon to make sure it all dissolved. She retrieved the milk from the refrigerator and put a little in each cup.

She was just adding an artistic dollop of whipped cream when Kerry emerged and wandered over, the fresh scent of apricot rising from her skin.

They dressed in T-shirts and sat down together on the couch in the living area, putting their feet up on the bolted down table.

Kerry sipped her chocolate as they listened to the waves for a bit, then she turned to Dar. “You know, I was just thinking—it’s really funny.”

Dar eyed her. “Yeah?” She waited for the punchline.

“We never really talk to each other.” Kerry watched the expressive face across from her. When Dar blinked and put down her cup, her eyebrows contracting, Kerry nodded. “See?”

“Huh?” Both eyebrows went up and Dar gave her an unfeigned look of bewilderment. “Are you saying we have trouble communicating?”

Kerry shook her head. “No. We communicate perfectly; we just never talk.” She suppressed a grin. “What I mean is, like when I just said that: you didn’t have to say anything to me, I knew what you were thinking.”

Dar relaxed. “You did?”

“Sure.” Kerry pitched her voice a little lower in mimicry of Dar’s. “‘What the hell is she talking about?’ I can tell by your face, by how you move, almost, what you’re feeling.”


Terrors of the High Seas 29

Dar considered that thoughtfully. “Well, we do spend a lot of time with each other,” she allowed.

“True. And it’s hard to have good, vigorous debates with someone you agree with most of the time,” Kerry said. “We haven’t had a fight in a long time.”

A dark eyebrow crawled up Dar’s forehead. “You want to have a fight?”

“Actually, I was listening to a radio program the other day on the way to the Kendall office. This guy was saying how it is a sign of a healthy relationship when you have fights, because you aren’t repressing anything.”

Dar’s other eyebrow joined its mate. “Are you repressing something?”

Kerry pointed at herself. “Me?”

“Yeah.”

“No. Are you?”

Dar frowned. “Not that I know of.” She suddenly became aware of the humor in the situation. “If you really want to test the theory, we could invent something to repress, then have a fight about it.”

“We could do that. Or we could just do this.” Kerry leaned over and kissed Dar. “Which is a heck of a lot more fun.”

Dar chuckled, and cupped Kerry’s cheek as she removed the chocolate from her lips. Then she rested her forehead against Kerry’s, and her face grew thoughtful. “I think people start fighting when they stop communicating,” she said. “Or if they never could to begin with.”

“Is that what happened to you before?” Kerry asked.

Dar nodded silently.

“I was thinking about that when I was listening to that guy.”

Kerry took a sip of her cocoa and offered her cup to Dar. “He said it’s easy to fall in love with someone, but it’s a lot harder to learn to like and live with them.” She reached over and brushed a lock of hair out of Dar’s face.

Dar licked her lips. “I like you.” She smiled. “I think I said that the first time we had dinner together.”

Kerry smiled back. “Yes, you did, and so did I.” She studied Dar’s face. “I really liked you, and I wanted to be friends with you long before I figured out I was head over heels in love.”

They looked into each other’s eyes for a long moment. Finally, Dar took a breath. “Kerry?”

“Yes?”

A pucker appeared between Dar’s eyebrows. “Why are we having this conversation?”

“Well,” Kerry squiggled closer, “I didn’t want to save it for a dusty hospital stairwell, and it’s late, and I’m wasted, and it beats 30 Melissa Good me reciting my brother’s latest attempt at poetry.” She kissed Dar gently. “We have to have these angsty, soulful, heart to heart talks sometimes, Dar, else we’ll get cootie points in Love Court or something.”

Dar grinned. “Wanna hear a secret?”

“Sure.”

“I have been repressing something.”

Green eyes opened wider. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Dar took the mostly empty cup from Kerry and set it down. “The desire to take you off to bed. C’mon.” She held out her hands and when the blonde took them, pulled Kerry to her feet and into her arms. “Ker?”

“Mm?” Kerry murmured.

“If you ever think we’re not communicating,” Dar looked at her seriously, “talk to me.”

Kerry blinked, then nodded. “Ditto,” she replied.

Dar carried the cups to the sink and ran water into them, then accompanied Kerry to the bedroom. Kerry pulled back the down comforter and they crawled into bed, snuggling together as Dar put out the bedside lamp. With the hatches open, they could hear the sea, and a nice breeze puffed around the cabin, reducing the feeling of being enclosed.