“B—” Kerry rubbed her face. “But what about that place in North Carolina? You spent time there.”

“Weekends.” Dar shrugged.

“Good Lord, Paladar A. Roberts.” Kerry shook her head. “Damn right we’re taking next week off. I may kidnap you and keep you down there for a month.”

Dar grinned happily. “Promise?”

This was a new Dar. Kerry smiled back at her and interlaced their fin-Eye of the Storm 423

gers. “Promise.” It would be nice, actually, and she could take the time to let her arm heal, before she had to come back and deal with the usual stuff…

Yeah.

Kerry slowly rolled over and got up. “Key West, huh?” She exhaled and started unbuttoning her shirt one handed. “I think I’m going to like this.” Fingers took over from hers and she used that hand to explore the soft, warm skin now inches away. Dar had bruises all over her and little scrapes, tiny dark lines against her tan that rubbed rough against Kerry’s fingertips. “You smell nice,” she commented idly, reflecting that being her height wasn’t a bad thing when it got you the view it got her when Dar was naked.

“Thank you,” the taller woman rumbled. “It’s that scrub stuff you got from the Internet. I kinda like it.”

“Mmm.” Kerry got her nose closer, then took an experimental lick.

“Smells different on you than on me.” She nibbled further.

Dar chuckled unexpectedly. “We’re dif…ah…that tickles.”

“Really?” Kerry repeated the experiment, feeling Dar’s ribcage contract sharply under her other hand as she laughed again. “Hmm…”

“Kerry.” Dar unhooked the sling holding up her arm and carefully lowered it. “Easy.” She slid the device off, then removed the blonde woman’s long sleeve cotton shirt. “What have we here?” She plucked something off Kerry’s bra strap and held it up before her eyes. “Two timing on me, hmm?”

Kerry focused her vision on the tiny item. “Just like in the movies.

You find a blond hair on my underthings too short to be mine.” She sighed. “My cover’s blown. I’m having an affair with our dog.”

They started giggling, the long days tension dissolving in absurdity.

“Lemme guess. It’s the tail, right?” Dar replied.

“Nah, that six inch long to—”

“Hey, girls?”

The inner door started to swing open and Kerry’s eyes almost turned the size of baseballs. “Oh shit!”

Dar kicked her brain into gear and quickly wrapped her arms around Kerry, neatly covering both of them as her father poked his head in. “Hi, Dad.”

“Hey list—” Andrew’s face turned an odd shade of coral. “Good Lord, ah beg your pardon.”

“No problem, Dad,” Dar reassured him, bolstered by years of boardroom experience in poker faces. “I was just helping Kerry get undressed.”

Andrew scratched his jaw. “Done a right professional job at it, looks like.”

Kerry laughed, her breath tickling Dar right between the breasts.

“I always try to do things right.” Dar managed to keep a straight face. “Did you need something?”

Andrew found something interesting on the opposite wall to examine. “We were gonna order us up some ice cream. Thought you might be 424 Melissa Good interested.”

“Sure.” Dar smiled. “Great nightcap.”

“With lots of syrup.” Kerry’s muffled voice rose up from the depths.

“All right,” Andrew agreed seriously.

“And cherries.” Another half heard request.

“You can have mine,” Dar remarked dryly. “Make sure there’s nuts, though.”

“Now. Ah’d have thought them would be—oh. You mean the eat’n kind,” her father drawled back. “All right.”

“Dad!” Kerry squealed, turning her head and peeking at him.

Andrew gave her a rakish grin and disappeared.

“I can’t believe he said that,” Kerry spluttered.

“Why?” Dar released her and continued removing her clothing. “He knows the difference between boys and girls, Ker. And despite rumors to the contrary he knows I don’t have anf…ffof.” She peered at her friend over a hand clamped firmly across her mouth.

“Thank you so much for the biology lesson,” Kerry muttered. “I’m just not really used to parents making comments like that. Mine never did.” She paused. “It would have been like the statue of George Washington cracking an X-rated joke.”

Dar nibbled Kerry’s palm, exploring the soft skin, which shifted and was removed. “You know what they always said about George, right?”

she teased, then inclined her head and found Kerry’s lips about to make a protest. Then she circled Kerry with her arms again and drew her closer as they kissed, reveling in the solid reality she’d almost lost the day before. One hand slid up and cupped Kerry’s neck, her fingers tangling in the pale hair as she allowed the intensity to build, blocking out everything but the emotion of the moment.

They paused to breathe and swayed together, moving to inaudible music they both heard, eyes locked, souls bound.

Finally Kerry smiled. “Guess I’d better get my jammies on before the ice cream gets here,” she commented, still almost lost in Dar’s gaze.

“Yeah,” Dar agreed amiably, not moving an inch.

A silence fell again for a while.

“We’re going to really embarrass Dad if he comes back in here.”

“Yeah.” Dar sighed. “I’ll have to start teaching him all the ‘how many lesbians does it take to change a light bulb’ jokes.” But she finally shifted, and unhooked Kerry’s bra, then retrieved both of their sleeping outfits from the suitcase.

Kerry settled on the bed in her Tweety shirt and cradled her arm.

“So,” she watched Dar as she folded everything and put it away, “how many does it take?”

“What?”

“Lesbians. To change a light bulb?”

“Well.” Dar came over to the bed and laying on her side carefully, stretching long, mostly bare legs out. “There’s the two with the wood—”

“Wood?”


Eye of the Storm 425

“They have to build the ladder first.”

“Why?”

“Power tools. Anyway, the two with the wood, then four to plan the strategy—”

“Four?”

“Yeah. A representative sample—one butch, one fem, and two that self identify as androgynous.”

Kerry giggled.

“Then you need six more to research where to buy the bulb—”

“Six?”

“Gotta make sure those dyke dollars go to supportive stores, hon,”

Dar drawled. “And we can’t forget the dozen academics to analyze the process, and determine if changing a bulb could be considered the subject of a ‘Changing Role Relationships in the American Workplace’ seminar.”

Kerry giggled harder. “And that’s how you’d change a bulb?” she asked, skeptically.

“Nah.” Dar shook her head, as she heard sounds in the next room.

“I’d hire someone else to do it.” She leaned over and stole another kiss. “I hate stereotypes.”


Chapter

Forty-six

“YOU ABOUT PACKED?” Kerry came out to find Dar busy at her laptop. “Dar?”

“Mmm?” Dar looked up. “Oh, yeah, almost.” She nodded.

A knock rattled on the door in a familiar rhythm. “That’s Dad.” Dar chuckled, going over and opening the door, and stepping back to allow her parents to enter. “Just about ready to leave?”

Andy carried both their bags and now he ambled over and took possession of Dar and Kerry’s as well.

“Hey!” Dar put her hands on her hips. “I’m capable of carrying a couple of bags.”

“Don’t bother.” Her mother waved her off. “I’ve tried that. He’s just in a feisty mood today or something.”

Dar shook her head and finished packing up her computer. “Fine, fine. Let’s just get the hell out of here. I hear a conch fritter calling my name.”

“Wait.” Kerry smiled, pulling out her camera. “I want a picture.” She waved them together. “C’mon.” She waited for Andrew to shed his burden, then join his wife and daughter in front of the window. Light poured in the other side of the room, and Kerry smiled as she focused her shot, shifting the lens slightly to frame her subjects. Andrew had taken the center and put an arm around the women on either side of him. Ceci, of course, was almost dwarfed by his height, but she leaned against him with a warm sense of familiarity. Dar had amiably wrapped her arm around her father’s back and looked at the camera with her usual air of wry self deprecation. “Perfect.” She snapped the shot, then lowered the camera. “Thanks.” She grinned at Ceci.

“Just you wait until you see what I have in mind for revenge,” the older woman warned, smiling back. They gathered their things, slipped out the door, and managed to achieve the freight elevator without much trouble. They got to the bottom floor and were about the leave, when Dar heard her name called. “Damn.” She turned. “Yes, Hamilton?”

The tall, urbane lawyer caught them up, and ushered them into a small antechamber, out of sight of the press. “Where do you all think you are going?”

“Home,” Dar replied. “Why?”


Eye of the Storm 427

“Not yet you can’t,” Hamilton told her blithely. “This afternoon you have to be here so the mayor, bless his heart, can give you both a pair of shiny little old medals.” He waggled two fingers at Dar and Andy. “Now Dar, don’t give me a hard time with this, it’s great PR for the company and ah’ve got two choice interviews set up, not long ones, with some very top news personalities.”

“Son of a bitch,” Dar reacted.

“Now, now. Flattery will get you nowhere, Paladar,” Hamilton informed her. “Just sit your butt down and make us look good, and it’ll be over sooner than you think.” He patted her shoulder. “Ah’ve been working real hard to get us some very positive press and have painted you as just below an archangel, so don’t mess my garden up, hear?”