“Like we’re in a spy novel.”

“I don’t know.” Dar settled back and picked her cup up again.

“You’re the one who thinks there’s more going on. I just came up with a possibility.” She got up and strolled to the sliding glass doors then opened one and stepped through it into the warm breeze.

Kerry got up and joined her, leaning on the railing as they looked out over the Atlantic. The moon lit a path through the water and turned the landscape to a silver and dark monochrome that outlined things on the shore in stark detail. “What should we do?”

The dark head shook back and forth. “I don’t know. I mean, you’re right, it’s pretty outlandish. Maybe I can talk to Mark, see if he can dig in places we haven’t looked yet.” She rested her elbows on the balcony, then straightened a little and nudged Kerry.

“Hmm? What’s—oh.” Kerry smiled, spotting the two figures coming down the beach hand in hand. “They’re so cute.” She fitted her hand Eye of the Storm 231

around Dar’s biceps. “I’m so glad things are working out for them.”

“Me too,” Dar answered softly.

As though sensing their eyes, the two walkers angled their steps up from the water towards the condo, and Dar reached over to key the electronic lock on the garden door for them to enter.

“Hey,” Kerry greeted. “It’s pretty out, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is,” Cecilia agreed. “How was your party?”

“Different.”

“Interesting.” Dar and Kerry spoke at once, then laughed. “There’s some coffee inside, if you’re interested,” Dar added. “Did you have a nice night?”

“Very nice. Right, Andy?” Ceci nudged the tall, dark haired man next to her, who was sucking on something.

“Yeap,” he agreed. “Ah found out something I would never have knowed otherwise tonight. I surely did.”

“Really? What?” Kerry asked, as they walked inside and she slid the door shut.

“Knocking a bottle of that there soap into one of them hot tubs makes one hell of a lotta bubbles,” Andrew drawled. “I ain’t been this clean since I was in diapers.”

Dar laughed in pure reflex.

“Oh my god.” Kerry clapped a hand over her mouth.

“It was…spectacular,” Ceci agreed ruefully. “But not nearly as spectacular as watching your father bolt outside to save a mating peacock in nothing but courage and bubbles.” She gave Dar a wry look. “I hope we didn’t get you in trouble.”

Dar slowly slid down the wall, holding her sides from laughing, as Kerry tried not to snort up her coffee.

“Ah do not consider this that funny,” Andrew remarked gruffly. “It is not my fault that bird was yellin’ help.”

Kerry lost it and ended up on the tile, trying to fend off a busily licking Chino.

“Try to do a good deed, and lookit what happens.”

Even Ceci started laughing.

IT WAS THE smell of bacon that woke her up. That and coffee, and the soft sounds from the kitchen that indicated activity of a cooking nature. Mmm. Kerry sniffed appreciatively then she frowned, as she recognized the warm hold around her as Dar’s. Both eyes opened and she glanced around. Sure enough, Dar was snuggled up behind her, one arm tucked around her stomach, peacefully asleep. “Dar?”

“Ungh?”

“Dar?”

A blue eyeball appeared partially. “Huh?”

“You haven’t taught Chino to turn on the range, have you?”

That woke her up. “No.” Dar lifted her head a little, then let it drop.


232 Melissa Good

“Must be Dad.”

“Oh.” Kerry yawned. “That’s a relief.” She stretched, then disengaged herself from Dar’s hold and rolled out of bed. “Better go give him a hand. We wanted to get out early on the boat today.”

“Ker?”

She stopped midway to the door and turned. “Yeah?”

“Might want to put a shirt on.” Dar had her eyes closed again, but she was smiling.

Kerry looked down. “Oh.” She trudged to Dar’s dresser and removed a T-shirt. “Right.” She tugged it on over her head and disappeared into the bathroom for a minute, then came back out with a damp face and made her way into the living room. “Dad?” She peered around the doorway and spotted him. “Morning.” Chino was fastened to his kneecap, waiting hopefully.

“Yeap.” Andrew stood in front of the stove, with a pair of shorts on and one of his sleeveless sweatshirts. “Been that way for a hell of a long time, young lady.” He glanced at her. “You might want to be putting that thing on right side up.”

Kerry peeked at herself. “Um…I like it this way.” She wandered over and peered at the frying pan. “That smells great. But you didn’t have to do that.” She paused. “We usually do muffins or something for breakfast.” She bumped him gently and got a sideways look back. “Mr. Bubbles.”

“Do not start, young lady.” Andy pointed a spatula at her.

Kerry grinned, then impulsively put her arms around him and gave him a hug. “Okay.” She released her hold, went to the cupboard and took out some plates. “Where’s Mrs. Roberts?” She had her back turned and missed the look she was getting.

“Scribbling,” Andy replied. “Out by the seawall. Be back in shortly.”

He studiously pushed a mass of scrambled eggs around.

“Sketching, you mean? Oh, how cool.” Kerry put the plates down on the dining room table, then came back in for cups. “I love watching Dar draw.”

Andrew paused and half turned, giving her a surprised and quizzical look. “’Scuse me?”

Kerry took the pan he had and scooped its contents into a bowl. “I sit next to her in meetings. She draws these amazing little animals and things all over her pad. Bears, horses, boats, you name it. They’re so cute.” She cocked her head. “You didn’t know?”

Dar’s father looked very thoughtful. “Nawp. I sure did not.” He turned his attention back to the stove and flipped some bacon and sausages, which were sizzling there. “I sure did not. Hey, where is my kid anyhow?”

“Present and accounted for,” Dar replied, entering as she pulled her hair back and knotted it. “You showing off your cooking?”

“Ah do not cook,” her father corrected her sternly. “This is yer basic chow.”


Eye of the Storm 233

“You know, there’s nothing wrong with guys cooking,” Kerry teased. “I watch the cooking channel all the time and most of those chefs are guys.”

“You listen here, kumquat…”

“No, really. They are. Not just little wimpy guys either, okay?

They’re nice, big burly guys, with deep voices, and beards and—mmffp.”

Kerry chewed and swallowed the piece of sausage that had been stuffed into her mouth. “Mmm. Spicy. I like that.” She winked at him, then trotted towards the door. “I’ll go do breakfast call. C’mon, Chino.”

It was very quiet after she and the Lab left. Father and daughter eyed each other, then Dar chuckled softly. “She’s something else, isn’t she?”

Andy went back to removing the meat from the skillet. “Yeap.” He put a cover over the plate, turned around, and leaned against the counter to peer at her. “And you’re stuck like glue on her ain’t ya?”

Dar exhaled lightly. “Looks like it.” She picked up the dish and moved into the living room with it. “We’re going to have good weather, I think.” She walked over and leaned against the glass windows, watching Kerry make her way down to the beach. “We could go out to the island.

Picnic there.” Her eyes lifted, to see identical ones reflected back to her in the window’s glare. “Do some fishing?”

“Sure,” her father agreed amiably. “I’ll drive the boat.”

Dar looked at him.

“Hey, I got my license,” Andy protested. “I ain’t never crashed nothing into no dock, unlike someone else I could name but will not.”

Dar scowled. “I did not hit that dock.”

“All right. Pulled it over. Knocked it over. Same damn thing,” her father teased.

“Give me a break. I was ten,” Dar reminded him. “And I wasn’t supposed to be driving those double diesels. I could barely see over the console.”

“Yeah, yeah. A likely story.”

THE SAND CRUNCHED between Kerry’s toes as she left the path, and headed towards the water. She could see Cecilia’s slight figure down on the jetty and she angled her steps towards the rocks where Dar liked to sit as well. The wash of the waves masked her approach until she was almost there, then she smiled a little hesitantly as the silver blonde woman looked up from her work. “Morning.”

“Morning,” Cecilia responded cordially.

Kerry sat down on the rocks, turning her face towards the light spray and the early morning sky. “It’s pretty out here.”

The older woman appeared to consider the statement seriously.

“Yes, it is,” she finally agreed, after some moments of quiet. “I missed it.”

“It grows on you.” Kerry smiled. “When I first moved here, I hardly ever went to the beach. It was so busy and you don’t think of it down in Kendall.” Kerry inhaled a lung full of salty air. “Then I found a few 234 Melissa Good places where it was quiet and I used to go there when I needed to think.”

She paused. “Or when things were bothering me. Sometimes looking out at all that vastness helped, because you realize you’re such a small part of what the world is, and you have so much less to worry about than surviv-ing like the crabs.”

Ceci gave a slow nod. “That’s true.” She cocked her head slightly “So you’re a deep thinker, hmm?”

Kerry smiled. “Kind of.” She waggled her hand. “Sometimes.” Her eyes went to the sketch pad. “Ooo, that’s nice.” It was the end of the rock jetty, with a seagull in close-up, its feathers ruffled in the wind. “I feed them crackers when I come by here in the morning.”