The woman smiled at her. "No problem, Ms. Stuart. Be patient, we'll try to get going as soon as we can."

She was about to move on, but Kerry held her hand up. "How did you know my name?" she asked, curiously. "Have we met?"

Ann chuckled. "No, ma'am, your boss called and gave us a few special requests for you--like that. "She indicated the glass. "It must be nice to have your company value you like that, I have to say."

Kerry glanced at the glass, which she realized was full of chocolate milk. "Ah," she murmured. "My boss." She looked up at the woman. "You know, I love my boss."

"Wish I did." The flight attendant chuckled, and patted her on the shoulder. She moved off down the aisle leaving Kerry to ponder her unexpected gift.

She sipped the milk, finding it cold, and very chocolaty. The annoyance of the heat faded a little, as she focused her thoughts on Dar, the little bit of thoughtfulness making her feel a tiny bit giddy inside. It wasn't at all unusual. They both tended to do soppy little things for each other, but for Dar to do it in such a public way was somewhat new.

Nice.

She wondered what else she had in store, suspecting perhaps she'd even be spared the chicken Florentine or three cheese vegetable lasagna for dinner.

Hot planes, screaming women, and her mother notwithstanding, life was good. Kerry smiled. Life was very good indeed.


Chapter Three

KERRY FLICKED ON the high beams for a brief moment before she returned the lights to their usual position and settled back in her seat.

It was in the mid fifties, cool enough for her to have dug her sweatshirt out of her bag, but comfortable as she walked to the car rental lot and picked up her buggy.

Ahead of her lay the bland drive to Angie's house. She turned on the radio, punching the buttons and finding a station she could listen to, then turning the sound down a little as her cell phone rang. She checked the caller ID, and then keyed the speakerphone. "Hey Ang."

"Hey." Her sister's said. "Where are you?"

"About twenty minutes out," Kerry responded. "Need anything?"

"Nah, we're good," Angie said. "Andrew's sleeping tight. I'm looking forward to hanging out with my sister."

Kerry smiled. "Yeah, it's been a while," she admitted. "Glad I made it up here."

"Me too," Angie said, warmly. "So much has gone on the last year it's hard to take in sometimes. Anyway, let me let you off the line, sis. See ya in twenty."

"See ya." Kerry hung up the phone and turned up the radio. Now that she was here, she was glad to be getting a chance to spend a little time with Angie. Her brother Michael said he'd be over to help too.

Not that Kerry had any illusions that Michael would do as much as pick up a book to put in a box, but she was looking forward to seeing him anyway. There were parts of him that she understood so much better now.

There were parts of herself she was starting to understand a lot better now too. Kerry smiled, and shifted her hands on the wheel, her eye catching the faint reflection of the streetlights on her ring. The visit might turn out to be interesting after all.

She let the miles slip by until it was time to turn off the main road, and onto the sloping one that led up a gentle hill to the house her sister had, until recently, shared with her ex-husband, Richard, who had sued her for divorce upon finding out her second child wasn't his.

Finding out her sister was an adulterer was almost as surprising to Kerry as finding out her sister was sleeping with the man Kerry was supposed to marry. Though finding out Kerry was gay had apparently been no surprise at all to Angie, who had seemingly known it all along.

Life was funny that way. Kerry chuckled under her breath as she pulled into the stately curved driveway of the house her sister lived in and seeing Angie's Mercedes parked along the front curb. With a grin, she parked her little red pickup right behind it, shutting the engine off and opening the door.

She drew in a breath of air and paused, aware of the scent of pine and honeysuckle so completely different from her adopted southern home. It tasted strange on the back of her tongue, and she had to shake her head as she closed the driver's side door and opened the extended cab door to retrieve her bag.

One of her bags, anyway. She shouldered the overnighter leaving her suit bag inside and circled the truck as the door to the house opened and she spotted her sister's outline in the light streaming out of it. "Hey."

Angie came out of the house and stood on the porch as Kerry walked up the sloping path. "Hey stranger." She held her arms out and greeted Kerry with a hug that her older sister returned promptly. "C'mon inside."

Angie was taller than Kerry, and had dark hair and their mother's hazel eyes. Even though Kerry was the elder of them, Angie's conservatively coiffed hair and clothing made the opposite seem true.

They entered the house, the hallway brightly lit and smelling of wood wax and chocolate. Angie shut the door behind them and joined Kerry as they walked across the marble tile. "Elana, can you take this, please?" Angie addressed a middle aged woman in a neat uniform standing nearby. "You remember my sister Kerrison, don't you?"

"Yes ma'am, I sure do." Elana took Kerry's bag. "Welcome back, Miss Kerry." Elana's face was mild with no hint of approval or disapproval at this invasion by their family's blond haired black sheep.

Kerry felt her nostrils flare, but she smiled anyway. "Thanks Elana. Nice to see you again." She watched the woman leave, and turned to her sister. "Hi."

"Hi," Angie responded agreeably, stepping back and looking her over head to toe. "You look great,and it's really good to see you," she said grinning. "Feels like it's been way too long."

Kerry grinned. "Right back at you. Got a cup of something hot around? It's been a long day."

"Absolutely, c'mon." Angie led the way back into the large kitchen. She was dressed in a pair of slacks and a red pullover, casually elegant and a definite contrast to Kerry's worn jeans and sweatshirt. "Did you have a decent flight at least?"

"Eh." Kerry took one of the seats around the kitchen table, everything around her clean and spotless, but in some disarray due to the impending move. "No AC on the way up."

"Ugh." Angie brought an already prepared tray over. It had two cups on it, and a plate of chocolate cookies. She set it down and sat down across from her sister. "How's Dar?" She watched Kerry's face, seeing her expression shift into a grin as warmth erupted into her eyes at the question.

"Great," Kerry responded. "We both had flights out today. She's on her way to England." She picked up her cup and sipped from it. "Mm."

"Did I get it right?" Angie's eyes twinkled. "You haven't stopped being a chocolate addict, have you?"

"Nope." Kerry relaxed, leaning back in the chair and resting her elbows on the arms as she cradled the cup in her hands. "Dar and I both are. It's hopeless," she admitted. "I've given up worrying about it I figure if I'm going go to hell, might as well enjoy it."

Angie laughed. "Kerry, you're not going to hell. You look fantastic. Last time I saw you it was such a stress fest I was worried about you, but looks like you bounced back just fine."

Stress fest. Mild way of putting it. "Yeah." Kerry remembered how she'd felt coming back from Michigan the last time, and how long it had taken her to throw off the effects. "I felt like crap when I got home. They almost had to put me in the hospital for my blood pressure."

Angie's eyes opened wide. "What?" She leaned forward. "Are you kidding me?"

Her sister shook her head.

"Ker, that's awful. Are you taking anything for that?" Angie looked concerned. "That's not anything to joke about, you know?"

"I know," Kerry said. "But no, I've got it under control. I cut down on my salt, and we went out on the boat for a week to chill out. Did wonders." She sidestepped the issue. "We went down to the Caribbean and got involved with pirates. It was crazy."

"Pirates!"

"Well, we can't have normal vacations, you know? Dar and I could walk to the grocery store and we'd end up causing a riot without meaning to." Kerry chuckled. "We have the damnedest stuff happen to us. Anyway, so what's up with you?" She regarded her sister. "Glad you're moving?"

Angie gazed shrewdly at her for a moment, and then allowed herself to be sidetracked. "I am," she admitted. "I don't really feel bad about what happened with Richard, you know? It was my choice and I knew what could happen. At least we ended up with split custody of Sally."

"Mm." Kerry selected a cookie from the plate and nibbled on it.

"That's a lot of why I decided to move in with Mom." Angie studied her cup. "It's just easier."

Kerry understood that. She remembered being both elated and scared when she'd moved out after so many years of having everything in her life taken care of for her and provided without question. "Yeah, I know what you mean," she agreed.

"No you don't." Angie burst into laughter. "You never did anything the easy way the entire time I've known you."

Kerry had to grin at that and raise her cup in her sister's direction in acknowledgement of the truth. "Touche." The only easy thing I've ever really done was fall in love with Dar. That was fast and painless. Everything else--eh." She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't think I'd change anything though."

"I bet you wouldn't," Angie agreed. "Anyway, thanks for coming up to give me a hand packing up all this stuff. I really need help deciding what to get rid of. I didn't think I was a packrat until I started looking in the closets here."