Kerry chuckled, taking another shrimp. "Worse comes to worse we can take it home for breakfast." She reminded them. "Cheesecake in the morning's great."

"Hedonist," Mike accused.

"If you think that's hedonism, you've got a lot to learn."

KERRY SAT CROSS legged on the bed writing longhand in a small cloth bound book propped up on one of the pillows.

It was quiet in her room, and in the rest of the house. A glance at the clock told her it was well after midnight, and she pondered a moment before she went back to writing.

Sept 10th, 2001.

Well, today went better than I expected it to. I keep saying that. What was I really expecting? Did I really think they were going to throw rotten apples at me?

I don't know. Maybe I did. I'm glad the younger crowd showed some brain cells and class, and to be honest I wouldn't have minded talking to them a little longer if all of my old classmates hadn't been at the reception.

Is that cowardly? I don't think so. I just think it's normal for someone not to like being insulted like what Stacey did there. What a jerk. But Angie was right. She was a jerk when we went to school here. She didn't become one just because it turned out I was gay.

That was the one thing the kids didn't ask about. They were more interested in how to succeed in business. That's amazingly cool. I may even have to join my alumni society and start tossing them a few bucks if they're turning out people with those kinds of goals.

Does it really matter that I'm gay? It's the 21st century. People shouldn't care at this point in humanity's history but you know, I think it does matter to the older crowd because I think they feel like they're not in control of things and life's accelerating out of control.

I'm used to it. Technology changes every minute. If you spend your life immersed in constant change, then when the world changes around you it just seems normal, doesn't it?

Hm.

I wonder if that's how Mom's coping with everything. Just invest in the change, and maybe you stop stressing about how things used to be, and how you wanted them to turn out, and you just start surfing the wave and living in the minute.

I think I like that. Life is never boring if it's full of change, is it?

I was worrying about what Mom was going to talk to us about tomorrow, but I've decided to just not get mad about whatever it is, assuming it's something I might get mad about. The only power to stress me out she has is the power I give her.

Isn't that great? Only took me how many years to figure that out? I bet Dar would crack up.

Kerry reviewed her words, and chuckled.

After a few minutes, she heard footsteps approaching, and then she looked up again to see Angie in the doorway to her room. "Hey. Thought you were sleeping."

"Andrew was fussing," Angie explained, entering the bedroom. "And I saw your light on when I came back upstairs. Why are you still up?"

"Oh." Kerry glanced at her little book. "I just--it sounds silly but I've started keeping a diary," she explained, a touch sheepishly. "I'm about done. Is Andy okay?"

"Oh sure." Her sister sat down on the edge of Kerry's bed. "He's teething. After you go through that the first time, like I did with Sally, you know what to look for and what to do, but boy, the first time it freaks you out."

Kerry closed her diary up and capped her pen. "How's Sally doing?"

Angie paused, then shrugged a little. "She's confused," she said. "She doesn't really understand what's going on, or why she sometimes is in one place with her Daddy, and sometimes here with me, but for all his other faults Richard doesn't play the blame game so I think she'll adjust after a while."

"Mm." Kerry tried to imagine what that would have been like, and found it hard. "We never had to deal with that," she said. "It would have been weird."

Her sister nodded. "It would have been. Fortunately for the kids, our divorce was a lot like our marriage was--passionless and businesslike."

Kerry winced.

"Hey, it's true," Angie said. "Ker, when I see you and Dar, and hear you talk to each other--you have something I have no clue about, you realize that right?" She cocked her head to one side and regarded her older sibling. "The whole bit with you sending each other notes, and for Pete's sake, sending fudge covered mousse cakes? Unreal."

Kerry made a wry face. "You know, we've always done that," she confessed. "I thought it was one of those things you do when you're--uh...dating. Or whatever." She cleared her throat. "But we just kept doing it. I guess we'll stop sometime. Most married couples I know don't do that."

"But?" Angie watched her, as her words slowed to a stop.

"Dar's parents still do." Kerry chuckled. "Oh well. It's nice though. That was killer cake." She licked her lips in memory. "I didn't even remember seeing that on the menu."

"It wasn't," Angie said. "The manager told me it was delivered from some bakery in Detroit, hand carried."

Kerry had the grace to look mildly embarrassed. "All I had was hot chocolate sent to her room," she muttered. "And you know what? She probably had that all planned way before I called her hotel."

Angie covered her eyes in mock despair.

"So." Kerry cleared her throat. "Are you going to stay with Mom long term?" She turned her pen in her fingers. "I know it's a lot quieter here now."

Her younger sister got up and wandered around the room, pausing to look out the darkened window. "You know, I wish I was you, Ker." She turned to see a pair of blond eyebrows hiked up. "You've got guts, you're successful, you're in a great relationship--"

Kerry remained quiet, since there was no denying any of that.

"But I'm not," Angie concluded. "I'm a typical second child, and you know what? I don't want to risk what I'll have to risk for a sexy, adventurous life. So yeah, I'll probably stay here with Mom, unless Brian decides to make a commitment and then we'll see. Even so, we'll probably end up living with her. She likes Brian."

"Even now?"

Angie chuckled dryly and sat back down on the bed. "With everything that's happened in the last few years, I think she's learned to take her successes where she finds them. She wanted Brian for a son-inlaw, so if it turns out he becomes one, she'll take it even if it's not really what she envisioned before now."

Fair enough. Kerry sighed. "I hope that works out," she said. "But anyway, if you ever do decide you want a radical change, you know where to find me."

Angie smiled. "Sally wants to come down to see her Aunt Kerry's log cabin. Maybe we can visit for a couple of days near Christmas, when it's all snow here, and anything but there."

"You're on," Kerry agreed instantly. "The kids would love it down there. It's right on the beach, and there's a bunch of cool stuff to do all around there, like glass bottom boats and paddle boats and things."

"Great." Angie got up. "Let me let you get to sleep. It's going to be a long day for you tomorrow," she said. "And hey, maybe I can even get Mom to come down and visit for a day. Show her you really don't live in the middle of some third world country."

Eh. Kerry waved at her, as she left. "Actually--" Though she loved her adopted home, very often between the massively immigrant population and the overly graft ridden political scene it did sometimes seem like they lived on one of the nearby Caribbean islands.

However, she figured her mother would actually be pleasantly surprised with a visit to the condo so she was content to let the chips fall where they might on that subject. She got up and put her diary into her briefcase, turned the lamp off and climbed under the covers.

Somewhere, halfway across the planet, she knew Dar would be getting up soon, despite her late night and she wished suddenly that they would be sharing breakfast with each other. She wanted to talk to her partner about the interesting things she'd seen and felt the last few days, and she was already looking forward to her part in the new project and wanting to get started on it.

When she got there, there would be the initial meeting with Dar to find out what Alastair and she had promised as part of the contract. Kerry trusted her partner not to sell her down the river, but there were times when Dar would okay a concession if she thought the contract was important enough and then sometimes they scrambled.

This was an important contract. Not for the size of it, but for the visibility and the foothold it gave them in an area they hadn't really been that successful before now.

It tickled her to no end that she'd been a part of that win, even though she knew that it had been more pure luck than any real skill on her or Dar's part that had achieved it. Take truffles where you found them, Dar had said.

Yum. So she would. Kerry closed her eyes and relaxed her body, hearing the patter of leaves against the window and the soft creaks of the big house around her, until it lulled her into sleep.

DAR WAS GLAD enough to sleep in, spending most of the morning working off some of the mail overload that had built up in her inbox over the past few days. She was sprawled in the desk chair in her sleep shirt, the remnants of her breakfast tray nearby and a pot of coffee still handy.

It felt good to relax for a few hours. The trip had been very frenetic so far, and Dar appreciated the chance to sit back and get her act together before she had to meet with their new clients again. They had a meeting scheduled most of the afternoon, and then Alastair had arranged to host a dinner someplace in London for all of them.