"Well, yes, she told me that," Allison responded, not at all put off. "And I'm sure you'll be very busy, but you see, I've been asked to contact you and see if you could make some time to stop by during the banquet and give the keynote speech."

Kerry had just taken a sip of her café con leche and stopped, holding it in her mouth as she stared at her cell phone.

"Kerry?" Mayte saw the expression on her face. "Are you all right?"

Kerry swallowed. "Excuse me," she said into the phone. "you want me to what?"

"I know this seems odd," Allison apologized, "and I do understand, really, but the senior class is participating in the reunion and they asked for you."

Kerry put her coffee cup down and shifted the phone from her right to her left hand. "Okay," she said. "Are you saying the senior class of my all Christian girls' high school wants me to speak to them?"

"Well...yes. I mean, after all, you're a very successful businesswoman," Allison said.

"Have you read the newspapers in the last few years?" Kerry covered her eyes. "Listen, Ms. Barker, I knew about the reunion. I decided not to attend. Please respect that."

Mayte's eyes widened.

Allison sighed. "Ms. Stuart, believe me, I do understand what you're saying, and yes, I know very well what's been going on around your family the last few years. But you know--"

Kerry mouthed a curse, making Mayte's eyes widen even further.

"I think you have a modern, relevant message, and the girls here, they want to hear what you have to say." Allison went on, "we didn't solicit this and, believe me when I tell you, I had my reservations before I decided to call you, but I thought it was important."

Kerry took a breath to answer, then paused.

As though sensing an opening, "You don't have to be at the whole reunion. I know that would probably be uncomfortable for you."

"For me or for the rest of you?" Kerry's mouth twitched into a faint, wry smile.

It was Allison's turn to be silent for a moment. "Well, we're not all that uptight."

Kerry looked over at Mayte, who had her mouth covered by one hand and was watching her in fascination. "So, the senior class wants to hear what I have to say, huh?"

"That's what they said."

What would it take, twenty minutes? She could probably stop by there between packing and getting some dinner with Angie and after all, she had talked Dar into going to hers, now hadn't she? Hypocrisy stunted your growth sometimes. "All right," she said.

"All right?"

"I'll stop by and give a piece of my mind," Kerry said. "But let me just warn you, Ms. Barker, I take a lot less bullshit now than I used to."

A sigh of what might have been either relief or resignation sounded on the phone. "Fair deal, Ms. Stuart. I'll tell the committee," Allison said. "So we'll see you the night of the 10th. The get together starts at eight p.m., we'll have dinner, then the speakers."

"Okay." Kerry gave in with a bemused shrug. "See you then. Bye." She waited for the click on the other end, then closed her phone and leaned over Mayte's desk to punch her phone pad.

A ring, then Dar's voice growled through the speaker. "Yes, Mayte?"

"Sorry, honey, it's just me."

Dar chuckled softly.

"Do me a favor?" Kerry tapped her cell phone against her jaw.

"Sure."

"Turn around and look out the window and tell me if it's snowing."

There was a moment of dead silence on the phone, and then the squeak of Dar's chair sounded clearly. Kerry waited patiently, listening to soft scuffles and sounds of the air conditioning cycling on and off. "The window behind you, hon."

"Is it SNOWING?"

The answer came right into her ear accompanied by the sudden warmth of Dar's body against her shoulder, making her jump nearly off the desk. "Yeek." Kerry cut off the intercom. "Well, after what I just got asked, it damn well should be." She picked up her coffee. "C'mon. You won't believe it."

Dar followed her into her office, pushing her sleeves up after exchanging puzzled looks with Mayte. "I can't wait to hear this."

Mayte watched the door close and went back to her work, muffling a smile.

"UGH." KERRY TOSSED the mail on the dining room table as she passed it scrubbing her fingers through her hair as she headed for the back door to let Chino out. "Yes, honey. I'm coming," she told her excited pet, who was whirling around in circles near the door. "Cheebles, you're going to smack your head against the wall one of these days."

She unlocked the door and watched the dog ramble down the steps into the small outdoor garden. She then headed back across the living room and trotted up the stairs to her bedroom.

As she entered, she glanced at the big doors leading out to the balcony, where the early evening light was still drenching the stucco surface. "I like summers," she announced, as she stripped out of her business suit, hanging the skirt and blazer neatly on hangers inside her closet. "You still get home as late, but you feel like you've got some day left."

Kerry changed into a pair of shorts and tank top, and retreated back down the stairs just as Chino came bouncing in from outside. "Hey Cheebles." She knelt and gave the Labrador a hug. "Are you glad to see me?"

Naturally, the dog was. Chino's tail wagged furiously as she licked Kerry's face, only stopping when Kerry stood up and made her way over to the cabinet that held the all important dog food supply.

"Gruff!" Chino sat down next to her bowl, tail sweeping the floor.

Kerry turned and put a hand on her hip. "Excuse me, madame."

Chino's tongue lolled out happily.

"Dar taught you that look, didn't she?" Kerry had to smile, as the dog looked back at her with those utterly unquestioning brown eyes, as steadfast and honest as her beloved partner's. "Little punklet." She opened up the dog food and filled Chino's bowl with both wet and dry, setting it down and watching her wolf it down. "Glad I don't eat that fast."

"Gruff?" Chino looked up at her, and went back to eating.

"I'd bite my fingers off." Kerry chuckled. She leaned back against the counter and considered the question of her own dinner, or more precisely, her's and Dar's, since Dar was stuck on a late conference call and wouldn't be home for at least an hour.

Dar would be totally happy if she offered her a bowl of cereal and some ice cream, and Kerry knew it. She also knew she probably would be happy with the same thing, and, on occasion, that's what they ended up with when they came home very late.

If she wanted to order something from the club for them, that would be okay too. Kerry peeked inside the refrigerator, pondered her choices, then she removed a premade pizza crust from the fridge and pulled the flat pan it went on from the oven.

She removed the crust from its wrapper, and went back to the fridge and removed a small jar of marinara sauce, a small jar of olives, some jalapeno peppers, a package of pepperoni, several slices of ham, a bag of mozzarella cheese, and a can of peaches, taking them back over and setting them on the counter.

Whistling softly, she assembled the pizza, putting down a layer of the sauce, a handful of cheese, then scattering the rest of the items indiscriminately over the surface before she covered it all over with more cheese.

Only then did she carefully place peach halves on one half of the pie, her face twitching a little.

Once she was done, she popped it in the oven and dusted her hands off, returning the fixings to the fridge and removing a bottle of ice tea. She wandered out onto the porch with the tea, settling on the two person swing as Chino joined her. "You finished already, Cheebles?"

Chino licked her lips, and sat down.

"I guess so." Kerry popped open her tea and sipped it, as she gazed out across the Atlantic Ocean. Pushed aside all day, the memory of her conversation and unexpected request now surfaced, and she nibbled her lip, thinking about what on earth she was going to say to a bunch of--

Kids? Like she'd been?

Kerry frowned. The kid she'd been, and the girls she'd gone to school with, probably would not have stepped outside the carefully constructed conservative box they'd grown up with to request who she'd become speak at their event.

Just would not have happened. Maybe they'd have talked about it, though she doubted even that much, but to demand it?

So what in the hell was she supposed to say to them? And if they were that confident already, why even ask her to give a speech? Kerry sighed. "Maybe they are interested because I'm a successful businesswoman," she reasoned. "I mean, I am."

That idea seemed a lot more appealing than thinking the girls wanted her just for the scandal it would cause the school. Kerry appreciated a good scandal, and she had to admit she was a little bit amused at the request, but she decided she'd come up with a respectable presentation and take the opportunity to visit her hometown without causing any headlines. She was still going to kick Angie's ass though.

Kerry relaxed against the back of the swing chair, a little ambivalent about the prospect of her sister's moving. On the one hand, she was glad Angie was getting out of the big house she'd lived in with her ex-husband, but disappointed she was moving in with their mother.

She'd half dreaded Angie's idea of moving down to Miami for very selfish reasons. But she understood that by moving back with Mom, the chances of Angie's son's father joining her were pretty much done. Brian's reluctance had disappointed her profoundly and she, truthfully, wasn't looking forward to meeting up with him during the move.