"And give out hats." Dar supplied, after she stopped speaking.

"Do you have a fixation on those hats?" Mari gave her an exasperated look. "I'll have cows horns put on them in a minute."

The crowd chuckled, a lot of heads turning to look at Dar's distinctive profile.

"Moo," Dar promptly responded. "I like cows. They produce my two favorite foods, cheeseburgers and milk."

Mari cleared her throat conspicuously. "Ahem." She went back to her clipboard. "As I was saying--thank you for being here on time, I really appreciate it. One of the first things I want to tell you is that we're all here to have fun, okay? This isn't major league baseball."

The crowd chuckled a little.

"Kerry Stuart has volunteered to be our captain." Mari smiled, looking over at Kerry as applause broke out. "So I'm sure we'll end up having a great time, and doing good things for a good cause."

"Mariana, how many other teams are in this league?" one of the accountants spoke up.

"About twenty." Mari was glad to turn her attention from her hecklers. "The games are played in a round robin tournament style. Where the charity comes in is that the company will contribute a certain amount to the charity fund for every employee who participates."

"So it doesn't matter if we win or not?" the man asked with a frown.

A little buzz went up at that.

"Well." Mariana lifted her hands a little. "It is about the charity, really--"

"It matters to us if we do," Dar spoke up again from her corner. "But the charity gets the bucks no matter what, is that how it is, Mari?"'

"Exactly." Mari nodded. "There are many things to strive for in the contest. There are trophies and awards and so on, and also several things donated by the various corporations that will be given to those who complete the tournament."

"What did we give?" Kerry whispered. "Please don't tell me a lifetime supply of Cat 5e cabling."

"Cool!" Mark spoke up. "So we can get some swag, huh?"

"Nerd gift certificate I think," Dar whispered back, "for one of the big online places. Enough for a nice system,"she added."Hm." Kerry grunted approvingly. "Nice."

"So," Mari got everyone's attention back, "here are the rules. Games will be on Friday nights here at the park. All the other companies are more or less in the area around Miami, so there is no home and no away or anything like that. Each team has to have enough players to play the game or they forfeit."

"That means everyone shows up or she posts it on the company bulletin board on Monday," Dar announced. "If you're gonna do this, do it, or stay the hell home."

Everyone swiveled to look at their boss, who raised one eyebrow and gave them all a stern glare. Silence fell briefly until Mark cleared his throat.

"Yes, boss," he said, in a mild tone.

"Ahem!" Mari put her hands on her hips. "Do you want to run this?"

"Do you want me to run this?" Dar returned the volley neatly. "Bet the other teams end up regretting it like everyone else here who just realized they're going to be sharing space with me and a softball bat."

After a second's pause everyone laughed, even Dar. Kerry reached over and tweaked her nose, giving her a look of loving exasperation.

"Hats? Anyone want hats?" Mari chuckled herself. "How about pizza?"

That got everyone's attention, and all heads turned as though the crowd were a collection of spaniels at dinnertime.

"I thought that might work." Mari lifted her hands. "Okay, everyone to Santorini's after this, on me. But as for the team--for every game you show up for your name gets entered into the drawings for the donated prizes," she said. "So, the more games you attend, the better your chance to win some pretty nice stuff. "

"Like what?" someone asked.

"Ah, altruism." Dar chuckled softly under her breath.

"At least it's not some thousand bucks a plate dinner so you can put your mug in front of some politician," Kerry reminded her. "It's a good incentive."

"Mm."

"Well, we have a three night stay in Cozumel--" Mari was drowned out by oohs and aaahs. "A cruise to Bermuda, shopping spree at Macy's--some crazy tech company threw in a certificate for a new computer--"

"Did we ever decide if we really wanted to do a cruise?" Kerry asked. "Or did we finally decide we wanted to sail on one of those things about as much as we wanted a root canal?"

Dar glanced at the cloudy sky, and breathed in a lungful of air deeply tinged with ions. "We dropped the question," she said. "Hey Mari."

"And that--what?" Mari put her hands on her hips and gave Dar a look.

Dar pointed up at the sky, then held her hand out as she felt the first droplets of rain bringing a cool down that was worth the dampness. "Take it up at the pizza shack?" she suggested, as the rest of the crowd started to scramble down from the benches.

"Sure." Mari raced by her shielding her head with her clipboard, as the rain started to come down in earnest. "You can grab the damn hats!" She pointed behind her. "Ahhhhh!"

Kerry hopped off the bench and started for the bag with Dar right at her heels. "How do we get ourselves into stuff like this?" she yelled over the thunder. "Jesus, Dar we're going to be soaked!"

"We volunteer." Dar grabbed the bag and got it and its contents over their head as they ran back toward the parking lot. "Bet Mari didn't figure on this being a wet T-shirt contest."

"Oh. Don't you even go there."


Chapter Two

KERRY RESTED HER head on her fist, tapping her pen on the pad of paper on her desk. She wrote a few words, then paused and studied them with a frown on her face. "What in the hell am I supposed to talk about?" >

he heard a soft ding and turned to see a new mail alert on her computer. She clicked it and brought up her personal mail folder to find a note from Angie. "Ah." She clicked on it.

Hi sis.

Please don't hate me too much. I realized after I talked to that woman that I probably should have asked you first. It just sounded pretty innocuous, you know? She kind of tricked me. She started to talk about knowing you and the reunion and all that and, before I knew it, I spilled the beans. Sorry about that--but hey, how bad could a little speech be? Remember your senior event?

Kerry grimaced. "Oh yes. I sure do."

Anyway, I'll take you to that brewpub you like afterward to make it up to you, okay?

"Eeeehhhh--okay."

Mom said she wants to have dinner with us. That I didn't commit to. I told her we'd be really busy moving stuff, and she got pissed off because she thinks I should have just hired the movers to pack up everything. Can you believe that?

Looking forward to seeing you--

Angie

Kerry scratched the side of her nose with her pen. Her last meeting with her mother hadn't been the most cordial, and though she'd spoken to her since, she didn't really want to spend that much time in the house. She hit reply, and started typing.

Hey Ang--eh, I got over being pissed. It is what it is, and Dar thinks it might be funny for me to do a speech there, so whatever.

I can do dinner with Mom, but let's go out. I don't want to sit at that table if I don't have to. I'm not looking for lectures and if she really pisses me off it's not going to be fun for any of us. If we're out in a restaurant, she'll probably behave.

See you on Saturday.

K.

Kerry turned back to her pad, but after a few more minutes of staring at it, she gave up and dropped the pen on it, getting up and stretching before she left her office and trotted off down the steps to the lower level.

She crossed the tile floor and entered the bedroom she and Dar shared, the soothing blue walls already making her feel more relaxed. "Dar?"

"Uh?" Dar was stretched out on their waterbed.

"Do we actually know how to play softball?" Kerry trudged over, and dropped onto the waterbed, making Dar's body rock back and forth. "Boy that hot tub felt good," she added, "but it gave me time to think about what we've gotten ourselves into here."

"Well." Dar folded her hands over her stomach. "It can't be that hard, Kerry. Someone throws a ball at you, and you hit it with a bat and then you run like hell."

"True." Kerry squirmed over and put her head on Dar's stomach, extending her body at right angles to her. "But tennis looks pretty easy too, and I really suck at it. And don't you tell me I don't just to be nice."

Dar chuckled softly. "I wasn't going to. You really do suck at tennis, but then again, so do I. So what does that say about tennis?" She laid her arm over Kerry's midriff. "I'm sure we can handle it."

"We should practice."

"Now?"

Kerry rolled onto her side, looking up at Dar. "You're so silly sometimes," she said. "I meant, before we go and make fools of ourselves out there. I, at least, want to know what I'm supposed to be doing," she explained. "We can practice here, can't we?"

"We can practice over near the golf course, sure," Dar agreed. "Tomorrow we can go get some gloves and balls and whatever, and work it out," she said. "Did you decide what position you want to play on defense?"

Kerry's green eyes narrowed. "If you even start to suggest shortstop I'm going to bite you."

Dar's lips twitched. "Actually, I think I'm better for that," she admitted. "Long arms, fast reflexes." She studied Kerry for a moment. "I bet you'd be a good pitcher."

Kerry snickered. "You never saw me throw anything other than a Frisbee," she said. "How about I try outfield first?" she suggested. "I think I can manage to catch the ball out there."