“Thanks, Kerry. You’re so cool.”

Kerry stood up and circled her chair. She leaned on the back and gazed at them. “Sometimes, it’s easy to get into the mode where you think everyone’s against you, or that your sexual preference automatically makes you a victim. It’s not true.” She paused and considered. “Not that it doesn’t happen. Of course it does. We all watch the news, or have had stuff happen, so you know it does.” A brief smile touched her lips. “But not always.”

“You’re pretty out at work, aren’t you?” Casey asked curiously.


Thicker Than Water 9

Kerry nodded.

“Do you get shit for that?”

The girls watched her closely, intensely interested in her answer. Kerry tended to turn talk away from her life to theirs, and they were always digging for little nuggets about her personal side. They knew she worked for a big company and that she was gay, and not a whole lot more. Most of them hadn’t even met Dar, since the current group had formed after the last picnic her lover had attended.

“Sometimes, there are people who find out and they don’t like it,” Kerry said. “But mostly, I just do my job and they don’t really care.”

“Your boss doesn’t care?”

She couldn’t suppress a smile. “No. Definitely not.”

“Cool.” Casey nodded. “Maybe I’ll get me a job there, then.

They sound all right.”

Kerry reviewed the stocky young woman, whose dark hair was dyed in three shades of purple to match the six different kinds of earring stones and to contrast with the tattoos dancing across her neck. “Give me your resume and I’ll give it to Person-nel.”

“All right.” Casey grinned. “You’re pretty cool, for an old lady.”

Kerry’s eyebrows lifted. “Just how ancient do you think I am?” She put her hands on her hips in mild outrage. “I only have three gray hairs, you know.”

Casey grinned, then bashfully dropped her eyes. “I know, I was just ragging you. It must be so cool–to have it all so together like you do.”

Hm. Yeah, as a matter of fact, it is pretty darn cool. “I’ve been really lucky. I’ve had good opportunities given to me and I’ve managed to find someone I want to spend the rest of my life with.

I thank God for that every day, believe me, Casey.” She circled the chair and sat down.

“Okay, so next subject.” Kerry pulled her legs into a cross legged position and leaned on the arm of her chair as she regarded her small group of teens. “Did you have a good Thanksgiving?”

Five sets of eyes rolled. “I hate holidays.” Lena groaned. “We had the whole family–my grandparents, the cousins, everyone, at our house. I had to dress up. It sucked.” The tiny, blond girl made a face.

Kerry chuckled. “Oh yeah, I remember those days. Thanksgiving was always big at my parents’ house. We had thirty or forty people there sometimes.”


10 Melissa Good

“Did you like it?” Lena asked, sounding doubtful.

Kerry thought about that. “Sometimes. When I was really young, I did, because all my cousins would come over. We were too little for anything really formal, so they’d let us loose in the solarium with a couple of the nannies and we’d have a ball.”

“Oo, nannies.” Erisa pushed a lock of dark hair back off her forehead. “You were, like, super rich, huh?”

“My parents are well off, yes,” Kerry replied.

“So, what did you do this Thanksgiving?” Lena asked. “Did you cook that turkey you got?”

How did we end up talking about me again? Kerry wondered.

“Yes and no. I did get to cook it, but it was a few days late. I was out of town for the holiday.”

Casey sat up. “You took off? What’d your SO think of that?”

Everyone’s ears perked up, and they watched Kerry with visible interest.

“Mm. Well, Dar knows my job entails a lot of traveling, so she understood.” Sort of. “But as it turned out, she was traveling too, and we both ended up in Chicago together. So, it worked out.”

Time to change the subject.

“I dunno.” Lena sighed. “For two days I had to listen to my folks tell me how I should get a boyfriend. They’re so clueless, I mean, like, hello. Those are not pictures of Leonardo Dumbasa-Fishio on my wall, okay?” She twisted her limbs into a position that made Kerry wonder if she had bones or plastic rods in her body. “You think they’d know, you know? Do I have to paint, like, my whole room in friggin’ rainbow stripes?”

“They’d probably think you were just doing that retro seven-ties thing.” Casey snorted. “My freaking father finally caught a clue when I dumped a box of friggin’ condoms he’d left in my room into his cereal bowl and told him I wasn’t in’erested in letting anything that fit in them fit in me.”

Kerry bit back a snort of laughter. “What did he say?”

Casey shrugged, then laughed without humor. “He said, thank fucking God, at least I wouldn’t go out and get stupid and pregnant, and make him pay for it.”

“Yo, he’d rather you be gay than a slut, right?” Lena remarked. “My folks would rather I be dead than gay.”

Kerry sobered. “You don’t know that.”

“Sure I do.” Lena looked directly at her. “My mom told me that right to my face, after she watched some fucking Oprah shit about gay kids.” She snorted. “She said if she ever found out I was gay, she’d shut me up in my room and gas me.”

Holy crap. Kerry took a breath to steady herself. “I don’t think she meant that. Parents say things like that to scare their kids, Thicker Than Water 11

sometimes.”

Lena shrugged. “Yeah, maybe, but I know why so many gay kids pretend they ain’t. You get so sick of people thinking you’re just so fucked up.”

“Yeah.” Elina nodded. “I was thinking the other day, is it even worth it?”

Kerry sat up and put both feet on the ground. She clasped her hands between her knees as she leaned forward. “Listen.” She spoke slowly and quietly. “My parents don’t like me being gay either, and that hurts, because I love my family very much.” She sorted through her feelings. “I hated having to make a choice between them and the truth about myself.”

“They just don’t get it,” Elina remarked softly. “It’s like they don’t understand it, so they have to hate it.”

Kerry nodded. “That’s true, and believe me, I was scared when I realized I was going to have to face that. I didn’t want them to hate me.” She paused and collected her thoughts. “You know, I never knew what it would be like to fall in love. So when I fell in love with Dar, it was all so much of a surprise to me—how good it felt and what an amazingly powerful emotion love is.”

They all looked at each other, then back at her.

“It’s worth it,” Kerry said simply. “I wouldn’t give Dar up for all the money, or the approval of my parents, or anything else in the world.”

There was utter silence, and Kerry glanced from face to face as they stared. “C’mon, it wasn’t that profound.” She chuckled, then realized they weren’t staring at her, they were staring past her. She turned her head to find Dar leaning in the doorway, her arms folded and a quiet, pleased smile on her face. “Ah, it’s you.”

“Yes, it is,” Dar said.

Kerry was aware she was blushing. “C’mon in. Guys, this is Dar.”

Dar entered, rounded Kerry’s chair, and perched on an arm of it as she regarded the circle of young faces. “Hi,” she said, then turned her attention to Kerry. “You’re late.”

Kerry gave Dar a bewildered look. “I am? For what?”

“You have an appointment with me, some of my stone crab friends, and a tall bottle.” Dar watched the startled delight creep into Kerry’s features. “With lots of bubbles in it.” She turned her head and peered at the girls. “You’ll excuse her, right?”

Five heads nodded.

“Good.” Dar turned her attention back to Kerry. “Well?” She lifted an eyebrow and held out a hand, palm up. Kerry clasped Dar’s hand, their fingers curling warmly around each other’s. Dar stood and tugged, and waited for Kerry to stand up.


12 Melissa Good

“Um.” Kerry faced her group, who were now smiling and giggling at her. “I guess I’ll see you guys next week, huh?” She flashed them a rueful grin. “See? She’s definitely a keeper.”

Still clasping hands, they walked out of the meeting room and through the church, respecting the peaceful silence until they pushed through the large outer door and went from the slightly close air into a cool fall night and a gusty breeze tinged heavily with salt. “Wow.” Kerry regarded Dar’s profile outlined in stars.

“That was a surprise.”

Dar nodded. “I know. I had a tough day and ended up getting through it by planning the night with you. C’mon. Let’s go count stars.”

Kerry smiled and turned her face to the wind as they walked to a nearby small, seaside restaurant, its table candles fluttering in the breeze. Her hand felt warm in Dar’s and the concrete sidewalk seemed to turn into a cloud.


Chapter

Two

“ANGIE?” CYNTHIA STUART looked up as she heard footsteps in the hall. “We’re ready to sit down for dinner. Is Richard back?”

“Not yet.” Angela entered the solarium, took a seat, and straightened her skirt as she tucked her feet under the chair. “He said his meeting might run late. I just put Andrew to bed.” She fiddled with her hair—a dark brown, very unlike her older sister Kerry’s. She was also taller than her sibling, with a thin build that made her seem almost gaunt.

“Well, all right. It can wait a few minutes,” Cynthia replied.

“Your father’s still in conference, at any rate. But I think they are wrapping up shortly. He rang the bell about five minutes ago.”