Chino bounded away to retrieve her prize, leaving her owners to walk out of the surf in peace.

"She's so cute." Kerry sighed. "She gets away with everything, and she knows it," she added. "She has us wrapped right around her little paw."

Dar chuckled softly.

"Walking helping any?"

"No." Dar managed a wry grin. "But the two of you are keeping my mind otherwise occupied, so the end result is all right," she told her partner. "I feel better."

"Mm.. well, that's what your family's for. To make you feel better when you feel crummy." Kerry squeezed her hand around Dar's lightly. "So I'm glad we're doing our job."

Dar didn't answer, but her face lit up visibly at the words, and her step took on an extra swagger as they enjoyed the late afternoon sun. They passed the beach club, exchanging lazy waves with a few people seated outside and continued on along the south side of the island.

It was quieter on this end. They faced the terminal island where the cargo ships loaded up with containers bound for South America and beyond. Dar shaded her eyes and then pointed to one side of the cargo area, a large, open space with several cranes standing slack and waiting for work. "Think that's where he's talking about."

Kerry reviewed the spot. "Dar, it's really twisted that these damn things are going to be almost in view of our bedroom."

Her partner chuckled softly. "Remind me to point that out in a loud voice if we bump into our friends during the process."

They watched a cargo cruiser move stiffly away from the dock, chugging out of the channel toward the cut, shepherded by two hard working tugs.

"I think..." Kerry mused, as they continued their walk, heading around the back side of the island. "I think we should throw a big party. Invite all our competitors over to break the ice, kinda, since we are the...um..hosts...so to speak."

Dar eyed her. "Invite them all to our condo?"

"Uh huh."

"You really mean, invite Shari and Michelle to our condo so they can drool all over it and be jealous of our home life and good taste?"

"Uh huh."

Dar ruffled Kerry's hair with her free hand, feeling around on the crown of her head. "Careful, Yankee, your horns are showing," she teased. "Michelle's got some class. I'm sure they live in a nice place."

Kerry solemnly stuck her tongue out. "Not as nice as ours," she said. "I looked up the address just to prove my excruciatingly thorough WASP upbringing." Her green eyes glinted slightly. "But I was serious, Dar. If we're going to do this, I don't want to spend two weeks being miserable like we were in Orlando. Let's take the high road, and let them be jerks if they want to be."

Dar pondered in silence as they rounded the curve and started up the northern edge of the island, which bordered the cut. Watercraft were moving through the channel, including two daredevil jet ski riders courting disaster as they wove through a stately parade of sailboats. Chino trotted along behind them, and now that the sun was starting a serious tilt toward the horizon a cooling breeze sprang up and made the walk far more pleasant.

"Well, let's see what happens," Dar finally concluded. "After all, they might not come down here. I'm gonna guess most of the bidders will send an engineering team, not executives in silk and pumps."

Kerry accepted the tacit victory with a gentle smile. "Bet you ten bucks they'll be here," she countered. "Because they know you will."

"We will," Dar corrected her. "I think Michelle respects you."

Kerry's face wrinkled up into an expression of distaste. "You know something, I sort of liked her, way back when. I thought she was pretty cool, the way she made that pick the first time, and even after she messed around with those snapshots and came to the office, she seemed pretty straightforward."

"Mm." Dar stepped over a piece of driftwood. Her cramps seemed to be easing after all, and she was finding the walk increasingly enjoyable. "Yeah, I didn't have a problem with her that first time. I wasn't crazy about her sending those photos to Alastair, but I figured she was pretty stung when I blew her off that night at her hotel."

A smile played around Kerry's lips. "The night you came over to my apartment," she murmured. "Ah, yes. I remember that night. I'm surprised I didn't stain that beige carpet green I was so freaking jealous."

Dar looked at her, caught in the middle of continuing her original thought. "You were?"

"Dar." Kerry laughed, rolling her eyes. "Oh, Jesus, please. Tell me you didn't see it written all over my face."

"Um." Dar cleared her throat gently. "Actually, no. I was too busy staring lustfully at the half naked, gorgeous, sweat covered woman on the carpet to notice what color she was."

Kerry looked at her, both eyebrows hiking up. Dar responded with a sexy grin, triggering a now far more rare heated blush that rapidly colored Kerry's face. "Euhr...you do say the nicest things sometimes, honey." Kerry rubbed her cheek with one hand, and then she glanced up. "Really?"

"Really," Dar replied. "It was quite a feeling--after being hit on all night by someone I wasn't attracted to." She tucked Kerry's hand into the crook of her elbow. "Funny how I used to like playing that game. I was in a meeting the other month with a half dozen new reps from that consulting company we integrated...didn't know me, didn't know about us...they started that sniffing around crap and I called a break and went out and put this on." She raised her right hand, displaying her ring. "End of that problem."

Startled to have her unasked question answered in such an unexpected way, Kerry merely stayed silent for a few steps. Then she released a small puff of air, almost a laugh. "So that's why," she mused. "I remember you telling me once how you felt that people formed certain ideas about other people based on whether they had a ring on or not."

Dar nodded. "Yeah," she agreed. "I damn well wanted them to think that about me." She glanced at Kerry's hand tucked in hers, its ring glinting softly in the sunlight, and then she met Kerry's eyes. "Yeah."

"I was wondering," Kerry admitted. "I was getting dressed one morning and I was about to put my necklace on and I stopped just to look at my ring...it's so pretty." She glanced down at their hands. "I decided to put it on my hand instead. Not really sure why, but then I saw you had yours on."

"I thought you did it because I had mine on." Dar cleared her throat.

"No, we just ended up doing it the same day," Kerry said. "Kinda strange, but in a nice way. I'm really not sure at all why I did it."

"Maybe it's an evolution thing," Dar suggested, after a brief hesitation.

"Maybe."

Dar scuffed a rock with her foot. "Anyway. I'm glad we did it."

"Me, too." The smile on Kerry's face left no doubt of her feelings. "You know, Dar, we should do these little walk and talks more often."

A wry chuckle spilled from Dar's lips. "Sure beats cramps." She looked up. "Hey...hey...Chino!!!"

"Oh no." Kerry's eyes widened. "No! C'mere, girl."

Chino spotted a duck and bolted after it, spurring her owners into a mad dash after her, leaving laughter in the air behind them.

"HERE YOU GO." The short, curly haired man behind the makeshift bar handed Kerry a beer. "Careful, it's a little foamy."

"Thanks." Kerry inhaled some of the sharp tasting fizz before it poured over her hand and moved to one side out of the way of the crowd.

The church was mostly full, it's homey interior buzzing with low conversation and the occasional spurt of laughter. Kerry dodged around a few chatting groups and headed for the low couches near the back wall where Dar was lounging inside a circle of people they were more familiar with.

At least the party was casual. Kerry eased past a man in shorts so short she wondered why he really bothered and took the cushion next to her partner on the couch. "What'd I miss?"

"Oh, Lori and I were just filling Dar in on the latest church news, you know," a tall redhead told her. "This and that...we keep trying to lure her into the choir."

Kerry settled against Dar's warm body. "She'd be good at it," she agreed, ignoring the mock glower from a pair of nearby baby blues.

"You should see her singing in the shower. It's amazing."

"I'm sure we'd love to. Invite us over." Lori shot back, with a mischievous grin. "Right, Rachel?"

"Absolutely! Kerry, you little charmer! What a sweetie you are!" Her partner chortled. "When's the viewing?"

Kerry felt Dar start to snicker. "Well, I walked right into that one, didn't I?" she admitted, toasting them all with her beer. "Sorry ladies, I don't share." A reluctant grin appeared. "The view, or anything else." She bumped Dar with her elbow. "And you stop laughing!"

"Ahem." Dar cleared her throat. "Honestly, my work schedule just won't permit me getting involved in anything that regular." She told Rachel, the redhead who was also one of the principals in the choir. "And I don't commit to things I can't guarantee I'll do."

Rachel slouched in the easy chair across from them, swinging one denim covered leg over the arm of it. "Yeah, yeah. But all work no play..." She let the words trail off suggestively. "Workaholics are so uncool these days." She shook her finger at Dar.

An amused glint appeared. "I play," Dar replied in silken voice. "I just save all my playtime for one person." She turned her head and looked at Kerry, catching the quick grin and returning it.

Their attention was drawn by a sudden noise nearby and they all turned to see two women facing off against each other, hands grappling at cotton shirts and faces twisted in anger. "Oh crap." Lori rolled her eyes. "Here we go again." She lifted her voice. "Would you two cut it the hell out and grow up?"