Kerry finished her task, then grinned and pulled her friend over to the couch. “Sit, it’s a long story.” She waited for Colleen to sit down, then she tucked her legs up under her and leaned an arm on the back of the couch.

“Well, where do I start?” She told Colleen the whole story, watching Colleen’s jaw drop in amazement.

“Whoa. Whoa, whoa... Hold on just a Jesus, Mary and Joseph minute.”

She held up her hand. “Let me get this tale straight: you found out you all were gonna be fired; so you drove out to the Key; then you run out of gas on the way back; get stuck near the tracks in downtown; get carjacked; then you get rescued, like a full-blown-caped-crusader-flying-to-the-rescue kind of thing, by Dar Roberts. Am I clear on this so far?” Her voice was incredulous.

“The same Dar Roberts that just fired you? That one?”

“Um…essentially, yes.” Kerry grinned. “Only she made like it was nothing—like she just sort of happened by, and the guys ran off or something.

But I know she had to have done something to them, because her hands were all banged up, and I heard at least one of the guys scream.”

“Wow.” Colleen squealed. “Is she, like, into karate or something?”

“Mmm.” Kerry thought about that. “I don’t know, but I think she’s into something. She’s got all these muscles all up and down her arms…like here.”

She patted her shoulders. “And when she walks, she kinda…well, you can tell she doesn’t just sit around her office all day.”

“Ooo…” Colleen giggled. “So, what was she doing, wandering the streets looking for damsels in distress to save?”


Tropical Storm 69

“Tch.” Kerry slapped her leg. “No, actually. I, um…I called her. No, don’t look at me like that, okay? I had this number she told me to use if I had any problems with her goon squad. I figured it was some flunky of hers, so I called it. I thought I could get him to call Triple A for me or something.”

“But it wasn’t, huh?” Colleen looked fascinated. “This is more and more intriguing.”

“No. No, it was her,” Kerry admitted. “So I hung up, but she called back.

And she asked me where I was. I felt like such an idiot telling her I ran out of gas, but…” She sighed. “Anyway, these guys came at me, and I told her to call the police. Then they hit the car, and it got really scary. Then the next thing I knew, they were gone, and she was there.” The blonde woman chuckled a little. “Boy, for someone I was hating a half hour before, I sure was glad to see her.”“So…you’re fired, though?” Colleen said, concerned. “What are you going to do?”

“Well, I’m not, actually. See, we went back to her office after the whole thing, and she went over the numbers again, and she finally had a brainstorm or something…and she worked it out so we were okay.” Kerry took a breath.

“It was pretty amazing. She told some big boss of hers she’d been working on whatever this thing was for forty-eight hours without sleep.”

“Jesus!” The redhead snorted. “So, you’re not fired.”

“No,” her friend agreed.

“And your guys are okay?”

Kerry lifted a hand and let it drop to her knee. “As okay as I could work out,” she admitted. “Some of them are going to be let go.”

“Figures.” Colleen now looked skeptical. “That leopard isn’t changing its spots any time soon, I think.”

“No. No, it’s…” Kerry shook her head. “She made it okay, Col. She’s letting me give them six months’ severance.”

The redhead’s jaw dropped wide open, and she goggled at Kerry. “Six?”

“And six months’ benefits,” Kerry concluded. “I couldn’t believe it.

That’s the part that was so hard, Col. I knew even if I worked it out, I’d still have to face those people.”

“Six?” Colleen repeated, seemingly in a daze. “Kerry, nobody does that.”

“She did.” The blonde woman leaned back. “What a weight off my shoulders. I could have ki…” She fell silent. “Anyway, it’ll be a little tough, but we’re in.”

“Unbelievable,” her friend said. “But can you trust her? You sound like you’re thinking she’s not so bad after all.”

“No.” Kerry shook her head and smiled. “She’s really not. I mean, she’s all business, right? And I think she’d fire someone like most other people would just blow their nose or whatever. But towards the end of the night, she was kind of just okay. And, I got the feeling we could actually…sort of get along, if we really wanted to.”

Colleen whistled. “My boss wouldn’t believe it. You should hear how he talks about her. You’d think she was the daughter of the devil himself.”

Kerry looked up as her PC chimed. “Whoops.” She got up and checked the screen. “Mail, on Saturday?” But a thrill of anticipation ran up her back as 70 Melissa Good she opened the program, scanning the inbox and letting out a soft breath as she saw the first name on the list. “Well, speaking of Dar Roberts.” She clicked on the message, and read it, then read it again. “What in…”

Colleen had stepped up behind her, and peered over her shoulder. “What does that mean?” She puzzled at it. “Why do you need to worry about their dress code? You don’t work in that building.”

“Uh.” Kerry closed the message, then opened a terminal session and thumbed through her notes as she requested a logon to the mainframe. “Okay, I press this, then go here…login, password… Oh, hell! Okay, try it again. Ah.”

She accessed her own employee files, then stared at the main screen in disbelief. “Oh…sugarbaker.”

“What?” Colleen peered at the screen. “What’s an ORGID?” she asked. “It sounds disgusting.”

“She did it.” Kerry breathed, her fingertip tracing the change in her department, location, and her supervisor.

Roberts, D

“She did what?” The redhead poked her. “C’mon, Ker, spill it. What’s going on here?”

“She hired me,” Kerry mumbled.

“I thought you were already hired?” came the puzzled response. “Did I miss something here?”

“Well, yeah, but she had this…I mean, she hired me to work for her,”

Kerry responded, dazed. “She was looking for an assistant.”

“Jesus Mary mother of God.” Colleen squeaked. “You are going to be Dar Roberts’ assistant?” She pounded on Kerry’s back. “You? Oh my god!”

“Ow!” Kerry ducked out of the way. “Cut that out! I’ve got scratches from that stupid glass.” But she felt exhilarated. “And…yeah. I guess I’m going to work for her. I didn’t expect her to make a decision so fast, but now that I think about it, it doesn’t surprise me. I don’t think she likes to dawdle around stuff.” Whoo-ooo! Inside, she was jumping up and down. “Wow.”

“Okay, girl, tonight we party,” Colleen decided. “You need to go out and celebrate. Because let me tell you, from what I hear? You won’t get a chance to breathe once you start working for her.” She tugged Kerry’s sleeve. “Let’s do Cocowalk, and hit the Improv, then have a late dinner at Monte’s. I’ll get Pete and Reggie, and a few other people around here, okay?”

Kerry grinned. “Sure, that sounds fun. I can do that,” she agreed.

“Tomorrow… Ye gods! I’ll have to go clothes shopping. I don’t have anything good enough for that mausoleum, it’s humongous.”

“Ooo…ooo…ooo…” Colleen waved her hands. “I’ll go shopping too, I’d love to see you in some fancy power suits for a change. This is gonna be great.” She stood up. “I’ll be back. You stay right here, Ms. High and Mighty corporate executive.”

Kerry rolled her eyes. “Okay, I’ve got to find out what the rest of this mail is, anyway. It’s after two, you want to meet in front of here at five?”

“You betcha,” Colleen agreed, then bustled off. “Hey, I’ll invite Gary. He really likes you.”

The blonde woman waved a hand at her. “Fine, fine. Just tell him not to talk about his job all the time, okay?”


Tropical Storm 71

“Kerry, he can’t help working at the Water and Sewer plant,” the redhead chided her. “He’s very excited about it.” Green eyes peered over the monitor at her. “Okay, okay. I’m outta here.” Colleen laughed. “I’ll tell him.”

As the door closed, Kerry sat back and re-read her mail for the third time.

“Man, oh man, I can’t believe it.” She eyed the phone. “Guess I’d better let the folks in on this.” She picked up the receiver and dialed a number, waiting until she heard a voice answer. “Hi, Mom.”

“Oh, hello, Kerrison,” her mother’s flat, even tone replied. “I wasn’t expecting you until tonight. Is there a problem?”

“No, no. I got some good news. I thought I’d pass it along,” Kerry answered quietly. “I was promoted.”

“That’s nice, dear. I thought perhaps you were going to say you’d given up that strange city and were coming home. What kind of promotion was it?”

“Well, we were bought out. I think I told you that was happening last week.”

“Oh? Oh yes, you mentioned it,” Cynthia Stuart recalled. “Your father was saying he’s had dealings with that new company.”

“Mmm, yes, they’re pretty big. There was an opening there, on the operations team. I applied for it, and they took me,” Kerry told her carefully.

“I’m…well, I’ve got to go shopping for some new clothes tomorrow.”

A note of concern entered her mother’s voice. “You haven’t been putting on weight again, have you, dear?”

“Oh, no. No,” Kerry reassured her. “No, in fact, I lost a few pounds over the last few days. Um…no, it’s…well, I’m going to be the assistant to one of their Vice Presidents, so I have to dress up.”

“Oh?” Now her mother sounded more interested. “Really? That sounds more…well, you have to make sure you make a good impression. You have a Macy’s down there, isn’t that right?”