Kerry gazed at her. “I like my job, and my boss,” she replied mildly. As the woman just shook her head and walked out, Kerry turned her attention back to Maria. “She has been pretty upset all day; is something up?”

Maria shrugged. “I tell you…something is wrong, but she won’t say.”

The secretary lowered her voice. “I worry. She got a call from the doctor today, early this morning. She’s been so quiet since.” She nudged Kerry. “You better go in, she was asking where you were.”

“Okay.” Kerry sighed, then picked up her offering of coffee and gently tapped on the door, pushing it open as she heard the low response. She entered to find Dar seated behind her desk, her arms resting on its surface.

“Hey, you looking for me?” As she moved closer, she noticed the pale tinge to her boss’s normally tanned skin and she set the coffee down, peering at the taller woman in concern.

“Yeah. “ Dar exhaled. “Um…those contracts, the ones Duks wanted reviewed. Did you take them? I can’t seem to find them.” She rested her head on one hand, her eyes closing briefly. “Thought I had them in the bin there.”

“Dar?” Kerry circled behind the desk and knelt at her side, putting a hand on her arm. “Hey, are you okay?”

Dar’s brows creased. “Yeah, I’ve just got a lousy headache,” she admitted. “It’s driving me nuts.”

“You look terrible.” Kerry leaned closer. “Why don’t you lie down on the couch?”

“Just…” The older woman drew herself up, taking a long breath. “I’m all right. I need to find those contracts, I told Duks I’d get them back to him this afternoon.”

Kerry studied her for a moment. “I was reviewing them, but I thought I brought them back. Let me check my office. I’ll see if I can find them.”

Dar nodded and let her head rest on one hand again. “Good enough.”

Kerry walked toward the small door which led to the back corridor between their offices, then stopped and turned, taking her courage in both hands and returning to the desk. “Dar?”

Blue eyes glanced up at her in minor annoyance. “What?”

Kerry perched on the edge of the polished wood. “Um…listen, why don’t you go home?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Kerry,” Dar said testily. “There’s noth…” She clamped her jaw down tight, as her stomach threatened to rebel and closed her eyes. “Damn it.”

“Dar?” Kerry’s voice took on a cajoling softness. “Come on, let me take you home, okay? You can lie down. I know you’ll feel better.”

“I can’t.” Dar protested wearily. “There’s too much to do.”

“I’ll do it. Come on, I’ll drop you off, then I’ll come back here and finish stuff up,” Kerry coaxed. “Hey, it’s Friday afternoon. You can get out of here a few hours early, can’t you?”


Tropical Storm 117

Dar stared at her. The sea green eyes warmed and gentled as the blonde woman regarded her, and suddenly Dar just wanted to give in. “Well…”

“C’mon, you’re white as a sheet.” Kerry gave her a worried frown. “Dar, please, I don’t want anything to happen to you. I’d have to run screaming from the building if it did.”

That, at least, made her smile just a little. “All right.” She surrendered, leaning back in her chair and letting her head rest against the cool leather. She kept her eyes closed, listening to Kerry shutting down her computer, and the faint jingle as she captured Dar’s car keys from the top drawer. “Teach me to hire a debating champion, huh?”

“Come on,” Kerry urged quietly. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Yeah, all right.” Dar pushed herself to her feet, then shouldered her laptop and followed as Kerry lead the way across the room and opened the door. She gave Maria a look as the secretary glanced up, startled. “Maria, I’m, um…”

Kerry held up the car keys behind Dar’s back and exchanged worried looks with Maria.

“You’re…offsite at a meeting,” Maria said quietly. “Emergency calls only, ay?” Dar nodded. “That’ll do.”

Their exit was quiet. Kerry was amazed they managed to escape the building without Dar being stopped a half dozen times, but it seemed they picked the right time—everyone else was either in afternoon meetings or still at lunch. She walked with Dar across the lot, wincing herself at the lurid, bright sunlight that seemed all the odder in contrast to the thunderheads building above them. “Looks like it’s going to rain.”

Dar glanced briefly up, then shielded her eyes against the sun. “Oh, that was a bad idea.”

“Sorry.” Kerry put her hand on Dar’s back as they approached the Lexus.

“You should get in before I do something else that dumb.”

“Eh, I’d survive it. How dumb could it be if it’s you?” Dar muttered.

Kerry had to smile at the compliment. She got the executive settled in the passenger seat, then walked around and prudently adjusted the driver’s side to accommodate her lesser inches. “Where do you live, anyway?” she inquired hesitantly.

Dar smiled wearily. “Get on McArthur Causeway and go east. It’s the last light before you go over the final bridge over to the beach.”

Kerry stared at her in confusion. “Dar, that’s the Coast Guard terminal.”

A faint chuckle. “Not quite. It’s a ferry base just to the west of that.” She exhaled. “Place called Fisher Island. You gotta take a boat to go there.”

Kerry slowly put the Lexus into gear and eased out of the parking lot, turning right and heading for the causeway. “Oh,” she mused. “I’ve heard of that.” She shot her companion a worried look. “Do you have something you can take for your headache? I mean, you look like it hurts pretty bad.”

“The island pharmacy is filling a prescription I got yesterday,” Dar answered quietly. “I think this is a migraine. I’ve never had one before, but it’s really lousy.”

“Ouch.” Kerry turned onto the causeway and proceeded east. “I’ve had 118 Melissa Good those a few times. Did it start off with your vision going weird?” A faint nod confirmed her guess. “Stomach ache?” Kerry inquired sympathetically.

Another nod acknowledged that as well. “It’s a migraine.” The blonde made a face. “I usually find a dark place somewhere to sleep it off.”

There was silence for a bit. “How’d the meeting go?” Dar finally asked, as Kerry was turning right into the ferry terminal and proceeding cautiously through the cone-marked lanes. The ferry was just pulling up, so Kerry put the car in Park and considered the question.

“All right, I guess. The guy who chaired it, Michael something, he was really nasty. He had a bad attitude, but the presenter for technology was good.”

“Michael Districa.” Dar nodded. “Hates my guts.” She opened an eye and waved at the security guard, who lifted a hand in response. “Just drive onto the ferry. They’ll tell you when to stop.”

Kerry obeyed, edging the Lexus onto the ramp, then into its assigned lane, where a white-shirted deckhand motioned her. She braked when he held up a hand, then she watched as he carefully chocked the wheels. Once all the cars were loaded, the ramp was raised and the ferry chugged away from the dock. Now she had some time to shift her eyes to the right and study her companion. “How’d Pacific go?”

Dar kept her eyes closed and leaned her head against the doorframe, which was cool from the air conditioning. “Done.” She murmured. “I had to threaten to close a division, but the bastards finally made it out there.”

“Chalk another one up for DR, then.” Kerry smiled, watching as the ferry closed with the island terminal. “They were really worried about that one. I heard Mr. Draefus talking about it on the elevator with that person from Marketing.”

“Mmm.” Dar winced and swallowed hard as her stomach twisted. She was pathetically grateful for Kerry’s driving her home. The way she felt, she’d probably have ended up in Biscayne Bay. “Thanks for making me see reason, by the way.”

Green eyes regarded her warmly as Kerry just barely kept herself from reaching out and squeezing her boss’s arm. “You looked so miserable, I couldn’t stand it.”

A pale blue orb appeared and regarded her curiously. “You couldn’t stand it?”

Kerry took a breath, then released it, unsure of how exactly to explain her comment. She was saved the trouble by the ferry docking, which required her to concentrate on what she was doing. She pulled the Lexus up the ramp, into a welcoming spray of water which rinsed the salt off the car. Then she proceeded down the only road she could see, coming to a T intersection and looking at Dar in question. “Right or left?”

“Right,” Dar replied. “Go to the second inset left turn; the sign says

‘Seaside.’ Drive in, then go into the bay on the end.”

Kerry glanced around curiously. The island featured a small golf course in its center, and the apartments surrounded the perimeter. There wasn’t much car traffic, but she spotted several golf carts whirring along the road, and the trees which surrounded the course isolated the apartments from it.


Tropical Storm 119

She turned where Dar indicated and pulled into a condo complex, which held several clusters of homes, each set at right angles to each other. “Down there?”

She indicated the underground parking.

Dar nodded. “Yeah, first or second spot on the left. Doesn’t matter which one you pick.”

“All right.” Kerry pulled the car into a spot, then set the parking break.

“Here we are.”

“So it seems,” Dar replied wryly. “We didn’t think this out really well, Kerry. If you give me a chance to swallow a few pills, and let this die down, I’ll take you back for your car.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I can take a cab, thanks. You’re here because you don’t feel well, remember?” She opened the door and hopped out, literally.