“Well, we’re not all snooty executives,” Ray teased. “So how is El Chupa?”

“Yeah, has she made you eat any raw meat yet?” Susan added with a grin. “I heard yesterday that she hides small children in her office closet for afternoon snacks.”

Kerry didn’t smile. “She’s fine. Actually, you’ll get to see for yourselves.

She’s supposed to be here today.”

“What?” Susan snorted in disbelief. “You’re joking, right? El high and mighty power suit doing grunt work?”

“Nah, she’ll show up and tell everyone what to do, I betcha.” Ray Tropical Storm 221

laughed. “I can see it, in those spike heels, too.”

Kerry glanced over his shoulder and let a grin edge her lips. “Um, not quite.” She watched as the Lexus pulled to a quiet halt, and the door opened, allowing Dar to emerge into the sunlight.

“Huh?” Susan followed her glance and fell silent. So did Ray.

By some weird coincidence, the executive had chosen to wear almost a carbon copy of what Kerry had on. Her company-issued T-shirt was tucked neatly into faded blue jeans, and she wore practical work boots not unlike the ones the blonde woman was sporting. The sleeves on the shirt were rolled up, exposing her toned arms, and she’d tied her hair back into a loose tail. Her pale blue eyes stood out against her tanned skin, and she had a watchful, guarded look on her face. Until her eyes met Kerry’s, and then a quick grin lit up her visage and just as quickly disappeared. She went to the work coordinator and quietly gave her name.

“Huh,” Susan muttered, obviously surprised.

“Mamacita. She’s buff!” Ray whispered to Kerry. “And she’s young!”

“Hey, is that the Popsicle Lady?” Colleen had come up on the other side and poked Kerry. “Certainly looks different than I remember her.”

“Be nice, guys.” Kerry tore her eyes from the dark-haired woman with some effort. “She’s my boss, remember, okay?” She was aware of Dar’s moving closer, and she lifted her gaze to greet the older woman with a smile.

“Hey.”

Dar had reached them, and she gave the group a civilized nod before she let her eyes meet Kerry’s. “Morning.”

Kerry smiled in reflex. “It sure is that. Dar, this is…”

“Susan Barnes, Ray Ramirez, and Colleen McPherson,” Dar interrupted quietly, giving Susan and Ray a polite nod and inclining her head towards Colleen. “You’re at Barnett, correct?”

They all blinked and Colleen looked uncharacteristically rattled. “Um, yeah. I don’t think we’ve met, but I’ve seen you at the bank once or twice.”

“Over the tape stream incident,” Dar replied crisply. “I remember.” She turned to Susan and Ray who were frankly gawking at her. “I don’t believe we’ve spoken since you transitioned, but I hear things are settling down there.”

“Everything’s all right, yes,” Ray answered a little stiffly.

A faint, wry expression crossed Dar’s face and she backed off a step.

“Well, I’ve got some painting to do.” She gave Kerry a nod and a ghost of a wink before she turned and headed for the small group of people assigned to help paint the side of the building. “Later, Kerry,” she called over her shoulder, giving her a casual wave.

“Well, color me plaid,” Colleen blurted, giving Kerry a look. “I surely didn’t expect her to remember me, that’s a fact.”

Kerry watched the tall figure walking away, her snug jeans and T-shirt showing off her lithely muscular body to admirably good effect. “She does a lot of amazing things,” she said. “She’s certainly surprised me these last few weeks.”

Susan let out a low whistle. “I don’t remember her being that…um, she’s different than I remember,” the programmer muttered.


222 Melissa Good

“Me, too. She sure looks different in that than she did in a suit,” Colleen agreed. She looked at Kerry, who was regarding the grass thoughtfully. “Well, we’re the garbage detail, right?” She handed around bags. “Let’s break up—

you guys want to get that side of the yard, and we’ll get this side?”

“Sure.” Susan shook her bag open. “Let’s see who finishes first.”

Kerry let her body work mechanically as she and Colleen scoured the schoolyard, picking up cans, bottles, and other, more sinister debris. Her mind roamed all over, but chiefly settled on the tall figure perched on a ladder, one leg swung over the top as she neatly covered part of a wall with a color most kindly called puke green. Quite a few people were painting, but to Kerry’s eyes, no one could come close to Dar’s casual grace with a paintbrush, and the easy balance she had on the ladder was obvious.

“Why do they pick such a disgusting color for a school?” she commented to Colleen.

“Well, it wasn’t that upchuck brown or Pepto Bismol pink, so I guess we should consider ourselves lucky,” Colleen replied, watching Kerry’s eyes with a quickly stifled grin. “You stuck on the paint or the painter?” Kerry scowled at her and went back to her trash picking in silence. “Just kidding, Ker,” her friend apologized. “If it’s any consolation, you’re not the only one looking.”

Huh? Kerry glanced around furtively, and realized Colleen had a point.

More than one set of eyes were fastened on that tall, lanky figure and she experienced an odd spurt of relief and resentment so strong it nearly made her sneeze. She rubbed her nose in irritation. “Jesus. I think I’m coming down with something.”

Colleen picked up a crushed can and dropped it into Kerry’s bag.

“Nothing a nice tall glass of Florida juice wouldn’t cure, I’m guessing.” She patted Kerry on the hip and continued searching, leaving her friend to stand sputtering in the sun.

They worked all morning, finishing up the garbage detail and moving to work inside the building, peeling old posters off the walls and removing broken furniture from classrooms that had seen hard use. Many of the desks had gang slogans carved into them, and Kerry found herself shaking her head as she traced the many angry statements written in rough letters in the aged wood. “Jesus.” She exhaled. “What are we teaching these kids here? The worst thing I remember seeing when I was in school was rhymes about underpants.”

She was working so hard she barely heard the call for lunch until Ray came trotting in, his hair held back with a bright red bandana to get her. “Hey, chica, lunch time.”

“Oh, sorry.” Kerry put down her bag and dusted off her hands, pulling her shirt away from her body as she followed him outside to catch some air. It was warm, and the newly cut grass over which they were walking smelled pungent and green in the sun; she was glad she’d remembered to cover her recent sunburn with lotion.

The other workers were gathering under a spreading tree where tables had been set up, and pizza was being distributed along with cans of soda. She tagged along after Ray and joined Colleen and Susan as they picked up their slices, then glanced around for a cool spot to sit down in. Trees scattered in isolated oases of shade across the grass, and Kerry spotted a familiar, Tropical Storm 223

conspicuously lone figure reclining underneath one of them. Everyone was just as conspicuously avoiding her, so Kerry bowed to her inner desires and knew where she was going to head. She poked Colleen. “C’mon, I’m going to go keep my boss company, since no one else here wants to.”

To her credit, Colleen neither rolled her eyes nor chuckled. She merely nodded agreeably and started towards the tree with Kerry, sipping from her can of Sprite as she walked. Susan and Ray hesitated, then sighed, and followed along, giving Dar wary looks as they closed in on the tree.

The executive was chewing her pizza slowly and gave them a moderately welcoming look in return as they came closer, before letting her attention turn to Kerry. “How’d the cleanup go?” She let her gaze travel up the blonde woman’s body until twin blue eyes reached her face and their eyes met.

Her attention thus distracted, Kerry almost tripped on a root. “Um…”

She recovered and took a seat in the grass next to her boss. “Pretty good, I guess. How’s the painting coming along?”

“Haven’t fallen off the ladder yet,” Dar remarked, leaning on one elbow and extending her long legs. “I’m sure everyone’s disappointed.”

“Tch.” Kerry frowned. “No one wants to see you fall off a ladder, Dar.

You could break a leg!”

Dar gave her a droll look and took a bite of her pizza. “You obviously don’t know your co-workers as well as I do.” She cocked an eyebrow at the Associated folks. “Present company excepted, of course.”

They settled in a circle around her and started eating in silence, until Susan, giving the others a furtive look, started a technical discussion, getting into programming concepts with Dar that were beyond the other three.

Kerry let out a tiny sigh of relief and reminded herself to thank Susan later. The atmosphere had definitely been getting stilted, and she felt herself losing patience with both the wary dislike coming from her friends and the icy reserve of her boss.

Dar had spatters of paint up and down her long frame, and a spot of it was above her right eyebrow. Kerry found herself having a very rough time not reaching over to wipe it off. Instead, she sighed and settled herself again, her back just touching the edges of Dar’s pants legs. She concentrated on her pizza, picking off the pepperoni and chewing it before she took a bite from the small part of the slice, then almost choking on it as she felt a gentle nudge against her back. She stopped chewing, then felt it again, and darted a glance at the reclining Dar.