Melissa Good - Tropical Storm

“Didn’t mean to wake you up. It was nothing, really. I was…just, um, thinking of cartoons.”

Both dark brows lifted. “Cartoons?” Dar’s voice replied in disbelief.

“Yeah, you know, like Space Ghost.” Kerry thought fast. “Did you know he interviewed Emeril Lagasse the other night?” She started to back away. “I have no idea why we always end up like this. I don’t, um…”

“Hey.” Dar patted her back. “It’s okay, you just do it in your sleep. It doesn’t bother me.” She released the smaller woman, though, sensing her Tropical Storm 243

discomfort. They had time, and Kerry was going to need it, to get used to the physical dimension they were developing. That was all right. It was going to take Dar some getting used to also.

Kerry rolled over onto her back and stretched. “You’re right though—it is comfortable.” She smiled at Dar. “I’ll have to think about getting one of these.” Then she sighed. “After I figure out what I’m going to do about my parents.”

Dar rolled onto her side, and cocked her head. “Your parents? What do they have to do with a waterbed?” she inquired curiously.

Kerry remained silent for a moment, then she looked up. “They’re putting a lot of pressure on me to come home.” She paused in thought. “And I’m not going to go. It’s just that I have to find a way to tell them without causing a family nuclear holocaust.”

Dar scratched her nose. “They still want you to marry that guy?” Her blue eyes watched Kerry’s face intently.

The blonde woman nodded grimly. “Oh yeah. Brian is graduating from law school this semester. He’ll be done by the holidays, and that…was what they were waiting for.”

“I take it they don’t know you, um…” Dar gestured between the two of them.

“Uh, no.” Kerry winced. “That’s a relatively new development.” A pause.

“I, um, I mean, I always just did what everyone else does—the prom, the whole deal—but I never really…I mean, I couldn’t figure out what the big deal was, you know?”

Dar muffled a grin. “I know.” She gave Kerry an understanding look.

“Been there, done that.”

Kerry smiled at her. “Yeah, I guess you have. So…when I moved down here, everything was just so different. And one Saturday a bunch of my new friends took me to South Beach.”

“Oh.” Dar clapped a hand over her mouth. “I guess that was a revelation.”

“For someone from Saugatuck? Uh huh.” Kerry started to laugh and then exhaled. “Most outlandish thing I’d seen until then was the Saugatuck Duck Festival. Let’s just say my horizons were considerably broadened that weekend.”

“C’mon, Kerry, even in Saugatuck I’m sure there were gay people.” Dar chuckled.

“Well, sure. In fact, when I think back, and I know now what I was seeing, I can remember that. But no one talked about it. It was kept, like the cliché, in the closet,” Kerry explained. “Certainly, in my family, it wasn’t discussed.” She exhaled. “But then I…well, it took me a while, but I eventually figured out what I was feeling, and why I was having such a hard time dealing with the thought of settling down with Brian and having a couple of kids.”

“That must have been rough for you,” Dar sympathized. “My father guessed, and he took me aside one day and talked to me about it. I had already figured it out, so it was kind of a relief.”

Kerry looked at her. “He didn’t mind?”

A shake of the dark head. “No. That surprised me. I’d been scared to tell 244 Melissa Good him, because he was military, and you know that doesn’t really breed liberal thinking. But when I think about it now, knowing what he was…I shouldn’t have been surprised.”

Kerry got off track. “What was he?” she asked softly.

“Navy Seal.” Dar smiled at her wide-eyed reaction.

“Wow. I can’t imagine what that would be like.” Kerry breathed. “It would be…very different for me. They wouldn’t understand that.”

“Ah.” Dar nodded. “That’s tough.” She thought a moment. “Certainly your career is more likely to advance here than in Michigan. The Troy office really doesn’t do what you’re good at.”

Kerry sat up and crossed her legs, pushing her hair behind her ears.

“They don’t care about that. My mother left this message on my machine last night that said I could get some secretarial position in the Troy office, so I could keep my little hands busy while I waited to get pregnant.”

“What?” Dar leaned forward. “Kerry, did anyone tell them this is the 1990s, going on the year 2000?”

“Not in my family,” she responded quietly. “I think they’re firmly entrenched in the 1940s.” Kerry nibbled her lip. “I could just tell them, I guess.”

“Maybe you should start slow…like telling them you’re staying in Miami first,” Dar replied, reasonably. “Before you spring the ‘I’m not marrying what’s-his-face’ and ‘oh yeah, by the way, I’m dating my boss’ on them.” she added with a wry smile. “Before you add, the ‘and she’s a woman.’ ”

“Mmm, you’re probably right,” Kerry acknowledged. “Though I’d get a point for dating my boss, for all of the twenty seconds or so it would take him before he remembered who that was.” It‘s a tempting thought, though.

“You…aren’t close with your father, I take it?” Dar asked gently.

Kerry stared at the wall, holding down the wave of sick reaction. “You could say that,” she finally muttered.

Dar leaned forward and took her hand. “Don’t worry, we’ll think of something,” she promised. “Hell, worst comes to worst, I’ll route his IRS

records to MSNBC.”

Kerry rolled her eyes. “That would be hilarious, but useless. He’s a pillar of moral rectitude. I doubt he even claimed us as dependents until we were a year old, just to prove we were viable.” She sighed. “But thanks, Dar. It helps just to talk to someone about it.” She gave her boss a smile, and squeezed the fingers holding hers. “And I’ll keep your threat in reserve.”

Dar laughed, then rolled over and stretched, arching her back and extending both arms out. “Okay. Well, now that it’s afternoon…” She shook her head at the ceiling. “I guess I’d better check on the office. I’m sure there’s going to be a half dozen emergency staff meetings tomorrow to discuss why our fallback procedures—which don’t exist—don’t work.”

Kerry considered that, and considered all the undone things she had to do at home, and sighed. She’d rather spend the day here with Dar. “Listen, why don’t we get together next weekend sometime?” she suggested regretfully. “Since I wasn’t home the last few days, I have a ton of laundry and everything else to do.”

Dar felt a jolt of disappointment, but knew Kerry was right. They both Tropical Storm 245

had things to do, and a new week of work to prepare for. “Sounds like a good idea,” she admitted. “Much as I hate to admit it. Are you still interested in the gym? That class starts on Wednesday.”

Kerry had almost forgotten about that. “Oh, right! Absolutely. God, yes!

If I keep hanging around with you, I’m going to need it desperately.” She gave Dar a grin. “Thanks for reminding me.”

The executive rolled out of bed and stood up. “Well, let’s get going then. I think I have some extra Frosted Flakes if you’re interested.”

“See what I mean?” Kerry shook her head and laughed as she joined the taller woman.

THE ALARM WENT off in the pre-dawn darkness, startling Dar out of sleep. She stared at it in confusion for a moment, then rubbed her face and slapped at it, turning off the loud buzzer. It was very quiet in the condo, and she rested her chin on her pillow for a moment, wistfully thinking of how much nicer it had been to wake up the day before.

Funny. Dar sighed and rolled out of bed, mechanically trudging to the bathroom. She had never considered herself to be lonely before. Her life had been busy, true, but now she wondered how many of her activities had just been a way to fill up the time. It had been unexpectedly nice just to have someone to talk to over their very impromptu brunch yesterday, and she couldn’t even begin to remember what it was that they’d talked about.

Puppies? Politics?

Dar splashed water on her face, and shook her head as she exchanged her pajamas for her running clothes and sat down in the silent living room to put on her sneakers. Whatever it had been, she’d spent most of the time laughing, something she didn’t remember doing a lot of in the past few years. She sat thinking about that for a minute, then prodded herself to her feet. “C’mon, Dar, get moving. Two extra laps around the island this morning, remember?”

To make up for missing out the last couple of days, she’d decided, waking up an extra hour early for it.

It was very quiet as she closed the door behind her and exited into the cool air, crisp with the wetness of dew and the breeze from the sea. Her sneakers sounded loud on the gravel as she turned off onto the small path, then she took a deep breath and broke into a slow jog to give her muscles a chance to wake up and stretch before she pushed them.

The water sloshed against the seawall as she turned into the onshore wind, which was bringing the scent of brine and salt to her lungs. There was no other sound, save the far-off clanking of the port and a soft hoot of a tugboat chugging by in the channel. She could see the running lights of the boat and left it behind her as she headed off into the south.

On the sixth ring around, she could feel the strain start to shorten her breathing, and it pissed her off. Instead of stopping, she pushed herself on, speeding up her pace and forcing herself to complete eight rings, by which time the sun was pouring over the horizon, and she was sweating freely.