“I’ll bring you up some lunch,” Kerry whispered. “I think they have meatloaf today.”

Dar smiled. “All right.” She directed her voice to the phone, but her eyes went to Kerry’s face. “Thanks,” she mouthed. Kerry winked, and patted her back, then headed for the door. “Psst!” Dar hissed softly, then when her assistant turned, tossed her a wrapped chocolate.

Kerry caught it and returned a smile, as she slipped out the door.

“Sorry, Dar, did you say something?” the voice queried.

“Me? Nope, just here waiting,” the executive replied blithely.

“WELL, I DON’T think there’s much doubt that we really dropped the ball here.” José Montarosa was hammering on the table. “What if that building had been severely damaged? How long would it have taken us to route around it?” He looked right at Dar. “Well?”

Dar glanced up from her doodling. “We couldn’t.” She went back to the paper, drawing a sailboat.

An awkward silence fell. “Excuse me?” José asked.

“We could not,” Dar repeated. “What part of that don’t you understand?

We don’t have the secondary resources to replace that facility.”

“A single point of failure—is that what we’re talking about?” another supervisor asked, incredulous.

Dar’s blue eyes opened in mock surprise. “I guess it is.” She added another sail.

Eyes shifted around the table. Mariana leaned forward, glancing at her in a little discomfort. “Dar, this isn’t a joke.”

The Operations VP let her eyes go around the table. “You’re damn right it’s not. But I’m not going to sit here and pretend to be either shocked or surprised, when I told you people this was a possible consequence when you voted to set it up this way.” She shrugged and sketched in a seagull.

There was another awkward silence as everyone digested her pointed reminder. “All right, so…what are we going to do about it?” Montarosa asked, sitting back.

“You’re going to give me the budget to run a duplicate location,” Dar replied, not looking up. “Or we’re going to have more pointless meetings like this one for a few months, until you realize there is no other option and give me the money anyway.” She started on a different sketch, this one of a pony.

“You just let me know, okay?”

“Dar,” Duks leaned close to her, “you feeling all right?”

Dar stared at him, puzzled. “I feel great,” she replied, then looked around at the table. “Other than the fact that I had to spend six hours Saturday night, until five AM Sunday morning, yelling at people until I got the building back up, that is.” She paused. “Frankly, I coulda done without that.”

They all looked at each other. “Well.” José cleared his throat. “Do you have an estimate on how much we’re talking about, for a duplicate facility?”


254 Melissa Good Dar finished her pony’s tail. “I sent the full document to everyone here this morning.” She glanced up. “Along with a recap of the Disney deal, and the Singapore mess.” Her eyes flicked to the startled faces. “Mail server acting up? You all didn’t get that?”

“Um, no, I saw it,” Mariana said hastily. “I think we can table this until everyone’s had a chance to look it over. Agreed?”

José nodded. “Yeah, sounds good. Lemme take a look.” He cleared his throat. “Disney was good news, Dar.”

The pale blue eyes flicked to him. “I hear you were dancing in the hallway.” She smiled. “Anyone take pictures?” A low round of laughter followed as everyone relaxed a little.

“Must have had good weather, you got a sunburn,” José retorted. “Let me guess, you were doing research on the property?”

Dar chuckled. “Something like that, yeah,” she admitted. “It was worth it.

I think it was the presentation that really pulled them in. We modeled it on their actual running system and used one of their restaurants as the demo set.” Her voice took on a touch of enthusiasm. “Knocked their socks off.”

José snorted. “Dar, you could present garbage bags and sell them.” He brushed her off with a backhanded compliment. “Nobody knows what the hell you’re saying anyway.”

Mariana gave her a brief smile. “You always do knock socks off, Dar.”

“I didn’t do the presentation,” the executive replied mildly. “My assistant did.” She finished off her pony’s head and added eyelashes.

“Wait, you left it to some green kid?” The sales executive leaned forward in disbelief. “What kind of irresponsible shit is that?”

Eyes shifted back to Dar, expecting a fierce outburst, but Dar only shrugged. “I had confidence in the package, and I trusted Kerry to present it.”

She sketched in an ear. “Which was more than your entire goddamn team could do in four months, José, so I wouldn’t knock it, if I were you,” she said.

“Besides, we won.”

“Well,” Eleanor crossed her legs and straightened her skirt a little, “she seems capable…and a nice person. I was surprised, Dar.” She gave the dark-haired woman a sweet smile. “I was expecting a sour geek or a beautiful airhead. You managed to mix and match quite nicely.”

Mariana saw the dangerous glint appear in Dar’s eyes.

The VP Op’s sketching stopped dead. “Eleanor, I think I said it well enough last time when I pointed out Dar doesn’t hire people to be friends or look pretty,” Mariana told the woman forcefully. “She makes my job easy.

And Ms. Stuart is extremely well qualified for the position.”

Dar put down her pencil. “Are we done here? I’ve got two more meetings to go to.”

“Yeah, I guess we are.” José threw down his pen and stood up. “C’mon, Eleanor, let’s go get a cafecito.” The Sales and Marketing executives left, leaving Mariana, Dar and Duks still sitting there. “So, what’s up with you, chica?” Mariana asked, leaning on the table and peering at her friend.

Dar looked at her. “With me? Nothing. What is it with you all today?”

She tossed the pencil onto the table. “Jesus Christ, what’s the problem, did I grow horns or something?”


Tropical Storm 255

Duks patted her arm. “Hey. Hey, relax. You’re just really laid back, and we’re not used to that, my friend. Is this what Mickey Mouse does to you?”

Dar lifted her hands and let them fall onto the arms of the chair. “What, because I’m not screaming and yelling like a maniac, there’s something wrong?” She looked at the table. “All right, I’ll start bitching at someone. Will that make everyone feel better?”

“Dar.” Mariana gazed at her steadily. “C’mon now, can’t we just ask how you are?”

“I’m fine,” Dar responded. “Can’t I be in a good mood for once?” She spread her hands out to either side in question. “What in the hell’s wrong with you people?”

“Dar.” Mariana patted the table. “There’s nothing wrong with you being in a good mood. It just happens so infrequently. We were afraid we’d missed something, like your birthday.”

“Or your company anniversary,” Duks chimed in solemnly. “Which if we passed it by, you would be happy, no?” He picked up Dar’s pad and studied it. “You have good talent at this.”

Dar took the pad back from him. “You didn’t miss anything,” she said. “I just took a couple hours in Orlando and chilled out.” Her fingers curled around the pencil. “I needed some time out.”

The HR VP got up and circled the table, taking the seat next to Dar. “Hey, I’m glad to hear that,” she said in a sincere tone. “I know it’s been a rough year, my friend, and I worry about you sometimes.” She ignored Dar’s rolling eyes. “And especially since I heard you were under the weather the other day.

You finally go see someone about those headaches?”

Dar frowned. “You know, Mariana, I’d really hate to think someone’s reading into my medical files.”

“Uh uh.” The personnel director held up a hand. “Not me, my friend. Just gossip. But now that you confirmed it, is everything okay?” She leaned forward. “Dar, I’m asking as a friend, not because I need to know for the company.”

Dar glowered at her, then sighed. “Everything is perfectly fine, as a matter of fact. Dr. Steve thought he saw something in my EKG during my last physical, but it turned out to be nothing.” She paused, seeing the honest concern in her friend’s eyes. “But the stress is getting to me a little, I guess.

That’s what the headaches were all about.”

“Ah.” Mariana nodded.

“So, I took the opportunity to just relax a little while I was up there, and over the weekend, and I decided to try and not let this stuff get to me too much,” Dar said. “Last thing I want is to have to start taking drugs at my age.

This damn job’s not worth it.”

Duks grunted. “That is the truth,” he agreed. “It is good you feel that way, Dar. I, too, have been concerned about you.”

Had they? Dar suddenly wondered if she’d been crabbier than usual, or what. She didn’t think she had, but in retrospect, who knew? “Been a tough year.” She half shrugged.

“It has,” Mari murmured. “Well, look, maybe after Kerry settles in, you can take some time off. She seems pretty sharp. I’ve heard good things about 256 Melissa Good her from a lot of people,” she complimented the absent woman. “Did she really steal that bid from those guys?”

Dar found herself smiling. “She’s damn good,” she agreed. “They didn’t know what hit them, stupid bastards. She nailed it.”

“Good to hear.” Mariana smiled at her. “She’s a sweet person, and you know something? She’s in your corner, Dar. Talks about you like you were the greatest thing since sliced white bread.” She sat back and gazed at the taller woman, noting the blush visible even under Dar’s tan. “You look good. You got some sun there, eh?”