Southern Stars

by Melissa Good

  “We did,” he said. “Sorry to wake everyone up. We just can’t be too careful.” He stepped back. “Thank you. Have a good rest of your night.” He and his partner turned and walked away, going past the fire pit and back toward the gate.

  “Dar, that was weird.” Kerry said, as she climbed onboard and shut the door.

  “Meh.” Dar locked the door and went back to the bed. “All relative when it comes to weird, Ker. All relative.”

  DAR IDLY WATCHED Chino and Mocha sniff around some scrub grass as she stood in a pool of early morning sunlight in the now very quiet campground.

  The area was painted in coral and pink light. She could smell sage on the light breeze that ruffled her hair and fluttered the shirt against her skin.

  The half-filled campground around her had mostly smaller campers, two of them pulled by a car, one a tiny teardrop model that looked very old and weathered.

  Two silver Airstreams. The nearest one’s door opened and a middle-aged woman got out, put down a step and looked around with a yawn. She saw Dar, and gave a friendly wave which Dar returned.

  On the road leading from the gates a small pickup truck headed toward them, turned off at the café and parked behind it. Two men got out, one of them holding a cup of coffee and they went inside.

  Dar headed back to their RV and as she reached the side of it the door opened and Kerry emerged. “Hey.”

  “Hey.” Kerry pushed the door open to let the dogs enter. “Lets some grub and be on our way?”

  Dar turned and pointed. “That joints opening up. Want to grab something there?”

  Kerry shrugged. “Sure.” She closed the door and joined Dar as they walked down the gravel road toward the café side by side. “Want to do me a favor?” she asked. “Drive for the morning? I did not want to wake up today.” Her voice was a little husky.

  “All day if you want.” Dar was feeling fine. She woke refreshed and now looked forward to getting on their way home. “Snooze all you like.” She added as they walked up to the small café window where two women were putting out some muffins. “Morning.”

  The nearest looked up and smiled. “Morning.” She pushed the tray with the muffins forward. “Got fresh boysenberry today.”

  “Two, and coffee,” Dar said.

  “Right up,” the woman said. “Coming or going?”

  “Going.” Kerry looked at the muffin with interest. “We were on a, um, tour.”

  The other woman was making them their coffee. “Yeah? Did you enjoy yourselves, ladies?”

  Dar and Kerry exchanged looks. “Sure,” Dar said after a brief pause. “Scenery is gorgeous.”

  The first woman beamed. “It is pretty here isn’t it?” she said, proudly. “I love it here. Where you headed back to?”

  “Miami.” Kerry took both of their cups of coffee while Dar picked up the plate with two muffins and pushed a ten dollar bill over the counter.

  “Oh! Miami,” The coffee maker came to the counter. “I hear it’s really crazy there.”

  “Has its moments.” Dar shook her head at the proffered change.

  “Thanks for the tip,” the woman smiled at her. “Good thing you ladies weren’t on that rafting trip that’s all in the news. My goodness I heard everyone got arrested and they’re in jail.”

  “That’s right.” The other woman agreed. “It’s crazy!”

  Dar and Kerry exchanged another look, as they walked backwards away from the café. “Yep, glad we missed that one.” Kerry said. “Bye!”

  The two women at the café waved, then turned to another customer who had stepped up.

  “Ho boy.” Kerry exhaled. “Let’s get outta here.” She hustled Dar back to the RV and they climbed inside. “We unhooked?”

  “Yep.” Dar put the muffins down and got into the driver’s seat. “I’m going to get us rolling.” She started the engine. “Before someone decides to try and chase us down.”

  Kerry settled a cup of the coffee in the holder next to Dar’s seat and took a muffin, going back into the RV and taking a seat on the couch as Chino jumped up to join her. “Yeah. Be glad to get home.”

  Dar pulled out of the campground and back onto the road, pointing the vehicle southeast and settling into her seat for a long drive.

  KERRY HADN’T NOTICED it. She picked up her cup from the holder and took a sip, glancing to either side of the RV as Dar came up and sat down next to her, with a faint grin on her face. “What?”

  “We’re home,” Dar said.

  “No we’re not.” Kerry gave Dar a perplexed look. “What are you talking about?”

  “You can tell by the trees.” Dar folded her hands over her stomach. “We just went from sub-tropical to tropical.”

  Kerry looked around at their surroundings, which seemed identical to the tree laden scenery they’d been subject to since hopping on the turnpike. “What?”

  Dar chuckled, then cleared her throat a little. “Florida is mostly sub-tropical climate right up until our end of it, when it turns tropical. More palm trees, more sawgrass, more open space, less orange groves and deciduous.”

  Kerry’s brows contracted as she looked at the lines of pine trees on either side of the road.

  “Australian pines. Imported to hide the turnpike,” Dar correctly interpreted the look. “We’re in Palm Beach County now. Give it a few miles.”

  “Okay.” Kerry eyed her with profound, if loving skepticism.

  But as they drove she realized Dar was right, and that the land she was driving through was changing to familiar outlines and from one moment to the next their trip was over. It was a matter of steering the RV to the rental center and picking up Dar’s truck.

  It was weird, yet definite and she increased their speed a little, sending an end, finally to their journey. Her mind was making that change, and while she’d been thinking of their adventures just a short while ago now she was thinking about getting home, and going to work, and all the things she had to do.

  It felt like a relief. To be just thinking about meeting with new customers, and... “Hey Dar, can you check my phone? See if we got a text from the real estate agent?”

  “Sure.” Dar got back up and retrieved the device. “Think they found something?”

  “Be nice if they did.”

  Dar paged through the texts. “Nothing yet. I’m going to call the folks so they know we’re back and have the concierge service check the house.” She wandered back into the body of the RV. “Want some coffee?”

  “Tea,” Kerry said, glancing briefly aside as Mocha came up and sat next to her knee. “Hey, little man. We’re almost home.”

  “Yap.” Mocha stood up and put his paws on the console, gazing out at the road. “Yap yap!”

  “Yap yap yap,” Kerry echoed him. “Bet you’ll be glad to get back to our garden, won’t you?”

  Mocha’s tongue emerged, vivid and pink against his dark fur and he lifted one paw up and waved it, making Kerry laugh, as she saw the exit that would take them seaward and already she imagined she could smell salt in the air and hear the rolling rush of the ocean.

  “Next time, Moch, absolutely. we just stay home.”

  “Yap!”

  “AHH,” KERRY FLEXED her bare toes, looking around with new appreciation at their high ceilinged, peaceful condo. From the sea foam walls to the large windows that let in piles of South Florida sunshine, to the wrap around patio with its view of the sea. It was good to have that familiar comfort around them.

  Dar was seated outside with both dogs in attendance, having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a tall glass of milk. She smiled indulgently at the white milk mustache she could just see on Dar’s face.

  With nothing more than dinner and some TV to look forward to, she climbed up the stairs and went into her home office, sitting down behind her desk and giving her trackball a spin to bring up the image on the large screen monitor.

  She glanced at her mail, found nothing more than what she’d seen on her device and shifted her att
ention to their joint cloud storage, opening up the folder she’d stored the trip’s pictures in. After a few more clicks the pictures started to load and she sat back to wait, leaned back in her leather chair and propped her knee up against the desk edge.

  The spare room they’d converted for her office was painted in a light lavender gray, and the big bay window that looked out over the interior of the island had white wooden plantation shutters that admitted the late afternoon sun in sedate stripes.

  Aside from her desk, there was a book case against one wall and a leather couch along the long wall that occasionally hosted her tall partner’s form reading a book, or sometimes just the two of them talking as she worked.

  The floors were covered in Berber carpet in a mixed pattern motif that rather effectively hid dog hair and Kerry wondered briefly how that would all translate when they moved.

  To wherever it was they found to move. She glanced at the screen, which was about half full of pictures, painting slowly as they downloaded. She scooted her chair closer and started to review them, smiling a little as she clicked.

  She sorted some of them, making copies and putting them in a folder to send to the group and another set to send to her family. There was one where Dar stood next to the horse she’d ridden and was tickling his nose, the big animal regarding her with benign affection.

  They had been in the corral, and she went to edit it, cropping out some of the background that was just some random people walking behind the rails, heading toward the barn.

  Then she paused, and zoomed the image. Two men were in the group, that she didn’t remember, walking between Janet and Doug. There was something familiar about them.

  She heard the sliding door open and close downstairs. “Hey, Dar?” she called out. “C’mon up here a minute.”

  Dar’s bare footsteps on the carpeted stairs followed and then the doorway was filled with her tall form. She leaned on Kerry’s desk, bringing the faint scent of salt air and peanut butter with her. “What’s up?”

  “Look at these guys in this picture.” Kerry moved her monitor so Dar could see it. “Dar, are they the guys those cops were looking for?”

  Dar leaned over her and peered at the screen for a long moment in silence. Then she shook her head. “Can’t tell. It could be, but it could also just be some of the workers there.” She zoomed in a little more. “But they’ve got guns.”

  Kerry got her head next to Dar’s. “In the back of their pants there?”

  “Yeah.”

  Kerry was silent for a moment. “Dar, didn’t they say they didn’t like guns at that company? Did I imagine hearing that?”

  “No, you didn’t.” Dar sat down on the edge of the desk. “I remember that too.”

  They sat in silence for a minute. “Should we send this to those cops? I kept their card.” Kerry suggested. “Let me look through the rest of these shots and see if I caught them again.”

  Dar frowned. “I’m not sure it’ll do any good. That was at the beginning of our trip. If they already knew they were there that wouldn’t tell them anything new.”

  “True.” Kerry admitted. “What the hell was really going on there, Dar?”

  Dar leaned closer to the screen again. “I don’t know. There’s a lot of stories we’ll probably never know the end of. But yeah. Send it. You never know.”

  “You never know.”

  DAR DROPPED INTO her chair in her office, the soft sounds of activity floating through her door and the faintest sound of a lawnmower from the open central space in the middle of their office building. She was in jeans and a polo shirt, and actually glad to be back at work.

  Chino was curled up in her bed in the corner, and her tail wagged as Dar looked over at her. She could hear Kerry in her office next door, laughing into the phone.

  Back to their normal world.

  Maria entered, with a folder. “Good morning, Dar,” she handed it over. “Here is the bank report for you.”

  “Thanks,” Dar put the folder down. “I need to order more space at the datacenter and more bandwidth,” she said. “I just checked the metrics those guys are chewing it up like cookies.”

  “I will call and get the proposal for you,” Maria said. “I am glad you and Kerrisita are back.”

  Dar smiled. “Yeah, us too. No more vacations for us, Maria. We’re just going to take weekends down at the cabin from now on.”

  “Terrible,” Maria said, in a sympathetic tone. “But you did not get hurt, and those horrible people are in the jail, so it is good, no?”

  Was it? Dar shrugged a little. “They weren’t bad to us, Maria. We were all just stuck on the river together, helping each other.”

  Maria shook her head. “Terrible,” she repeated, then waggled her fingers and danced out, to the faint Latin music coming from across the hall.

  Dar sat back and rested her hands on her thighs, thinking for a moment back to their last night on the river. When it all went so terribly wrong and she dove into the water. Would it have mattered if some of the crew had been bad guys?

  They hadn’t done anything to either her or Kerry.

  No, Dar decided as she opened the folder and reviewed the statement. It wouldn’t have mattered. She looked up and smiled briefly. She was who she was.

  Mocha came running in with something in his mouth.

  “Hey, kiddo.” Dar turned around to grab him. “Whatcha got there?” She removed the item from his teeth and held it up. “Where did you get this feather, huh?” She twirled the long, black feather in her fingertips, it’s blued sheen reflecting the light. “Did you catch a crow?”

  “Yap!” Mocha scrabbled up onto her lap, reaching for the feather. “Yap yap!”

  Kerry entered, and came over to the desk. “What’s that?”

  “Present from Mocha.” Dar handed it to her. “Pity the poor bird he got it from.”

  Kerry twirled it in her fingers, and smiled. “Hey, maybe I’ll write a poem with it.” She winked, and sauntered back to her office.

  About the Author

  Melissa Good is an IT professional and network engineer who works and lives in South Florida with a skillion lizards and Mocha the dog.

  More Books by Melissa Good

  Tropical Storm

  From bestselling author Melissa Good comes a tale of heartache, longing, family strife, lust for love, and redemption. Tropical Storm took the lesbian reading world by storm when it was first writ-ten...now read this exciting revised “author’s cut” edition.

  Dar Roberts, corporate raider for a multi-national tech company is cold, practical, and merciless. She does her job with a razor-sharp accuracy. Friends are a luxury she cannot allow herself, and love is something she knows she’ll never attain.

  Kerry Stuart left Michigan for Florida in an attempt to get away from her domineering politician father and the constraints of the overly conservative life her family forced upon her. After college she worked her way into supervision at a small tech company, only to have it taken over by Dar Roberts’ organization. Her association with Dar begins in disbelief, hatred, and disappointment, but when Dar unexpectedly hires Kerry as her work assistant, the dynamics of their relationship change. Over time, a bond begins to form.

  But can Dar overcome years of habit and conditioning to open herself up to the uncertainty of love? And will Kerry escape from the clutches of her powerful father in order to live a better life?

  ISBN 978-1-932300-60-4

  eISBN 978-1-935053-75-0

  Available From these e-tailers:

  Amazon

  Bella Books

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  Hurricane Watch

  In this sequel to Tropical Storm, Dar and Kerry are back and making their relationship permanent. But an ambitious new colleague threatens to divide them—and out them. He wants Dar’s head and her job, and he’s willing to use Kerry to do it. Can their home life survive the office power play?

  Dar and Kerry are redefining themsel
ves and their priorities to build a life and a family together. But with the scheming colleagues and old flames trying to drive them apart and bring them down, the two women must overcome fear, prejudice, and their own pasts to protect the company and each other. Does their relationship have enough trust to survive the storm?

  ISBN 978-1-935053-00

  eISBN 978-1-935053-76-7

  Available From these e-tailers:

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  Eye of the Storm

  Eye of the Storm picks up the story of Dar Roberts and Kerry Stuart a few months after Hurricane Watch ends. At first it looks like they are settling into their lives together but, as readers of this series have learned, life is never simple around Dar and Kerry. Surrounded by endless corporate intrigue, Dar experiences personal discoveries that force her to deal with issues that she had buried long ago and Kerry finally faces the consequences of her own actions. As always, they help each other through these personal challenges that, in the end, strengthen them as individuals and as a couple.

  ISBN 978-1-932300-13-0

  eISBN 978-1-935053-77-4

  Available From these e-tailers:

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  Bella Books

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  Red Sky at Morning

  A connection others don’t understand...

  A love that won’t be denied...

  Danger they can sense but cannot see...

  Dar Roberts was always ruthless and single-minded...until she met Kerry Stuart.

  Kerry was oppressed by her family’s wealth and politics. But Dar saved her from that.