by Melissa Good
”Aww, c’mon, Dar, ” Kerry objected. ”I think it’s great.”
”It’s not your picture, is it now?” her boss shot back. ”Maria, get Mark on the phone.”
”Dar,” Kerry turned gently pleading eyes on her. ”I wanna see it. I bet he did a great job. It was a fantastic picture of you.”
Frustrated blue eyes fixed on her face. ”Absolu...” Dar felt herself melting at the sight of those beseeching orbs, and sighed. ”All right, just until we get there. But then, off it goes!”
Kerry blew her a kiss and smiled, getting an aggrieved look in response. ”Did you have a nice weekend, Maria?” She directed her attention to the phone.
”Oh, si, Kerrisita, and you?” The secretary sounded pleased.
”Yeah. We had a lot of fun. We went horseback riding and sailing,”
Kerry told her.
”Kerry fell off her horse,” Dar added sweetly. ”Then dumped me in the lake.”
”You jumped overboard,” Kerry objected. ”That wasn’t my fault.”
”You could have told me it was fifty degrees. Water isn’t supposed to be that cold,” Dar groused. ”Maria, we’ll be there in about ten minutes.” She started up the Lexus and drove it off the ferry, turning onto the causeway and heading for the office. “Picture on the desktop...I swear.”
Kerry snickered, half covering her eyes as she watched the busy streets go by.
Chapter
Twenty-one
ENTERING THE BUILDING was an odd experience. Kerry felt her eyes flickering around, as she tried to catch the few other occupants looking at Dar. She knew they were, but they really didn’t get the true impact until they both got on the elevator, and the conversation cut off as though the other riders had suddenly contracted acute, spontaneous laryngitis.
It was deafening. ”So,” Dar finally said, making everyone jump.
”How’s the weather been here?”
”Fine.”
”Great.”
”Warm.”
”Raining.”
”Lousy.”
Dar nodded. ”I see.” She leaned back against the wall as the elevator seemed to take forever in its upward motion. ”Good to hear.”
A cleared throat. ”How was...the...um...weather in North Carolina?” This was Miles, a senior auditor of Duks.
”Cold,” Dar replied, succinctly. ”Rained the first couple of days, but after that it got kind of nice.”
”Ah.” Miles rubbed his earlobe. ”Well, it rained here.” He cleared his throat. ”Um...congratulations.”
A murmur of agreement rose quickly, and several very grateful eyes fastened on the auditor’s face.
Fortunately, the doors slid open, allowing them to escape.
”Thanks,” Dar commented wryly, as they scooted out, leaving her and Kerry to continue up another two floors. ”Think I was the topic of conversation before we got on?”
”Oh, yeah.” Kerry nodded firmly, as the doors opened and they got out. ”Wait. I’ll go down to the cafeteria for coffee, see how fast a hush falls over that room, despite the fact that most of the conversation is in Spanish, and I know about six words of it,” she remarked wryly. ”You want some?”
”Oh, god, yes,” Dar murmured pathetically, as they reached the outer door to her office. ”And all the cheese pastalitos they have.” She pushed the door open, and smiled at Maria. ”Morning.”
The secretary beamed at her. ”Buenos Dias, jefa.” She waggled her 282
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fingers at Kerry. ”Buenos Dias, Kerrisita.”
Kerry grinned at her. ”I’m going down for some café, would you like some, Maria?” She accepted the secretary’s nod, then gave Dar a little pat on the back. ”See you in a bit.” She slipped out the door, leaving her boss and Maria in the outer office.
”Any mail?” Dar crossed to the desk, shifting the strap on her laptop case a little. ”I was expecting the new batch of contracts in.” She reached down to pick up the stack in the in box, when her hand was captured.
”Mi Madre.” Maria’s eyes widened. ”Dar, that is so beautiful.”
The executive found herself suddenly speechless, as her brain frantically rooted around for some kind of coherent response. She’d forgotten she was wearing the damn thing, and on ‘that’ finger, and that surely someone would notice.
”Um...thanks,” she finally replied, taking her hand back and flexing the fingers a touch nervously. ”Listen, I’ll be inside, trying to catch up.”
She clutched her papers, and headed for her office, ducking inside the door and closing it behind her with a sigh.
Then she looked up, stopping short as she caught sight of her desk.
”Holy shit.”
KERRY PUT HER hands behind her back as she leaned on the wall, gazing with total lack of interest at the buff weave on the inside of the elevator. It would be a weird day, she knew, and as if to confirm that, the elevator stopped on the ninth floor and two of the marketing secretaries got on. Their chatter stopped the minute they saw her, and they lapsed into silence.
I could get tired of this real quick, Kerry decided. ”Hi,” she remarked casually.
They exchanged glances. ”Oh, hi, Kerry,” the older one said, a fake smile plastered across her face. ”So, how are things?”
”Great,” Kerry replied. ”How about you?”
”Oh...great...great.” She turned to her companion. ”Right?”
The shorter of the two women nodded. ”Except that it’s Monday, yep, everything’s terrific.”
An awkward silence proceeded to fall. Fortunately, the elevator reached the bottom floor, and they could all escape, right into a crowd of people just getting there.
A crowd that included Steven Fabracini.
Kerry met his eyes
squarely as she exited, unable to resist giving him a smile as people edged aside to get out of the way. “Morning.”
His nostrils twitched. “Morning,” he replied quite stiffly.
“Congratulations.”
Her breeding held, surprisingly. “Thank you,” Kerry responded without artifice. “Excuse me.” She edged past him and cleared the Hurricane Watch
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throng, half expecting him to follow her.
“Hey, Kerry!” Mary Lou hailed her. “Well done!” she said, in a voice a little louder than probably was necessary.
“Thanks.” Kerry waved a hand casually at her. “It was all Dar. I just held the scalpel tray.”
The accountant sidled up to her. “Not what I heard,” she said, in a lower tone. “My brother-in-law works in the data center up there. He said you guys were incredible.”
“We got the job done. That’s what mattered.” Kerry headed off towards the cafeteria, shaking her head a little. At the entrance, she almost collided with Mark, who was just coming out. ”Oh. Hey.”
”Hey!” Mark gave her a big grin. ”Great, that means the big kahuna’s here too, right?”
Kerry muffled a smile. ”If you mean Dar, yes. She’s upstairs. We just got here.” It was so nice just to have someone be normal, she reflected. ”Just trying to get things settled down. It’s a little weird today.”
”Today?” Mark took her elbow and steered her inside the café, where they settled on two of the padded stools. ”You shoulda been here on Friday. Man, after you guys brought the network back up, everyone was going nuts. Then all off a sudden all the suits get called into a video conference call, and the next thing I know, we got an email saying Dar’d been promoted.”
”Wow.” Kerry laughed softly, then gave the waitress her order. ”I think we slept through all that. Was that when you called?”
”Uh huh.” Mark sipped his coffee, regarding her. ”Word’s out about you guys,” he added, lowering his voice quite a bit. “I mean, like big time.”
Kerry picked up a napkin, looking around and seeing the eyes dart off of her. ”I figured,” she replied. ”After that whole thing with Steven, I knew he’d spread that around
.” She exhaled. ”We’d pretty much decided to just be open about it anyway. After all, Alastair doesn’t care.””Mm,” Mark grunted. ”Kinda rough on you, though, isn’t it?” He gave her a sympathetic look. ”People assume shit.”
Yeah. Well. ”They can bite me,” Kerry responded. ”They assumed all kinds of things anyway, Mark. The hell with them.” She glanced up as her order arrived. ”Thank you.” She reached out and took the bag.
”Let me get back upstairs. I know it’s going to be a zoo today.”
”Hey.” Mark touched her hand, giving her a hesitant grin. ”Nice ring ya got there.”
Kerry paused, flexing her fingers a little. ”Thanks. Yeah...um...”
She felt herself blush. ”Dar gave it to me.”
”She’s got good taste.” The MIS chief admired it. ”But then, we kinda knew that.” He winked at her, chuckling as her blush deepened.
”Listen, don’t let all the crap bother you, Kerry. You do a great job, and 284
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most everyone knows that. A lot of the shit’s just jealousy. There’re people that have wanted to get inside that office, and if you’ll excuse the disgusting comment, inside Dar’s skirt for years.” He shrugged. ”It drives ‘em nuts that you just walked in here, and shazam.” He snapped his fingers. ”You got the job, the perks, and the hottest looking VP this company ever had all in one, bigass fell swoop.”
Kerry took the cover off her coffee and took a swallow. ”Thanks, Mark. I know it’s kinda hard to believe. In fact, sometimes I find it kinda hard to believe myself,” she added, in a low tone. ”It’s like magic, you know?” She glanced up at him. ”I feel like a little kid at the circus sometimes.”
He gazed at her, a little disconcerted. ”I don’t know, that’s kinda beyond me, Kerry. I don’t know about a lot of that stuff, but I do know Dar’s been through a lot of shit, and if she finally found someone she really likes, fuck the company, you know?”
That got a smile from Kerry. ”Yeah, I do know,” she agreed quietly.
”We’ll work it out. Its just going to take some time for everything to settle down again. ” She leaned forward, changing the subject firmly.
”Did you really put her picture up on everyone’s desktop?”
He grinned. ”You friggen betcha.” He stood, and indicated that she precede him. ”C’mon, I’ve been hiding cause I know she’s gonna kick my ass when she sees it, but it was too good a shot to pass up.”
Kerry laughed, and held the door for him. ”Oh yeah, she was having a fit, but I convinced her to leave it until we got in, because I wanted to see it.”
They walked outside and almost crashed into Eleanor and José, who were entering. Both executives backed up, and gave them dirty looks. ”Good morning.” Kerry smiled at them.
”Good morning,” José replied gruffly, circling her as though she were some kind of dangerous animal. Eleanor followed him without a word.
Kerry and Mark exchanged looks. ”Ooo.” The MIS manager winced. ”Gonna be some meeting this morning.”
Yeah. Kerry watched the reactions as they got back into the elevator, and noticed a subtle, but distinct edging away from her. Is there such a thing as a scarlet L, she mused. Or do they think it’s contagious? She leaned back, trying to wash the thought out of her mind.”Hey, Kerry.”
She looked up, to see Elaine, one of the data entry supervisors actually coming closer to her. ”Morning.”
”I hear you guys did a kick ass job up in NC, way cool,” Elaine commented, with a grin. ”You going to meet with the climbing group Wednesday?”
Kerry smiled, relaxing a little. ”Yes, I think so. My hand’s a little sore but I think it’ll be okay.” She gave Elaine a grateful look. ”I missed Hurricane Watch
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going this past week; be nice to get back to it.” Her eyes moved to where they were getting a disgusted look from one of the administrative assistants. ”Do you have a problem?” she asked the woman directly.
Only the squeak of the elevator was heard for a long moment.
Kerry held the woman’s gaze, her own unamused and stony. ”You can say yes, ma’am, or no ma’am, take your pick,” she added, icily.
The woman sucked in a breath. ”No, ma’am. I have no problem.”
The doors slid open on the eighth floor and the two younger women escaped hastily, leaving the doors to close after them. Kerry settled back against the wall and sighed. ”Jerks.”
Elaine rolled her eyes. ”Phobes.” She shook her head, then glanced at Kerry. ”Don’t let them get to you.”
Them. Kerry considered, as the elevator went to the fourteenth floor. ”So it’s us and them,” she mused. ”Are there a lot of us?” she asked Elaine curiously.
An enigmatic smile crossed the tall blonde’s face. ”I’ll send you an email,” she remarked, as the doors slid open, and they got out. ”You’d be surprised.”
Kerry inhaled, as she watched Elaine and Mark saunter off down the hall. ”Would I?” She shook her head and trotted towards Dar’s office, opening the outer door and slipping in. ”Hi Maria. I’m back,”
The secretary glanced over, and smiled at her. ”I got you some coffee.”
”Muchas Gracias, Kerrisita.” She pointed at the door. ”I think el jefa is still in the shock, you better go see.”
Puzzled, Kerry set down Maria’s little cup of cafacito, then took her bag and entered Dar’s office.
The scent of roses almost bowled her over. ”Jesus.” She blinked, trying to find her lover behind a huge arrangement of three colors of the flowers, which dwarfed her desktop. ”Hello? Dar? Do I need to go get a machete?”
Blue eyes peeked out from behind a creamy, peach colored rose.
”Hi.” It was Dar, at her most sheepish. ”It’s a little big, huh?”
Kerry edged around the desk, to find her lover slouched in her chair, regarding her flowers with some trepidation. ”Dar, it’s gorgeous.
Who sent it?” There must have been three dozen blooms, a dozen in red, in peach, and in yellow. The scent was almost overwhelming.
Wordlessly, Dar handed her the card she’d found on it.
”Awww...” Kerry bit her lip, giving her companion a delighted look. ”That is sooo sweet, Dar. I told you he was proud of you.” She examined the huge bouquet and smiled a touch wistfully. “What a nice thought.”
Dar leaned back in her chair, bracing one foot against her desk and fiddling with her pencil, looking oddly adolescent. ”Guess so,” she replied gruffly, almost but not quite masking the little grin that trembled around her lips.
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girl, all right.” She watched as Dar struggled with what was evidently an overload of emotion, then finally sighed, and gave into a broad grin.
”Here.” She handed over the coffee, then gently cupped a rose in her hand and sniffed it. ”Oh god, these are incredible. I love that smell.”
”Mm.” Dar buried her muzzle in the cup and regained her composure. ”Guess we can take them home and put them on the dining room table for a few days, hmm?”
Kerry giggled.” Thank god you’re driving, not me. I can’t imagine trying to get us and these flowers into the Mustang.” She looked past Dar to the monitor, and laughed. ”Oh wow. He did a great job with that!”Dar sighed, peeking at the screen. Mark had taken the shot from the newspaper, and scanned it in, then composed a nice looking scroll background, with little dancing Dogberts all over it. ”I’m gonna kill him for this,” she groused, then sighed. ”I have thirty two pages of mail to get through, six inches of inbox, three meetings, and I can’t even get to my desk because there’s a jungle on it. ” She paused melodramatically.
”Can’t I just go home?”
Kerry divided her inbox stack. ”I’ll take half.” She carefully moved the floral arrangement, carrying it over to the side credenza, where she set it down and arranged the flowers caref
ully. ”There.” Then she crossed back over and headed towards the door to her office. ”Forward me any stuff you don’t want to deal with. I’m going to get started on my own avalanche.” She looked back over her shoulder, regarding a happily munching Dar. ”Dar, at least save a few for after lunch. You’re going to get sick if you eat all of those.”
Dar licked a flake of pastry off her lips, and took a sip of coffee, then poked her tongue out at her lover.
Kerry sighed, and shook her head. ”What a little punk.” She opened the door and slipped through it, heading for her own office.
DAR RECKONED SHE would not have drawn more attention walking down the hall into Personnel if she’d been stark naked. She could feel the eyeballs following her, and if she’d wanted to, heard the comments that followed.
Deliberately she ignored them, rapping lightly on Mariana’s door.
“Come.”
She unlatched the lock and walked inside, closing the door behind her as she faced the woman behind the desk. “Morning.”
Mari leaned back. “Morning” she replied wryly. “How’s it feel to be queen?”
Dar chuckled and took a seat facing her across the desk. “Thanks for the warning.”
Mariana threw up her hands. “You don’t think we all tried to call you? What did you think those pages were, us asking what to order you Hurricane Watch
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for lunch or something? Good grief, Dar!”
“I know.” Dar leaned on the chair arm. “We turned everything off for a few days. Serves me right.”
The Personnel VP pulled a packet from her desk and tossed it across to her visitor. “That’s for you,” she advised. “Explains your new benefits, and obligations being a member of the board, and so on.”
“Mm.” Dar observed the packet but didn’t reach for it. “Keys to the private baths in there too?”
Mari chuckled. “The keycodes. We are a technology company, after all,” she said. “It really was unexpected, Dar. We were all thrilled when everything started working again—I mean... “ She gave a self-deprecating hand wave. “Most of us really didn’t understand what was going on but hearing the ops people cheering was great.”