by Melissa Good
“Why us then?” Dar asked. “Hire some redneck right wing hot shot who’ll do it without any conscience. Be cheaper, and you probably can blackmail whomever you want then.”
He paused and looked at her. She looked right back at him. “I could get offended,” he said.
“Go fuck yourself,” Dar replied. “That help?”
Bridges paused, then chuckled. “Okay, we can stop the asshole Olympics. You give it a go, we’ll see where it takes us.” He stood up, glancing at the corner where Chino was curled up in the corner, her head on her paws. Mocha was curled up against her, his head resting on her elbow. “I have a deer hound,” he said. “More temperamental than those things.”
Kerry got up. “Interested in a cup of coffee?” she asked. “There’s a nice little cafe down the road.”
He gave her a dry look. “Not dressed for it, but thanks for the offer.” He indicated his neatly pressed suit. “I’ll gather up my spooks and leave you to enjoy your weekend.” He stood up and then paused. “Do we need to sign anything?”
Dar shoved the portfolio over. “G’wan. That’s what Gerry did. I won’t have printed contracts, or pens, or even a printer for another week.”
He chuckled and pulled the packet over, scribbling his name on the top of it. “Glad you decided to get out of ILS,” he said. “If anyone asks, we’ll say you preferred not to have your motives mixed.” He winked at them and pocketed his pen. “Later, people.”
Then the door was closed, and he was gone.
Kerry sat back down. “Holy crap, Dar. We just booked enough business today to catapult us into some Gartner quadrant.”
Dar regarded the two packets of papers on the table and shook her head. “No kidding,” she said. “Fortunately, both of these contracts can be handled by small teams, so we can get started before we really get things rolling. I’ll need to hire a team of database analysts and a pile of lamp stack people and front end designers.”
Kerry regarded her. “We probably need to hire someone for HR and accounting first so we can give them some kind of benefit package, and of course pay them.”
Dar nodded meditatively. “Have you figured out how we’re going to make an offer to Colleen without breaking our promise to Alastair?”
Kerry smiled.
“I probably can’t manage approaching Mari,” Dar continued, in a regretful tone. “Colleen’s been there a relatively short time, and she wasn’t management yet.”
“She will be now.”
“You know who I’d like to find a way to bring in?” Kerry said. “Your buddy in NYC.”
“Scuzzy.”
“Yeah.”
“She’d never move to Miami,” Dar said. “But we could find a way to ask.” She got up and gathered the papers. “Let me go run a compile on the financial sys—oh, wait, I can’t. I don’t have a computer here yet.”
“Let’s go, hon.” Kerry went over and picked up Mocha, who woke up with a sleepily startled look. “Hey there, little man. We’re going to take you to your new home.”
“Growf.” Chino looked up at her.
“You too, madam.” Kerry patted her thigh. “I’m not picking you up.”
They moved into the hallway, and Colleen was there waiting for them, leaning against the wall with her car keys in her hand. “Is that the new pooch?”
“This is Mocha,” Kerry said. “He’s Chino’s little brother.” She handed over the pup to her cooing friend. “Isn’t he cute?”
“He is, just like she was when she was a baby.” Colleen cradled the puppy in her arms and tickled his belly. “So how did things go?”
“Really well.” Kerry glanced at Dar. “Dar, do you—”
“Want to take the dogs and get the car? Sure.” Dar took Mocha from Colleen and whistled for Chino. “Be right back.” She left the office and headed for the parking area, feeling just a touch overwhelmed and a bit lightheaded after yet another whirlwind day. “Glad it’s the damn weekend, Chi.”
“Growf.” Chino was trotting beside her, sticking at her heel like the well trained dog she was. They had never needed to leash her, she came when called, and stayed when told, one of the few things in Dar’s life that had proven utterly reliable.
Once she’d stopped chewing shoes, that is.
It was good to have a minute to just think, as she walked to the truck. Things were happening at such a breakneck pace, it was a relief to be able to regroup while Kerry made her offer to Colleen. Hopefully it would end up with them having dinner together back on the island.
“Hey there.”
Ah, crap. Dar looked up to find their landlord just about to open the door to his own car. “Hey. We’re just leaving.”
He paused. “Yeah...um.” He leaned on the frame. “Did I see soldiers here before?”
Dar opened the back door to the truck and waited for Chino to jump up, then put Mocha down next to her. “You did.” She closed the door. “Customers of ours.”
“Ah.”
“Don’t worry. Just for IT services.” Dar got in the driver’s side of the truck. “They won’t be here often.” She rolled down the window as he came over.
“So you have customers already?”
“We do.” Dar acknowledged a moment of relief. “But they were people we knew before. We still have to find new clients.”
“Sure,” he said. “I was just a little surprised. I guess you guys are going to go full out next week, huh? My brother said he was putting a whole bunch of stuff in for you.”
Dar nodded. “More employees will be around. We’re looking for someone for HR. You know anyone?” She turned as Mocha scrambled up into the front seat, clawing at her leg. She lifted him up and set him down. “With any experience?”
He leaned on the door. “I might.” He reached over and gave Mocha a pat. “He’s cute.”
Mocha put his paws up on the inside of the window and made himself heard. “Yap!”
“Send them over on Monday if you do,” Dar said, spotting Kerry and Colleen strolling out of the building, Kerry with a knapsack over one shoulder, Colleen with a big grin on her face. “We gotta go.”
“I will.” He stepped back, then waved at the other two. “Have a great weekend.”
Dar tickled Mocha under the chin. “Are you gonna last ‘til we get home or are you going to piddle on me, huh?” She leaned on the windowsill as the two other women came up. “We set?”
“We are,” Kerry responded. “Coll, follow us home? Let’s do the Italian place and we can fill you in on the two contracts we just signed.”
Colleen crossed her arms and leaned against the truck. “That I will,” she said. “After I call my mother and tell her about my new job, and a promotion to boot.” She looked really happy. “And that I can get rid of those linen suits. My life just got so much better, I can’t tell you.”
“Okay, see you over there.” Kerry went around and got into the truck, taking the puppy from Dar. “We’ll celebrate.”
Colleen went for her car, and Dar started up the truck. “What a damned day.”
“Uh huh,” Kerry said. “I’ve got those contracts. Let’s hope like hell the PCs and printers get there Monday. Can I get the specs for the servers you need to run all that software?”
“Sure.” Dar pulled out of the parking lot and headed for home. “We need to get that, plus all the network components for the office.”
“Sheesh.”
“Some retirement, huh?”
Kerry exhaled. “Are we getting in over our heads already?” she asked. “Dar, we’ve got two major contracts already and we don’t even have employees yet.”
“Not true,” Dar said. “We have admins, and we have an operations director, and an accounting director, and us.”
“Ho boy.”
“Listen,” Dar said. “Just call up a placement agency on Monday and give them our requirements for everything else. Let them do the investigations and the work, and bring in qualified candidates.”
Kerry
considered that, then grunted. “Ah.”
“It’ll be fine, Ker.”
They were quiet for a while as they drove, Kerry letting the puppy chew on her finger as she cuddled with him. “Bridges creeped me out,” she said as they were pulling onto the ferry. “That whole passive aggressive Guantanamo thing.” She sighed. “I didn’t mind the stuff for Gerry. That’s all pretty straightforward.”
“That’s why I left us an out.”
“You really think they’ll let us take an out?” Kerry looked uncharacteristically pessimistic. “What if they decide to take the code and do what they want with it?”
“Won’t happen.” Dar relaxed, reaching out and circling Chino’s head with her arm, giving her a friendly rub. “Besides, weren’t you the one who asked me to think about doing it?”
“That was before we talked to that guy just now again.”
“Relax.” Dar wriggled into a more comfortable spot as the ferry took off for the island. “Look at it this way, Ker, at least he was an out in the open jackass. No pretending.”
“Mm.”
“I think if I can do it, it’ll be fine.”
“I hope so.” Kerry sighed. “Next time though, I’ll just keep my mouth shut—oh, crap.”
“What?”
“Glad you got leather seats.”
KERRY SIPPED HER coffee as she watched the sun rise outside the kitchen window, remembering standing exactly in this place, exactly at this time, a week ago before her entire life had radically changed.
She took another sip and then smiled.
Well, to be honest, not really. She felt the motion and the nearness and then the warmth as Dar came up behind her, circling her with both arms and just leaning against her in silent content.
Her external life might have changed, but the important part, this part, hadn’t budged an inch. She lifted her cup and offered Dar a sip, hearing the slurp right in her ear as Dar sucked some from the cup.
“Mocha managed to follow Chi down the steps,” Dar said after she swallowed. “Glad we took the pebbles out of that rock garden of yours.” She hugged Kerry a little tighter, rocking back and forth slightly from one foot to the other.”Keeerrryy...I lloooooovvveee you.”
Kerry smiled. “I’m so glad you saved Gopher Dar. I’d have missed that little sucker, you know that?”
Dar chuckled. “I packed up that repository and I’ll bring it in on Monday. I can throw a tower under that desk and compile it on that.”
“Mm,” Kerry agreed. “Looks like it’s going to be a pretty day.” She indicated the soft glow of dawn streaking across the sky. “Got anything in mind you want to do, Dardar?”
“Chill.”
“I can go with that.”
“It’s been nuts all week,” Dar said. “Let’s enjoy our puppy and two days to do nothing. Time enough on Monday to rejoin the circus. We have six weeks to get everything up and running before we disappear for two months.”
“You think we can still do that?” Kerry asked, after a moment’s silence.
“We’re going to do that,” Dar stated firmly. “I can compose code in my head just as easily going down a river as I can sitting in that office.”
“Really?”
Dar nodded. “Most of Gopher Dar was done while I was in staff meetings.”
Kerry’s blonde eyebrows lifted up.
“I want my vacation.” Dar wrapped her arms more firmly, then lifted Kerry off her feet, making her squawk. “Want want want.” She hopped up and down a bit, forcing Kerry to hastily put her cup down. “Want!”
“Okay!” Kerry reached behind her and gave Dar a pinch on the butt. “Stop that!”
Dar did, releasing her after biting her earlobe. “Milk.” She eased around Kerry and got a glass, heading to the refrigerator as her chuckling companion picked her coffee cup back up. “Actually, we should go get those new laptops today. I want to have something current with me next week.”
“And two big screen monitors?” Kerry asked. “I got used to the one in my old office.”
“You bet.” Dar took her milk and went to the back door, which was standing open. She peered outside. “Hey you guys!”
Chino and Mocha were playing in the garden, barking at each other, while the bigger Lab backed off and the puppy chased her.
“Yap! Yap!” Mocha pattered after the big cream colored tail heading for the steps. “Yap!”
Chino trotted up the steps and nosed Dar’s bare knees, giving her an affectionate lick as Dar reached down to pet her head. “Growf!”
“Aw.” Dar moved down the steps to where Mocha was gamely trying to climb up them, the stone a little too tall for him yet. “C’mere, rug rat.” She picked him up and tucked him under her arm. “Enjoy it while you can.” She looked down at his small, rounded head, and he looked back up at her, his tongue hanging out of his mouth.
The stone steps were cold, and she retreated inside, where Kerry was buttering some whole wheat toast. “Is that our concession to health today?” She brought the puppy over and let him sniff Kerry’s shoulder.
“Hah hah.” Kerry smiled. “Yeah, the whole wheat is going to overcome the quarter stick of butter and slice of Swiss cheese all right. No, they just sent the wrong kind this week and I didn’t have a chance to go over and change it.”
“I like it.” Dar accepted her toast and cheese, pulling her head back when Mocha realized there was something edible nearby and scrambled against her hold, his dark nose twitching. “Hey, not for you, kiddo.”
“Here.” Kerry put some puppy kibble in a dish, and offered it to him.
“Let me put him down before he eats my fingers.” Dar set him on the floor and he engulfed his kibble, scattering bits of it across the kitchen floor.
Chino watched him with a worried, Labrador frown, then she applied her tongue to the errant kibble, gathering up the spillage while Mocha fixed his attention on the dish.
“He’s really cute,” Kerry said, after a moment of silent observation. “He’s feistier than Chino was when she was that size.”
Mocha looked up at her. “Yap!”
Kerry put her hands on her hips. “Excuse me, sir?”
“Yap!” The puppy stood up on his back legs and pattered at her leg. “Yap! Yap!”
“Growf!” Chino came over and nosed him, tumbling him onto the floor. He rolled over and got back up, galumphing over to her and scooting between her legs, making her whirl around and bark in surprise.
“I can see we’re going to be entertained.” Dar was leaning against the refrigerator, munching her toast. “We should take them down to Lincoln Mall. Get our new lappies down there and have some sushi outside.”
“Sounds great to me,” Kerry agreed readily. “We’ve never done that before.”
“First time for everything.” Dar’s eyes twinkled. “We’ll be the center of attention, with a brand spanking new Lab puppy with us.”
“I like it.” Kerry finished her toast and picked up a strawberry, taking a bite and chewing it. “And I like not having to arrange for and pick up our dry cleaning.”
Dar chuckled.
“So, shower, gym, shower, Lincoln Road?”
“Well.” Dar took hold of her again. “We can start with the shower. Sure.”
KERRY LOOPED CHINO’S leash around her wrist as they strolled along the road, enjoying the sunny day and the active area. On both sides of the walking mall were small cafes, and there were many others out taking advantage of the nice weather.
She was in jeans and a hoodie, and so was Dar, the puppy cradled in her arms as they wandered. Mocha seemed quite satisfied to get what was for him an eagle eye view of his surroundings, his pink tongue poking out as he looked around.
“I didn’t realize the brown ones would have such light eyes,” Kerry commented.
“Almost the same color as yours,” Dar said. “I didn’t know that either.”
“You know what? I just realized there aren’t any computer stores down here, Dar. Except th
e Apple one.”
“Yuck,” Dar said instantly. “I hate that operating system. It sucks camel wangs.”
“Dar!”
“What?” Dar glanced down. “You think the puppy’s gonna get corrupted?”
“No, camel wangs are gross.”
Dar’s brows hiked. “How would you know?”
“Punk.”
“Takes one to know one.”
“Just for that, let’s go inside.” Kerry steered her toward the store. “Maybe I’ll like these kinds of computers.”
“Bet you won’t.” Dar amiably followed her, and they entered the quiet, mostly white interior that had lots of screens and computers to peruse.
They drew attention immediately, or, at least Dar did as every female employee immediately gravitated to the puppy, making cooing noises that drew round eyed reaction from him.
“Chick magnet.” Kerry gave her a poke as she guided Chino over to where the desktops and laptops were. There were a number of different kinds, one sort of roundish and weird looking, and another that was square and looked like a regular tower case, only in silver with pretty piping.
“What do you think of these, Chi?” Kerry touched the tower keyboard admiring the large screen. “It’s kinda nice, huh?” She looked over at Dar, who was still surrounded by admiring girls. “Wish I had my camera.”
“Growf.” Chino stood up and put her paws on the table, peering at the screen.
One of the girls took Mocha from Dar, freeing her to inspect the laptops on the table she was standing near. She poked a key with one finger then glanced up and met Kerry’s gaze, shrugging her shoulders, she walked around the table and came over to where Kerry was standing. “They’re not bad looking.” She grudgingly admitted. “I just hate how they work.”
“Why?”
“Candy assed operating system,” Dar replied promptly. “Hides everything from you like you were a two year old.”