Tropical Convergence (24 page)

"Chase my butt down and spank me till I sang Dixie," Dar muttered, shaking her head. She leaned back as the waiter returned with a tray, setting down their main courses. "Never hear the end of it, for damn sure."

She watched Kerry drop her face into her hand, her shoulders shaking in silent laughter and after a moment, she relaxed and accepted the absurdity of it all. "What a freaking day."

What a day. Kerry let her laughter run down, and then she picked her mug up and extended it, clinking it against Dar's. "Save it for tomorrow. Whatever happens, we'll just make it work, you and I." She let a smile emerge, looking right into Dar's eyes as she said the last few words. "We can do anything."

"Tonight's for us," Dar agreed quietly.

"For us," Kerry repeated, clinking her glass a third time. "To us."

A strolling guitarist came up behind them, strumming a wordlessly romantic tune as the river took yet another set of lovers anonymously downstream.

KERRY LICKED THE last taste of chocolate off her lips as they strolled around the lake toward the park's entrance. The last firework had gone off overhead, and now the crowds were dispersing, the shops closing up and the park going quiet for the night.

She fit her hand into Dar's as they walked, enjoying the warm comfort as her partner's fingers closed around hers. "Too damn short a trip again."

"Mm." Dar had been humming under her breath. Now she turned her head toward Kerry. "Here, you mean?"

"Uh huh. I want a few more days to play at the water parks, and ride Space Mountain, and go to the Animal Kingdom. There's so much we didn't get to do," Kerry griped mournfully. "We spent too much time being stressed and aggravated by those jerks."

"Well." Dar tipped her head back, regarding the few, thick clouds drifting over the stars. "We've still got tomorrow. We've got the car, and no schedule to stick to," she replied. "I have to get the official bid proposal from Mr. Skunk, but other than that, I'm all yours."

Kerry grinned in pure reaction. "Hmm...that's okay I guess."

"You guess?" Dar laughed.

"I want more," Kerry said. "I want to spend a week with you here just playing."

"Ahhh." Dar released Kerry's hand and draped her arm over the smaller woman's shoulders instead. "That sounds pretty damn good to me, Kerrison. Tell you what. Let's put that on the schedule for a couple months from now."

Kerry pouted.

"Right after Thanksgiving. We'll come up here for two weeks, and do it right." Dar promised. "They'll have the Christmas lights up...it's gorgeous."

"Yeah?" Kerry was willing to be persuaded.

"And not as hot."

Despite the evening's slight breeze and her light clothing, Kerry was sweating like a pig, and she acknowledged that her wise, native Floridian partner might have a point. "Wweeelll..."

"We can make the most of the time we have tomorrow," Dar continued. "We'll leave right from the park as they close...make it home by midnight or so. Okay?"

There was a note in Dar's voice that caught Kerry's ear. "Sure." She curled her arm around Dar's waist. "I was sort of kidding, y'know. I do want to spend time with you here, but I know we've got work to do." Despite the night's warmth, the contact felt good. "I was just teasing."

Dar grunted softly, but didn't answer.

"Christmas time will be really pretty." Kerry fished a little. "Have you been here at that time before?"

A nod.

They rounded the edge of the World Showcase, and started through the passage toward the park entrance before Dar spoke up again. "I'm glad you like it here," she ventured. "I used to think I was being...ahm..." Her shoulders hunched a little in an embarrassed shrug. "Childish for liking it as much as I do."

Kerry leaned against her, depending on Dar's sense of direction to keep them both from heading off into a bush. She'd had three beers, and though she wasn't drunk, there was a layer of pleasant fuzziness between her and the ground. "Shoot." She gestured at the thinning crowd around them. "Half the people here don't have kids as an excuse to be here, Dar. Everyone loves this place."

"Mm. Yeah." Her companion sighed. "I guess you're right."

"Hang on." Kerry steered them both toward a still open wagon. "I need some of that." She pulled Dar to a halt outside the coffee booth and held up two fingers to the attendant. "You want some too, right?"

"Sure." Dar merely draped herself over Kerry, resting her chin on the top of her partner's head. "It's been a long day." Her eyes lifted to study the woman getting their coffee, noting the brief grin she gave the two of them while the cups were filling. "Bet it's a longer day for you, huh?"

"Aren't they all?" the attendant replied wryly. "I think the ones in summer last at least 48 hours." She sprinkled some powdered chocolate on the top of their drinks and set them down. "But, on the other hand, it's not so busy. So..."

"Yeah." Kerry handed over some cash. "It's got its trade offs. Mine included going on Test Track twice." She grinned impishly. "Worth the sweat."

"Yeah, but you're not wearing polyester." The woman grinned back. "But it could be worse--give me cart vending any day over being a character," she said. "My friend just got done being Goofy for the day and he was too tired to even drive home."

"All relative," Dar commented.

"Yeah," the woman agreed. "This job's pretty cool. I get to see people all day, not like my mom. She works in accounting over at the main building. All she sees is cubicle walls." She leaned on the counter. "My partner, on the other hand, is really into being one of the landscaping people. Snip snip."

Partner. Kerry had always liked that term, and remembered the first time Dar had referred to her that way with great fondness.

South Beach. Kerry gazed around her in mild bemusement, watching the crowds saunter past the small table where she and Dar were sitting. They drew looks in return, casually appraising, and she found herself more than a little self-conscious there in the midst of all the trendies and tourists.

Even the always collected Dar seemed a little wary, her pale blue eyes hidden behind silvered shades as she hitched one denim covered knee up and rested an elbow on it, her sleeveless polo exposing her muscular arms to the sun.

Kerry dusted a bit of pigeon down off her neatly pressed cotton short sleeved shirt and sat a little straighter. "You get down here much?" she inquired, still a little shy in their new relationship. "It's sort of fun."

"Eh." Dar fiddled with the spoon resting on her coffee plate. "Not really. It's okay, I guess. I used to hang out nearby, way back when." She gave the passing crowds a cursory glance.

"Used to?"

Dar's face scrunched up a bit. "In my wilder days," she explained. "When I first figured out what side of the street I was walking on."

Kerry rested her chin on her fist. "You mean when you figured out you were gay?"

The dark eyebrows twitched. "Ah, yeah."

"But not now?"

A sigh. "No. I'm not much into the whole gay scene," Dar said. "I keep a pretty low profile."

Was Dar as ambivalent about that as she sounded? Kerry wondered. She watched several more conventional couples go by, holding hands and laughing. It made her think about home, and Brian, and the times they'd gone out together with a group of their friends somewhere.

It was different, when you were gay, wasn't it? In places like South Beach, you could get away with that. But not other places. Kerry felt a little pang of irrational loss as she remembered how normal she'd felt in a restaurant or hanging out in the mall with Brian. If he'd put his arm around her, or they'd held hands, no one looked twice.

If she took Dar's hand, people would look twice, Kerry realized. Better they stay, as Dar had said, low profile. No sense in sticking out.

Ah well. She looked over and studied Dar's face instead, contenting herself with the knowledge that she'd found something very special here, regardless of how the rest of the world looked at it. So what if she never got to throw a bouquet?

"Hey! Dar!"

Kerry looked up to see a man and a woman approaching them. They were nicely dressed, and middle aged, and appeared pleased to see her companion.

"Hello, Marge, Charlie." Dar gestured toward the two empty chairs at their table. "Have a seat."

Kerry watched quietly as they came over and sat down, wondering briefly who they were.

"How are you, Dar? Haven't seen you in years. You haven't changed much," Charlie said, with an easy grin. "Has she, Marge?"

"Not at all," the woman agreed. "That should make you feel good, Charlie, since you taught her in high school."

Oh. Ugh. Teachers. Kerry folded her hands on the table and imagined them meeting some of hers back home.

Yikes. She could picture them all staring at Dar with those disapproving eyes as she introduced her...friend?

Hm. How did you go about introducing your significant other if you were gay? As your girlfriend? Kerry's brow creased. Your lover, and have to die from embarrassment no matter how true it was?

"I'm doing damn fine, for a change," Dar answered. "Kerry, this is Charlie, my high school math teacher, and his wife Marge. Guys, this is Kerry Stuart."

"Hi." Kerry gave them both a polite smile.

"Kerry's my partner," Dar went on without missing a beat. "She's from Michigan."

Partner? Caught by honest surprise, Kerry could only blink for a long moment, looking into the faces of these normal, ordinary middle-aged people and wondering what on earth they were thinking of her.

Of them.

"Michigan, eh?" Charlie chuckled. "Boy, are you a long way from home. I've got a cousin in Detroit I've been trying to get to move here for twenty years."

"Where in Michigan, Kerry?" Marge asked. "Have you two been together long?"

And then again, Kerry let out the breath she'd been holding, sometimes you find acceptance in the places you least expect it. "No, not very long," she managed to get out. "And, um...Saugatuck, actually, but I..." Without really thinking, she found herself reaching out for, of all things, Dar's hand. "I think I'm a lot more at home here than I ever was there."

Dar's fingers closed over hers and gave them a squeeze, punctuating the statement quite nicely.

Partner. Kerry squeezed back, feeling her doubts dissolve into the late afternoon sunshine. Yeah.

"Ker?" Dar gave her a nudge. "Sleeping already?"

Kerry wound her arm around Dar's waist and bumped her back. "Nope. C'mon, partner." She picked up her coffee and saluted the attendant with it. "Thanks. Have a great night," she added as they turned to continue on their way. "I know I will."

KERRY SETTLED HER sunglasses on her nose against the morning brightness, and then rested her hands on the steering wheel of Dar's Lexus as she waited outside the convention center.

She was glad enough to let Dar go in and handle Quest. After her partner's abrupt about face, she felt a little embarrassed about meeting him again, so she was content to relax in the car and watch the early morning park goers.

They were heading to the Animal Kingdom park, soon as Dar picked up the bid paperwork. Kerry was very much looking forward to it, and she smiled, whistling a little under her breath as she waited.

A family emerged from the nearby restrooms and headed for their car, the parents laden down with backpacks almost overflowing with toys. A little boy and two little girls ran ahead, screaming with delight as they chased each other in circles.

Kerry tried to remember being that small. She could vaguely call up some old flashbacks of her and Angie and Mike playing, but they seemed faded and out of focus.

In the back of the house in Michigan, behind the stately porch and the garden that was meticulously kept by servants, there had been a stretch of green lawn. They had been allowed to play there in the afternoons, but she mostly remembered only the smell of that.

Rich and green. She remembered rolling across the lawn and savoring the scent of the earth, and the newly cropped green, and watching tiny snails scramble away from her curious fingers.

The nanny had chastised her, for getting dirt all over her clothing. Kerry hadn't even understood what she was talking about at the time.

"Well, hello."

Jerked out of her daydreaming, Kerry turned her head to find Michelle there, peering in the window. "Good morning." She rolled the window down and leaned her elbow on it. "On the way out?"

"Waiting for our ride to the airport," Michelle said. "I see you drove up."

"We did," Kerry agreed.

Michelle looked around, and then turned back to her. "I guess you need to get back to start planning your strategy, eh?"

Kerry cocked her head to one side. "For what?"

The red haired woman blinked, her eyebrows lifting. "Mr. Quest's bid? You did know you were part of it, correct?"

"Oh that." Kerry pushed her sunglasses up a little on her nose. "Nah, we're heading for Animal Kingdom. Maybe do some more water parks later, depends on the weather." She rested her head on her fist.

Michelle crossed her arms. "If this is not that big a deal for you, why did you decide to get involved?"

Kerry caught sight of Dar emerging from the center, a folder clasped under one arm. "Dar likes ships." She refused to rise to Michelle's dangling bait. "It's something we're not involved in, sounded interesting...why not?"

"I thought maybe you'd done it to get a head-to-head with us." Michelle gazed at her directly. "Got something to prove?"

Kerry was glad she had her sunglasses on. "Something to prove?" She injected a quizzical tone in her voice. "Michelle, over the last two years I've presided over a couple thousand contract bids that we've won. You must have a pretty inflated ego if you think you're making this a big deal."