Tropical Convergence (49 page)

"Great." Colleen patted the couch arm, then she got up and scooted out the door. "See you at Crandon, in two hours."

The door closed. Kerry frowned slightly, then released her knee and straightened. "Okay, well...I think I have extra towels here."

Dar got up and walked over to her, settling next to her on the loveseat. "You didn't sound really stoked about the party."

"Um...no, it's fine. I like the beach," Kerry said. "Really." But there was a furrow in her brow that even Dar could clearly discern. "And the guys here at the complex are really nice." She got up. "We've had...um...a few of these sort of parties." The window seemed to fascinate her, and she walked over to stare out of it, her back toward Dar.

"Uh huh." Dar studied her new partner. "Seems like a nice crowd. A little on the young, yuppie, gym-addicted side, but all right." She watched Kerry's eyes shift briefly across the room to the mirror and her own reflection then back. A thought occurred to her. "You embarrassed to show off your new girlfriend?"

Kerry turned all the way around and looked at her, eyes widening perceptibly. "What?"

Dar shrugged.

"N...no!"

"So?"

"So...what?" Kerry answered hesitantly.

Dar felt an uncomfortable sense of awkwardness. "I got the feeling..." She saw Kerry's hands tense. "That maybe you didn't want to go there."

"Oh." The blond woman walked back over and crouched next to Dar, resting a hand on her knee. "Well, no.. it's just that I've never been much of a...um..." She exhaled. "You're right. Most of the folks that live here are really buff and into looks and I..."

"Don't want to upstage them?" Dar inquired mildly. "Doesn't surprise me. You're a lot nicer than I am."

Kerry lifted her eyes and stared at Dar, caught speechless for several very long moments. "What?"

"What what?" Dar responded.

"What do you mean upstage?" Kerry added a short, hesitant laugh. "Maybe you upstage people. I don't." Her eyes dropped to the carpet and stayed there. "Maybe I don't want to embarrass you."

It was like a door opening up into a place she'd never seen before. Dar had to wonder just what Kerry saw when she looked at herself in the mirror.

Well. Dar certainly knew what she saw when she looked at Kerry, and so rather than waste time on words, she slid off the couch and knelt beside Kerry, gently capturing her face in both hands and lifting it so their eyes made contact. "Kerry?"

Those big, green eyes were so trusting. "Yes?"

"Don't be a jackass," Dar said, smiling in reflex at the expression on her lover's face. "You're everything I want in a woman. You care about anyone else's opinion?" The skin under her fingertips warmed as a blush colored Kerry's face, making her pale eyebrows stand out vividly. "Hm?"

Kerry remained frozen in place for the next several heartbeats. Then she hesitantly lifted her hands and let them rest on Dar's waist, leaning forward a little as a look of shy, wondering delight grew in her eyes. "Nu uh."

Dar drew her closer and kissed her. "So let's go to the beach," she whispered in one still pink ear. "And scandalize your neighbors."

Kerry didn't answer. She put her arms around Dar and squeezed her as hard as she could, robbing Dar of breath, but delivering a message as loudly as yelling would have.

Boy. Dar enjoyed a moment of utter giddiness. Being in love sure was a lot more fun this time around.

Yeah, it sure was. Dar rested her chin on her fist. Being in love with Kerry had brought her more joy than she'd ever considered possible, and that, she acknowledged silently, was what was messing her up so badly right now.

What if it all vanished?

Dar knew there were no guarantees in life. She also knew that sometimes, bad things happened, like what had happened to her mother when they were told her father had been lost on a mission. But losing Daddy in that way had been totally different than if he'd just walked out of their lives.

She didn't expect that of Kerry. Her partner had proven to her more times than she could count her dedication to their relationship. But knowing that didn't stop her from being scared anyway, and Dar wasn't really sure what to do about how she felt.

Well. She studied the screen, waiting for any news from home. It would probably pass, if she just chilled out for a while. She'd gotten past it at the very start of their relationship, after all. Her eyes followed the scrolling marquee, and she winced as it reported the power outage still continuing. "Crap."

With a grunt, she rolled over and retrieved her PDA from the nightstand, flipping it open and scanning the screen. Not unexpectedly, there were several notes waiting. She clicked on the first one.

Whine.

Dar, I haven't slept in my car since the night of my high school prom, and it was a heck of a lot cooler in Michigan than it is here. Can I come to New York?

K

Aw. Dar grimaced in sympathy, seeing the after midnight timestamp. She clicked on the second.

I want my Dar.

Is it selfish to want you to be here with me down by South Pointe at 2 a.m.? I am waiting to see if I can catch a ride over home. The HK staff says Chino is okay, but not a happy puppy.

K

Silently, Dar clicked on the third, posted shortly after the 2nd.

Oo. Have I told you lately how much I love your parents? They just rescued me. Sleep tight, sweetheart. I'll catch you in the morning.

K

Dar released a sigh of relief. Not that there was anything she could really do for Kerry, but knowing she was safe and sound in the hands of the two people she trusted more than any other in the world made her feel one hell of a lot better. She tapped the message and set up a reply, then scribed briefly on the screen.

Ker --

Tell mom and dad I say hi, and thanks for taking care of you. Board meeting went fine last night--hope your ears were burning because you were the chief topic of it.

Let me know what's going on with Quest. If the power's still out in the morning, you might want to extend him a gracious invitation to use our conference facilities.

I'm going to go work out. Damn noise around here woke me up. Hope you slept okay--talk to you in the morning.

D

Four a.m.. Dar clicked off the television and regarded the clock. She got up and rummaged through the hotel's directory, flipping the pages until she found the one detailing the properties amenities. A soft snort sounded when she spotted the hours for the gym. "Nine to ten. When the hell during those hours do they expect anyone to be up there?"

So much for that idea. Dar went back over to the bed and sat down. Too early for breakfast, either. With a disgusted sigh, she laid back down and curled up on her side, tucking an arm around her pillow and attempting to relax.

I want my Dar.

Dar closed her eyes and ran the words over and over again in her mind with idle pleasure. Kerry had really done a great job, and after spending all night telling the board that, Dar had even let her own lingering disappointment fade to nothing, trading it for a glow of pride.

As it should be, her conscience reminded her blandly. She doesn't need you hovering over her every second, does she?

Dar exhaled. And she still didn't know what it was that Kerry had done. The thing that Dar wasn't going to like. The thing Kerry would not tell her unless it was in person.

A siren blared again, flashing red through her window.

Dark, sticky webs clung to her, wrapping her tighter and tighter in their embrace as cruel laughter echoed around her.

She struggled, but the more she fought, the worse it got, until she could barely move at all and the heavy, stinking threads were starting to wrap around her face.

She screamed into the wind.

The laughter continued, and worst of all, she was starkly, achingly aware of being totally, utterly alone.

Bereft.

Figures approached her, and she was grabbed by rough hands, helpless and unable to break away or protect herself. She struggled anyway, desperately wrenching herself right and left to keep out of their clutches.

They just laughed all the harder.

But they stopped suddenly, and in all that silence, she heard the thunder of hoof beats.

Kerry jerked awake, heart pounding, her eyes sweeping the darkness as she tried to place herself. A second later, she slumped back onto the compact bed, her eyes blinking at the splattering of moonlight making patterns across the sheets. "Jesus."

At the foot of the bed, Chino raised her head and whined, then curled back up again when Kerry showed no inclination to get up.

The boat rocked under her. Kerry tried to recall the fragments of her nightmare, but the details were swiftly fading, leaving her with only a vague, sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. With a sigh, she pushed the light cover back and got up, circling the bed and making her way out of the small bedroom and into the galley of the Dixieland Yankee.

It was dark outside, but through the main cabin windows, she could see Andy and Ceci's boat resting in the next slip in the moonlight. Kerry took a small bottle of orange juice from the cooler and walked over to the table, slipping behind it and sitting down as she popped open the lid.

Four a.m. Her eyes found the travel clock. "Oh well," she spoke to Chino, as the Labrador appeared from the bedroom. "Two hours is better than nothing, huh, Chi?"

"Growf."

She propped her head up on one hand, hoping the nausea would subside and not force her to lose the few mouthfuls of juice and whatever else was left in her stomach. "Yeah, well...maybe you and I can go for a walk, huh? I don't think I want to go back to sleep right now."

Damn it.

Kerry pulled her PDA over and opened it, seeing the stutter of the message waiting flash. Her face creased into a grin as she saw the sender, and she tapped on the message to view it. After she absorbed the first paragraph, she paused and reread it.

Then she reread it again, as she sipped her orange juice, still grinning. The smile faded a little as she read the second paragraph, then evolved into a faint scowl as she read the third and checked the time stamp. "At four a.m.? Dar!" She clicked over to a new message and scribed a quick note, then sent it.

You still there?

Moments later, the device flashed.

Yeah. Gym's closed. You still up?

Kerry shifted her position, moving to the corner of the small couch and curled up into a ball with the moonlight coming over her shoulder.
Not still. I had a bad dream. It woke me up and gave me a stomach ache.
And a headache, and a pain in her chest. But no sense in freaking Dar out too much.

Where are you?

Funny, how plain text could take on a concerned tone without any embellishment.
On the Dixie. Mom and Dad are parked next to us.
Kerry scribbled.

Wish I was parked next to you.

Kerry felt her chest tighten further.
Wish you were too. I hate waking up from nightmares alone.

I know.

Her last nightmare, months prior, had scared her so badly she'd woken up in tears, and Dar had insisted on holding her in her arms the rest of the night to allow Kerry to get back to sleep.

Not that she objected. Being in Dar's embrace was very gentle on her soul.

But she hated nightmares. It wasn't anything graphic. In fact, Kerry hadn't even remembered what it had been about minutes after she'd awakened. But the sheer emotional impact of it had shaken her.

Just like the one tonight had, only she didn't have Dar's warm presence to chase the ickies away. But this odd, disconnected conversation was making her feel better.
Glad you're around to talk to, anyway.
She informed her partner.
I feel better already
.

Ker?

Yes?

I'll always be here.

Kerry stared at the words in silence, hearing the echo of them in her mind.
I sure hope so
. She wrote back.
You're the cornerstone of my life
.

The boat rocked softly under her, responding to the wake of an incoming vessel. Kerry tore her eyes from the screen to look outside watching briefly as a huge sailing yacht cruised silently by, heading for the far end of the marina.

She looked back, but the screen was stubbornly silent.
Dar?

I'm here. You just make me stop breathing sometimes when you write stuff like that.

Kerry smiled gently.
Are we a pair of loons, sitting here at four thirty

a.m. writing mushy love notes to each other or what? Yeah. (chuckle) But I think I can go back to bed now.

Funny. Kerry stifled a yawn. She'd just been thinking the same exact thing. The shadows from her dream had been chased away, and her stomach ache had eased.
Me, too
. She got up and headed for the bedroom, taking her PDA and her orange juice with her.

Inside the room, the moonlight flooded the bed, and Kerry crawled into its silver embrace. She fluffed up her pillow and settled down, curling onto her side and propping her PDA up where she could keep an eye on it.
I just took you to bed
. She informed her partner.

(laughing) Ultimate nerd-sleeping with palm pilots.

Kerry started chuckling, too.
Would that be your Indian name? Sleeps with Palm Pilots?

Only if you're changing your name, Palm.

Chino trotted in and jumped on the bed, giving Kerry an indignant look for her wanderlust, and for the bubbling laughter that was shaking the surface they were both laying on.