Melissa Good - Red Sky at Morning

“I know it sounds stupid,” Kerry muttered. “I feel stupid even asking but I just…my guts are in knots from what happened last night and I need to chill out from that.”

It was a curious crossing of their professional and personal lives, and Dar recognized that. They’d both worked hard to keep those two parts separate, and she knew this was the first time Kerry had knowingly crossed that line with her.

Scary, but gratifying, as they took an unexpected fork in the road they were traveling together. “No problem, hon.” Dar leaned over and kissed her. “Now, where were we?” She turned the shower up a little.

“C’mere.”

Still feeling a little ashamed, Kerry set her troubles aside in the meantime as she fit her body to Dar’s under the driving spray, taking solace in her partner’s familiar touch. “At least we’ll get our Thanksgiving.”

“Mm.” Dar nibbled the edge of her ear. “I can already taste those taters.”

“Dar!”

“Yum.”

Chapter

Three

THE HOTEL’S RESTAURANT was busy when Dar threaded her way through the business crowd to a table near the rear windows.

Already seated, Alastair spotted her and waved, and she lifted a hand and waved back. “Morning.” She gave Bob a brisk nod. “Thanks for the lift last night.”

Bob returned the nod. “You look a lot more chipper this morning.

Was it the food or the company?” he asked with a wry grin.

“Neither.” Dar sat down. “Migraine. Delayed reaction from the meeting.”

“Ah.” Bob nodded.

“Damned nasty things.” Alastair appeared relieved. “Glad it was nothing serious, though. Coffee?”

“Definitely.” Dar flipped open the menu and studied it.

“Heard from Redmond last night, Dar.” Alastair leaned forward.

“Doesn’t look good. Johnston sounds panicky.” He took a sip of orange juice. “I heard Kerry was on her way there.”

Dar stared at the menu for a moment, then blinked. “She was.” The tall executive made her decision. “I’ve decided to bring the Redmond team down our way instead.” She glanced up over the edge at her boss.

“I told Kerry to stay home.”

Alastair cocked his head to one side. “Oh, really?”

“Thanksgiving week?” Bob also sounded surprised.

“Yep.” Dar kept her eyes on the breakfast selections. “How’s the Benedict here, Alastair? Any good?”

Her boss was caught off guard. He fiddled with his napkin, then leaned back in his chair and hitched up a knee, cupping his hand around the gray flannel surface. “Never had it, really. Listen, Dar...do you really think pulling the whole team out is a good idea?”

“Yes.” Dar put her menu down and met his eyes. “There’s been a big foul-up there. If I send someone in, it’s on their turf and it’ll take me a week to get to the bottom of it. Bring them in to Miami, and I’ll have it turned around in twenty-four hours. You pick.”

Bob sniffed reflectively. “Got a point there. Sometimes it takes coming out of the forest to see the trees,” he said. “Sounds like they’re buried in crap.”

46 Melissa Good

“Eh.” Alastair grunted. “Could be, could be. All right, Dar. It’s your ballgame, after all.” He motioned to the waiter. “Benedict, was it?

Wheat toast?”

“White.” Dar gave the waiter a thin smile. “And a half stack of pancakes. Thanks.” She handed over her menu and sat back, lifting her newly poured cup of coffee and sipping at it. She glanced around at the full room, returning nods and smiles from some of the investors she’d met the day before. “Nice crowd.”

“They certainly liked you.” Alastair chuckled. “Haven’t had so many people come up and ask me questions in six years, none of them about the balance sheets for a change.” He gave his CIO a smile. “Even the board members had to come and suck up to me. I really enjoyed that, Paladar...I really did.”

“I bet.” Dar smiled, toasting him with her coffee. Then she pulled out her cell phone and flipped it open. “Now let me give Redmond the bad news.”

Bob leaned back in his chair and munched on a biscuit. “Weather they’ve been having, not sure it’s gonna be that bad, Dar. Now if someone would offer me a week in Miami in winter...” He gave Alastair a look. “But noooo...I get to fly to Cleveland from here.”

“Be thankful,” Alastair told him crisply. “It coulda been worse.

Bracken’s been asking me to get him a top salesman out to North Dakota.”

Dar chuckled as she waited for the phone to connect. After a moment, it did. “Morning, Clarice. Dar Roberts here.”

A moment’s silence was followed by a small gasp. “Oh, hello, Dar! I wasn’t expecting you! Here we thought we’d be seeing your new VP, but I hear the flight was delayed.”

“Canceled,” Dar told her. “So get your team together and book a ride down to Miami. I’m not wasting a minute more of Kerry’s time on your impending cluster.” Her voice took on an edge. “Our offices, tomorrow morning.”

“But—”

“No buts. Move it!” Dar barked.

Clarice sighed. “Yes, ma’am.”

Dar closed her phone and returned it to its clip, then finished her coffee, basking in the crowd’s covert attention and glad she’d left Kerry upstairs and away from the avidly watching eyes. “That’s that.”

“Probably for the best, Dar.” Alastair poured her another cup.

“Business comes first, after all, right?”

Dar’s nose wrinkled a little. “Right.”

KERRY SETTLED INTO her leather seat next to Dar, buckling her seat belt and tugging her sweater straight. She knew she’d have to strip it off the minute they landed, but it was soft and pretty, and the plane’s Red Sky At Morning 47

air conditioning was chilly so she was glad Dar had bought it for her on a whim.

She was still feeling pretty small, like she was running away from her responsibilities. But you knew you’d feel like that, and you did it anyway. So, suck it up and get over it, Kerrison. She leaned on the console between their seats and glanced at Dar. “Was Clarice upset?”

Dar shrugged one shoulder. “I didn’t give her time to express her opinion one way or the other,” she told her partner. “I just told her to get her and her team’s asses on a plane and be in Miami tomorrow morning.”

“Mm.” Kerry pursed her lips. “You know—”

“Ah ah.” Dar tapped her on the bridge of the nose. “No second-guessing. It’s better this way, at any rate, because you won’t have to deal with them being territorial. You’ll have them at your mercy from the get-go.”

Kerry winced. “That sounds so manipulative.”

“Kerry, they’re endangering a forty-million-dollar contract,” Dar reminded her. “Don’t feel sorry for them. I don’t.”

True. “I know. I just want to get their side of it before I start hammering on them,” Kerry told her. “I’m really surprised at Clarice. I thought she was very sharp the last project she worked.” She shook her head. “Wonder what went wrong?”

Dar shrugged. “She’s always been stubborn.”

Kerry’s ears perked. “Have you known her long? You never talked about her before.”

Something occurred to Dar. It made her sit up straight and open her eyes wide as she remembered what had precipitated Clarice’s transfer to the Midwest. Slowly she turned and regarded Kerry, nibbling the inside of her lip. “Um...there’s something you’d better know about before you meet Clarice.”

Kerry looked up from reading the emergency card in her seat pocket. “Hmm? What?” She studied Dar’s face closely. “Don’t tell me she’s a phobe.”