Melissa Good: Eye of the Storm

“It’s come back faster than I thought it would, frankly. I had half convinced myself I was being an idiot. Trying to recapture lost youth or something stupid like that.”

Ken paused, peering up at the strong, angular face with a puzzled look. “Lost? Did you lose that somewhere? Why Dar, you should have told me. I’d have put up a wanted poster.”

Blue eyes fastened on him with a dryly amused expression. “Very funny.” But the compliment pleased her and she clapped the younger man on the shoulder as she headed in to change clothes. “Thanks, Ken.

See you tomorrow?”

“Oh yeah.” Ken grinned wryly. “Same splat time, same splat channel. See ya, Dar.”

Chuckling, Dar entered the locker room and found her locker, then untied her belt and slung it over the door before she changed clothes.

Light beach shorts replaced her long cotton pants, with a tank top tucked into them. She stuffed her gear into the small gym bag and closed the locker door, then shouldered the bag’s strap and headed for the door.

THE HOTEL ROOM was quiet. The soft sound of rustling leaves coming in through the window acted as a counterpoint to the soft clicking of keys and the occasional shuffle of papers. Kerry rested her chin on one fist briefly and reviewed her laptop screen, which contained the begin-4 Melissa Good nings of a status report.

“Okay.” She sighed. “Maybe this won’t be too bad, but they’re not going to be happy giving up those perks.” Kerry reviewed the report again, then dropped her eyes to the pages of reports and leafed through them for the tenth time. “I wonder if they realize how lucky they are to be so remote. We don’t have an office within three hundred miles of here.”

She stood and stretched, wincing as her back protested from being seated in one place for far too long. Then she trudged over to the window and leaned on the sill to gaze out at the forest her snug little room was nestled in.

It was the silence, she realized, that was so significant. There was no traffic, or very little up here in this part of Vermont, and the entire pace of life seemed slower than she was used to. The hotel was a collection of small cabins, each tucked into pockets of trees and underbrush, with unobstructed views of the wilderness around them. It gave the illusion of complete privacy, and Kerry remained gazing out at it for a long moment before she turned and padded across the wooden floor, to throw herself down on the large, quilt covered bed.

It was nice, she considered, to be able to see different places. She rolled over and reached for the TV remote, clicked it on and sorted through the available cable channels. A familiar scene caught her eye and she paused, then put the remote down, and rested her chin on her forearm as she watched the travel channel focus on a skyline she knew.

Home.

A wistful smile tugged at her lips as she checked her watch. She’d been on the road for two very long weeks, though that was coming to an end after she wrapped up this assignment.

Good thing, too. Kerry pulled a pillow out from under the quilt and wrapped her arms around it, exhaling softly and turning her mind to figuring out where she could rustle up some dinner. Being apart from Dar had been tougher than she’d anticipated and as the days counted themselves down, she found her thoughts turning more and more eagerly to their reunion.

They talked on the phone to each other every day, of course, and exchanged email, but it wasn’t the same. Kerry gazed at the nondescript walls and sighed. Nights were the worst. During the day she was either working or traveling, but alone in her hotel room at night she had to force herself to find something to do other than think about…

Well, think about what Dar was doing, actually. Or wonder if she was being missed in return, while her previously solitary partner went back to her lone pursuits.

Or if maybe Dar was enjoying that.

Scowling a little at her own insecurity, Kerry got up and walked back over to her laptop. She paused for a moment, gazing at the report, then clicked over to her mail program and started up a new message.

Eye of the Storm 5

“HEY GIRL.” DAR managed to get inside the door to the condo without allowing the frantic Labrador to escape. “Hey. Take it easy. Take it easy. I know it’s late.”

Chino bucked around in a circle and whined, grabbing hold of the edge of Dar’s shorts in her teeth and tugging fiercely.

“Okay, okay.” The tall woman tossed her gym bag down and surrendered, sitting down on the cold tile floor and hugging the dog. “Yeah.

Okay. I missed you too.” She closed her eyes as the Labrador licked her face thoroughly and climbed up her chest, her half grown paws scrabbling for a good hold. “Easy...easy...”

Finally, Chino calmed down and curled up inside the circle of Dar’s arms, panting. “Good girl.” Dar leaned back against the door and rubbed the dog’s ears idly. In reflex, she looked up towards the kitchen, half expecting Kerry to appear from the doorway, then sighed as the emptiness of the condo settled around her. “You know something, Chino?”

Brown eyes looked up at her in question.

“It’s too damn quiet in here.”

The dog barked at her.

“You think Kerry misses us as much as we miss her?”

“Growf.”

Dar smiled and gave her a final hug, then stood up and retrieved her bag, crossed the large living room and entered the kitchen. It was almost painfully clean, and Dar averted her eyes as she ducked into the laundry room. She tugged her outfit from the bag and dumped it into the washing machine, along with her towel and underwear, and set the device running. Then she re-entered the kitchen and went to the cupboard, opened it and removed a tall glass, which she filled with milk from the refrigerator.

“Mail.”

“Dar Roberts, six messages, none urgent. Kerry Stuart, twelve messages, three urgent,” the console answered, bringing a faint smile to Dar’s face.

“Display mail, Dar Roberts.” She scanned the headers, then produced a real smile. “Read two.”

Hey Boss.

Vermont is nice.

“Eh. If you like trees,” Dar commented aloud, a habit of hers when reading Kerry’s mails.

It would be a lot nicer if you were in it, though...it’s really quiet up here in the woods. I keep thinking some raccoon is going to hop up on my windowsill and start talking to me.

“Trapped in a Disney movie. Very scary, Ker.”

6 Melissa Good Oh well. The account is going all right—I have all the information, and a copy of the plan is attached to this mail for you to check out. They were kind of upset when I first got here, but I think I made them relax a little, and maybe they realize I’m not here to turn everything upside down for them.

“I’m sure they warmed right up to you.”

Only some things, I guess. They’ve got some very strange acquisition flowcharts...I wasn’t sure what they were doing, Dar, so I scanned those in and attached them too. If you could take a minute and look them over, it’d be great.

“Sure,” Dar murmured softly, taking a sip of her milk. “No problem.”

It’s been a really long two weeks.

“Yeah. No kidding.”

I think it really hit me today, when I was driving to the hotel, just how much I miss you.

Dar bit down on the rim of her glass, rereading the words in silence.

A tiny grin formed on her lips.

It was really strange. I dreamt about you last night, and when I woke up and you weren’t here, I felt awful. I know a business email isn’t the place to say that, but...I just wanted you to know.

Anyway, I’m going to go see if I can find something around here for dinner. I noticed an advertisement at the front desk for maple ice cream. It sounded interesting. Call you later.