Melissa Good - Storm Surge

Dar looked up from petting Chino, and smiled. "I have a surprise for you."

Kerry's brows lifted a little, seeing the warmth and the mischief in Dar's eyes. "Oh oh." She pushed off from the doorway and went over to where Dar was, bumping against her and then wrapping her arms around her and giving her a hug. "That's all the surprise I ever need."

"Aww." Dar echoed Kerry's earlier speech. "But don't you want to see the Swiss Alps?"

Kerry peered up at her, a look of surprised delight on her face. "Huh? Are you serious?"

"As a heart attack." Dar grinned. "I figured after we lock up this deal with the old man, we take a week and go see how the other half lives."

"What other half?" Kerry's mind tumbled into overdrive, the possibilities crowding onto themselves like pushy tourists.

"The half that takes vacations." Dar leaned over and kissed her. "You in?"

"Hell yes." Kerry bounced up and down. "Can you fast forward us a couple weeks, please? Now it's going to seem like a year getting through Angie's moving and my damn high school reunion."

Dar bounced a few times with her, making Chino bark in surprise. "Now where's my peach pizza?"

"C'mon." Kerry slipped an arm around her. "Let's get you undressed, before I have to suffer watching you eat that."

"That's what you used to say about grits."

"Not the same thing."

"THAR SHE BLOWS." Dar pulled her Lexus into the weed studded parking lot that ringed the small ballpark. "Nothing like a scroungy dirt pit on a muggy evening here in the thunderstorm and lightning capital of the world."

As if to punctuate her speech, a low rumble of thunder sounded in the distance.

"How did you do that?" Kerry asked, leaning back in the passenger seat and enjoying the last few minutes of air conditioning before she had to get out and face the humidity.

"Practice."

Kerry eased herself upright, studying the half filled parking lot where she spotted quite a number of familiar faces. "Hm. A lot of people are here."

Dar pulled into an empty spot. She was dressed in a pair of shorts and a tank top, and she paused a moment to pull her dark hair back into a pony tail and fasten it before she turned the car off. "Nice crowd," she agreed. "Wish we had stopped for dinner first."

Kerry got up and half turned, reaching into the back seat. "I've got a granola bar here."

Dar eyed her. "I'll wait thanks. You said this wasn't going to be a long session."

"That's what Mari said." Kerry straightened back up, holding her bar in one hand. "Share?" She ripped the plastic off the snack and broke it in half, handing one part over to her reluctant companion. "It's the peanut butter one you like, Dar. C'mon."

Dar's brows lifted, and she accepted the offering, sniffing it. "Mm. Okay." She bit into the bar. "Ready?" She indicated the gathering crowd, some of whom were looking curiously at the Lexus. "Before we become the entertainment?"

"Aren't we always?" Kerry stuck her granola bar in her mouth and opened the door, hopping out and taking a breath of the hot air. "Whoo boy." She tugged her sleeveless muscle shirt away from her body and spared a grateful thank you to Dar's suggestion they change into shorts before coming out to the park.

Dar joined her, sticking the door opener in her front pocket and letting the key hang down outside it. She munched her half of their snack as they walked toward the group of people. "You up for a swim after this?"

Kerry made a small groan of agreement. "Hi Mari. Looks like you had a great turnout."

"Sure does," Mari agreed. "However, it was forcefully brought home to me that if you call a meeting at dinner time you're obligated to provide dinner." She gazed pointedly at Kerry's granola bar. "I don't suppose you brought enough to share, did you?"

Caught in mid chew, Kerry shook her head slightly. She swallowed hastily. "Sorry."

"Hmph." Mari sighed.

"Hey, she shared with me." Dar licked the last crumb off her fingertips. "Tell everyone to go out and find a pizzeria after this. No one's gonna starve."

Kerry gave her a wry look, receiving an innocent bat of Dar's dark lashes in return. She chuckled and shook her head, as she followed Dar over to the big group, feeling the sweat start to gather on her skin.

"Hey Kerry!" Mark waved at her as they approached. "Hey big D."

"Hey." Kerry glanced around, seeing quite a number of people from their own department mixed with others from the office. "Hey guys." She wiggled her fingers at two of the junior accountants. "So here we are."

"Hello, Kerry." Mayte appeared. "I am glad you were able to come here. This should be fun. No?" She had her hair pulled back into a neat tail like Dar's and she was smiling. "I have never played softball."

"Me either, but I think it'll be a blast." Her boss went over to the rows of wooden, weathered, bench seating and paused, leaning against the boards.

"Really? You never did?" Mayte sounded surprised. "Mama thought surely you were a superstar at the least!" She took a seat next to Kerry.

"Really." Kerry rubbed her temple, trying to stifle the blush she could feel coming on, not being helped at all by her snickering partner. "Your mama is way too nice, sometimes. Actually, Dar was, and is, the superstar athlete in the family."

Mayte peeked past her to smile at Dar, who shrugged modestly. "I've never played softball either," Dar clarified. "But I've done other things."

"Did you know Dar still holds her high school's record in the broad jump?" Kerry asked, split seconds before her mind realized what she'd said and she nearly fell off the bench when Mayte's eyes widened almost into the size of golf balls. "Not--ah--it's a track and field event."

Dar put her head down on her folded arms resting on the plank and started laughing.

"Jesu." Mayte covered her eyes. "I was thinking schools have changed so much it is amazing."

Kerry sighed. "Sorry about that. If it's any consolation, I went to an all girl Christian high school, and we didn't have that event either--that I know of."

The rest of the crowd joined her and settled on the ominously creaking structure. Dar eyed it, and then decided to remain standing next to Kerry leaning an elbow on one of the planks.

"Thank you all for showing up on time." Mari took up her familiar role standing on the dusty ground in front of the stadium seats. "I really appreciate it. This won't take too much time. I wanted to go over what the schedule is going to be, and what's expected of us."

"And give out hats." Dar supplied, after she stopped speaking.

"Do you have a fixation on those hats?" Mari gave her an exasperated look. "I'll have cows horns put on them in a minute."

The crowd chuckled, a lot of heads turning to look at Dar's distinctive profile.

"Moo," Dar promptly responded. "I like cows. They produce my two favorite foods, cheeseburgers and milk."

Mari cleared her throat conspicuously. "Ahem." She went back to her clipboard. "As I was saying--thank you for being here on time, I really appreciate it. One of the first things I want to tell you is that we're all here to have fun, okay? This isn't major league baseball."

The crowd chuckled a little.

"Kerry Stuart has volunteered to be our captain." Mari smiled, looking over at Kerry as applause broke out. "So I'm sure we'll end up having a great time, and doing good things for a good cause."

"Mariana, how many other teams are in this league?" one of the accountants spoke up.

"About twenty." Mari was glad to turn her attention from her hecklers. "The games are played in a round robin tournament style. Where the charity comes in is that the company will contribute a certain amount to the charity fund for every employee who participates."

"So it doesn't matter if we win or not?" the man asked with a frown.