Melissa Good - Thicker Than Water

Thicker Than Water 185

Maybe I’ll just let it go.

“Mm.” She took a spoonful of ice cream and put it in her mouth, then almost choked on the spoon when her name was called from behind her. She turned to see a willowy blond woman obviously heading right for her.

She had about six seconds to figure out who the woman was.

Kerry found her early schooling coming in desperately handy as she flipped through names and faces the way her father had taught all of them, searching for this one.

College? No. Church? No. Debating club? No.

“Well, Kerrison! I’m just amazed to see you here.” The woman arrived next to the table, her lips twitching into a brief, false smile. “Or maybe not.”

“Hello, Corinne.” Kerry returned the smile. “How wonderful to see you after all these years.” Her eyes slipped past Corinne.

“Do you work here?” She spotted a man in what appeared to be a supervisor’s uniform behind her.

“Work?” Corinne chuckled. “My husband owns the store. I’m just here picking something up for him. Oh, by the way, I’m sorry about your father.”

“Thank you.” Kerry replied.

“You’re staying in town?” Corinne’s eyes darted briefly to Kerry’s table companions. “I thought you’d be on your way to the funeral. Or, well, I thought you would, at any rate.”

Bitch. Kerry leaned one arm on the back of the bench seat, aware of Dar stirring restlessly across from her. “No, we’re on our way to the airport. And please forgive my manners. Corinne, this is my partner Dar Roberts, and her parents Andrew and Cecilia.”

She looked at Dar. “This is Corinne…” She glanced back at the blonde. “What is it now?”

“Henderson.” Corinne gave the rest of the table a brief nod and frosty smile. “Well, I’m sure you can’t wait to get on your way. It was certainly nice to see you. I’m sure we won’t have the pleasure often and everyone,” her smile turned sickly sweet, “has been asking about you.” She lifted a hand, turned, and went back to her table.

Kerry felt Ceci move, then before her eyes, a brown blob flew through the air and splatted against Corinne’s back.

Corinne turned, startled, as Kerry whirled and faced forward, her eyes nearly popping out of her head. “Did you just do what I think you just did?” she hissed at Ceci.

“Sure.” Ceci licked her spoon with relish. “Damn good aim, if I say so myself.”

Dar wrapped her lips around her straw and put on an innocent look as she met Corinne’s staring eyes. Next to her, Andrew 186 Melissa Good merely sniffed and took another bite of his pristine and fudge free ice cream.

Kerry covered her eyes with one hand. “What is it about people around me that encourages food fights? Corinne is going to lose her mind.”

“What mind?” Dar asked at the same time as Ceci snorted.

“You know, Kerry, you really should consider giving up Christianity,” Ceci said. “All that guilt, all that angst. Go pagan.

We just enjoy our mischief and die happy.”

Dar grinned as she watched the confused Corinne try to look over her own shoulder at her back, then apparently decide she’d been imagining it all as she slipped into her expensive silk lined leather jacket. She accepted the gloves the manager handed to her, then left, shaking her head, after glancing back at Kerry and finding nothing apparently amiss.

“Old friend?” Dar asked.

Kerry peeked from between her fingers. “Is she gone?”

Dar nodded.

Kerry put her hand down and picked up her spoon. “No, she was never a friend. She was someone I went to high school with who was convinced everything I had, everything I got, was because of my father and not because I earned it.”

“Ah.”

“Sometimes I believed that,” Kerry added softly. “I think everyone did.”

“Well, I’m sure everyone doesn’t think your father bought Dar for you,” Ceci remarked practically. “Way out of his price league, for one thing.”

“Hey!” her offspring protested.

Kerry smiled at that and relaxed. “No, I’m sure they don’t.”

She thought back to past times. “I’m sure they don’t. I’m sure I don’t care what they think, either.”

She was sure, wasn’t she?

Chapter

Eleven

KERRY HAD NEVER been so glad to get on a damn airplane.

She settled into her seat with a long, relieved sigh and put her head against the leather headrest, closing her eyes and willing the plane up and gone. Dar took the seat next to her, and Kerry found herself mildly resenting the fact that they were in first class, where there were those stupid console arms between the seats.

She wanted to get rid of hers and curl up in Dar’s arms for a nap.

She regarded the lighting controls with a feeling of mild embarrassment at the thought, reminding herself that she was a grown up who had long ago left the need for a teddy bear and security blanket behind her. Hadn’t she?

Kerry kept her eyes closed as the flight attendant came by and listened as Dar’s low burr ordered them both drinks. Maybe it was just the whole situation finally getting to be too much. She sighed, wishing they were already home, wanting the normality of that back around her.

Even going back to work would be very welcome. Kerry opened one eye and peered at Dar. “What ever happened with that UPS?” She hadn’t gotten paged again on it, so she figured Dar had done something or other to clear the issue.

Dar looked up from her Skymall magazine. “I threatened to cut off the cable feed to the city, and they got the replacement unit out in six hours. Hey, look, new toys. Want one?” Her long finger pointed at a page.

Kerry goggled at her. “Could you really do that?”

“Buy you a new toy? Sure,” Dar replied, then grinned. “Cut off their cable? We manage their head end facility, so yeah, if I wanted to get down and dirty enough, I could.” She dug into her pocket and removed her cell phone. “Now, do you like red or onyx?”

Kerry peered at the magazine. “Oo.” She pulled it closer. “A Swiss army knife for nerds? Does it have a…Oh, good grief, it 188 Melissa Good does. How cool.” She glanced up at Dar. “We should get these as Christmas gifts for Mark’s staff.”

Dar considered that. “Mm. Something they can actually use instead of a box of chocolates and a gift certificate to Wal-Mart?

Though, those are both useful. Sort of.” She waited for the cell phone to be answered, then crisply ordered a case of the knives in each color, sending the order taker into a mini ecstasy of delight.

“We should brand them and use them as pitch gimmicks, too.

Maybe if José’s really good, I’ll let him look at mine.”

“Why don’t you just get him one?” Kerry asked, flipping through the magazine with interest.

“It has sharp implements on it. I don’t want to be liable if he cuts his fingers off. Mariana would kill me,” Dar muttered as she completed her purchase and closed the phone. “See anything else you like?”

“Mm.” Kerry eyes wandered off the page and up to Dar.

“Yeah.” Then she chuckled, wet one fingertip, and rubbed a spot on Dar’s cheek. “Can’t take you anywhere, Paladar. Look at you with chocolate all over your face.”

“Shh.” Dar glanced at the row behind them, where her parents were settled. “Not so loud. You’ll get treated to an hour of stories about what I used to do with my food.”

“Oh really?” Kerry asked, in a much louder voice.

Blue eyes narrowed. “Kerrison.”

Kerry chuckled. “Ah. Why does that sound so different when you say it?” She exhaled and rested her head on the leather again, but half turned to keep Dar in view. “Boy, I’m glad we’re going home.”