Melissa Good - Thicker Than Water

That was some tradeoff. Kerry felt humbled by it. “Thanks. But the company gaining doesn’t matter, because you’d have done it anyway.”

Dar’s lips curved into a reluctant smile. “So much for my reputation.”

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Kerry chuckled softly. “I warned you, didn’t I?”

“You did.” Dar closed her eyes and remembered that moment, there on that airplane coming back from Orlando which she’d almost wished wouldn’t land. “Ker?”

“Mm?”

“Thanks.”

KERRY STEERED THE big SUV down the slight ramp into their parking area and pulled into the spot with Dar’s name on it.

She turned off the ignition and rested her arms against the wheel, looking out at the townhouse as Dar started to open the passenger side door.

“Glad we’re home.” Dar sighed. “Feels like it’s been a month.”

Home. Kerry took in the lines of the front porch, the Mediter-ranean stucco of it now warmly familiar to her. She got out of the car and stepped between it and her own, the shiny dark blue reflecting her image as she lightly kicked the parking bumper with her own name stenciled neatly on it.

With a quiet smile, she followed Dar up the steps and stood by as her partner keyed in the lock code and unlocked the door.

She remembered the first time she’d stood in just this place, waiting on just that same thing, but this time she tucked her fingers into the back of Dar’s waistband and kissed her on the middle of her back as they shuffled inside.

Chino galloped towards them, whining in delight, and Colleen appeared from the kitchen, wiping her hands as she called out a greeting.

Home. Kerry rested her head against Dar’s back as Chino jumped up to greet the taller woman. “Hey, Col,” she returned, as a wave of exhaustion threatened to swamp her. “We’re home.”

“And a big welcome to it,” Colleen said. “Glad to see you guys. How was the flight?”

“Wasn’t awake for a minute of it.” Kerry tossed her jacket on the back of the couch. “I’m just glad it’s over.” She knelt to pet Chino. “Hey, Cheebles. You glad we’re back?”

The Labrador licked her face all over and managed to get fur over every square inch of Kerry that she touched. Kerry loved it all and sat on the floor and gathered the delighted dog into her arms.

Home.

“Coffee, Ker?”

“Absolutely.” Kerry exhaled happily. “Absolutely.”

196 Melissa Good EYES CLOSED, DAR mentally traced the path her briefcase had taken that day. She’d had it in the green room, taken it with her on the way to the airport, locked it in the car while she was in Dairy Queen. It had gone through x-ray, then been put in the overhead bin for the flight. Taken out again when they landed, it had sat in the back of the car all the way home.

So…when the hell had someone put the papers in it? Dar went over the steps one more time. The only two places that were even remote possibilities were at the Stuart house and in the car while they were getting ice cream, taking into account that someone would have had to get the rental opened and then locked it up again. No one had known they were going for ice cream, so that left the house.

Who had put it there? Cynthia? Kerry’s sibs? None of them would have known the importance. Ah well. She exhaled. Probably doesn’t matter now anyway. At least in her own mind, she had them back and some squid wasn’t running around with them in Washington.

Dar stifled a yawn and relaxed on the leather sofa in their living room. It was, aside from the low buzz of voices in the kitchen, blessedly quiet in the condo, and Dar dropped her head against the plushy stuffed arm of the sofa, welcoming the rich scent of the leather and the warmth of the long stripe of sunlight that was coming in the front window and painting a golden swath across her body.

She could, she acknowledged dutifully, go into her study and find out what was in her mailbox waiting to pounce on her. She could—Dar wriggled into a more comfortable position and closed her eyes—but she wasn’t going to. Tomorrow would come soon enough, and if there was anything of a truly disastrous nature, she’d have been paged before now, right? Hm. She pulled her cell phone out and made sure it was on. Nope; no pages, no calls. Good.

A cold nose investigated her arm, and she opened her eyes.

“Hey, Chino. Did you give up on getting cookies from mommy Kerry?”

Sad brown eyes regarded her, then Chino climbed up onto the wide couch, settled down with a grunt, and licked all of Dar’s exposed skin within her reach.

“Aw.” Dar stroked the Labrador’s soft, thick fur. “I missed you too, baby.” She quickly looked around to make sure no one had heard her, then ruffled the dog’s ears. “You’re such a sweetie, aren’t you?”

Chino put her muzzle down on Dar’s chest and exhaled happily.

Dar exhaled too. It was over. Damn, she was glad it was over.

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Now they could settle down and get on with their life together and concentrate on happier things. Like Christmas, for instance.

Dar wiggled her toes in mild glee as she considered the boxes she had hidden in the crawl space. Presents for Kerry, of course, and Chino, but also for her parents, something she hadn’t done for many years, and for the assorted friends Kerry had invited over for the Christmas party.

“Christmas party,” Dar had firmly insisted. “Christmas, Christmas, Christmas, not birthday.”

But Kerry had snickered, which meant she’d at least have to suffer through a cake and a chorus. Hm. Dar mentally made a note to ask, in a circumspect way of course, if the cake was to be Kerry’s double chocolate mousse, killer cake. That was worth a round of Happy Birthday to You, if nothing else was.

Yeah. Dar grinned and licked her lips at the thought.

“HOLY COW, KERRY,” Colleen rubbed her friend’s arm sym-pathetically, “what a nightmare.”

“Yeah.” Kerry was sprawled on one of the two stools in the kitchen. “You can say that again. Thanks a bunch for staying over here.”

“No problem,” Colleen said. “I was glad to do it. Chinie’s a sweetie, and Dar’s folks are great people.”

“They sure are.” Kerry smiled. “You have no idea how glad I was to see them when they showed up. Oh, my God, Col, I was literally standing in a pit full of vipers, with that bastard Kyle coming right at me when BAM! Talk about the cavalry coming over the hill.”

Colleen grinned. “Dar’s father is so hooked on you. It’s so sweet. You should have heard them when they showed the television report and we spotted you, just before they left. Man, the two of them went off.”

Kerry sighed. “That so sucked.” She rested her head on her hand and leaned an elbow on the counter. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a lousier couple of days, I can tell you that. After we got back to the hotel, Angie called and told me the staff thought it would be better if I didn’t come over to the house, because of Dar.”

“To hell with them.” Colleen snorted.

“Well, I didn’t go,” Kerry said. “And it was because of Dar, not for their benefit. She was hurting.” She paused. “God knows, I was hurting, too. We needed some space.” She thought about that night. “I don’t know what I would have done if Dar hadn’t been there, Col. I just don’t.” She could hear a faint tremor in her own voice. “That first night…Jesus. I was so sick. I got a migraine, and 198 Melissa Good I passed out in the bathroom…”

“Wow.” Colleen gave her a concerned look. “What happened?”

“Just too much stress, I guess.” Kerry felt irrational tears rising. “But then, Dar happened. She wasn’t supposed to come up until the next day, but she just dropped everything and came that night. I don’t know what I would have done if she hadn’t.”