Stormy Waters: Book 10 in The Dar & Kerry Series (17 page)

Just like he didn't like the woman herself.

"WHAT?" Kerry frowned, listening to Mark's voice on the cell phone. "Tell me this again?" She glanced up as Ceci re-entered the living room. "They said what?"

"It's a crock, boss." Mark sounded more than peeved. "Son of a bitch. I called them to find out a ship status on the order, and they told me it was on hold because they were out of stock."

Kerry's one good eye narrowed. "You didn't hear that when you placed it the other day?"

"Nope, I had a seven day delivery quoted," Mark said. "So I called our rep, and he said there wasn't anything he could do--out of stock is out of stock-- but he could get us hooked up through a distribution channel provider."

"At list price," Kerry said.

"Yeah."

"Problems?" Ceci sat down on the love seat and picked up her teacup, sipping it as she watched Kerry's face. Her usual good humor had vanished, and the gentle planes had hardened into a much sterner profile.

"Bastards." Kerry murmured. "Mark, that can't be an accident. We're all using the same gear. Someone got to someone."

"That's what I thought." Mark agreed readily. "But the rep won't budge, said someone above him released the shipment, some big customer apparently."

Kerry folded her arm over her stomach and stared past the glass doors. "We're big customers, Mark."

"That's what I told him. And told him. And told him," Mark said. "I don't think there was squat he could do, Kerry. I even asked to talk to his boss and got told he was out of the country."

"Pfft." Kerry snorted in derision.

"So what do you want to do? Go with the distribution order? Maybe we can shave off some costs somewhere else?"

Kerry exhaled, wondering really what her options were. If they lost the advantage their discount gave them, could she make it up somewhere else? The project was so important, could she risk it?

What would Dar do?

Kerry turned her head and focused her vision on the picture just to one side of the television, the one where Dar was looking right at the camera, and seemingly right into her eyes.

Hmm.

"Mark?"

"Still here, boss." Mark spoke through the ever present rattling of keys. "You got any great ideas? I was even surfing around our inventory to see if we can pull from stock, but we just don't have enough units for the full order."

"Call that jerk back up, and tell him that I said if he doesn't shake that order loose, we're going with another vendor's gear."

Silence. "Um...okay." Mark hesitated.

"Company wide."

Longer silence. "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope," Kerry said. "They want to lose a top tier partner? Fine. I'll get two other infrastructure companies in here giving me bids by the weekend, and believe me my friend, they'll be more than happy not only to give us better prices, but tell the press all about it as loud as they can."

More silence.

"You want me to call him?" Kerry asked.

"No, I'll do it." Mark recovered hastily. "No problem, matter of fact, I'd enjoy the heck out of it. Lemme call you back after I talk to him, okay?"

"Okay."

Kerry folded the phone up and laid it on her stomach letting out a long breath before she glanced over at Ceci. "Sometimes, you just have to be a bitch."

Ceci leaned on the arm of the love seat, her gray eyes wryly twinkling. "Kerry, don't take this the wrong way, but you'd have to channel the Wicked Witch of the West with terminal PMS to come off as a really good bitch. You're just too cute."

Her guts still churning in side, Kerry nevertheless managed a wry grin. "Yeah. I know. Dar says the same thing." She admitted. "Even my getting a tattoo really doesn't up the intimidation factor."

"You?" Ceci sat up. "Got a tattoo?"

"I sure did." Kerry got up off the couch and walked over, crouching next to her mother-in-law and pulling her t-shirt down off one shoulder. "See?" She watched the puzzled, then charmed expression cross Ceci's face and smiled as their eyes met again.

"What did Dar say when she saw that?" Ceci asked. "It's absolutely gorgeous, by the way. You found a great artist."

"Mm." Kerry relived the warmth of the moment. "She didn't say much. But she liked it." She got up and plopped back down onto the couch.

"I bet she did," Ceci said. "What made you decide to get that done? I never figured you for the pain loving type." She settled back in the love seat and tucked her bare feet up under her, leaning on the arm as she watched Kerry squirm around on the couch.

"Well," Kerry stretched out, resting her head on the thickly padded arm, "I'm not. I hate needles almost as much as Dar does."

"That's saying something." Ceci commented wryly. "I always timed her checkups for when Andy was home, because he was the only one who could hold her down long enough for them to inoculate her."

Kerry spared a moment to imagine that. Her partner had a considerable amount of strength, and she could easily imagine her terrorizing the nurses. "Well, considering what happened to her in the hospital that one time, I can't say I really blame her. I know I was an adult when I had my one horror show and how it affected me, so..." She glanced up at Ceci, who now had a pensive look on her face. "Anyway, it was when Dar was in New York. I finished boxing class, and I guess that, plus talking with the guys, plus the smell of a new Harley...I don't know. I think I just went nuts for the night."

"Ah." The older woman nodded.

They were both quiet for a brief time. Then Kerry sighed. "It was just something I wanted to do," she said. "And you know I was worried about what Dar would say."

"About that?" Ceci's eyebrows popped up like a surprised meerkat.

"About me doing it." Kerry turned and grabbed her cell phone again as it rang. "Yes?" She answered it, pushing her disordered hair out of the way. "Hey Mark. What's up? Did you get through to that guy?"

Mark sounded as though he was out of the office for a change, traffic sounding behind him instead of the usual humming bustle of the MIS center. "I did, boss. He's gonna call me back." He told her. "He was not a happy guy."

"I'm not a happy gal," Kerry retorted, "so we're even. Did he really think he'd just get away with that game that easily?"

"I dunno." Mark sighed. "I'm just grabbing something for lunch. I passed DR heading to the sushi place with that reporter. Glad she wasn't there when this hit the fan."

Mm. Sushi. Kerry stifled a grin, recalling the little place she'd found that had been there for years and escaped Dar's notice somehow. It was small, but the service was good and they had a table in the back where the little waitresses always recognized them. "That reporter's connected with the ship bid." She told Mark. "Guess they didn't antagonize Dar too badly, if she's eating with them."

"Yeah." Mark agreed. "She looked nice enough, not like that scruffy guy who came in here last time." A siren blared. "Well, soon as I hear back on our order, I'll give you a buzz, okay? I'm almost to the pizza place."

"Right." Kerry agreed. "Have a good pizza, Mark." She hung up, and felt her nostrils twitch just a trifle as she acknowledged a brief pang thinking about Dar having lunch with another woman. It was extremely unclassy, and stupid, and pointless, so she just waited it out and after a second it passed, and she could mentally roll her eyes at herself.

If there was one thing she knew she could trust completely, it was Dar in that regards. Heck, Dar had turned away offers even before they were barely friends, much less involved with each other. She was steadfast and honest, and it bothered Kerry to even have the littlest of reactions to the thought of anything otherwise.

Ah well. She released a long sigh, and dismissed the thought. "So anyway, that's how I ended up with a tattoo."

Ceci had been quietly watching her. "Did Dar mind you doing it? I don't really think she'd object. I know she really wanted one when she was younger, but her father and her own dislike of the apparatus dissuaded her."

"No." Kerry shook her head. "I don't think she minded at all. She thinks it's kind of...um..." She blushed slightly. "Well..."

"Well, it's her name on your chest." The gray eyes twinkled. "So I'm sure it's quite sexy."

"Yeah." Kerry's blush deepened and she scrubbed one hand over her cheek. "But it's not just that, I think? I think it means something else, too."

Ceci pursed her lips. "I think it means for her the kind of permanence she was always looking for." Dar's mother spoke up unexpectedly. "I didn't understand that for such a long time."

Kerry nodded, a lump rising in her throat. "That's what I wanted it to mean." She could hear the husky note in her voice, and she stopped speaking to let it clear.

Ceci fiddled with her cup as the silence lengthened. "Want more?" She offered. "I'd offer to bake cookies, but we both know how that's going to turn out."

Kerry smiled. "Sure. How about you get some tea, and I'll bake the cookies? I've got a black eye, not a broken leg." She got up from the couch, suddenly wanting something to do. "Besides, I know they won't go to waste later on if we have extra."

"Eh." Ceci amiably joined her. "That's for sure."

"Hey, any chance of Dad stopping by after work?"

"With cookies in the offing? Absolutely."

Kerry chuckled, putting aside her worries for now. There would be time enough to worry about them later.

"OKAY. SO NOW I have some questions." Pat Cruicshank said, as the waitress set down two tiny cups of tea. "You ready?"

Dar was in the back corner seat one arm spread along the bench back and her legs extended almost into the aisle imperiling the service. "You can ask," she said. "No guarantee I'll answer." She picked up the small cup and set it down in front of her, adding a packet of sugar to it before daring a sip.

"Question one." The reporter went on gamely. "How come you go to a sushi restaurant, and don't order any sushi?"

Dar's eyebrow quirked. "Any raw sushi, you mean?"

"Yeah."

"I've swam in the water they pull those fish from," Dar replied, with a brief flash of white teeth. "Take mine cooked, thanks."

Pat pondered that, then made a face. "Do you have any idea what you've just done for my love of raw tuna?"

"You asked," Dar said. "So let me ask you something."

Cruicshank looked slightly dubious. "Okay."

"What's your angle in this? Just an opposing viewpoint?" Dar watched the reporters face without seeming to, propping her head up with one hand. "I'm fed up with the games, and that includes the scruffy little reporters they keep sending to bother my staff."

The black woman looked down at herself, then back at Dar, her eyebrow lifting. "You talking to me?" She indicated her chest with her thumb.

Dar's lips twitched. "Your predecessors," she clarified.

"Well." She folded her hands on her pad. "Yes, it's an opposing viewpoint, and that's useful for the story."

"Ah." Dar felt faintly disappointed. She'd been hoping the filming team had started to see through Michelle and Shari's façade of noble underdogs. "Yeah, I guess someone has to interview Goliath and get his perspective."

Cruicshank chuckled a little. She glanced up as the waitress returned, bringing them plates of various pieces of sushi. "Thanks." She looked at her tuna, and then looked at Dar.

Dar popped a piece of well cooked egg on rice into her mouth and winked.

The reporter left her plate for a moment and concentrated on her table mate. "But you know I had to pull all kinds of background video and all that on you for the story, since you were cast as this big, old villain. All I could dig up just showed you as this lady knight in shining armor saving everyone's behind on national television."

Dar chewed her sushi and kept a straight face. "There's film of me eating kittens, but they won't release it to the press. Too disturbing."

Another chuckle. "No way because if it existed, trust me, those gals at Telegenics would have already had it up on a poster." Cruicshank disagreed. "So here I was having to reconcile what I was seeing with what I was hearing. I decided to come and see for myself."

"Uh huh." Dar munched steadily through her meal. "Better eat that before it swims off."

The reporter gave her a mock evil look, but picked up her chopsticks and bravely doused the fish in soy sauce then took a bite of it.

Dar took the opportunity to remove her PDA and glance at it, then flip it open to scribble a short note before she sent it out. She laid the unit down on the table and picked up another piece of sushi. "I'm not the one you should be talking to."

The reporter blinked. "Excuse me?"

Dar swallowed. "I'm not in charge of this project. The only reason Telegenics is focusing on me is for personal reasons. It's not my bid."

Cruicshank put her chopsticks down. "It's not?" She asked. "I don't understand. I thought..."

Dar managed a mildly amused expression. "I'm the CIO of the company. I do actually have more important things to do than baby-sit what is, on our level, a midrange contract being handled by our VP Ops. Who, by the way, has already done more than a dozen of them this year."

"That would be...Kerry Stuart?" The reporter asked. "She is your operations vice president, right?"

Dar nodded.

"And..."

"And my partner." It didn't even give her a twinge to say it, just a sweetness that she could taste on the tip of her tongue as the words rolled off it. "So, if you want a real perspective on the bid, you need to interview her."

The reporter scribbled a note and then sniffed reflectively. She went back to her lunch plate and took another bite of sushi before she continued her questioning. "All right. I'll do that," she said. "You're very open about your relationship, aren't you?"

"No point in being anything else," Dar answered.

"Does that bother your co-workers? Must be a little awkward sometimes."

Was it? Dar neatly bit a piece of shrimp in half and chewed it. "Not anymore" She shrugged. "At the beginning it took a while for everyone to get used to it, but now...eh." She picked up a rice grain and ate it. "Biggest problem Kerry has now is all the people who hang around her trying to get her to get me to do things because they're too chickenshit to ask."

Cruicshank burst out laughing. "Oh, that puts a different perspective on it. You know, my colleagues asked your counterparts about that, and they said they just treated each other as business associates at work."

"That explains a lot." Dar drawled. "I don't stop loving Kerry while we're in the office, why would I act like I did?" The words came out almost in a rush, and after she said them, she found herself somewhat shocked that she had.

The reporter was a little surprised also, but she covered it up by writing several more notes. "Well, they seem to think it's more professional," she said. "What do you think about that? Do you think they're right? After all, there are a lot of people who have to deal with you both on a daily basis, and maybe they don't feel that comfortable knowing about your relationship."

Ah. Good question, Dar admitted to herself. In fact, this woman was full of surprisingly good questions. "I think at first a lot of people had a big problem with it." She answered honestly. "But then, ninety percent of the company had a big problem with me to begin with. I think having Kerry as a buffer has far more helped than hurt. We...we tried to keep it out of the office at first, but you know how offices are. Every time we passed in the hallway, it would make the weekly newsprint."

"Uh huh." Pat nodded in complete understanding. "I work in an office with forty other thirty and forty-something's and believe me, there's always drama everywhere. That's why I asked. Because my boss got involved with one of our top reporters, and for a month, it was the news."

Dar chuckled under her breath.

"And it was hard, you know?" Pat went on. "Everyone was tiptoeing around the subject and it made life real hard for a while."

Dar grasped her last piece of sushi between her chopsticks and neatly positioned it, then dunked one end into her soy sauce. "You break up after that?" She asked casually, glancing up at her tablemate as she took a bite.

The woman's expression confirmed her guess in a heartbeat.

"So yeah, eventually everyone got over it." Dar continued, breaking the silence. "Now we only get the odd remark from clients in the bible belt." She finished her lunch and took a sip of the now cooled tea, picking up her PDA as it beeped.

"You know what? You are just too damn sharp, Ms. Roberts." The reporter sighed, after a few more stunned moments. "Here I thought I was being so slick and you just see right through it."

Hey sweetie! Are you sucking up more fame again?

Dar smiled and scribbled a reply.
That's me, Fame-Sucker. How's your head?

There was a brief pause before the answer came.

Spinning from your mother's jokes about how much chocolate I put into your chocolate chip cookies. Other than that, I'm fine.

Ah. Dar just kept herself from licking her lips.
Well, I'm goingto keep that afternoon conference call short. I don't thinkmy reporter friend will be sticking around much longer. Shemight want to talk to you tomorrow or sometime though.

Is she nice?

Dar glanced at her lunch companion, who was taking advantage of her tapping to finish her own lunch.
Very nice and pretty sharp. Not like the last one.

Kerry's rolled eyes were almost visible in the reply.
About time. I figured she must be okay if you had lunch with her.

Dar read that response twice, then hit reply.
Eh. Slim pickings since you're not here.

No, I'm here baking with your mom. Why don't you get holdof Dad and bring him home with you?

Dad, cookies, Kerry...maybe she'd stop for flowers. Dar paused in her thought, and then rewound it. Maybe she'd stop for a bottle of wine.
You're on. See you later--don't burn yourself.

Heh heh. Yes, mommy Dar. Have a cup of tea for me.

Dar closed her PDA and slipped it into her pocket leaning back again as her table companion finished up her lunch and wiped her lips. "Sorry if I shook you up a little. If it's any consolation, I've been there." Dar told her, with a faint grin.

"You certainly did shake me up." Cruicshank agreed ruefully. "Or was that a very clever way to get me to stop asking questions?"

Dar's eyes twinkled. "Maybe it was just a way to get enough time to finish eating."

The woman held one hand up. "Okay, touché." She looked up as the waitress came over, and neatly plucked the check from the woman?s hands. "I'll take that, thanks."

Dar poured herself another cup of tea, drinking it slowly as the reporter settled their bill. It hadn't been a bad interview, she thought, but it hadn't really given the woman anything concrete to use either.

Had it?

She frowned, having the distinct feeling suddenly that she'd gotten more personal than she'd intended. What if the reporter chose to slant the story that way and it ended up as part of the show?

Kerry wouldn't like that. Dar was pretty sure. She'd had to face the press with that front and center more than she'd ever wanted to and hated every moment of it. Maybe she should have discussed the whole thing with Kerry before agreeing to the interview?

But how was she to know the reporter was going to ask that stuff?

"Well," Cruicshank folded her credit card receipt and put it neatly into her wallet, "okay, so I have to talk to Kerry Stuart about the ships, but one of the things that most caught my eye about the information I gathered was the way your company responds to a crisis."

Eh? Dar watched the train she'd thought they were riding on take a flip. She raised a polite eyebrow in question, but remained silent.

"The most spectacular thing I saw was the ATM outage on the East Coast," the reporter said, "played out on national television. I'd like to talk to you about how that all went down, if you don't mind."

That seemed harmless enough. "Sure." Dar got up. "I've got about forty five more minutes."

"I'll try to make them count." Cruicshank promised. "Is there some place we can pick up a cup of coffee on the way back? I'm still on west coast time."

"We have some inside the office." Dar led the way out of the restaurant, giving a casual wave at two of the marketing regional managers who had just sat down to eat. "Unless you'd like to try Cuban coffee."

"Cuban coffee? Okay, sure. How bad could it be?"

Dar grinned evilly and pushed her way out the door.

"WELL?" KERRY ANGLED the phone against her ear as she mixed items into a mixing bowl. "What's the scoop?" She'd given Mark three hours to hear back from their vendor, and her patience was wearing thin. "Listen, if he won't talk to you, Mark, I know who he can talk to."

"Relax, Kerry. He just called." Mark sounded much happier. "He's pissed. Really, really pissed, but they put the order through. He said he's in a lot of hot water."

"Tell him he could be in boiling. I was going to sic Dar on him. Can you imagine what she'd have said?"

"Um...yeah." Mark chuckled wanly. "Actually, I can. But whatever, he caved. So we're cool. I was just gonna call you."

Kerry felt her shoulders relax. Despite her fierce words, she knew damn well they didn't have time to spec out a new vendor's gear and if their current partner hadn't given in, she really didn't have much of a backup plan to replace them.

Dar, of course, was in reserve, but Kerry really hated to pull that card out unless she really had to. It made her feel like she wasn't capable of doing her own job if she had to go running to her partner for help all the time.

She felt good that she'd been able to resolve this problem by herself. "Okay, so when can we expect delivery?"

"Monday." Mark sounded a touch smug. "I think you scared the crap out of them. Maybe they went and bought those units at distribution, and just resold 'em to us at our price."

Kerry chuckled. "Whatever it takes," she said. "We've given them so much business they've got nothing to gripe about." She pulled out a baking tray and set the fish fillets she'd just coated onto it's already lightly oiled surface. "Okay, thanks, Mark. I'm going to set up a touch point meeting tomorrow afternoon for the whole team, just so we can see where we are."

"Gotcha."

"See you tomorrow."

Mark almost hung up, and then paused. "Hey, Kerry?"

"Mm?"

"Are you feeling better?"

Kerry blinked her bad eye, which had pretty much opened fully during the course of the day. The swelling had gone down, and now it was merely tender to the touch. "I feel a lot better, thanks." She told Mark. "At least I can see out of both eyes now and I just look like half a raccoon."

"Cool deal." Mark replied. "I was wondering because I just saw big D, and she looked real antsy so I was hoping it wasn't because you were feeling bad."

"Ah." Kerry pondered. "Well, we're having a family get together tonight."

"Oh. Um..."

"I'm cooking."

"Oh!" Mark's tone altered to one of understanding. "Cool! Hey, have a great time, okay?"

"Thanks, we will." Kerry hung up. She scattered a handful of crushed pistachio nuts over the filets, then covered them and set them in the refrigerator.

She was alone now, Ceci having headed back to her boat home to pick up a few things for the dinner. Chino was curled up on her bed in the corner of the kitchen, and Kerry had a soft new age CD playing in the living room.