Part 55 (1/2)
”Uhng?”
”I gotta go get something to drink.”
Kerry produced a sound somewhere between a whine and a groan.
”You too?”
Kerry lifted her head and observed the pitching deck. She nodded, and eased back so Dar could get up from the couch, waiting until her partner had pulled herself up before she attempted to follow.
”No, stay here. I'll bring you one,” Dar objected.
”Unh uh.” Kerry determinedly crawled after her. ”Y' need both hands.” She held on to the couch and pulled herself along, following Dar into the galley.
It was easier there, because there was so little room they could wedge themselves between the wall and the counter. Dar raked her fingers through her hair and opened the small refrigerator, grabbing hold of the counter as the boat pitched sideways. ”d.a.m.n it.”
Kerry b.u.mped her impatiently. ”Moo.”
Dar handed over the milk jug and took a bottle of Yoohoo for herself. She closed the door and braced her foot up against the counter, freeing both hands to open the can and hold it.
Kerry did the same, and they drank in silence together for several moments. Then Kerry wiped the back of her hand across her lips and cleared her throat. ”Paladar?”
Dar was caught in mid-gulp. ”Mmph?”
”Next time, we call the police.”
”Mm?”
”Or the Coast Guard, or the Army, or the Navy, or the Secret Service, or whoever, whatever it takes,” Kerry rasped. ”Because we're not going to do that ever again.”
Dar put her Yoohoo down in the sink and leaned over, kissing Kerry on the lips for a long, sweet moment. Then she backed off a few inches and looked Kerry in the eye. ”Deal.”
Kerry licked her lips. Then for good measure, she licked Dar's, but her face grew serious. ”I thought I'd lost you,” she whispered.
”I was going insane.”
From somewhere inside her, some echo, some inner core rarely tapped, Dar smiled. ”Take more than that a.s.shole and his entire crew put together to make me leave you,” she replied, resting her head against Kerry's, the image of the gun, and the click, and the horror already fading. ”Way more.”
Kerry studied Dar's face. ”Were you scared?' she asked. ”I was.”
Was I? ”I think I was too freaked out to be scared,” Dar admitted, then fell silent, her brow creasing.*327 Kerry took another swallow of milk, was.h.i.+ng the taste of salt from her mouth with a sense of relief. ”We should get dry,” she said. ”I feel like warmed over puppy poo.” She held on as the boat rolled again. ”But hey...you know we did it.”
”We did it,” Dar confirmed softly. ”Bud's okay. We're all okay.” Slowly, she slid one arm around Kerry and hugged her carefully.
Kerry put down the milk jug and returned the hug, pressing her body up against Dar's despite their mutual dampness. Then she pulled back a little and looked at Dar's chest. ”Oh.”
Dar looked down, at the pin. ”Yeah. Don't know why he did that.”
The blonde woman looked at it for a long moment, then tipped her head up to look at Dar. ”Honey, you saved his life,” she said with a little frown. ”Don't you remember?” From the expression on Dar's face, Kerry knew she didn't. ”You did. When we were in the little boat before you...before that b.a.s.t.a.r.d hit you.”
The pale blue eyes s.h.i.+fted and lost focus, then Dar gave her head a little shake. ”I don't remember. I remember getting out of the cabin...those guys were running around...”
”Dad was in the boat. They focused a light on us,” Kerry told her. ”The guy on the yacht had a gun and he was going to shoot Dad. You tackled him.”
”I did?” Dar vaguely remembered being angry, and a lot of yelling, and... ”Oh. Yeah.” The smell of hot blood came back to her.
”Now I remember,” she murmured. ”Wow.”
Kerry put her arms around her partner and hugged her again, tightly.
”Let's go change.” Dar rocked her back and forth. ”Then see if they need any help up there.”
Kerry felt a faint laugh shake her body. ”With three sailors driving?”
”Yeah.” Dar started to move toward the bedroom with Kerry stuck to her like a barnacle. ”It's my name on the captain's license.”
”Little late to be worried about that.”
”Mm.”
Chapter.
Twenty-seven.
THE MARINA AT St. Thomas was in total chaos. Boats from all over were coming in to shelter there from the storm, and the tossing whitecaps made the possibility of collision a very real danger.
Dar put on her rain slicker and climbed up to the flying bridge to join Andrew as they rumbled at just over idling speed in a holding pattern. ”What a mess,” she murmured to her father.
”Yeap,” Andrew agreed. ”Told them dockmasters we had us a problem. They're getting us a slip,” he informed her. ”How's Kerry doing?”
”She's all right,” Dar said.
Andrew studied her. ”You doing all right?”
Dar nodded. ”I feel like I was. .h.i.t by a bus, but other than that, Mr. Lincoln, I enjoyed the play.” She sat down in one of the seats at the console and rested her hands on it.
Her father chuckled. ”Tough day.”
”h.e.l.l yes.” Dar tried to remember the start of it and found she simply couldn't. ”Crazy.” She glanced down the pin on her s.h.i.+rt, then looked over at her father. ”I... um...” She touched the pin and shrugged one shoulder.
Andrew leaned on the console next to her. ”Tell you something,” he said in a mild tone. ”Ain't never been nothing you ever done Ah wasn't proud of.”
Dar interrupted him with quiet finality. ”You don't know everything I've done.”
Her father gazed at her. ”That's all right, Dardar. You ain't heard everything Ah done, neither.”