"I know what I said, but if you two really think we should do something..."

Or was it only four?

"You can count on us."

"Jacob!"

Heh. Gotcha. Kerry chuckled silently to herself.

An overwhelming smell of chocolate suddenly snapped her out of her musing. Kerry blinked as a bowl was put in front of her: ice cream, fudge, more ice cream, more fudge, a brownie, maybe another brownie, covered in a chocolate sh.e.l.l whose top had a flame coming out of it. "Wow," she said. "This d.a.m.n thing's as big as my head!"

Dar chuckled at her. "I want to do some more checking around, Jake, before we decide what to do," she said. "But I'll keep your offer in mind."

"You do that," Jacob said.

Kerry contentedly doused the flame of her volcano, and cracked the chocolate sh.e.l.l keeping her from the ice cream inside.

Casually, she glanced around the room, glad not to see the familiar faces she half expected. Maybe the goons had decided to take the night off.

The waitress set down her third rum punch and took away the empty. Kerry eyed it, wondering if chocolate possibly counteracted rum. Hm. Guess I'll find out.*139 DAR SCRUBBED HER teeth, flicking the occasional glance into the mirror as she worked. She rinsed out her mouth, then poked her head around the corner of the bathroom door and peered over at the bed. Kerry was sprawled across it on her back, looking extremely relaxed.

"Hey, Paladar," Kerry drawled. "Get your b.u.t.t over here."

Drat. Dar sighed. The times I choose to leave my voice recorder at home. She eased around the door and entered the room, settling down on the bed next to Kerry. "Yeees?"

One green eye opened and looked at her. "You let me get drunk. Bad girl." Kerry poked Dar in the side. "Boy, are you gonna be sorry."

Dar grinned at her. "You're really cute when you're drunk, did you know that?" She touched Kerry's cheek, and felt the pressure as Kerry leaned into her fingers. "Besides, you were due."

"Uh huh. See if you say that when I'm sick as a three-day-dead toad tomorrow," Kerry warned her. "Hope you like cleaning up."

Dar slowly stretched out alongside her. "I'll take care of you, don't you worry," she promised.

"I ain't worried," Kerry said, reaching over to play with a bit of Dar's hair. "I got you." She watched Dar's face through half-closed eyes. "Y'know how cool that is?"

"How cool what is?" Dar asked.

Kerry turned her head and regarded the ceiling for a few moments. "First time I ever really got drunk was when I moved here," she said. "I think I went nuts for a while."

Dar wriggled a little closer and curled her arm around Kerry's.

"After leaving home? Lots of people do that."

"S'true," Kerry agreed. "n.o.body telling me what to do, who to talk to, where to go. Felt great." She looked at Dar's hand, resting casually on her shoulder. "Like I was an animal, out of my cage."

Dar chuckled softly. "I'm sure you weren't that bad."

Kerry met her eyes. "Yeah, I was," she admitted. "Then...one night...I still don't remember it a whole lot, but I woke up in my car-half on the beach near a tree-and didn't know how'n the h.e.l.l I got there."

Dar's brow contracted.

"Couldn't remember a thing," Kerry murmured. "Scared the s.h.i.t out of me."

"I bet." Dar moved closer.

"I remember sitting there, kinda wondering what the whole d.a.m.n point was?" Kerry shook her head a little. "I felt so empty."

She turned and looked at Dar. "I felt like...if I'd kept driving, right into the water, no one would have given a c.r.a.p."

Dar merely gazed at her compa.s.sionately.

"Just another sordid back-page story: senator's kid, drunk off 140*

her a.s.s, drowns."

"Ker."

"S'true, and you know it." Kerry smiled sadly. "I had no clue what it felt like to really matter to somebody." She interlaced her fingers with Dar's. "Didn't know what it would be like to be a part of someone's life."

"Well," Dar studied her face, "you do now."

Kerry grinned easily. "Yeeeahh, I sure do." She rolled onto her side unsteadily and pulled Dar's hand close to her. "That's what's so cool," she said. "I got you."

"You got me," Dar agreed, carefully gathering Kerry up into her arms and hugging her. There was no resistance in her lover's body; Kerry meshed her limbs into Dar's embrace with total abandon, humming softly in delight as Dar rocked them gently on the bed. "You got me, Ker, I got you, and that's how that is."

"Uumrrrmm. I love you so much," Kerry warbled, her breath warm against Dar's neck. "You make my life rock."

Dar was surprised to feel tears welling up in her eyes. She blinked, and they spilled out over her cheeks, disappearing into Kerry's pale hair as she swallowed the lump in her throat. She stroked Kerry's head and kissed her, knowing a moment of pure joy so intense there were no words for it. True happiness was, she'd discovered somewhere in the last year, in making someone else happy. A d.a.m.n simple concept, really, that somehow escaped all the laboriously written motivational manuals. All that c.r.a.p about inner balance. Millions of dollars made on a bunch of bs when a single line on a c.o.c.ktail napkin would do it. It's love, stupid. Dar sniffled.

Kerry squirmed around to look up at her. "Hey, b.o.o.boo..." She reached up and gently wiped Dar's eyelids. "What'samatter?"

"Nothing." Dar's lips quirked. "b.o.o.boo? You been watching too many cartoons again, Kerrison?"

Kerry poked out her lower lip and grinned sheepishly. She hid her face in Dar's shoulder as a giggle escaped. "I am so tanked," she muttered, "I'm channeling an animated bear."

Dar chuckled. "Tell you what, Yogi, let's get your clothes off and get you into bed."

"Is that a plan or an invitation?" Kerry giggled again, but she eased back and rolled over, covering her eyes with her arm. "Too bright in here."

Dar started with her sneakers, untying them and tugging them off, then working Kerry's interestingly striped socks off her feet.

"Ooo." Kerry wiggled her toes. "Can I get drunk more often? I like being undressed."

"You do, huh?" Dar slid back up her lover's body and unfastened the b.u.t.ton on her shorts, moving the zipper down.*141 "Well, just so happens I enjoy undressing you, so that works out great." She eased the shorts down, aided by a helpful wiggle of Kerry's hips, then pulled them off and tossed them over onto the chair. "Half down, half to go."

Kerry put her hands behind her head. "Do your worst," she grinned.

Dar slipped her hands under Kerry's T-shirt and slid them up, pulling the fabric with. She leaned over and gently kissed Kerry on the lips, before she bunched up the shirt and eased it over her head, returning for another kiss as she finished.

"Mmm." Kerry had her eyes closed. "I definitely like being undressed."

Dar tossed the shirt towards the chair. "I'll have to remember that." She slid her hands behind Kerry's shoulders and rolled her over onto her side so she could undo the catches on her bra. She felt a tug at her waist, and then heard the soft sound as Kerry unb.u.t.toned one of her overall b.u.t.tons. "Hang on a minute here."

"Hang on?" Kerry tangled her fingers in the straps and pulled.

"Okay."

Dar chuckled as she eased her partner's grip. "Let me get you some water."

"Water?" Kerry folded her hands on her now bare stomach, watching amiably as Dar moved her half-clad body towards the credenza. "We never needed no water before."

"To drink." Dar poured from the bottle on the dresser into a gla.s.s, then returned to the bed.

"Is it warm water?"

"No. It's cold water."

"I'm cold. Don't want no cold water."

Dar set the gla.s.s down, then pulled down the covers on the bed and knelt, sliding her arms under Kerry's knees and shoulders and shifting her over. She pulled up the covers then handed her the gla.s.s. "Sweetheart, you gotta trust me on this one. Drink."

Kerry clasped the gla.s.s, studying it seriously. She peered at Dar over the rim, her blonde hair partially in her eyes. "Okay," she finally said. "If you tell me how come you were crying before."

Dar blinked, not expecting the question. "Oh." She cleared her throat a little. "It was just...um...you said something that really touched me, I guess."

"I did?"

Dar nodded. "Yeah."

"In a good way, right?"

"Right."

Kerry stuck her nose in the gla.s.s and drank its contents, lifting it up and letting the last drop drip into her mouth before she handed it back to Dar. "Now what?" she inquired. "Do I turn into a pumpkin?"

142*

"You turn into a beautiful sleeping princess." Dar quickly stripped out of her own clothing and joined Kerry under the covers.

Kerry giggled. "Does that make you the frog?"

"C'mere." Dar gathered Kerry into her arms again, and turned the light out. It was quiet for a moment.

"Hey, Dar?"

"Mm?"

"I'm gonna really regret this in the morning, ain't I?"

"Eeerrrrmm, probably."

"You are too, huh?"

"Eh." Dar rubbed Kerry's neck. "We'll survive."

"Dar?"

"Hm?"

"I love you."

Dar smiled into the darkness. "I love you too, Ker." She let her eyes close, hoping she could remember her father's old hangover remedy by the next morning. Though, she wasn't sure whether Kerry would consider it better or worse than what it was supposed to cure. Or if they had Bosco syrup on St. Johns.

DAR PROWLED THROUGH the aisles of the small grocery, one of the few customers so early in the morning. She had a small basket hanging off her arm that already had a quart of milk in it, along with a box of Oreo cookies. She spied a bottle of chocolate syrup and snagged it, studying the label. Ah well, it will have to do.

She made her way to the soda aisle and selected two bottles, then a.n.a.lyzed the contents of her basket and retraced her steps to the refrigerated case, swapping her quart of milk for a half gallon.

Satisfied, she walked up to the single register and set down her selections.

The cashier picked up each item and punched its price into the old-fashioned cash register. "Got you some kids, huh?" She smiled at Dar.

Dar peered at her over the top of her sungla.s.ses. "No." She handed the woman a twenty dollar bill and accepted her change.

"It's my breakfast."

The woman looked at the bag, then at Dar.

Dar pushed her sungla.s.ses back up and took her bags, heading for the door as a young couple entered, stopping short when they recognized her and reacted.

"Hi," Todd said. "Sorry about last night."

In an instant, every ear in the place seemed to turn their way.

Dar suppressed a wry grin. "Don't worry about it."

Rachel put a hand on Todd's arm. "We've heard a lot about you."*143 Erf. "I can imagine," Dar replied. "Take it with a grain of salt."

"Well, we just came in to get some breakfast." Todd glanced around. "Maybe if you're not busy later, we can sit down and talk?"

"Sure." Dar eased around them and slipped out the door.

Rachel gazed after her. "She's weird, Todd."

Todd steered her towards the grocery aisles. "No, she's not.

You're just freaked out because she's gay."

"I am not," Rachel protested, noticing the looks they were getting from the cashier. "Don't make like I'm some white-bread j.a.p."