Page 5 of Grave Kisses
“Hey, baby girl,” Alan says with a sweet smile as he stands to greet me. “How’s my girl?”
“Good. Sorry, I’m late. I got caught in traffic,” I say as he wraps me in his arms. He kisses the top of my head, and I sigh.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, pulling back to look at me.
“I just feel bad that I don’t see you as much as I’d like to,” I say. “I spend entirely too much time at home.”
“I know, hun. But you’ve done amazing. You’ve come a long way,” he says.
“Yeah. That’s true,” I agree.
“You could try coming to the office once a week,” he suggests. “I could start working on you taking over one day.”
“Why would I take over if you aren’t going to retire right now?” I ask.
“You never know, sweetie. Anything can happen,” he says nonchalantly.
I am sobbing as I stand in his office. This is the last place I saw him. He asked me to come over for dinner the following day, but he was dead when I got there. He was cold but looked like he was napping peacefully on the couch. What if I had questioned him more about what he meant when he said anything could happen? Did he know? He seemed tired, but… It’s hard to think that he knew beforehand. Why didn’t he get help? Did he feel it coming and lie down? I have so many questions, but he isn’t hereto answer them. I wish I could just wake up and find that it’s all been a bad dream.
I force myself to sit down and do what I need to do to prepare. By the time I have everything ready, Julie is at the door. “Hey,” she says softly.
“I look like a mess,” I say, tearing up again.
“Everyone here is a mess, baby. It’s okay,” she says as she walks over and hugs me. “Let’s do this.”
I nod and grab my tablet. The best purchase I ever made was a smart pen. It’s so convenient and portable. When the elevator opens, I see Marcus and Bellamy standing with everyone. “Wonderful,” I sigh.
“Just ignore them,” Julie says.
We walk to the front of the group, and I set my tablet down on the table next to me. Everyone stops talking almost immediately when they see me. “Good morning, everyone,” I say. “First, I want to say that I know right now is hard for everyone. I appreciate each of you being here. Alan loved this place and all of you so much. Work was never just work; it was his life. He put everything he had into growing this company into what it is… Most of you do not know me, but most of you have talked to me through email. I am Kendra Lennox. I started as an intern when I was sixteen and moved into a position of lead computer engineer. I’ve been essentially running everything, aside from paperwork, for a year, so you're all familiar with my work…Today, I was named the new owner of CyberSafe as I inherited everything of Alan's… I know there will be a lot of confusion and several questions. I fully intend on explaining, but I need time…”
“How much time?” Marcus asks coldly.
“As long as it takes,” I snap and turn back to everyone else. “I am moving from working remotely to the office, so I will be here every day. Julie is going to be the point of contact until I can get situated.”
“Will you be in Alan’s office?” A man asks. I believe his name is Todd.
“Todd Arnold, yes?” I ask, and he nods. “Uh… yeah. He had a system in place, and I don’t want to disrupt what he already had going. I have a pretty significant setup, so it’s going to take me some time to get everything moved and running.”
“I mean, you already took his parking spot. Why not?” Marcus says coldly. I grit my teeth and take a deep breath so I don’t scream at him.
“If you need any help, just let me know,” Bellamy says, earning a glare from Marcus.
“I plan on getting everything here tomorrow. From there, it’s just setting up and praying there isn’t an issue. I've never had to move it before, so I might. I’ll get it here and go from there,” I reply.
“I’ll swing by and help you unload,” Bellamy says.
“I appreciate that,” I say before turning to everyone else. “Does anyone have any questions?”
“Who were you to Alan?” Marcus asks.
“Anyone else?” I ask.
“How did he die?” A woman asks softly.
“Uh… He had a massive heart attack,” I say. “I was the one who found him. He was lying on his couch, and from what I was told, it seems as though he laid down to take a nap and passed in his sleep. I was not aware of any preexisting health concerns, but anyone who knew Alan knows he would have never admitted it.”
“I threatened to fire him if he didn’t go home when he had the flu once,” Julie says with a tearful chuckle.
