“Yeah.”
Part 2
Kerry took off her sunglasses and tucked them into her jacket pocket as she passed through the front doors to ILS's commercial headquarters. It was still very early, and the office was very quiet, only the security guards, and a few junior secretaries around to see her enter.
“Good morning, Ms. Stuart.” The guard greeted her quietly. “Did you have a good holiday?”
“I did.” Kerry dutifully swiped her badge into the reader. “Did you, John?”
“We went to Disney World” He said. “Me and Sarah and the kids. It was nice.”
Disney World. Dar had promised her a holiday visit there. Kerry tucked that thought away for later and made her way across the lobby to the elevators, hopping inside one to find Mariana, their VP of Human Resources already inside. “Hey Mari. “
“Good morning.” Mariana cordially replied. “You look suntanned. Down by cabin?”
“All week.” Kerry agreed. “Dar's about ten minutes behind me. She's dropping her truck off for service.” She watched the floors pass. “How'd your holiday go?”
“Nice.” Mari said. “I was glad we decided not to do a company party this year. We ended up on a catamaran in the Bahamas.”
“Nice.” Kerry returned the compliment. “Yeah, I was glad too, except that while I was at my sister's wedding I was kinda wishing I wasn't.” She smiled briefly. “Would have rather been here having those paella canapés.”
Mari chuckled, as the elevator stopped and the doors opened. “Yeah, I forgot you were going to be up there with your family. “She walked alongside Kerry as they entered the big, gray carpeted and maroon walled hallway. “Family's tough. I know mine's always leery of Louis. They think atheists are equal to satanists.”
“How do you think my family feels about me and Dar showing up with Dar's Southern Baptist dad and pagan mom?” Kerry inquired. “At least now, it gives them a bigger heartburn than they give me.”
Mari chuckled again.
“Not to mention my sister decided to have her whole wedding party wear strapless gowns.” Kerry continued. “Well, the women anyway. So I am pretty sure my chest was front page in the local paper the whole next week.”
Mari laughed louder.
“Jesus.” Kerry sighed. “It actually feels good to get back here and just have some usual IT stuff to deal with.” She paused to turn into her office. “Later, Mari.”
“Later.”
The other woman walked on, and Kerry continued into her outer antechamber, where she was surprised to find her assistant already there working away. “Hey Mayte.”
Mayte had looked up when the door opened and smiled. “Good morning, Kerry.” She said. “And a happy holidays to you. Did you have a good time off?”
“I did.” Kerry agreed. “How about you? Nice to have the extra time, huh?” She said. “I think it was a good idea to give everyone last week off.”
“Oh yes.” Mayte stood up. “May I get you some cafecita? Mama and Papa had a big party at the house, and all of our family came over for it. It was very nice, and I got to see some of my cousins for the first time in a while.”
“I'd love some.” Kerry continued on to her office. “And I'm glad to see someone enjoys their family.” She winked at Mayte, then opened her door and went inside.
It was quiet, as her office usually was. She crossed over and put her laptop case down, circling her desk and going to the big floor to ceiling windows at the rear. They looked out over the ocean and she put her hands against the glass, watching a speedboat turn out of the cut and roar into life.
With a smile, she turned and sat down in her chair, reaching down to start up her desktop and then leaning back to enjoy the peace and quiet that would last just long enough for the machine to boot up and present her email to her.
The week at the cabin had been fun. They'd gone to a little island party their neighbors had thrown, and spent a lot of time in the sea, even though the waters were colder than she really liked. Dar had set herself the challenge of finding a meal for them a day, and she'd gotten to taste all sorts of things her partner had dredged back out of the ocean for her.
Yum.
The machine finished coming up and Kerry logged in, folding her hands and waiting for her desktop to assemble itself. For better or worse, the holidays had been quiet in the disaster arena, and now she sat there, thinking about what short term goals she had to put in place.
Short term, because they were leaving.
Kerry considered that, finding the thought of them actually walking out of the building and not coming back still surreal to her, and even more so to the staff they managed.
Her phone buzzed. She glanced up and hit the button. “Yes?”
“Kerry, Mark is here to see you.”
“Send him in, by all means.” Kerry watched her screen fill with emails, sparing a glance towards the door as it opened and admitted their MIS manager, Mark Polenti. “Hey Mark.”
“Hey poquito boss.” He dropped into one of her visitors chairs. “Big D in?”
“Probably by now She was dropping her ride off to be serviced.” Kerry responded. “How was your break?”
“Sweet. Rode the bike down to Key West.” Mark grinned. “Nice to have the extra time off. You guys down by Largo?”
Kerry nodded. “Yeah, after I got back from my sister's wedding.” She rested her elbows on her desk. “So what's going on? Anything besides my entire inbox I have to worry about?”
Mark shrugged. “Been quiet. I think everyone's waiting for the other shoe to fall.”
“What does that mean?”
“See who's they're gonna hire to try and take yours and big D's place.” He responded. “No one's looking forward to it.”
Kerry sighed, lacing her fingers together. “I”m sure there are people in this company looking forward to it, Mark Dar has enemies here. I met most of them, remember?”
“Not really. Not anymore.” He shook his head. “Big diff between when you came here and now, Kerry. You know it.”
She did.
“Dar was always tough. She still is.” He said. “But one thing you could take to the bank was, you could trust her.”
Kerry thought about that in silence for a moment. “You know, you're right about that.” She said. “I felt that, even from the start with her. If she said something, she meant it.” She looked at Mark. “I get it.” She said. “But she's entitled to have a little life with her life, you know?”
“I know.” Mark nodded. “I feel great for her and for you. Just not for me, or the rest of us.” He glanced around. “So anyway, every thing's sort of in a holding pattern. No one wants to start anything new, cause we don't know what the deal is going to be. You know?”
“I know.” Kerry exhaled. “Just between you and me, it might not be as soon as we planned, anyhow. They're having a problem replacing her.”
Mark started chuckling softly. “I bet they are.”
“Well, I mean how'd you like to follow that act?” Kerry smiled wryly. “I sure as hell am glad I”m not going to try it.”
“Oh yeah.” Mark agreed. “Hey, who knows? Maybe they'll take a year to find someone.” He perked up visibly. “Anyway, the one thing cooking is the new network center coming online downtown. I got five guys over there running cabling and it should be ready to go in about a week.”
“Oh. Good.” Kerry had almost forgotten the new center, it's need established way back when she and Dar had gone to North Carolina, and it's commissioning overshadowed by recent events. “It'll be good to be able to double home services into that thing. Dar was looking for someplace to land those international circuits from South America.”
Mark nodded. “Okay got that on the agenda. See ya at the ops meeting?”