I swear a look passes his face, but it’s too quick for me to register the emotion. “Is Zach working here going to be an issue for you?”
“No, sir,” I say. It slips out casually, and Aiden stiffens only for a second before clearing his throat.
“Now that he’s a shareholder, I imagine he will be here more often. His position was in sales previously, but I’m not sure how he plans to continue his role.”
“And you’re the CFO?” I ask curiously.
“And CEO until further decisions are made.” I look at him and wonder how he got into such a high position. Aiden looks fit, and still relatively young to be a CEO of a company. I have a million questions I’d like to ask him. Like how he became business partners with my father and what he was like as a person. But none of them slip off my tongue as he stands up and ushers me to follow.
There’s a cubicle right outside of his office that he leads me to. “You can take this desk. We’ll need to talk to Huck about your contract and pay. In the meantime, I’ll have Penny set you up with what you need to get started.”
“Okay,” I reply, sitting on the stiff chair and glancing around the bland cubicle. As I shift my weight on the chair, I groan. This is going to need to get replaced. Aiden walks off when Penny approaches me. She has her own laptop as she runs through what I might need to do my job. There’s already two monitored computers at the station, but we discuss what I have at home versus the office and the software I already pay for.
I shift in the seat, and she laughs.
“Yeah, I think everyone shoved that chair in here because it’s the worst.” I give her a small smile, not wanting to come off as a diva on my first day. Once we have a list of items I’ll need, she heads back to her desk to order them. Their IT guy is supposedly coming in tonight, and he will set me up with an email and a login.
I nervously tap my foot against the concrete office floor. What if this is a mistake? Surely life doesn’t give you this many lemons at once. It’s like my negative thinking summons Zach to my cubicle.
“Jessica,” he says dryly. I want to correct him and remind him that I go by Jessa, but I decide not to rock the boat any further.
“Hi, Zach.”
“What are you doing here?” he asks.
I try to put my most confident foot forward, sitting up straight and looking him in the eye when I speak. “I work here now. I think maybe we got off on the wrong foot. The funeral was a hard time—”
He scoffs, tapping the top of the cubicle before walking away. I sigh and rub my face, even though I’ve told myself over and over to stop touching my face as much. It’s a bit of a nervous habit, one that’s been impossible to break.
While I don’t expect everyone to like me, I’ve never felt such strong hatred from one person before. It makes my stomach hurt and my flight response tingle. It’s an unwelcome feeling, having someone who doesn’t want me around.
I rub my face again and groan.This was such a bad fucking idea.
Aiden has an irritated look on his face as Zach follows him to his office and the door is slammed louder than necessary.
Penny comes back over to my cubicle, looking back at the door before looking at me. “You’ve really caused quite the stir here at Kemper’s.”
“I didn’t mean to,” I say.
“Oh, honey. It’s not your fault. Everyone here loved Collin. When he got sick, we were all devastated. When he was on his deathbed, we learned about his secret daughter. It was a shock to us all.”
I look out into the hallway. “Everyone knows?”
She grimaces and nods her head. “Everyone knows. I’m guessing that’s why Zach’s been a bigger dick than usual.” She covers her mouth after she says it and shakes her head. “Sorry, I shouldn’t say things like that.”
I smirk at her and shake my head. “If the shoe fits.”
“He was always kind of a tool before, but ever since his dad got sick he’s been on a real power trip. We all heard about the shares,” she says softly. I get the feeling that Penny isn’t inherently trying to gossip with me, but maybe looking to fill me in and help me understand the dynamic of the office.
I blink at her a few times and wonder why Zach would be giving out all this information. Penny shakes her head. “Zach really likes to talk about himself.” She shrugs before looking at Aiden’s door and then back at me. “Hey, want to get some lunch.”
I smile at her and nod. “That would be great.”
“Do you like Mexican food? There’s an amazing food truck right around the corner.”
“That sounds great.” I grab my purse off the desk and follow Penny to reception. She unlocks the bottom drawer and takes out her purse, slipping it over her shoulder as we exit the office. The heat and humidity slaps us in the face as we walk a block over. Penny has sunglasses covering her eyes, and I make a note to put a pair in my car, purse, really anywhere, so I don’t get blinded every time I go out.
“So, where are you from?”
