To the Sea (Follow your Bliss) Read Online Free Page B

Foster-Davis project that Kira
had been working on prior to her bereavement leave. She considered not
answering it. She’d extended her leave and then arranged to telecommute, though
for the first time in her adult life, she had no interest in work or fulfilling
her responsibilities. Then she thought of Alice, kind and hardworking, her
project partner, managing it alone. She pressed answer.
    “Kira,
hello, this is Frank Brinkman. How are you doing?” he asked delicately.
    Clearing
her throat she responded, “Fine, thank you for asking.”
     “I
understand you’ve recently suffered a loss. We are very, very sorry.” 
    “Yes,
thank you,” Kira said. The words were stiff on her tongue.
    “Your
presence at the office has been missed and we’re hoping we’ll be seeing you
soon.” Kira knew this was his polite way of saying she’d better get back to her
desk.
    “Yes,
I was thinking I’d return fresh on Monday.” The words tumbled out of her mouth
without her considering their implication. She had to pull it together by
Monday. It was Thursday. The chasm between then and now seemed uncrossable.
    “I’m
so pleased to hear that. Well, you take it easy then, enjoy the weekend, and
we’ll see you first thing Monday morning.”
    After
the call, she went downstairs to refresh her water and figure out what to do
with the laptop. The urn resting on the mantel startled her. It looked out of
place. Jeremy's urn belonged in a trophy case or on the stately stone mantel at
his parent’s house, but not on theirs. He didn’t belong in their house like that .
He would have wanted to be free. Maybe that was just the filter of Kira’s
obscure desires, but her attention turned once more to the ocean. Yes, tomorrow
she’d try again. She’d leave early and set his ashes free in the sea.
    Kira
placed the laptop on the counter, retrieved her hair dryer, and set to work
trying to dry it out. She pushed the laptop’s silver on button, but it failed
to brighten. She had a lot of material for work stored on it. She stared at the
screen vacantly thinking maybe it just needed to dry off, warm up, and it would
miraculously turn on. Like her, maybe it just needed time. Then she remembered
the file drive that she’d copied some of the reports to, though anything she
did before that fateful night had begun to seem uncertain, like the fogginess
of déjà vu. The phone rang again.
    “Lookin’
for Jeremy Annandale,” said a thick Boston accent. This wasn’t the first time
she’d fielded calls on his behalf, each one wrenching the loss tighter in her
chest. She willed her voice not to crack.
    “He’s
not available.” Kira steadied her breath. 
    “Well,
uh, no one’s called back about Mr. Annandale’s car, and we haven’t received
orders to fix it or scrap.” He went on to describe what would be required to
repair it. Kira opted for the latter.
    “Fine.
There are a few things he’ll need to pick up and some papers to sign.”
    She
swallowed hard. “Unfortunately, I’ll have to come down.”
    The
exchange reminded Kira she also needed to go to the hospital to pick up
Jeremy’s possessions. Heavily, she decided she’d do this after her trip to the
ocean in the morning. She also realized in the last few weeks nearly all her
interactions with people had been over the phone, with the exception of
Nicole’s visit and the funeral. Maybe going to the office and being around
people would be helpful. However, with the prospect of collecting the things
Jeremy had just before he died, the ensuing tears did little to convince her
she was ready to reenter the world.
                                                                 
***
    Still
awake at half past four in the morning, Kira got dressed. She hardly listened
to the directions this time, though the voice on the GPS felt like company.
    Kira
pulled into the lot. The dome of the sky appeared in a shade of grey that