Chapter 9
To say that things were a little different that year at college would be an understatement. Peggy moved into my bed and we became inseparable at college and after. I convinced her to go jogging with me. I think that she decided to take up jogging when she saw some girls jogging with me. I hadn't asked them to jog with me, they just did.
Three days before the Christmas break my whole world crashed around me. Abby called and told us that Dan had passed away in his sleep. Peggy and I immediately jumped in my car and rushed to be at her side. Dan had known that he didn't have much longer and had planned his funeral and had most of his affairs in order. Abby closed the company until after the internment.
The funeral went as all funerals do; everyone wished that Dan was still with us and that we were somewhere having a drink with him. Abby crashed and burned. Dan was everything to her and she couldn't envision life without him. Peggy never left her side and I'm not sure that Abby would have made it without Peggy. Peggy watched over her like a mother hen.
After the funeral we went back to the house with Abby. She was pretty much out of touch with the world. Peggy shooed me and everyone else out so that Abby could get some rest. I kissed Peggy and told her that I was going to the office.
I went back to Dan's office and sat in his chair, staring at everything and nothing. The company had to go on. For some insane reason I had felt that as long as the company was here Dan would be here. I called Peggy and talked to her for a while. I let her know that I was going to stay at my parent's house so that she and Abby could have some quiet time. I told her to let Abby know, after a couple of days, that I was going to watch out for the company for a while.
The next day I was at the office at five thirty. I knew that the only way that anyone would take me serious was to be firm and to take charge right away. Surprisingly, no one attempted to buck me and by the end of the day the company was back on track. I worked until midnight trying to get a handle on all of the projects that were going on and finally realized that I couldn't do it alone. I made a ton of notes with questions for everybody, suggestions for everybody and comments for everybody. I put notes on each project manager's desk that I wanted to meet with them individually the next day. I fell asleep at the desk and woke up when the first person arrived for work.
The next couple of days were hectic. I got the impression that some of the project managers were testing me with the tons of questions that they kept asking me. I later found out that construction is always that way; there's a crisis every minute. I have to give everyone credit; everyone pitched in and did they're share. At nine o'clock at night you could always find someone in the office working. I had no idea how to do the payroll so I called Peggy in a panic. She came into the office after Abby went to sleep and by morning we had all of the checks cut. We didn't have time to make the direct deposit, which is the way the people are usually paid. I sent every manager in the company an email that they would have to hand-deliver the checks.
It was four days before Abby attempted to come into the office. When I saw her face I almost cried. It looked like she had aged ten years in the past four days. The fire was gone out of her. After sitting in her office for about an hour she came into Dan's office and closed the door. She sat down in the chair like she hadn't enough strength to hold herself up.
She smiled weakly, "We have to talk. I really hate to ask this of you but I need you. Do you think that it would be possible for you to help run the company for a while? I know that you would miss a year of college but I'd make it up to you."
I started to protest that there were other qualified people in the company but she was having none of it. She said that if I didn't want to run it, she would lock the door and sell it. I agreed. She told me that she'd give me all the help she could.
After we had spent the better part of the day going over everything she new had to be done quickly, she began to talk about the life that she and Dan had. I let her talk without interruption. I knew that this was an important part of her grieving process.
When she had talked herself out she asked me, "What are your plans for Peggy? You know that she's waiting for you to ask her to marry you, don't you? Please don't wait until it's too late. Life's awfully short. You'll find that a hundred years is too short if you're with the one you love."
Abby made me go home. She told me that I'd better think about what she had said. Peggy wouldn't wait forever. As she put it; some slicker will come along and steal her away from me.
After a long discussion with Peggy, we decided that I would take the year off and help Abby keep the company going. Peggy would continue college and with the money that I would be making her finances wouldn't be a problem anymore. We would still stay at the apartment. Tempe is only about twenty miles, as the crow flies, from Glendale.
So I began my career as a construction executive. After two weeks Abby found out about our living arraignments and she insisted that Peggy and I move into a home that Dan had just completed in Scottsdale. She sold it to us for seventy thousand dollars and financed it herself at no interest. Seventy thousand dollars was about one quarter of what it was worth.
I talked with Mr. Cannon and he wasn't too put out that we were leaving. I had the apartments in pretty good shape and Mr. Cannon had another apartment that he could rent. I left the Ikea furniture there so the apartment would be able to be rented as furnished.
I asked Peggy to marry me and she agreed and we got married one weekend with Abby and my parents, brothers and sister as witnesses. We only took three days off because of college and me working at the office. To say that we were both extremely happy would be an understatement.
I dove into the work at the company. I made some mistakes, some big mistakes, but I had Abby there to pull me out of trouble. Peggy continued to do her usual best at college. Abby was our biggest worry. She seemed to have lost her drive. She was competent and did her job as well as she ever had; but it seemed that when we buried Dan we buried half of Abby too. She was pleasant to be around but you had the feeling that she was waiting for Dan to come back and take his place at the company and in her life.
We tried to make Abby come over for dinner as much as we could but she usually had something important that she claimed had to be done right away. I often had laborers over to take care of things at her house and the grounds. Usually I discovered things that had to be done before Abby mentioned them.
Peggy demanded that Abby see a doctor but the doctor couldn't find anything wrong and prescribed vitamins for her and anti-depressants. Since Peggy was working with me most nights Abby started taking Fridays off. She told Peggy that the desert always bloomed on Fridays.
One night Peggy and I talked well into the night about Abby. We had to do something. I suggested that Peggy take a trip to San Francisco with her and try to get her interested in life again.
The next morning I went to work and Peggy went over to Abby's house. I was just getting ready to go to one of the jobsites when Peggy called. She was crying so hard that I tried to calm her down so that I could find out what was wrong. Finally I hung up on her and raced over to Abby's house. When I walked inside Peggy was sitting on the floor next to a chair in the living room, holding Abby's hand. Abby was slouched in a chair with her eyes closed. She had passed away while watching TV. It was four months from the day that we buried Dan that Abby passed away. To this day I think that she didn't want to live here unless Dan was here with her.
We buried Abby next to Dan. Everyone in the company showed up at the funeral and Peggy and I invited everyone back to Abby's house for one last time. Peggy had the sense to contact a caterer so that we would have a little something for everyone. Goodbyes are always hard, but saying goodbye to Dan and Abby for the last time was rough.
A man walked up to me at the house and introduced himself to me. I told him that I remembered him; he was Dan and Abby's lawyer. We talked for a few minutes about Abby and Dan. Finally he told me that he would like to speak with me and Peggy tomorrow morning about the company. We set the meeting for nine o'clock the next morning.
I knew that we had to make a lot of decisions about the company. If it was going to be sold, we would have to keep it running to preserve the value of the company. If it was going to be broken up we would have to have an inventory of all tools and material and which tools and material would belong to what department.
That night Peggy and I sat in our living room holding each other in the dark. Neither of us felt like talking. My mind was on Dan and Abby and I know that Peggy's was too. When we finally went to bed, we were so exhausted that we were asleep seconds after our heads hit the pillows.
The next morning we were at work by six o'clock. People came to work not knowing if they had a job or not and if they did, what they were supposed to do. Again, I took charge and soon had some semblance or order to the office. The phone kept ringing with employees wondering if their jobs were still there, contractors calling with their consolations and people from outside Arizona that had known Dan and Abby.
The lawyer arrived about nine and asked that Peggy and I meet somewhere private. We directed him to the conference room and had a pot of coffee brought to the room. After everyone had a cup of coffee in front of them I closed and locked the door.
"Well Mr. and Mrs. Wilkes, I can read the entire will right now but it's pretty simple, I'll give you a copy of it of course. Dan naturally left everything to Abby. Abby and Dan never had any children or close relatives. Abby has left everything to the two of you. I have a complete list here of the assets of the estate. I also have a personal letter from Abby to each of you. She asked that you each read it before you make any decisions about what you will do with the assets. That is about everything. Do either of you have any questions?"
Peggy and I both just looked at him without answering. We couldn't believe that Abby left the entire estate to us. Peggy had pretty much resigned herself the fact that she would have to work a lot of years before she would be able to afford things that older couples take for granted. All that was going through my mind was how I was going to run this company without Abby's help. We finally were able to thank the lawyer and tell him that we'd probably have questions later but we had to digest what had just happened.
The lawyer got up and thanked us and said that he hoped that we'd allow him to continue to serve the company. I asked him to allow us to tell the company about Abby leaving it to us and he agreed. After exchanging a bit more small talk he excused himself and left.
Peggy looked at me for a long while before she collapsed in my arms. I held her as tight as I could for a very long time. When I let her go I told her that we had to get away from the office and talk. She agreed and we told our office manager that we would be unavailable for the rest of the day.
We drove home in a daze. When we walked in the house Peggy went into the kitchen and flopped in a chair and I sat in one across from her.
"Peggy, I don't know if I have the experience to run this company. I don't know if our customers and our employees will accept me as young as I am."
She looked at me for a minute before she spoke, "You've been running it for months now. Dan and Abby give you their confidence and allowed you to run the company as you saw fit. If they had enough faith in you to entrust you with the company, I don't see why you feel that you can't do it. I'll work with you. Abby taught me what's required to keep the finances in check and I've had a hand in the financial planning. I'm sure that we can do it."
"No way, Peggy. You're going back to college. You have to get your degree."
"First off, I'm going to work with you to make this a success. We'll have to have an outside auditor any way so my not having my degree won't be that big of a deal. The accounting software that we use makes you do what has to be done. Then, if I hadn't met you when I did I'd probably been waiting tables or working at Wal-Mart by now. Also, I intend to start a family soon and we're going to have a day care next to the office so that I can work everyday and still be with our kids. You'd better resign yourself to having me in the office everyday."
I looked at her and saw that look in her eyes that she often got
when she set her mind to something. When that look was there, I had
already lost the argument so the best thing to do was to shut up.