She was a bulldog when it came to him, and she had my undying appreciation. A high-stress job and a life of traveling for work—not to mention eating high-sodium, high-fat foods, and drinking a few more brandies than needed—had given him a mild heart attack shortly after he’d married her.

Kendall had woven in more virtual meetings and online presentations and spun it so our investors thought we were being more environmentally conscious. Which was true. Technology didn’t replace the effectiveness of networking in person, but it was a balance that Kendall had a good feel for. Dad and Kendall went on lunch break walks if the weather was nice, and she ate the way Dad was supposed to. When he wasn’t constantly on the road or in the air, it was easier to take care of himself.

It was a good thing his heart attack had happened after he’d met her. He’d been too afraid to let someone get close to him for so long, but he was all in with her. And she with him, making her the only one who could’ve gotten him to the doctor and then sorted out the lifestyle changes afterward. My brothers couldn’t have. I wouldn’t have been able to. Dad didn’t want me interfering in his life any more than I wanted him meddling in mine. I might’ve had more luck getting through to him that he needed to change his habits because of work, but that was the majority of our relationship. Work.

So if it wasn’t Dad that was worrying her, it was work. Or me. “What’s going on?”

“I’ve talked with Gentry again about approaching the board.” Grams. She was the president, but the rest of the board followed her lead. She made sure of it. “We’d like to add more positions to the company, including at least two in the inner office. But really, we need at least three. In reality, a lot more, but I thought it’d be easier to start conservative.”

I folded my hands on top of the desk but concentrated on not wringing them. Discussion about adding more people to the inner office didn’t just stress Grams. “She’s going to balk.”

Kendall sighed. “I know. But I’ve gone through three other exploration and production companies that are similar in size and operation to King Oil. Compared to them, we are down a senior vice president, a VP for finance and treasury, and another one for operations.” She tapped her tablet. “Actually, we’re short on VPs for all major departments. Mrs. Chan could easily be promoted to marketing VP and we could hire a replacement for her old position. Gentry has trusted people in engineering and operations, but he shouldn’t have to oversee them all. That’s what a VP would do.”