“The face behind the ominous voice!” a man called, and Lily nearly dropped the bag when she whirled toward him. He looked respectable enough in jeans and a clean button-down shirt.
“It’s me from the other night,” he said.
For a moment she could think only of the barrage of calls from Jones. Then the guy said, “I lost the code,” and she recognized the flop of dark hair over his brow. The man from the gate intercom. He certainly looked harmless in the bright light of day. Thin and fit but only about three inches taller than she was, and he was keeping his distance so far, hanging back toward the pedestrian gate.
She offered a careful smile. “You made it back. I’m sorry about the other night. Security is tight around here.”
“No worries,” he said easily. “My uncle’s belongings are stored here, so the high security is comforting.” He walked closer to reach for the bag of trash, and she waved him off. This was her job.
“I’ll show you where the trash cans are in case you need them. We don’t allow any large amounts of garbage, but I can give you directions to the municipal dump if you’re cleaning out.”
He followed her around the corner, still keeping a respectful distance that inched her guard down a tiny bit. “Can I get the gate code from you now? I seem to have misplaced my sticky note.”
She grimaced at his request. “Are you an authorized user? If not, I’ll need your uncle to fill out a form and sign off on it.”
“I’m . . . not sure, honestly. And my uncle forgot the code again.”
She glanced at him. Midthirties, maybe. Cute despite the circles under his eyes and a pallor that spoke of too much office work. “Are you moving his stuff out? I can give you the termination paperwork too if you like.”
“Not quite yet. He’s moving from assisted living to memory care, so he’s stopped arguing that he’ll be getting back home soon.”
“Ah.” Lily winced. That happened a lot around here, especially with the demographics of this part of Kansas skewing older and older. “I’m sorry.”
“He has great caretakers and help, but I’m between gigs right now, so I figured this is as good a time as any to get a start on helping sort his belongings. I know how much regret people feel when they find amazing personal stories and it’s too late to ask any follow-up questions.”
She smiled at that, but didn’t press further. “I think that’s a great idea,” she said. “Let me get you that form.”
Aware of him following behind her, Lily felt suddenly grateful that she’d dressed in something besides ancient jeans. He was kind of cute and maybe not a creep, and even if she didn’t date, she still had an ego.
She dug out a form from the filing cabinet and handed it over. “You’ve been by already, you said? So you know the unit number?” When he told her, she typed it in and asked his name.
“Alex Bennick.”
“That’s odd.” She squinted toward him. “You’re the name on the lease.”
“That’s my uncle. I’m Alex C. Bennick. He’s Alex Q.”
“So you’re Alex Conrad?”
He looked surprised at that. “Yeah.”
“Congratulations. He listed you as an approved user when he filled out the lease. You’re in.”
He snapped his fingers. “Hot damn, what a day!”
Laughing at his exaggerated excitement, she took his license to confirm his identity and noticed the address in Tennessee right away. “Memphis? You’re a good nephew, coming so far from home.”
“He’s done a lot for me. I lived with him for a few summers during college when I didn’t have anywhere else to go. Are you from Herriman?”
“Kind of. I lived here during my childhood before we moved away.”
“Maybe we knew each other.”
“I was seven, so unless you were in my Brownie troop . . .”
“Pretty sure I’d remember that adventure.” He held out his hand. “Like I said, I’m Alex.”
She took his hand, still cautious about this stranger but aware that any other reaction would be rude. “I’m Lily.”
“It’s great to meet you, Lily.”
When his smile widened to a grin, she actually blushed a little.
“I’ll be here on and off for at least a week, but I’ll try not to bother you after hours again.”
She slid him a slip of paper with the gate code printed on it. “We lock down at eight during the week, office hours go to six.”