you like , but I’ve seen Paul’s will rewritten a few times over the years, you were never going to inherit more than you did. At one point he cut you out of the will entirely.”
“But to leave it to her , not even his own children.”
“ Blaine recently convinced Paul that they needed to become contributing members of society and not having to work for living proved contrary to that goal. Be grateful he left them what he did.”
Tim turned to Kyle. “I don ’t think anything more needs to be said. I believe we’re done here?”
“For now. The actual dispersals will take longer and , as you know, there are questions regarding the handling of Teri’s share.”
Tim nodded. He turned to Nicholas and motioned for him to take the children out of the room.
“We’ll take Teri out of here now.”
“Of course. That concludes the affairs of Paul Lovett. Thank you , Ladies and Gentlemen,” Kyle announced formally.
Tim walked over to Kayley and whispered in her ear. She nodded and took Flynn ’s free hand, leading him and Teri out of the room. Kyle had a conference room set aside for them to retreat to so Teri could have a chance to recover. One of the interns should be setting up a lunch in there right about now. Tim retrieved Kayley and Teri’s purses and followed them out, closing the door behind him.
Chapter Three
“Dev, give it up,” Kenny sighed in irritation. Dev’s pacing was getting on his nerves. First he paced and stomped through the house because Paul was living with them, now the same thing because he wasn’t. Kenny was pretty sure he wasn’t this annoying at fifteen.
“Where ’s Bryan?”
Kenny should have predicted that response. Whenever Dev felt unusually stressed or overwhelmed, he turned to Bryan. As far as Kenny could tell, Bryan didn’t do much besides be a good listener. It was enough of a habit now that Bryan’s mere presence seemed to calm Dev.
“It ’s just,” Dev paced for a moment more, then settled on the edge of Kenny’s desk. “Mom’s upset. She’s depressed over losing Paul. It’s not fair, she lost Dad. I didn’t like Paul, but I wanted her to be happy.”
“Give her time ,” Kenny said.
When Paul moved in , Dev was in a foul mood for a week. Even Bryan started avoiding him. The same thing when Paul started planning his retirement. Worse actually. Now any mention of Paul got Dev going all over again, but for an entirely different reason. Paul talked Kenny into taking a few psychology classes to help handle Jess and Dev. It was time he started using it.
Dev leaned against the wall , his back to Kenny, and sulked. Kenny steeled himself for the attempt.
“Listen , apparently being a pain in the ass didn’t mean anything to him. I mean, Paul left you five mil. He obviously didn’t hate you. You’re a pseudo-stepson. He understood.
“He also understood some things we needed to do to get the band going. ” Kenny tried to change the subject and pull Dev out of this dark place he was in.
“Yeah , he bought us a rock star for a mentor.”
“Yeah ,” Kenny hesitated. He wasn’t so sure this particular rock star was a good idea. Flynn competed with Paul for Teri not that long ago. That was going to bring back memories. Not to mention Flynn’s history with women. Dev clearly didn’t know and Kenny didn’t want to be the one to tell him. “Yeah, he did. So settle down and help me with Jess so we still have a band for Flynn Peterson to help us with.”
“Fine , you do your crazy classes and I’ll handle Jess.”
Dev walked out and Kenny didn ’t get more than a few pages read in his psychology book before Bryan and Jess walked in, somehow missing Dev.
“Jess , I’m just saying to take it easy on him. He shy and really suffering with this modeling thing,” Bryan said in his reasonable and easy-going manner that made him so effective at handling Dev.
“ If you’re worried about Dev, go spend some quality time with him. Break him out of this