“I won’t. It will be for things like cars and education and so on for Josie as an adult. The rest I can handle. But I’d like to see it grow.”

  “Grayson loves nothing more than to make money grow. He’d probably tell you he could double it.”

  She started to laugh. “Ten million would be nice for Josie if he could. She was awarded more than five, but you know, legal fees and all. I know you won’t say anything.”

  “No,” he said. “I won’t.”

  But the last thing he wanted was for anyone to think he was with her for that money and wished he didn’t know what she’d said.

  More than once it’d been thrown in his face the branch of the tree he came from and he didn’t want anyone to say he was trying to move up. He was happy in life where he was, but too many liked to talk.

  21

  Never Too Late

  “Thank you for meeting me on a Saturday,” Avery said to Grayson Bond when she walked into his office on the island a month later.

  She realized she had to do something with Josie’s money and couldn’t let it stay in an account with her lawyer in Danbury.

  It was sitting there doing nothing and that wasn’t responsible, but life was starting to slow down enough for her to figure out the next step here.

  First she’d had to call her lawyer and get all the information on how to move it when the time came.

  “Not a problem,” Grayson said. “I was surprised Carter didn’t give me a heads up you’d be calling.”

  “I’d think you’d know he isn’t one to assume,” she said. Nor did she want to say she did spend the time researching Grayson and Rex’s firm.

  Though she trusted Carter, she didn’t know these two men. She was taking nothing for granted in her life and never did before.

  She wouldn’t risk Josie’s future for anything or anyone.

  “No,” Grayson said, laughing. He looked like his brother in his features. You knew they were related and she’d seen a lot of pictures of the Bond family and could see the dark genes coming out too. “He wouldn’t. Unless you told him you are here, I didn’t.”

  “No,” she said. “It didn’t come up. But you know Carter and I are dating, I’m assuming.”

  She hadn’t said that to Grayson when she reached out, that Carter gave her his brother’s name.

  “I do,” he said. “I’ve known for over a month, but I’m sure you’re aware my brother doesn’t say much either.”

  “No,” she said. This meant Carter wouldn’t have told Grayson about the amount of money she had and she hadn’t wanted to put that in an email or say it over the phone.

  “Then have a seat.” She heard a bell go off. “Excuse me. I’m the only one here and wasn’t expecting anyone. I should see who it is.” He got up and before he could move out of his office, he said, “Hey, Rex, didn’t know you’d be here today.”

  “I stopped in for a few things,” Rex said when he walked by. “Sorry to interrupt.”

  “Rex,” Grayson said. “This is Dr. Avery Keegan, the new vet on the island. Avery, Rex Knight, the owner of the firm.”

  Rex stuck his hand out. “Carter’s girlfriend,” Rex said, shaking her hand. “Nice to meet you and glad to have you on the island. It’s been the talk for a few months now.”

  “My practice or me?” she asked.

  “The practice. Maybe you are in the family too. Nothing bad,” Rex said, grinning.

  “Nothing bad,” Grayson agreed. “We aren’t that way.”

  “And as we’ve established, Carter doesn’t say much. Rex, if you’d like to sit in you can. I think what I’m going to tell Grayson you’ll find out. Or the amount I need taken care of might require some more authorization. I don’t know and don’t want to assume.”

  “By all means,” Rex said. “But Grayson is the one you’re dealing with unless you think it’s a conflict?”

  “Not at all,” she said. “We are all professionals here regardless of personal relationships.”

  Grayson laughed and she didn’t know why but pushed past it. “What you told me was that you had money in a trust for Josie Pacer. That you are her guardian and you wanted to invest it, correct?”

  “Yes. Did Carter tell you about Josie and me?” she asked.

  “I do know about how Josie came to live with you on Amore Island but not much more,” Grayson said.

  She briefly told them both about Colleen’s accident and the lawsuit. “I didn’t want to do it. Then I told myself if I could get something for Josie to make her life easier, her future, it was the least I could do. Colleen was a single mother; she never got any child support or anything. Josie’s father isn’t on the birth certificate and he signed away his rights.”

  “It’s too bad there are men like that out there,” Rex said.

  “It’s better in the long run,” she said. “I didn’t want to go to court. I was going to take a decent settlement. My lawyer at the time asked for a crazy amount and I never expected to get it.”

  “That’s normally what lawyers do,” Rex said, laughing.

  Avery knew Hailey had a massive firm in Boston and a satellite office on the island. She’d have to consider retaining legal services here soon too. She supposed there was no way she’d get Hailey by the sounds of it and wouldn’t be able to afford her, but there had to be plenty more.

  “I know,” she said. She pulled some papers out of her bag. “Here is everything you’ll need, I believe, to show I’ve got access to this money and that it’s in my authority to spend it. I don’t want to, but I know you need this. I’d like to get more things set up legally in terms of a trust and have to contact someone to do that.”

  “We know some lawyers,” Grayson said, smirking.

  “I figured.” She handed the papers over. “The trust currently has over five million in it. My lawyer got her share or it’d be more.”

  Grayson let out a whistle. “Those damn lawyers,” Rex said, grinning again.

  She laughed. “Josie is unaware of this money. Very few know. She doesn’t even know of the lawsuit, but it was public knowledge at the time, just the amount undisclosed.”

  “For obvious reasons,” Rex said, reaching for the papers. Grayson was punching keys into his keyboard and she was assuming he was looking up investments to print her as things were going off in the printer too.

  “I’m printing out forms right now for you to sign to transfer this money into our holding account when you’re ready and then we’ll move it into investments. My first recommendation is to diversify. Not only stocks and mutual funds, but also CD’s, maybe bonds. Spread it out. Keep some liquid and we’ve got high yield savings for that too. Or are you looking for a quick turnaround?”

  “No,” she said. “I know how the market works. I’m looking to be responsible. Carter laughed and said that you’d brag you could double it for me by the time Josie was eighteen.”

  “Oh, I could do that,” Grayson said. “Faster if you were risky, but you don’t come across that way.”

  “No,” she said. “We can be a little risky with some of it.”

  “Due to the nature of this amount and the situation,” Rex said. “I think you should retain an attorney prior. That is your choice. We can go through your current attorney if you want. You can retain one on the island that will talk with yours. We want you to feel as comfortable as possible with Josie’s money and us.”

  “Carter mentioned that Hailey does all the legal things for the family businesses. I’m going to assume that is all she does and not available for this?”

  She figured she might as well ask and see what her chances were.

  “Probably not,” Rex said. “But since it is such a large sum and I’m married to her, I’d like to separate my wife from this. Someone else in her firm can represent you easily and she could refer another attorney to you if you’d like. There is one full-time attorney on the island, Dominic Black. He’s been with Hailey for years. There are a few that come over part time for island work as needed. Many could and would work. If you are interested, Hailey is on the island and could talk with you today or at any point. No pressure.”

  “You know what?” she said. “It’s so hard for me to find time for things, if Hailey is available and doesn’t mind talking and giving me a name, it will work out. I really should have done something about this money before now.”

  “It’s never too late,” Rex said, standing up. “I’ll give her a call but until then, you’re in good hands with Grayson.”

  Rex left the office to call his wife and she turned to Grayson. “You’ve got papers for me to sign?”

  “Lots of papers,” he said. “I’ll need your ID too if you’ve got it and I’ll take a copy of it.”

  She pulled her license out of her wallet and handed it over, then accepted the papers from Grayson at the same time he gave her a laptop. “What’s this?”

  “The papers are your copies to read, but the forms will be filled out on the computer, then you can sign on the pad. It’s much easier. I’ll print your copies and once you’ve got your account set up with us you’ll be able to access everything you’ve filled out electronically too.”

  “This is easier than I thought it’d be,” she said.

  “The harder part is understanding where the money should go and making those decisions. But that is more information I’ll give you too.”

  An hour later, she left Grayson’s office and her head was spinning.

  The last thing she expected was that Hailey Bond would be so funny and entertaining. She left feeling very confident about talking to an attorney out of the Boston office that could get started right away. That Dominic was in the middle of a few things and would take some weeks before he could get to her.

  She didn’t want to hold Grayson up though he said it was fine. She liked that they were dotting all their i’s and crossing their t’s too.

  She arrived at Laine’s to get Josie who was there with Adele taking a kid’s pottery craft day.

  It was Halloween themed, which was only eight days away.

  “Avery,” Josie yelled. “Look at my pumpkin.”

  “That’s very good,” she said of what Josie was forming. “Yours looks great too, Adele.”

  “Not as nice as Josie’s, but she helped me so it looks better. That’s what friends do,” Adele said as the two girls giggled.

  Five other kids were making different things too. “Do they get to take them home today?” she asked Laine.

  “No. They are almost done and need to put their names on the bottom, then I’m going to put them all in the kiln. Next Saturday those that want to come back and paint them here can and they will need to dry over the weekend. Or the parents can pick them up by Thursday and paint them at home with instructions. I’m open to either.”

  “We are coming back,” Josie said. “Right, Adele?”

  “I guess that is answer enough,” she said. “I’ll verify with Ava when I bring Adele home.”

  “Adele asked me to go trick-or-treating with her on Monday night,” Josie said. “Her Dad is taking her around their neighborhood. Can I go, please?”

  The kids' art classes didn’t start up again until the first week in November and she figured that Laine did that on purpose, on top of needing a break herself. Avery was missing the Monday night with Carter and they had to settle on the two hours for Thursday the past two weeks as it was.

  “I’ll talk to Seth when we bring Adele home,” she said.

  “Alright, kids,” Laine said. “Does everyone have their names somewhere on their pieces?”

  There were several yeses to that.

  “Then pick up your stations. There is a trash can at the end of the table and when you’re done, go wash your hands in the back so you don’t stain your parents’ cars,” Laine said.

  Avery watched as the kids did as they were told. “This was perfect timing.”

  “How did it go?” Laine asked. She’d told Laine she was meeting with Grayson today and why. She’d never told Laine the amount of money, just that she had a lot and needed to figure it out.

  “It went well. I met Rex and Hailey.”

  “Getting to know the family,” Laine said quietly as she was gathering the kids’ projects and putting them on a cart.

  “It’s not like that,” she said. “I need a lawyer too and Hailey recommended someone for me from her firm.”

  “I’m picking on you. I’ve heard she’s no-nonsense.”

  “She is, but she’s funny too. It’s not even close to being finalized and I’ve got a lot of material to read and look over, but it’s a step.”

  “Taking steps is what gets you moving forward,” Laine said. “It’s got to start somewhere.”

  “I know,” she said. Which reminded her once again at some point she was going to have to tell Josie that she was seeing Carter. It was getting harder and harder to find the time to be with him because she felt like she was hiding it and shouldn’t be.

  She wasn’t doing anything wrong and it wasn’t a secret. Her staff had made a few sly comments but hadn’t come out and asked her if she was dating Carter. Thankfully no one did it around Josie.

  The two girls came out a few minutes later and she got their jackets for them, drove to Adele’s house and went in.

  Seth verified the trick-or-treating and that he’d pick Josie up at the clinic at five if that was okay.

  It was more than okay for her because there is no way she’d be able to get out earlier with as busy as she’d been.

  “Are we doing anything today?” Josie asked her when they were driving home.

  It was barely noon at this point. “Are you hungry?” she asked. “Do you want to go get some lunch?”

  “Can we go out to lunch?” Josie asked.

  “We can do that if you’d like,” she said. Josie rarely asked for anything. And if she did it had more to do with her art.

  “I’d like that,” Josie said. “It’s like a girls' time for us. Like when we got our nails done.”

  It seemed like so long ago they’d done that and she hated time was getting away from her. “Then girls' day it is. Lunch and getting our toes done again.”

  “Yay!” Josie said, doing a fist pump in the backseat.

  Life finally felt like it was coming together.

  22

  Depended On Him

  “I met your girlfriend today,” Grayson said when Carter walked up to him at the pub by the water facing Plymouth. It was slow in here for a Saturday night and that was exactly what Carter wanted. A quiet beer with his brother because he couldn’t be with the woman he was dating.

  His girlfriend, as his brother had said. “You did?”

  “She said you didn’t know,” Grayson said. “Did you know she even called me since you gave her my name and number?”

  The server came over and he nodded his head to get the same beer his brother had. They were at a high-backed table and a menu was put down. He glanced at it to see what he was in the mood for and realized he’d rather pick at food instead of having a meal.

  “No,” Carter said. “Her money is her business. I know she’s got a settlement from Colleen’s death that she needed to do something with. I didn’t want to pressure her to put it with family.”

  “Never you,” Grayson said. “You don’t pressure anyone, which is why you’re here with me rather than her.”

  “Josie doesn’t know about me,” he said. “I mean she does, but not as Avery’s boyfriend.”

  Grayson laughed and picked up his beer. “Ha, that was easier than I thought to get you to admit you had a girlfriend.”

  “Ass,” he said to his brother. He shouldn’t have been surprised that was what it was about.

  “You know how much she brought me, don’t you?” Grayson asked, lifting an eyebrow.

  “I do,” he said. “I was surprised she told me.”

  “I’m glad Rex was there,” Grayson said. “To meet her and sit down. That kind of money needs to be reported to move around. A new client worth that much, Rex would have to meet and assure them their money was in good hands. A heads up would have been nice.”

  “Not my place,” he said. His beer was brought over. “Can we get an order of wings and nachos?”

  “Sure,” the server said. “Anything else?” She was looking at Grayson this time like she thought he’d eat all that himself.

  “We’ll start with that,” Grayson said. “Thanks.”

  “Anyway,” Carter said. “Maybe she was only going to give you a few thousand to start.”

  Grayson laughed. “She’s giving it all to our firm. She’s got a lot of reading to do and I need to work up one hell of a portfolio of diversification of funds for her too.”

  “All I hear is Charlie Brown’s teacher talking in my ear,” he said, picking up his beer and taking a drink. He trusted his brother and took his advice and his brother had done him well with his money.

  Carter might be a grease monkey in some people’s eyes, but he had plenty of money put away in investments, not to mention in his savings.

  His business was thriving and he’d work twice as hard to make it continue.

  There were people on this island that depended on him and he’d do his part. Not just for his employees that needed the jobs but for the residents that needed his services.

  “Glad it’s working out,” he said. “As long as she is happy, that is all that matters.”

  “Are you?” Grayson asked.

  His eyes shifted over to his brother. “What indication have I given you that I’m not?”

  “That fact you’re here and not with her,” Grayson said.

  “Give it a rest,” he said. “We are working it out our way. Avery has to make those decisions, not me. When she is ready to let Josie know I’m more than a guy with two dogs that comes into the clinic, then I’ll be happy to go along with it.”

  He’d like to take that step now but understood her reasoning too.