Page 65 of Inheriting Miss Fortune

I felt Kenji’s eyes on me, so I shook my head as subtly as I could. “No, I wasn’t.”

I could tell Tully wanted to know more but was too polite to ask. Part of me wished I could explain that the source of my money and the sheer size of it were secrets that weren’t only mine to share. After Matt’s death, the brotherhood had agreed to put a lid on the wealth we’d made from selling the emergency traffic control system we’d developed in college. I’d put a lot of it into charitable trusts and endowments, but there was so much of it, the money I had left continued to grow at a rate I studiously ignored.

Tully moved his hand like he was going to reach for mine but stopped when he remembered Kenji was with us. I quickly reached for his hand anyway and squeezed it. Kenji didn’t seem surprised by the intimacy.

Tully’s cheeks were a little flushed. I couldn’t tell if he was hot, frustrated, or embarrassed. I hoped it wasn’t the latter because I took comfort in feeling his hand in mine right now.

“That was good of you,” he said softly. “To make sure your daughter was taken care of that way.”

I snorted. “I think a good parent would have been involved in his daughter’s life from the beginning. Setting up a trust fund was the very least I could do for my child.”

Tully and Kenji exchanged a look, and both laughed out loud.

“Remind me to have words with my parents,” Tully said.

“Same,” Kenji added, shaking his head with mock severity. “Setting up a trust fund was the very least they could have done.”

I kicked his shiny and probably very expensive shoe with my boot. “I meant forme. Obviously. In my situation.”

“I know.” Kenji patted my arm. “We were just teasing.”

After a few moments, I asked, “Do you think Katie resented me for not wanting anything to do with the pregnancy and the baby?”

Tully immediately shook his head. “Nope. She was grateful to you for giving her Lellie, and she wanted you to have the option of getting involved because she cared about you, but Katie was also grateful that she was able to solo parent her. One of our coworkers dealt with constant co-parenting stress after a contentious divorce, and Katie definitely didn’t want to have to deal with that.”

I knew he was right. Katie had explained to me how seriously she’d taken the decision to become a single parent. But I still worried I’d let her down.

Kenji added his own reassurance. “You’ll see when you read her messages. She was grateful. She was also happy, Dev. Very happy.”

“It couldn’t have been easy,” I murmured.

“No,” Kenji said. “I’m sure it wasn’t. But she had resources. That’s more than a lot of single parents have.”

Tully agreed and added, “And you’ll obviously have the same.”

Kenji clasped both of his hands together over the tablet in his lap. “You might consider hiring Indigo.”

“Right,” I said with a laugh. “Stoner kid?”

Tully’s hand tightened around mine. “Kenji’s right. That kid has spent the past three years working part-time at a preschool as part of his early childhood education program.”

“Wait, Indigo got his degree in early childhood education? You’re kidding.”

“He’s not,” Kenji said. “You know I did a full background check on him before letting Way bring him onto the ranch. He graduated with a degree in early childhood education. His references from the preschool were stellar. They love him and have tried to hire him permanently.”

That was surprising. I would have thought Indigo was more likely to find himself a VW bus and tour the country following a Grateful Dead cover band… but if there was one thing I was learning this week it was that it was really shitty to judge people based on what youthoughtyou knew about them.

Tully explained what he’d learned about Indigo’s love of outdoor adventures and how much he appreciated the opportunity to live close to so many mountain sports. “Besides,” he continued, “Lellie likes him. The other day, he sang her songs about mushrooms that made her giggle.”

I snorted. “Were they ‘special mushrooms’?” I teased.

The edge of Tully’s mouth lifted. “Maybe.”

Kenji grinned.

I blew out a breath and considered it. He was a nice, easygoing guy who definitely cared a lot about doing the right thing. His stress and concern after Trigger’s incident proved it. After a few minutes, I muttered, “Songs, plural? Who knowsmultiplesongs about mushrooms?”

Tully huffed out a laugh. “A vegan with an agenda?”

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