“Tell her that.”
“I can’t.”
“Do you want me to talk to her?”
Denny brightened considerably.“Would you?”
“Sure.”Julian would do it to help his friend, even if the situation was awkward.Isla had the right to the money her parents had left for her.“Remind me of the details again.It’s been a minute since we settled your divorce.”
A few minutes later, Isla returned with Mattie and the kids, who were excited about the fish tank and wanted to show it to their uncle.
Denny picked up Mila and took Theo’s hand.“Show me.”
“Is that okay?”Isla asked Julian.“We’re disrupting your whole office.”
“It’s fine.My dad loves when people enjoy his tank.Did you see him?”
“No, just his assistant, Luka.”
“Ah, okay.He must be out of the office, or he would’ve come out to see the kids.He loves kids, which is probably why he and my mom had nine of them.”
“You havenine kidsin your family?”
“I do,” he said with a smile.“I’m the oldest of the Remington banana republic.”He gestured toward the chairs.“Have a seat for a second?”
“Oh, um, okay.”
She was lovely, with pale skin suffused with a rosy glow that became more so when she was flustered.Her eyes conveyed warmth and humor as well as anxiety on behalf of herself and her children.If he’d met her under other circumstances, he might’ve wanted to get to know her better.Under these circumstances, she was off-limits as a client.Not to mention, she was the beloved baby sister of his close friend.
“Denny has something he needs you to know, but he’s concerned you’ll be angry with him for not telling you before now.”
She sat perfectly still, seeming to barely breathe while she waited for whatever new bomb was about to drop on her life.
“I offered to talk to you about it because he wants you to know that he loves you very much, and everything he did was to protect you and your children.”
“Please tell me.You’re scaring me.”
“Your parents left you money.Denny has kept it from you because he was afraid Gabriel would burn through it.”
She let out a cry of distress.“Oh my God!Is that even legal?Can he do that?”
“As the executor of the estate, it was within his purview to manage it as he saw fit.And I want to add an important point.That you didn’t know about it until today keeps it out of Gabriel’s reach in the divorce.It’ll be treated as your separate property as opposed to community property that you’d be required to divide with him.”
“How much is it?”
“They had a million in life insurance between them.Half went toward support for you guys after they died, and the other half was divided between the two of you.Two hundred fifty thousand was invested conservatively for you and is at about six hundred thousand now.”
She covered her mouth with her hand, as if trying to contain her shock.After a moment of charged silence, she said, “If they left him the same amount, then why is he living in a shithole apartment and working like a dog to pay his child support?”
“Because he’s invested the money for his retirement.”
“I can’t believe he decided this for me like I’m still a child.”
“Let me ask you something… If he’d told you about it six years ago when you turned twenty-five, how would you feel about giving Gabriel half of whatever was left during the divorce proceeding, assuming there was anything left?”
“If it was mine, why would I have to give him half?”
“Because if you had access to the money during the marriage, it most likely would become community property under California law.That means half of it would be owed to him upon divorce, especially if you’d used any part of it for household expenses, rent or a mortgage or anything that benefited both of you.”
