Chapter 9

It was Darius and Cooper by the time we were done and it was a pretty small amount of paperwork, but there were a couple of more people who would be involved before this process was over. The investment firm's senior partner wanted a meeting as soon as it was convenient, but essentially I was already legally in control of the investment accounts Cooper's parents had set up with them, and they would continue to do as they were doing with the investments until the time came I felt I wanted to make changes. I would also need to schedule a meeting with someone named Lloyd McCoy, the CFO of FiberDyne, the startup company that the James' had invested in.

"That takes care of all the official business, Cooper," Darius told me when he'd handed over the last of the signed documents. There were at least three copies of all of them and some seemed to have a half dozen. I sighed heavily and he put a hand on my shoulder and gave me a reassuring squeeze.

"Careful there man, you look too much like a football player to be running around squeezing shoulders," I joked.

"I was a football player, not that long ago," he said with a small frown. "Started all four years in college, but never got drafted. Had a few shots to go pro – tried out for a few teams, made a couple of mini-camps, but never did go anywhere with it."

"But you were able to get back in school and get your law degree?"

"Yeah, well I'd done well enough in college to get some endorsement deals, especially locally. I was smart enough to save that money until I knew the NFL wasn't going to happen, and it paid for the law degree."

"And here you are, handling this for me."

"Yeah," he laughed. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm the junior man here at Preston & Roberts. I get all the nuisance accounts. This estate matter wasn't going to generate a lot of billable hours, so it was mine by default."

"Well, I appreciate all your work, even if no one else does," I added my laughter to his.

"Oh, its been interesting – your situation made me have to get creative more than once, and I'm glad I was able to help. We have too many men in uniform getting screwed financially back home these days as it is. You deserved my best."

I wasn't sure how to react to that, feeling as if I was accepting something I hadn't earned. I reminded myself that Cooper James had earned it, and so I smiled and said thanks for the both of us.

"There's one more thing," Darius said then. "Not something on my official list, but I figured you would need this."

"What's that?"

"I've got the keys to your parent's house here," he pulled the keys out of his desk drawer and handed them to me. "I've been in contact with the real estate agent who sold it to your parents and put me in touch with a house cleaning service. I've had things cleaned up out there and made sure everything was ready for occupancy. If you'd like we can make a run out to the property this afternoon and get you settled in."