Part 46:
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Jenn looked at the bed and the clothes she'd pulled out, hopefully enough
for each of them to get through the next week which was as long as Kevin
figured it would take to get everything straightened around. "Just need a
bag, AJ should have a duffel bag somewhere." she said outloud to herself
as she headed back into the walk in closet. She moved back the suitcases
and a couple backpacks, finally finding an old duffel bag tucked into the
back. She pulled it out and headed back out to the bedroom. 


Paul sat down, "Lovely to see you again Ty."

She forced a smile, "Nice to see you too Paul. How long have you been in
town?"

"Just a couple days, found a few free days in my schedule so I thought I'd
come up and get a little vacation in while attending to some personal
business."

"Hope me inviting you to dinner didn't interrupt that at all." Howie
stated, setting his menu down.

"Not at all." Paul smiled at his employer. "So Ty, Howie tells me
congratulations are in order."


"Bri, can we talk?" Lis asked, finding him sitting outside.

"Course." he smiled as she sat down across from him.

"Two things, first off this is probably not my place but are you hiding
anything else from Shan? I just don't think she could deal with anything
else."

"Nothing I swear. I didn't tell her about Cassie because I didn't think it
was important. It was years before we even knew each other, I figured the
past was the past and left it at that. What's the second thing?"

She looked at him, "Is it just me or is Nick avoiding me lately?"

"Avoiding you?"

"Well today he left with E before we came back, its probably just me."

Brian put his arm around her shoulders, "Lis he isn't avoiding you, he's
just concentrating on everything right now."


She muttered to herself as she threw the clothes haphazzardly into the
duffel bag. "Damn you J, damn you!" she yelled to the empty house as she
zipped up the duffel bag and ran downstairs.


Alec and Kevin sat outside on the front steps, watching the sunset. She
leaned her head back against his shoulder, "Kev is this ever going to
end?"

"Will what end?" he asked.

"This deal with Lou, if JC doesn't break or the rest of them don't, then
what?? Do you stay hellbent on revenge for the next thirty years? Do you
sign contracts with him?"

Kevin frowned at her words, "We'll find a way to resolve this I promise we
will. If they don't want to help, there's gotta be other people who'd know
something. Their not the only group he had under his control remember
that."


Ty had excused herself and left the two men sitting at the table. "What
papers did you want to look over?" Paul asked as the waiter took their
plates.

Howie took a sip of his coffee. "Those papers you gave me in Puerto Rico,
I did some crosschecking. Some of the numbers don't match the numbers at
the Orlando office."

"How so?" Paul asked calmly.

"Their higher. Unless I'm missing some paperwork somewhere or the office
is...and then I saw we had another group of new investors."

Paul nodded, "Yeah they were quite impressed with the company and its
holdings."


"Brought food!" Nick announced as he walked inside the house. "Hello?" the
house seemed empty to him as he walked towards the kitchen.

"Oh hi Nick." Shan said, walking down the stairs.

"Hey Shan. Where's everyone?"

"Hell if I know." she followed him into the kitchen. "Mind if I have
some?"

"Pizza's for everyone." he set it down, "You okay?" he asked, seeing her
tired appearance.

She sighed, "No." she answered honestly and sat down, opening up one of
the pizza boxes.

"You can talk to me you know that." Nick said, taking a couple pieces and
setting them on his plate. "What's going on?"

Shan studied him for a minute, "Nick I'm not dragging you into this."

"Shan I said talk..."

"Fine," she pulled off a piece of the pizza and chewed thoughtfully for a
minute. "I just worry with how easy it was for Rok to keep Cassie a secret
he could do that again."

"Have you told him that?"

She rolled her eyes, "What is it with you and Lis, you say the exact same
things."

He laughed, "Its our psychic connection...but stay on topic Shan..."

"Okay, no I haven't told him that and I don't want to."


"We interrupting?" Brian asked as he and Lis appeared in the doorway. It
looked as though Shan and Nick were involved in a conversation.

Nick looked up, "Nadda. I picked up some pizza on the way back."

"Pizza!" Lis pushed her way past Brian and sat down, "What? I'm hungry."
she defended seeing the weird looks she was getting from her friends and
husband.

"Okay then." Shan said, "Your kooky Lis."


Jenn pulled into the driveway and stared up at the beach house. She rested
her head on the steering wheel and prayed she'd be able to do this, after
a couple minutes of sitting there like that there was a tap on her window.
She glanced over and saw AJ standing there a concerned look on his face