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“It’s new to me,” I countered with a grin.

She waved her hand in the air. “Let’s go back to our original argument. You made me clean up Conn’s dog poops from the yard so the lawn maintenance people wouldn’t complain. Feeding him is the better job and you know it. Any time you want to trade with me, I’m willing.”

“I’ve cleaned up after him plenty over the years and I’m never doing it again. After the last time, I decided Conn was a grown creature who could clean up after himself. Be grateful he didn’t choose to be a goat. That was the worst shifted form ever. Believe it or not, it was easier to take care of him when he was a horse. I could tie him to the fence where the mess could happen all in one place. Cleanup involved one wheelbarrow load and I was done.”

“I can’t imagine taking care of him as a horse,” Fiona said, laughing as she scrubbed her face. “I had no idea Conn was such high maintenance for you.”

“The blessing was that we lived on my Grandmother O’Malley’s farm when Conn was a horse. Everything was easier because we had enough land to spread out. I could ignore his big poops without feeling any guilt.”

Fiona started giggling. A smile formed on my mouth even though I had no idea why. It was hard to drive, though. I kept wanting to look at her. “I’m glad ya think Conn brooding in dog form is funny.”

“No, I was laughing at how strange our family is. This conversation is beyond bizarre. I can’t imagine having it with anyone but you.”

I soberly nodded. “Which is why I’m okay that ya’re laughing. With the O’Malleys, not laughing is the surest way for the craziness to get to ya.”

Fiona turned to look out the window. “Do you think I’ll ever find a guy who can handle all my craziness?”

Ah... the mystery was now solved for what was eating at her. I glanced her way. “Are Conn and I why ya broke up with yer Daniel fellow?”

“No. Not at all,” Fiona admitted with an even deeper sigh. “Daniel wanted to know everything about me... and us. When I saw him after his memories were removed, I realized his ignorance of magick was why I liked him so much. Since he didn’t handle Dad well, I decided he wouldn’t handle meeting you well, either. So I pretended to be interested in Murray and that was the end of things.”

I frowned at her confession. “Yer father was good about the crazy stuff from the beginning. Of course, now I know it was all part of his work to accept such things about me. But back then I believed he truly didn’t mind who and what I was. It was a serious blow to my ego to discover yer father was drawn to my powers more than he was to me. It was another sadness to learn that his demon hunter council girlfriend came before me, during me, and after me. That woman is probably his true love, but it makes me mad I fell for him when he wasn’t really mine.”

“Your stories about you and Dad make me feel worse for you.”

I chuckled dryly. “I promise I’m not telling ya sad tales of my love life to discourage ya from dating. One day ya’ll find men who won’t blink at what ya consider to be yer crazy life. But I hope ya’re a lot smarter than I was, Fiona, and that ya wait to commit untilafterhe’s shown his true nature to ya.”

Fiona shrugged. “I liked Murray, Mom. He was great. And very good looking for a man with pointy ears.”

My grin was wide. “Good Goddess, Murray’s nearly as old as The Dagda. Ya can’t even do the math on how much older the fairy folk are than us.”

Fiona smirked. “Maybe he’s older in years, but Murray doesn’tlookold. I could live with his advanced age in those circumstances.”

My laughter filled the car. “Look... I wouldn’t normally tell ya this much of my woman business, but ya need to heed my advice here. Murray asked to bed me, Fiona, which was only one of many reasons I warned him not to flirt with ya. Fairy folk are randy and the men are sometimes irresistible. But they aren’t loyal to women by nature—not even their own kind. Nor do they bother to pretend to be when they woo ya. They are what they are.”

Fiona groaned. “Can’t you let me keep my illusions about him?”

“No. Ya’re going to run into many good-looking men in yer life but use extreme caution in choosing bed partners who aren’t non-magickal humans. I certainly won’t stop ya from sampling, though. Goddess knows I did my fair share of that before yer father came along.”

“Please stop ruminating,” Fiona begged, cupping her hands over her ears.

My laughter was loud. “Would ya rather I lie to ya and let ya find out the hard way?”

“Yes,” Fiona declared, dropping her hands. “I’d like to date someone and not worry about his ulterior motives.”

Fair enough, I decided, especially when ya were twenty instead of forty. When I thought about dating from my daughter’s perspective, suspecting every male wasn’t a laughing matter.

My total discomfort with worrying about her love life was precisely why I’d let my daughter navigate hers alone and make her own mistakes. Such things were best kept private, in my opinion.

My sigh was loud in the confines of the car. “I’m truly sorry that life is not easier for ya. Dating comes with all kinds of challenges, but it also should be fun. Getting to know a man shouldn’t feel like a job. When it gets like that, all a woman wants is to be left alone.”

Fiona, who’d inherited many of Jack’s worst traits, smoothly turned me into the topic of conversation. “Speaking of dating, Mom, why hasn’t Rasmus returned?”

I let my shoulders rise and fall. “I honestly don’t know. Maybe he decided the same things about me that ya decided about Daniel.”

“Yeah—no,” Fiona said sternly before she laughed. “Rasmus was totally gone on you. It was in his whole body.”

“Well, maybe I’m too young for him then. I know ya think I’m ancient at forty, but to someone like Rasmus I probably seem like a whiny teenage girl.”