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“I’m sure Vera is enjoying that immensely,” I chuckle, rolling my thumb into the ball of her foot as she gives a satisfied hum.

“I wish they’d just fuck and get it over with,” she grumbles. “I swear they fight like it’s foreplay.”

“Sounds familiar,” I tease.

She opens one eye again to peek at me. “I guess Nate just hasn’t been intolerable enough to convince Vera to fall into bed with him yet.”

“It is a gift,” I answer matter-of-factly.

I don’t miss the slight smile that curves her mouth before her eyes close again. For a moment I just watch her fingers stroke back and forth through Purrgood’s fur, glancing at him and catching him blinking at me lazily. He’s completely abandoned me at this point, considering Dani as a more desirable object of his affections, and I can’t even say I blame the guy.

“Mm. Keep doing that,” she murmurs.

“Bossy,” I tut.

“How was your meeting today? Was Alexander insufferable?”

I pause for a moment, knowing I can’t actually tell her the fine details, not that she expects me to, but there is a brief urge to do so anyway. For a moment, Ireallywant to unburden myself to her. I resume the slow stroking of her foot, deciding against it. We don’t need to complicate things between us any more than they already are by breaking any more rules.

“As much as usual,” I tell her. “Sometimes when he talks, I like to fantasize about something very large and heavy falling out of the sky and crushing him.”

“Like a piano,” Dani laughs.

My lips curl. “Or a small meteor.”

“It’s a nice dream,” she muses.

She continues to watch me as I relinquish her foot just to give my attention to the other, her brow furrowing in thought.

“What?”

She bites her lip. “I don’t want you to think I overstepped, but…”

“What is it?”

“I was looking into some old case examples on broken conservatorships today.”

I go still, my breath catching. “You were?”

“There was a case in California where the family was able to transfer the conservatorship from a father to an aunt when they found out he’d changed the parameters to her will without her consent.”

“Alexander would raise all sorts of hell if I were to go digging through my mom’s legal profile.”

“Would he have to know? Where do you think he keeps those records?”

“In his office at home, most likely. He keeps it locked up tight when he’s not using it.”

She frowns, thinking. “There was another case where a sister was able to establish via medical records that their condition had gotten better. That they no longer needed the conservatorship.”

“I’ve looked into it,” I tell her, “but my mother really hasn’t gotten any better. There’s no doubt that she needs care…just not Alexander’s.”

“Could you convince her to testify that you would be a better conservator for her?”

“We’ve talked about it,” I admit. “She always stresses that she doesn’t want to be a burden on me. Without her cooperation, it would be almost impossible.”

Dani looks frustrated, the corners of her mouth turning down and her eyes far away in thought. I can see her brain working ninety miles an hour, and I know without a doubt that it’s notsomething she’s likely to give up on. Dani is nothing if not tenacious.

“We’ll think of something,” she says determinedly. “I’ll keep looking.”