Page 814 of End Game

Because there really isn’t anything to add.

The doorbell rings.

Ronan checks the time.

And somehow that feels like an answer too.

Ronan

The notary is three minutes early.

I approve.

Three minutes is enough to indicate professionalism without creating the logistical problem of arriving before everyone is prepared.

Dex thinks this is evidence that I am fundamentally broken.

Dex thinks many things.

The signing service the attorney sent includes the notary and a witness for the documents that require one. Everything is tabbed, flagged, and arranged in the order we are supposed to sign.

I appreciate the attorney almost as much as I resent the circumstances under which we met her.

After Cami’s hospitalization, we handled the immediate problems first. Emergency contacts were updated. Medical information permissions were corrected where they could be. Everyone made sure somebody else knew where essential information lived.

Then Alexis gave Cami the name of the attorney Ethan and Jeremiah use.

The first thing the woman said to me was, “Oh, yes. Ethan told me you’d be calling.”

I disliked that immediately.

The second problem came when Griffin asked about the retainer.

“Mr. Laugherty already took care of it.”

Griffin and I objected simultaneously.

Dex, who had been sitting beside Micah, said, “Pretty sure that’s why he didn’t ask.”

Unfortunately, he was correct.

The attorney was absurdly expensive.

She charged more per hour than any of us make in a day.

She also heard five-person polycule and responded with, “All right. Tell me what you want protected,” rather than asking questions that had nothing to do with the law.

Worth the money.

Even if it was not technically ours.

The process since then has taken weeks.

Drafts. Revisions. Questions. More revisions.

Griffin focused heavily on medical access and the house. Micah caught inconsistencies in language the rest of us skimmed past. Cami cared most about making sure nobody could be excluded from information in an emergency.

Dex read everything.