the price prohibitively expensive for Daisy. Or that the woman had insisted on giving him numbers of prospective shelters. Daisy might be an unwelcome impediment to his plans, but … she was here. He might not be capable of the deeper emotions other people felt, but he also tried to avoid trampling on those feelings whenever possible.

      For some reason, he was pretty sure that Daisy would feel things multiplied by three. Which made dealing with her three times more difficult, especially since, sooner or later, she would probably have to face the fact that Romeo would need a new owner. Why he was putting off the inevitable when he didn’t have time to waste was a mystery to him, one he didn’t want to examine too closely. The answer was probably complicated, and he couldn’t afford complications here. Still …

      “We’ll keep looking,” he repeated.

      “Thank you,” she said, but her voice still sounded slightly faint. “Hopefully, we can find something quickly, and you and I can get past this and end our association.”

      “That was … very polite. I know that you don’t like this situation any more than I do.”

      “No. I don’t like being indebted to anyone and I’m not happy about the situation, but I appreciate the fact that you had the right to kick us out immediately and you didn’t.”

      “Maybe I just didn’t want my name splashed all over the headlines as a greedy jerk who threw old people out on the street.”

      She blinked as if she’d never thought of that, and he almost wanted to smile.

      “I never thought of that,” she said, confirming his suspicions. “Is that why you let us stay?”

      “I don’t know.” It was true. The thought had certainly crossed his mind, but he wasn’t certain it was the only reason, and, like so many things with Daisy, the truth was complicated. Parker wished he’d stop having that thought. He grimaced.

      She nodded. “Okay. I won’t probe. Was that all you came for? To tell me about Romeo?”

      “Not exactly.” After his brief foray into Aunt Mathilda’s possessions, he’d concluded that there was little of her history to be found here. Absolutely nothing about her link to his family. The diary seemed to point to a chaotic life, but it had been written recently, and most recently his aunt had been running a chapel and housing Daisy and her crew. Nothing was clear … which might slow down his investigation. It also made her more interesting: a secret puzzle piece from his past, but also a possible Pandora’s box.