“I have to go into work for a little bit today. Do you have time to pick up Ruth from the hospital?” I ask.

“I thought you had today off,” Chase says. “We were going to spend some time together.”

“I do. There’s just something I need to check on.” Buster’s family conference is today, though Morris waved me off when I volunteered to attend.

“It’s probably better that you take a rest from this one,” he said. “Take Monday for yourself. The Floyd case seems to have worked its way under your skin.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“Just that these meetings are fraught at the best of times. We need diffusers in this room, not … the opposite. We’ve got Frank, Evelyn, their lawyer, the maternal grandmother, and me. That’s plenty.”

Minerva’s missing it, too. She’s off on a three-week trip to Paris.

“Can’t you reschedule it, Morris?” she asked, the day before she was due to fly out. “I really feel it’s important I’m there in the room.”

“It’s been a month, Minerva. That’s long enough,” Morris said. “We won’t get anything sorted anyway. You know how these things go.”

He’s right. Family conferences are an unnecessary emotional stepping-stone on the inevitable road to a day in court. So rarely do birth parents show up to family conferences with an evolved, selfless outlook and agree that their child would do better growing up with a relative. Mostly the meetings just create more turmoil. But still, Morris refuses to sidestep them, and I feel the need to be in the office for this one, just in case.

“Okay,” Chase says now, sipping his newly made coffee. “I can get Ruth.”

“Thank you,” I say. “She’s being discharged at one p.m. I love you. Don’t worry.”

Honestly, though, I should be saying it to myself. With Ruth’s due date looming and Buster’s family conference, I have way more on my plate than he does, way more to worry about. There are moments when I wonder how I’m managing to keep going.

I haven’t seen Buster since the removal, and I haven’t been privy to any of the supervised visits. As lead social worker on the file, Minerva attended them all, but Morris assured me Buster was doing great. Smashing, was how he put it. Don’t worry, Alex, Granny’s got it covered. Buster is thriving.