“Looks that way. I’m keeping my office in LA, but this is where Kara wants to be, so it’s where I want to be, too.” He offered a sheepish grin and a shrug. “Plus, I seem to have a practice here since Jim Sturgil was charged with a felony.” He held up the hand that bore a healing pink scar across the palm where Jim had sliced him with a carving knife during Dan and Kara’s engagement party.

“I still can’t believe he did that,” Maddie said. “He’s lost his mind.”

“He stands to lose a lot more than that,” Dan said. “My contact in the attorney general’s office tells me they’re going for prison time for the assault with a deadly weapon charge.”

“Wow,” Maddie said on a long exhale. “Poor Ashleigh. How could he do this to his daughter?”

Mac took hold of her hand and gave it a squeeze. Jim Sturgil had done a lot of things to his wife and daughter that Mac couldn’t believe, beginning with leaving them in an empty house after he moved out and took most of what they’d owned with him. The assault on Dan, whom he’d accused of ruining his law practice, was the latest in a long string of bad moves by his former brother-in-law. Thank goodness Tiffany was happily remarried to Blaine Taylor now, and Ashleigh would have Blaine’s influence in her life growing up.

“So you’re here for estate planning.” Dan shuffled some papers on his desk. “I’ll confess that I haven’t done much of that since my first years out of law school, but I’m hoping it’ll be like riding a bike. I printed out some worksheets to get you started. You’ll have to list assets and other tangible property.”

“We’re mostly concerned about making sure our kids are taken care of,” Maddie said.

“After what happened to Lisa Chandler, it’s on our minds,” Mac added.

“You’re not alone in that,” Dan said. “I’ve gotten quite a few calls from other parents with the same concerns. Looks like I’m about to get back up to speed on estate planning right quick.” He reviewed the worksheets in depth with them, highlighting the areas he needed them to complete before their next meeting. “It’s all pretty straightforward.”

“Except for the part about who we want to get our kids if the worst should happen,” Maddie said. “That’s not straightforward at all.”

“What’s the issue?” Dan asked.

“We have too many candidates,” Mac said.

“That’s not a bad problem to have,” Dan said.

“No, but we’re concerned about causing divisiveness in our family by choosing one sibling over another,” Maddie said. “How do people handle that?”