She told me when I sounded like I was managing a transaction rather than listening to her.

There were disagreements.

Some evenings we went to separate rooms because the conversations exhausted us.

Other nights she came to my study, and we shared dinner without discussing the audit at all.

One Saturday she took me to a flea market and taught me how to examine old furniture joints.

I bought a battered rocking chair she said could be restored.

We sanded it together in the garage, getting dust on our sleeves and arguing over the proper shade of stain.