“No, I’m sure he loves it here. There are no drugs being dealt or bullies trying to beat him up.”

Madison’s steps faltered. “Drugs? Don’t tell me—”

“Mom!” Jake ran toward Sherry with his arms spread, ready to be swept off his feet.

“Baby, I told you not to run.” Sherry rushed to pick him up.

“And? How was your first day?” Madison asked.

“It was great!” After a few seconds, he started squirming. “Mom, let me down. I want to tell Tony bye.”

Sherry let him down. “Tony?”

Jake pointed to a boy about his age. “Tony Burlinski. My best friend.”

Sherry and Madison grinned at each other.

That was fast. Sherry smiled. “Hello, Tony.”

“Hello, Mrs. Miller.”

“It’s Ms. Miller,” Sherry corrected.

Tony frowned. “Don’t you have a husband?”

Jake took Madison’s hand. “She has Rita Mae and Madison.”

“But—”

A woman appeared behind them. “Tony, what’s taking you so long?”

Tony wrapped an arm around Jake. “This is my new best friend, Jake.”

“What happened with Bradley?”

“He’s dumb. He just cares about Sally and her stupid horse.” Tony smiled up at Sherry. “This is Jake’s mom, and this is…” He looked with a lost expression at Madison.

Sherry extended her hand. “I’m Sherry Miller. Nice to meet you.”

The woman took Sherry’s hand. “Dolores Burlinski. Nice to meet you too.”

It hit her like a baseball bat. Their charade had to be played here as well. Just say it. Sherry half-turned to Madison. “And this is my…my partner, Madison Fielding.”

“Partner? In what kind of busin—” Mrs. Burlinski had taken Madison’s hand but now let go as if she’d been burned. “Oh. I see.” She pulled Tony away from Jake. “Please excuse us. We’re running late.”

Tony shrugged and allowed his mother to drag him away.

“Want to tell us about your first day?” Madison asked.

Sherry was still looking after Mrs. Burlinski and her son. This woman’s obvious distaste for their pretend relationship made her stomach drop. Hopefully, Jake wouldn’t experience any repercussions because his mother was thought to be a lesbian.

“Sherry, you coming?”

“Huh?” When she turned, Madison and Jake had already walked to the car. “On my way.”

“And then Sally told Paul that he’s an idiot and…”

Madison tuned out the rest of the tale. Jake had barely taken a breath between all his stories. How much more could he have to say about his first day at school?

“Did you learn something too or were you just talking with the other kids?” Sherry asked.

“We had history and English, oh, and math. Math was cool.”

Over her shoulder, Madison asked, “Did you have problems keeping up?”

Jake gave Madison a look as if she had insulted him.