Madison caught up with her and grabbed her elbow. “You’re totally overreacting.”

Sherry broke free of her touch and pressed the button.

Had she missed something? Why was Sherry’s reaction so over the top? And why had Sherry suddenly lost all respect for her? First at the Archer and now this?

Okay, at the Archer she had kind of liked it, but now Sherry had gone too far. Madison was still paying her after all.

“Did you see how she looked at us?”

“Who?”

“Mrs. Burlinski.”

“The homophobic owl?” Madison rolled her eyes. “Who cares what she thinks?”

“She’s gonna tell all the parents. What if they don’t let their kids play with Jake anymore? That would break his heart.”

“That won’t happen,” Madison said, but now Sherry’s words had made her worry too. Shoving the feeling aside, she added, “Maybe we’ll get some stares at parent-teacher conferences or stuff like that, but I really don’t think Jake will have any problems.”

Sherry shifted her weight. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because Jake is the cutest little boy there is. And everybody will want to be his friend.” Madison’s mouth snapped shut. Where had that come from? And had she just implied she would accompany Sherry to parent-teacher conferences?

The elevator doors opened, but they ignored it.

“And if not? He didn’t really have the chance to play with other kids in the past. Either they picked on him or there weren’t any to play with.”

“Why was he picked on? Because he was such a good student?”

Sherry shuffled her feet as if she was embarrassed by the answer. “There was that. You know, it’s important to me that he’s articulate, that it’s not obvious where he comes from as soon as he opens his mouth. You know that I don’t have money. And God knows he deserves better than what he’s had up till now. All I want is that he’ll have a chance in life. I want him to have all the opportunities I didn’t have.” She swallowed. “I want to teach him the importance of education. This means as much to me as him having a happy childhood. Our arrangement has the potential to give him both.” She shook her head as tears began to form in her eyes. “I don’t want him to be an outcast. Can’t you understand that?”

Madison was speechless. She hadn’t thought about what all this meant for Jake. And then there was Sherry. Yes, she was a mother. But until now, Madison hadn’t seen how hard Sherry tried to be a good one. A woman living in a trailer park, barely getting by but wanting to create a better future for her son and to give him a happy childhood. One she didn’t have herself.