The nurse smiled and handed him the ice cream. “Here, Jake. We’ll miss you. You’re such a nice kid.” She caressed his head and turned to Madison. “And you are?”

“Madison Fielding. His mother is my partner.”

“Oh, I s—”

The door flew open again. This time Sherry entered, followed by Rita Mae. When she saw Madison, she came to an abrupt halt. “Madison.”

“Um, yeah. Hi.”

The nurse looked back and forth between them as if watching a tennis match.

She’s thinking we’re a couple. Do something! Madison jumped out of her chair, hurried over to Sherry, and bent down to give her a chaste kiss on the cheek. Hopefully, Sherry wouldn’t freak out. But when Madison straightened, Sherry was staring at her as if she had two heads.

If this was her reaction to Madison’s platonic touch, she probably would totally lose it as soon as she learned where she’d be sleeping from now on.

Madison pointed to the two battered suitcases. “That’s all?”

Sherry nodded, still dazed.

“Great. Well, then, let’s go.” Usually, she wouldn’t even have thought about carrying the luggage, but she needed something to do right now. Anything. With both suitcases in hand, she marched ahead.

Madison opened the door to her apartment and entered first. “Here we are.”

A long hall, ending in a huge room, stretched out in front of them. Sherry couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw the city skyline ahead.

“Wow!” Jake shouted and ran toward the floor-to-ceiling window.

“Baby, I told you not to run.”

Jake stopped and almost fell in the process. With his head hanging, he shuffled back to them. “Sorry, Mom.” Instead of going to Sherry, he went to Madison, who had just put the luggage down.

With a slight hesitation, he shoved his hand into Madison’s, who in return eyed him as if he might have a deadly disease.

Jake seemed oblivious to it; he smiled at her and asked, “Will you show us around?”

Rita Mae tromped past Sherry and took Jake’s other hand. “First we’ll bring the suitcases into our rooms.”

Madison, who had wrapped her hand around Jake’s, maybe in an unconscious gesture, let go of him and took a huge step away. “Sure.”

Sherry closed the front door. The click of it sounded in her ears strangely like prison doors. At least that’s how she imagined it to sound. A feeling of being trapped surged through her.

“I’d like to unpack first. Are you gonna tell me where, or should I start right here?” Rita Mae pointed to the spot where she was standing.

Madison rubbed her hands on her pant legs as if the luggage—or Jake—had made them dirty.

Or was she sweating? Was she as nervous as Sherry?

Madison looked at Rita Mae and pointed to a door to their right. “That’s your room.”