Two feelings sprung up instantly: happiness about Jake’s incredibly beautiful room, yet also the unsettling feeling that this room was obviously meant only for him. He’d love to have his own space. It would be a first for him. And she didn’t want to be one of those mothers who couldn’t let go. But sleeping without him would be…lonely.

Sherry took a deep breath and focused on what this all meant for Jake instead of her. Taking it all in, she had to smile at the little red bed in the form of a racing car to her right. The huge room had Spiderman wallpaper all over, and it made the room surprisingly warm and friendly. Next to a red-and-blue children’s desk was a trunk in the same colors but decorated with racing-car stickers.

“Look, Mom!” Jake repeated while he touched everything he could get his hands on as if he needed to make physical contact with it all to believe it was real.

Sherry’s eyes burned suddenly, and she couldn’t stop the tears from falling.

Jake turned back to her, and his smile faltered. “Mom?”

“I’m just so happy for you, baby,” she croaked out. Never would she have been able to afford something like this for him. But now it was real. Who knows for how long? a quiet voice in her mind supplied. Even though she always tried to face reality head-on, she refused to think of the time when this arrangement would come to an end. God, what am I doing to him?

Jake rushed toward her and wrapped his tiny arms around her waist. “Please don’t cry, Mom.”

Sherry wiped the tears away with the back of her hand. “It’s fine. Really. Sometimes you cry because you’re happy, you know?” They weren’t just happy tears, but for Jake’s sake she shoved all dark thoughts away for the moment. She couldn’t do anything about them anyway.

In the past, all Jake had known were the sad kind of tears. As much as she avoided crying when he was close, Rita Mae had told her that he’d seen her shedding tears more than once.

Madison cleared her throat to get their attention.

When Sherry looked over Jake’s head at her, Madison shifted her weight and inspected her shoes as if made uncomfortable by this emotional display.

Madison signaled to the trunk beside the desk. “There’re toys inside.”

Sherry gaped. The only toys Jake owned were two teddy bears and two little toy cars.

“Really?” Jake let go of Sherry, opened the trunk, and stared down, his eyes widening. “Mom!”

Sherry inspected the trunk that was filled to the brink with Lego, toy blocks, toy cars, and every other kind of toy suitable for a boy of Jake’s age. She turned to Madison and waited until she met her gaze. “Thank you.”