Jake rushed past Sherry and threw his hands around Madison’s hips. “Thank you so much.”

Madison stood rooted to the spot. “Um, yeah. You’re welcome.” For a second, it seemed as if Madison wanted to shove Jake away, but then she placed her hands on his shoulders and patted him awkwardly.

It was a strange feeling watching them. Gratefulness fought with distrust and worry that Madison could hurt Jake. But there was something else as well. Jealousy?

Before she could fathom her emotions, Jake let go of Madison to run back to the trunk and his toys.

“You can play with your toys now, but later you have to put everything back in the trunk, you hear?”

With an expression of concentration, he examined the rollability of one of his new toy cars on the soft carpet.

“Shall we?” Madison asked.

Sherry nodded and bent down to give Jake a kiss on the forehead. She didn’t really feel comfortable going alone with Madison, but she was mature enough to know how silly that was. Besides, it made no sense taking Jake away from his paradise now. “Baby, I’ll show you my room later, okay?”

He didn’t even look up to her. “Okay.”

Sighing, Sherry followed Madison out of the room and closed the door.

At the end of the hall, Madison gestured to her left. “This is the open kitchen, as you see.” She pointed ahead. “The living room.” Why are you commenting on the obvious, idiot? The boy had totally distracted her with his touchy-feely behavior, but that was no reason to be so nervous. Probably the true reason was her apprehension of Sherry’s reaction about their sleeping arrangement. She wasn’t happy about it either. Especially as Sherry didn’t seem to be open to a roll in the hay every now and then. But the boy would need to think they shared a bed. How else was he supposed to tell everybody that she and Sherry were a couple? If someone asked about their relationship, it had to appear to be rock solid. Besides, her cleaning lady Carmen would become suspicious if she ever found Sherry sleeping in Jake’s or Rita Mae’s bed.

“…fortune.”

“Huh?” Madison focused on Sherry, who was facing the floor-to-ceiling window. “I mean, excuse me?”

Sherry turned back to her. “I said the rent for this apartment has to be a fortune.”

“The place is mine. I don’t pay rent. Just running expenses. Don’t ask me how much. My financial adviser takes care of these things.”

Sherry looked at her for an uncomfortably long time. Finally, she nodded. “Where’s my room?”

Madison pointed toward the bedroom.

Sherry stepped past her and opened the door. “Wow. You could make two huge rooms out of it.”

True. The bedroom was the biggest room in the apartment beside the living room.