Sliding the pancake onto a plate, she fired up another one, pouring the Bisquick in with a ladle. The kitchen was too small for a table, so they used the overhang off the counter as one, tucking stools beneath it and sitting at the stretch of Formica for every meal.

“Ready to flip number two?”

“Yup!”

She and Robbie counted it down together, and she executed another Flying Wallenda with the pancake…and her beautiful angel of a son smiled up at her like she was the sun in his world again.

Marie-Terese delivered his plate to him and then took a seat in front of the salad she’d made herself earlier. As they ate, she glanced over at the stack of mail on the counter and knew without opening it what the bills would add up to. Two of them were big boys: She’d had to put both the private investigator she’d used to find Robbie and the law firm she’d hired to get a divorce on a payment plan, because $127,000 wasn’t the kind of thing she could write a check for. Naturally, payment plans involved interest, and unlike credit cards, default wasn’t an option: She was taking no chances that P.I. or those lawyers would try to find her. As long as she paid on time, there was no reason for her current location to come to light.

And she always sent money orders that were mailed from Manhattan.

After eighteen months, she was about three-quarters through what she owed, but at least Robbie was safe and with her, and that was all that mattered.

“You are better than her.”

Marie-Terese refocused. “Excuse me?”

“That waitress just dropped all the food on her tray.” Robbie pointed to the little TV screen. “You would never do that.”

Marie-Terese looked over at an ad featuring a harried woman having a bad day working at a diner. Her hair was a frizz bomb, her uniform spackled with ketchup, her name tag off-kilter.

“You’re a better waitress, Mom. And cook.”

Abruptly, the scene changed so that Harried Waitress was now in a pink bathrobe on a white sofa, submerging her aching feet in a vibrating pool. The expression on her face was pure bliss, the product obviously relieving her aching soles.

“Thanks, baby,” Marie-Terese said roughly.

The commercial flipped into order-now mode, an eight-hundred number appearing under the price of $49.99 as an announcer said, “But wait! If you call now, it will cost you only $29.99!” While a red arrow started to flash next to the price, he demanded, “Isn’t this a steal?” and the happy, relaxed waitress came back on and said, “Yes, it is!”

“Come on,” Marie-Terese cut in. “Time for a bath.”

Robbie slid off the stool and took his plate to the dishwasher. “I don’t need help anymore, you know. I can take my own bath.”

“I know.” God, he was growing up fast. “Just make sure you—”