Page 11 of Her Summer Hope

“Madison…” he started, leaning forward again and resting his elbows on his desk. He stopped and considered what he was about to say, and she knew it wasn’t going to be good.

“I can’t give you any more hours. In fact, if I’m completely honest, I can’t even afford the hours you have now. The shop is not going under, but we’re in a recession, and with the inflation, people are spending less and they certainly aren’t buying books when they can’t even afford food.”

He looked tired and she noticed the circles under his eyes. “I wish I could hire you full-time. I wish I could give you a raise. You are a wonderful worker and the way you care for your kids…well, if anyone deserves more, it’s you.”

She slumped against the door, accepting the praise with a defeated smile. She couldn’t speak, her throat was too full.

“I could loan you the money,” he said, tentatively, but she knew every extra cent he had went to his brother’s family. His sister-in-law was battling cancer, and the medical bills were more than they could afford.

“No, thank you though. I appreciate the thought,” she assured him before leaving.

She barely made it to the bathroom before the sobs burst from her chest. It all crowded in—all the agony and the despair and the uncertainty of the last year and a half.

Every part of it hurt.

∞∞∞

“No, see here? You’ve got to multiply both of these to get an equivalent fraction. What you do to the numerator, you have to apply to the denominator,” she explained to Ellie.

Ellie frowned and nodded before correcting the mistake.

“Okay, did you practice your factor trees like I showed you?” Madison asked, trying to put everything else out of her mind and give Ellie’s math lesson her full attention. It wouldn’t be fair to the girl to compromise her education just because she was feeling hopeless.

This was Ellie’s future.

“Yep,” Ellie said, pulling her notebook from her binder and showing her mom.

Madison studied the little girl’s work, noting the precise writing and the accuracy. “Very good!”

Ellie beamed and was about to ask something when Jackson crawled under the table and shot up into a chair. “I think you need to teach me about denominations,” he said seriously.

“Denominators,” Madison corrected, hiding a smile. “And I will.”

“When?” he demanded.

“Soon.”

“That’s very vague, Madison,” he said, propping his chin on his hands.

She snorted. “You’re seven and you don’t know your multiplication tables yet. You’re too young for ‘denominations’ and I’m your mother. You don’t call your mother by her first name.”

“You did,” Ellie said.

Madison frowned. “That’s different.”

“If I can divide a sandwich into quarters for me and James, then I think I can handle some numberators,” he argued.

Madison smiled. “I think you’re right. I’ll start teaching you fractions. I’m sorry, Jacks. I’m just a bit tired tonight.”

“Cool beans,” he said, making Ellie laugh.

They bickered back and forth about schoolwork while Madison cleaned up the supplies and started on supper. Emmie was napping, but she’d be awake again soon. The older she got, the more she was awake. She was also hitting a growth spurt and wanted to eat more often than usual.

She hoped her milk supply didn’t start to suffer from her slight calorie restriction and poor nutrition. She had extra pounds to spare, but the kids needed every vitamin and mineral they could get.

It all felt like too much sometimes. Most nights she was so tired by the end that she nodded off while sitting up.

“James!” she called, noticing the boy had been quieter than usual.

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