She also looked beautiful. Just as beautiful as Tina remembered from their recent time together. The years had given her face more definition, more confidence, but her long, thick hair still fell in those familiar waves that Tina remembered running her fingers through when they were children. In the photos, she was always smiling, but Tina could see something guarded in her eyes, even in the professional shots.

“Mom?” Carson appeared beside her in his pajamas, clutching his dinosaur. “Are you looking at pictures of Bette?”

Tina closed the laptop, embarrassed at being caught. “I was just… researching her law firm.”

“She looks happy,” Carson said, having caught a glimpse of the screen.

“She does.”

“But not as happy as when she was with us.”

Tina looked at her son, amazed once again by his perceptiveness. “What makes you say that?”

“Her smile is different. Like when you smile at people you don’t really know.”

The kid was eight years old and already reading people better than most adults. “Come on, let’s get you to bed. Big day tomorrow – we’re exploring your new school.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carson’s first day at P.S. 290 had been a mixture of excitement and overwhelming newness. When she’d picked him up that afternoon, he’d been quieter than usual, clutching a drawing he’d made of their apartment building.

“How was it, baby?” she’d asked as they walked to the subway.

“Different,” he’d said simply. “The kids talk really fast, and they know about things I don’t know about. Like Broadway shows and places in the city.”

“Did anyone talk to you?”

“A girl named Emma sat with me at lunch. She asked if I really came from California, and when I said yes, she wanted to know if I knew any movie stars.” Carson had smiled at the memory. “I told her no, but that my mom’s best friend is a really important lawyer.”

Tina’s heart had clenched at the casual reference to Bette as her best friend. In Carson’s mind, that’s still what she was, despite everything.

“The teacher, Mrs. Rodriguez, is nice,” he’d continued. “She let me tell the class about the different kinds of dinosaur teeth during science time. And guess what? There really is a paleontology club! They meet tomorrow, and Mrs. Rodriguez said I could join even though it’s the middle of the semester.”