Emma
Shopping for Alex always made me feel better. Even when things were tight, buying him something new or something cute gave me this small sense of joy. Like I was still capable. Still providing. And still winning in a world that always tried to defeat me.
So after school, I stopped by the children’s store.
“Look, Alex,” I said, holding up a tiny red sweater. “You’ll look so handsome in this.”
He grinned, already lost in the aisle of colourful storybooks.
“Mummy, I want this one!” he held up a thick picture book with a lion on the cover.
I laughed. “Only if you promise not to sleep with it on your face again.”
He giggled and nodded.
I bought the sweater, two shirts for school, a new pair of boots, and three storybooks. More than I planned. Way more. But he needed them… and I tol
