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life, not on what was bad. Aidan was number one on the list. He looked up at me and smiled, snuggling even closer to me.
    “Mommy, would you like a piece of chocolate?”
    I smiled back and nodded. He stood up, reached into his pocket, and pulled out the bag, handing it to me to tear open. I handed it back to him and he picked out a brown M&M for me, smiling broadly when I chewed exaggeratedly and gave a blissful sigh.
    “I know you like chocolate, Mommy. I do, too, but not as much as you do.”
    “What do you like more than I do, honey?” Besides your father.
    “Pokémon, pizza, movies, drawing, Teen Titans .” He rattled them off as if he had been preparing his answer for weeks. Why haven’t you asked me before, Mommy?
    “What do you like?”
    Just what I was wondering myself.
    “You.”
    He frowned. “I know that already.”
    “Um . . .” British men with dimples, not having to worry about the bills, faithful husbands . . . the usual. “Peanut butter, books, coffee, jewelry. Sleeping. I think that’s it. Besides you, of course.”
    He flung the blanket off us and jumped off the couch with a look that made me say oh, no in my head. “Then I’m going to make you a special treat.”
    Images of peanut butter–smeared books wearing earrings swam through my head. I got up off the couch, too, even though I was pretty darn cozy. And my favorite part of Toy Story was coming up, the part where the toy dinosaur complained about his short little arms.
    I followed him into the kitchen. He was already dragging a chair so he could reach my coffee beans.
    “Let me help you with that, honey.”
    “I can do it,” he replied in his best I’m-six-and-totally-competent voice. He tried to open the jar of beans but couldn’t figure out the vacuum seal.
    “Let me.” I opened it, then grabbed a bowl and placed a handful of beans into it. “That should be enough, right?” Before he could respond, I hoisted the beans back up onto their shelf, so he wouldn’t waste them. Given a choice between him and the beans, I knew I’d pick him, but I also knew I wouldn’t be too nice about it. He’d be scared by my no-caffeine Mommy face.
    “Go back and sit down. It’s a surprise.” He pushed me out of the kitchen and down the hall.
    I was snuggled back under the throw when he came back and handed me his special treat with a triumphant grin.
    “Oh, Aidan, a peanut butter coffee bean sandwich. Thanks, honey.” He pulled a book out from behind his back—that damn The Ambassadors again—with another wide smile. “And I brought you a book to read, too.”
    “Thanks, honey.”
    “And Mommy?”
    “Mm?” Actually, the sandwich wasn’t half bad, once I got over the gritty crunch of the beans.
    “Can we get a pet? I mean, now that Daddy’s moved out?” I bit my tongue before I suggested we replace Daddy with a rat.
    Ah, the sandwich had an ulterior motive. “A pet?”
    “Yeah. Maybe a tarantula, or a snake, or an elephant.”
    “An elephant wouldn’t fit.”
    “Or a cat. Grammy has a cat.” Grammy’s kinda on Mommy’s hate list right now, honey.
    “Mommy’s allergic. Maybe a turtle?”
    “Turtles are boring.”
    I thought for a minute. I sure as hell didn’t want a spider or a snake roaming around. “Maybe we can get a special kind of cat.” That weird-looking hypoallergenic one. It would be a cat, though. “We’ll have to see.”
    He grinned and hugged me. For that kind of hug, I’d have gladly sneezed my head off.
    And the dinosaur had just tried to scare someone with his fearsomeness.
    To Infinity . . . And Beyond!
     
    Aidan had finally fallen asleep, after pondering—and discarding—about a hundred possible names for the as-yet-unfound cat. He’d finally decided on Beast, after his favorite Teen Titans character, Beast Boy, which I thought would be pretty appropriate, given how hideous the cat would probably look.
    I turned on the computer and found the teaching fellows’ website. The deadline for