I was frosting a grocery-store sheet cake that said “CONGRATS, LEO!” in blue icing when my son walked into the kitchen looking like he’d seen a ghost.

That made me put the piping bag down.

Leo was eighteen, tall, and usually easy in his own skin. But that day, he stood in the doorway, pale and tight-jawed, his phone clutched so hard I thought he might crack it.

“Hey, baby,” I said. “You look terrible. Tell me you didn’t eat Grandpa’s leftover potato salad.”

“CONGRATS, LEO!”

He didn’t crack a smile.

“Leo?”

He dragged a hand through his hair. “Mom, can you sit down? Please?”

Nobody says that casually when you’ve raised them alone.

That got me the faintest breath of a laugh.

“Not that, Mom.”

“Okay. Great. Not great, but better.”