Amelie stood in the middle of the grocery aisle, the fluorescent lights buzzing faintly above her. One hand gripped the cart while the other held a slightly crumpled list, her neat handwriting squeezed into every corner of the page.

“Okay… milk, bread, cereal… diapers— no, he doesn’t need those anymore,” she muttered under her breath, crossing it off with a small, tired smile.

Luke sat in the cart seat, swinging his legs and humming to himself, completely unaware of the quiet math running behind his mother’s eyes.

Two hundred dollars.

Her thumb rubbed over the edge of her paycheque receipt tucked into her pocket. Rent had already taken its bite. Bills were waiting. That left this — stretching every dollar into meals, snacks, maybe something small that would make Luke’s face light up.

She glanced at the price tag on the cereal box, hesitated, then compared it to the cheaper brand on the lower shelf.

“Mommy?” Luke piped up softly. “Can we get the dinosaur nuggets?”

Amelie swallowed, glancing between the box in his hands and her list again.

She offered him a gentle smile. “Let’s see what we can do, okay?”