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He pulled out his radio. "Description of the mother?"

Emma's face crumpled again.

"Hey, Emma, what color is your mommy's hair?" I asked gently.

"Brown. Like yours."

"And what was she wearing?"

"A red shirt with a flower."

The security guard radioed the description. "We'll find her. Happens every day. Parents always turn up."

"Do you want to sit down while we wait?" I asked Emma.

She nodded.

We sat on a nearby bench. Her ice cream dripped onto her Dolly shirt.

"Want to hear a secret?" I asked.

Emma leaned in.

"I got lost at a theme park once too. When I was about your age. My dad found me at the lost and found, eating cookies the staff gave me. He said I looked very happy for someone who was supposed to be scared."

Emma giggled. "Were you scared?"

"A little. But the cookie helped."

"I don't have a cookie."

"Well, you have ice cream. That's even better."

A blonde woman in a red shirt with a sunflower on it came sprinting across the parking lot. Of course she was blonde like me, I laughed to myself.

"Emma!"

"Mommy!" Emma launched herself off the bench.

They collided in a hug that made something twist in my stomach. The ice cream cone smashed between them. I knew the mom didn't care.

The mother looked up, tears streaming down her face. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

"She's a brave kid. She stayed calm."

"I told her to wait. I told her not to run off." The mother was talking to me but holding Emma like she might disappear again. "I turned around and she was just gone."

"She's safe now. That's what matters."

The security guard approached. "Need anything else from me?"

"No, we're good. Thank you."

The mother shifted Emma to her hip. "Can I at least get your name? So I can really thank you?"

"It's fine. Really. Just give her an extra hug for me."

I walked away before she could insist. My hands shook. That little girl's tears, the mother's relief. It was too much. Too real. Too close to the fear I'd been carrying for days.