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“Jesus Christ! What? No!” She laughs and sniffles. “You’re here! What on earth could I need?”
She smiles, covers her mouth with her hand, and stares at me in awe. “Oh my God. I can’t believe you’re here. You’re really here.” I feel something shaking and realize it’s her hands on me. Her grip hasn’t loosened once.
“I can’t believe I’m here either.” I sniffle.
“Let’s go home. I want to take you home. Will you come to the house with me?”
“I have a rental car; I can follow you.”
“Sweetheart, it’s your car, or my car. I’m not leaving you. I’ve spent twenty-two years away from my baby. I’m not letting you go.”
“Your car is fine.”
I stand and help her to her feet. People are staring at us, as our reunion attracted some attention. My hand is clutched in hers. When we make it outside the doors, I inhale the cold air.This is real.She only let’s go to reach into her purse and pull out her cell phone. She taps the screen a couple of times, then holds it up to her ear. Her hand finds mine again.
“Ken—” She chokes. “I have Birdie.”
There’s silence.
“Ken! Did you hear me? I have Birdie! She’s alive, she’s here!”
“Lor—”
“I know. I swear to God, Ken. I know how it sounds, but I’m on my way back. Can you call Jack and have him meet us at home? We have to tell Lonan too. And we need to call Tim, we have a lot to figure out.”
I grin. Lonan! That’s the other boy I couldn’t remember. He was Jack’s best friend. I haven’t heard that name in a long time, pretty sure I had a crush on him growing up. That’ll be a blast from the past, I’m sure. I don’t remember Tim, though. I’ll have to ask who that is.
She holds her phone to her shoulder. “He’s crying,” she whispers, smiling. We walk across the parking lot.
“Okay, honey, I’m going to hang up now, I have to drive home.Weare coming home!” She laughs. Then she hangs up the phone and turns to me. “Are you hurt? Do we need to stop at the hospital?”
“No, I’m fine. I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, really, I’m okay.”
She points at a row of cars. “I’m over here.”
I don’t tell her I know where’s she parked because I followed her. Vehicles slowly circle the parking lot looking for a good spot, the petrichor smell of wet asphalt hangs in the air, and red carts rattle as shoppers bring purchases back to their cars. We are surrounded by the most mundane scenery, but I connected with my mom today, and I’m going home. It’s surreal to have the most overwhelming, emotional experience of my life while surrounded by people running errands.
“Who’s Tim?” I ask.
“What? Oh!”
“He’s the detective, well, chief of police now.”
“You’re on a first name basis?”
She stops and looks at me like she’s confused by my question.
“Birdie, we have been searching for you for twenty-two years. We are on a first name basis with the entire department. And the local FBI agents. And a few at headquarters too.”
We move again. “Are you okay coming home with me? I should be asking you this before deciding, I’m sorry. I’m not used to seeing you all grown up.”
“Yeah. I just... I have a lot of questions.”
“Me too, sweetheart.”
