Emma stared at him suspiciously.
Then she accepted it.
Rosa walked toward them.
Mateo stood just in time for his mother to slap his arm.
“Ow.”
“That is for not telling me.”
Then she hugged him so hard he nearly lost balance.
“That is for coming home.”
Emma watched.
“Grandma cried yesterday.”
Rosa turned.
“Emma.”
Mateo looked at Cole.
Cole pointed at Emma.
“She knows everything.”
Mateo laughed.
Then he crossed the parking lot toward Cole.
For a moment, the two men simply faced each other.
Cole extended his hand.
Mateo ignored it.
He hugged him.
Cole froze.
Then hugged back.
“Thank you.”
Cole shrugged.
“Ramp needed work.”
“You did more than the ramp.”
“Your kid did most of it.”
Mateo looked toward Emma.
“She usually does.”
Cole reached inside his vest.
He removed something small.
A purple butterfly patch.
Mateo stared.
“You sure?”
Cole nodded.
“Hannah would have liked her.”
Mateo took the patch.
Emma noticed immediately.
“Is that yours?”
Cole looked at her.
“Was.”
“Why Daddy gets it?”
“Because promises move.”
Emma frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Mateo crouched beside her.
“It means somebody helped Cole once.”
“So Cole helped us.”
“And someday?”
Emma thought.
“We help somebody?”
Mateo smiled.
“Exactly.”
Emma looked at Cole.
“Then you aren't done.”
Cole raised an eyebrow.
“No?”
“No.”
“You have to stay until we find somebody.”
Mateo laughed.
Cole pretended to consider.
“That could take years.”
“Okay.”
Rosa said:
“Do not invite twelve bikers to live with us.”
Cole looked across the road.
“Too late. Ben already picked the guest room.”
Ben shouted:
“I heard that!”
The crowd laughed.
Later that afternoon, after most people had gone home, Mateo sat with Emma beneath the oak tree.
Her wheelchair rested beside him.
She had insisted on sitting in the grass.
Mateo spread a blanket.
Emma leaned against his side.
The dandelions she had collected that morning were scattered between them.
Some had already become white seed heads.
Emma picked one up.
“Daddy?”
“Yeah?”
“Why did you send bikers?”
Mateo looked toward the road.
Cole’s motorcycle was still visible near the house.
“Because I needed somebody stubborn.”
“Like dandelions?”
“Exactly.”
“Grandma is stubborn.”
“Too stubborn.”
Rosa shouted from the porch:
“I HEARD THAT.”
Mateo smiled.
Emma spun the dandelion stem.
“Did Cole really save promises?”
Mateo thought.
“He helped me keep one.”