He looked down at her.
Then at the photograph.
He could have said yes.
Children liked certainty.
Adults liked pretending they could provide it.
Instead:
“I’m going to do everything I can to help the people looking for her.”
The girl’s face fell slightly.
He continued:
“And I’m not going anywhere until we know where she is.”
That seemed to matter more.
She nodded.
The older biker came around the booth.
He stopped several feet away.
The child looked at him.
The first biker said:
“He knew your mom when she was little too.”
The older biker smiled sadly.
“She used to steal french fries off my plate.”
The girl blinked.
“Mom hates fries.”
Both men stared at her.
Then the older biker laughed.
“No.”
“She does.”
“Your mother once ate half a basket and blamed a dog.”
“There wasn’t a dog.”
the first biker added.
The child’s mouth opened.
The first biker felt the smallest movement of joy through everything else.
There were stories.
He still had stories.
He had not realized how badly he needed someone to want them.
The front door opened.
The older woman from the sedan entered.
She looked to be in her late sixties, bundled in a navy coat, silver hair tucked beneath a knitted cap.
Her eyes immediately found the girl.
Then the bikers.
Then the photograph on the table.
She approached cautiously.
The child said:
“I found him.”
The woman looked at the first biker.
“You’re her grandfather?”
He nodded.
“Apparently.”
The neighbor did not smile.
Good.
He liked her immediately.
She stepped between him and the girl by half a pace.
Protective.
“I’m the one who drove her.”
“Thank you.”
“I almost didn’t.”
“Probably smart.”
She studied him.
“You know her mother?”
“She’s my daughter.”
“How long since you spoke?”
There it was.
Not:
How emotional are you?
Not:
How sad.
A practical question.
“Twenty years.”
The woman’s eyebrows rose.
“Twenty?”
“Almost.”
“And she told her daughter to find you?”
“That’s what I’m trying to understand.”
The neighbor looked toward the child.
“She gave me an envelope last month.”
The biker’s head turned.
“What envelope?”
The girl looked surprised.
“You didn’t tell him?”
The neighbor shook her head.