Page 117 of Running to You

She opened her arms, and Eliza fell into them.

They hugged for a long, long time, then Mom held her shoulders and stepped back. “Thank God you’re home.”

“Not quite,” Eliza said. “Almost.”

Mom barely registered those words, dropping to her knees.

The smile she wore… Eliza hadn’t seen that smile in years. Maybe not since before Kristen died. “And you must be Levi.”

Eliza’s little tow-headed boy nodded.

“I’m your grandmother, and I’m so excited to meet you.” She opened her arms and held them wide, an invitation.

When Levi stepped in and Mom wrapped him in her arms, tears dripped down her cheeks and off her chin.

Eliza had expected…well, what she always expected with her mother. Censure. Disapproval. She’d expected to hear a lecture about everything she’d done wrong and lots and lots of advice about how she could fix her life. She’d been prepared for that, willing to endure it to restore this relationship.

But when Mom looked up at her, only joy shone on her face. From her purse, she pulled a stuffed blue-and-white toy with the UNH logo on the side and gave it to Levi. “It’s a wildcat.”

He grinned, showing all his baby teeth. “Thanks.” He beamed at her, then at Eliza. “See, Mommy?”

She touched the soft fur, then ruffled her son’s curly hair. “It’s so soft.”

He hugged the toy to his chest.

Mom stood and pulled Eliza into another hug. “He’s beautiful. Perfect. And I…I’ve missed so much. But we can only go forward.” Mom’s smile was gone when she backed away. “You’ll find us?”

“As soon as I can. You got a new phone?”

“Yes, and disconnected the old one, for now. And got off all social media this morning. Just in case. They probably can’t track me if I’m not on the app, but better safe than sorry.”

Mom was leaning toward paranoid, and Eliza didn’t mind. Better that than cavalier. Mom gave her the new phone number, and Eliza programmed it into the disposable she’d bought in Denver.

“You’re going to see Sam?”

“I have to,” Eliza said. “I know you disapprove, but—”

“If you need his help, then go and get it. Get him.” Her eyes…twinkled. Who was this woman? “You two were good together. I wish I could… I was wrong about him. About a lot of things.”

Eliza had never heard her mother admit she was wrong about anything.

Her surprise must have shown on her face because Mom laughed. A real, honest-to-goodness laugh. “Shocked you, have I?” Her amusement faded as she took Eliza’s hand. “I’ve spent the last few years trying to become the kind of mother you’d want to come home to.”

“Oh, Mom.” Eliza pulled her mother close again, wanting nothing more than to disappear with these two people she loved so much. But the past would catch up with her. She couldn’t run away this time.

After Kristen’s death, they’d run from Arkansas.

After the breakup with Sam, she’d run to Utah.

This time, she was going to face it. Deal with it. And then she could step into her future free of the past, not weighed down by it.

The memory dissipated, and Eliza blinked. They were on a highway surrounded by fields that went on for miles and miles. Mountains rose straight ahead of them, shocking in their grandeur against the flat, flat land.

Sam was twisted in his seat, watching her. “You remembered something.”

“I know where my mom is.” And Levi. “She’s safe.”

“In Florida?”