The biker didn\u2019t move for a long moment.<\/p>\n
The photograph trembled slightly in his hand.<\/p>\n
The sunset light turned softer, like it didn\u2019t want to interrupt what was happening.<\/p>\n
He finally looked at the little girl again.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmily\u2026\u201d he repeated, quieter this time.<\/p>\n
Like saying it too loud might break something.<\/p>\n
The girl nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s my mom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
Not empty.<\/p>\n
Heavy.<\/p>\n
The biker slowly lowered the photograph onto his lap.<\/p>\n
His eyes stayed locked on the girl\u2019s face now.<\/p>\n
Not searching.<\/p>\n
Recognizing.<\/p>\n
Like pieces he had been missing were finally clicking into place.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does she tell you about me?\u201d he asked carefully.<\/p>\n
The girl shifted her feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe says\u2026\u201d she paused, thinking.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026you used to ride a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
A faint, almost painful smile crossed his face.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did.\u201d<\/p>\n
The girl stepped a little closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd she says you left before the storm got really bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
That made him still again.<\/p>\n
Wind moved across the diner parking lot.<\/p>\n
Motorcycles clinked softly in the distance.<\/p>\n
The biker looked down for a moment.<\/p>\n
Then asked in a low voice,<\/p>\n
\u201cIs she\u2026 okay?\u201d<\/p>\n
The girl hesitated.<\/p>\n
Just for a second too long.<\/p>\n
Then nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe always waits at the window when the sun gets like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The biker slowly exhaled.<\/p>\n
Like he had been holding that breath for years.<\/p>\n
He looked back at the photograph once more.<\/p>\n
Then at the girl.<\/p>\n
And this time, his voice was different.<\/p>\n
Not lost.<\/p>\n
Not searching.<\/p>\n
Just certain.<\/p>\n
\u201cTake me to her.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The biker didn\u2019t move for a long moment. The photograph trembled slightly in his hand. The sunset light turned softer, like it didn\u2019t want to interrupt what was happening. He finally looked at the little girl again. \u201cEmily\u2026\u201d he repeated, quieter this time. Like saying it too loud might break something. The girl nodded. \u201cShe\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":7005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}