Lost & Found

The tale of an apprehensive girl

"Aiden Hawthorne," Emma heard her mother say as she took one last sip of her tea before she poured it down the sink the evening of the next support group.

Her eyes widened, wondering why the hell her mother was in the other room speaking his name. Emma hurried out of the kitchen, stopping dead in her tracks when she saw Aiden standing in the open doorway with her mother.

"Aiden—" Emma choked out.

"Hi, Emma," he said, looking bashful, his fists pushed deep inside the front pockets of his jeans.

"What—what are you doing here?" She stammered, her eyes wide with surprise.

"I figured you might need a ride. I mean, we're going to the same place, right?" He said with a passive shrug of his shoulders.

"Aw, Aiden. What a kind gesture," her mother beamed at him, then looked back at Emma with a wide, goofy smile.

"I, uh... I... yeah, I guess. But Piper's on her way already," Emma pointed out.

"Oh," Aiden said, his face dropping slightly.

"Non-sense, Emma. If Piper has a problem, she can take it up with me," her mother said, waving her hand through the air.

"I mean, yeah. Yeah," Emma nodded.

"Well... well, get going then," her mother said cheerfully, like her biggest dream in life was getting the two of them back together. A thought Emma couldn't even fathom at that point in her life. She wouldn't even know how to begin to start dating again.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll grab my purse and just... just say goodbye to Lucy," Emma said, feeling more than awkward that Aiden came there for her.

"Aiden, you look... you look fantastic," Emma heard her mother say as she made her way into the living room where Lucy was bouncing in her jumper, chewing on a teething toy.

"Thanks," Aiden said and Emma looked up to see him blushing.

"It's so wonderful that you and Emma ran into each other... you know... given the circumstances," her mother went on to say.

"Oh... yeah," Aiden said quietly.

"Bye, baby girl. I love you so much," Emma said, kissing Lucy's cheek before she grabbed her purse.

"Okay, Mom. We're going now," Emma said, cutting her off before she said anything else to add to the awkwardness that she and Aiden already felt.

"Okay, you two. Have a good night," she said as Emma walked toward the door after Aiden.

"Goodnight," Aiden said, waving back to her mother.

"Call me if—" Emma started.

"Lucy will be fine, Emma. Go," her mother said, pushing her along.

"Alright," she said, quickly looking in the house again to see Lucy happily jumping.

"Go," her mother said again, shooing her out.

"Alright," Emma said, kissing her cheek and making her way out to Aiden who stopped to wait for her on the sidewalk.

Emma smiled weakly at him, unable to really process her feelings about him showing up on her doorstep. She knew it didn't bother her – that she found herself enjoying having him back in her life. She didn't realize how much she missed him until he was there again. They shared so much together and Emma was the one to just let it all go. A part of her felt the need to make it up to him, but she didn't know if she could go there. She couldn't even fathom what it would entail to make it up to him.