Bobbi shrugged. “Sometimes.”
Okay, then. Moving day continued while the parrot supervised. The girl stayed.
I stood there longer than necessary and pretended I was evaluating the box labels.
I still didn’t think about Liam.
Bobbi talked while I untaped a box. She filled the room without effort, spouting off facts about parrots, observations about how tape dispensers were poorly designed, questions about whether my bookshelf was organized by genre or color or spite.
Markie screamed every time she paused.
“PLEASE HOLD,” he yelled.
Bobbi corrected him. “That phrase is for waiting, not yelling.”
“FUCKING WAIT,” Markie replied.
She considered this. “Rude, but closer to what it should be.”
I snorted before I could stop myself.
Footsteps suddenly rushed down the walkway. “Bobbi!”
A woman appeared at the door, hair half loose, bag slipping off one shoulder, chest rising and falling too quickly. She took in the scene in one sweep. Boxes. Bird. Me. Bobbi.
Her shoulders dropped an inch when she spotted her daughter.
“There you are,” she said to Bobbi, then she turned to me. “I’m so sorry.”
Bobbi winced. “I told you I was fine.”
“I know,” her mom said. “You were not.”
She turned to me, already apologizing. “She elopes. We’re working on it. I turned my back for one second.”
She held out her hand for me to shake, “Mei Xu.”
“It’s fine,” I said, taking her hand. “I’m Zoey.”
Mei’s face said it was not fine. She had a careful smile and tired lines around her eyes. She looked like a woman who lived on alert and slept with one ear cocked and one eye open.
“She should have asked before exploring,” she said. “She’s also not supposed to bother people.”
Bobbi opened her mouth.
“She’s welcome anytime,” I said. “Truly.”
They both froze. For a second I did too, surprised at my comfortability with an open invitation.
But Bobbi wasn’t asking for anything I couldn’t choose to give. A kid wanting something from me was different from another adult wanting something from me. I was sure there was a shitload to unpack there about my own childhood trauma.
“She didn’t bother me,” I added. “She startled me. But other than that, no bothering.”
Mei let out a short laugh that sounded like relief. “Thank you. I promise we’ll be better.”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “Just knock next time.”
Bobbi nodded. “I can do that.”
