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to get my emotions in check.
    “Granny
loves you,” he said, his eyes holding steady on my face as if he were determined
to make sure that I understood.
    I
nodded again, exhaling loudly.  “I know.  I love y’all, too.”
    Dropping
my eyes to my lap, I slid my finger along the back of his hand.  “I just wish
that at least one of my parents wanted something to do with me.  My mom was a
no-show at my party.  My dad hasn’t written me in years.”  I immediately wished
that I hadn’t mentioned my father, not to Stone.  He had every reason to hate
him for what he had done, and even though we hadn’t discussed it, I didn’t
blame Stone at all if he abhorred my father.
    “I’ll
find her, Dara,” he said.  “I can’t promise you what the outcome will be, but I
can promise you that I will find your mother.”
    I
pulled his hand to my face, noting how much larger it was than mine, and
brushed a kiss across his knuckles.  Touched that he would make me such a
promise, I couldn’t look him in the eyes.  If I did, I wouldn’t be able to stop
the tears that threatened to seep from beneath my lids.
    I
lowered his hand back to my thigh.  He gave it another squeeze before he
started the engine.
    He
stopped at a fast food restaurant and ordered us small burgers that we could
eat in the car.  In a matter of minutes, we were on the Interstate and on our
way to find my mother.  My nerves threatened to steal my appetite, but I
refused to succumb to them.  Stone once told me that the problem was my
mother’s, not mine.  Sometimes, it was difficult to remember that, but he was
right. 
    It
was a quiet ride to Oakley.  I supposed that it was because we were both lost in
our own thoughts.  When we drove down the main road, I was surprised how old
the town looked.  “You think she’s here somewhere?” I asked, looking out the
window as the businesses blurred by.
    “I
don’t know, but there’s only one way to find out.”
    We
passed a few hotels, and I assumed that those were the ones that Stone had
already investigated.  A few minutes later, he pulled into the parking lot of a
dumpy hotel that looked like it would attract rats and bedbugs.  Two, old cars
were parked in the narrow lot that lined the front of the hotel. 
    I
cringed at the thought of my mother working somewhere like this.
    “You
ready to do this?” Stone asked, tapping on his cell phone screen.
    “Yeah,”
I said, although my voice lacked conviction.  I took a deep breath as I stepped
out of the car.
    When
we both had walked to the front of the car, he showed me his phone screen,
which was zoomed in on a photo of my mother and me.  “I’ve been showing this
photo when I ask about her, just in case someone recognizes her face and not
her name.”
    “That’s
why you wanted me to send you that picture,” I blurted as the reason for his
odd request dawned on me.
    He
grinned.  “Yeah.”
    We
walked into the lobby, and I tried very hard not to wrinkle my nose in distaste
at the worn, dirty carpet and the threadbare furniture.  On the positive side,
the air smelled like a floral-scented candle.  Stone approached the woman
behind the front desk, showed her the photo, and asked if she knew her.
    The
woman took her time studying the photograph.  For a moment, I thought she might
actually recognize my mother, but then she just shook her head, and we were on
our way right back out the door.
    “I
guess that marks another one off our list,” I said dejectedly. 
    “There’s
another one next door,” Stone said, cutting through the parking lot to go to a
hotel that looked almost as miserable as this one did.
    It
didn’t take long to find out that the desk clerk had never heard of my mother. 
As we were walking back to the car, I asked Stone, “Do you think my mother wasn’t
telling me the truth when she said she worked at a hotel in Oakley?” 
    “I’ve
already considered that,” he answered.  “It’s definitely possible, but