"Come in."
Carla smiled to herself at the world-weary tone to her daughter's voice that granted her access to the girl's bedroom. On opening the door, she found Olivia sitting on the floor surrounded by piles of her belongings: clothes, shoes, toiletries, the small yet precious to her collection of makeup Carla had bought her, the stack of notebooks she wrote her every waking thought in at bedtime without fail, every last possession she had with her in England.
"I was going to ask how your packing was going, but I think I've got my answer."
"I think it's a sign," Olivia declared, ever hopeful, "that I should stay here. Forever."
Shifting some piles of clothes aside with her foot, Carla sat on the floor opposite Olivia and took her hands gently in her own.
"We talked about this, remember?" Carla said in a soft pleading voice. "If you go home now, finish the school year in LA, then you can come back here for your summer holidays."
"But that's ages away."
"I know it feels like that to you," Carla reflected on the slow passage of time the youth were forced to endure compared to the years that seemed to fly by in the blink of an eye at her own age, "but before you know it you'll be stuck back here in Manchester, surrounded by tiny terraced houses and ancient cobbled streets in the middle of a stinking hot summer and wishing you were sitting on a Californian beach."
"I won't."
"You do know this isn't going to change anything between you and me." The way Olivia quickly glanced up at Carla before lowering her eyes told Carla that she'd hit a nerve. "I kept my secret about you for so many years, but now, honestly, it's a relief that everything's out in the open. And I'm never going back to keeping secrets. I will always be your mum, one of your mums. Whether you live here, or in LA, or in Timbuktu, it doesn't matter. I will be here for you no matter what. Okay?"
"Okay," Olivia nodded, seemingly accepting the reality of her situation.
"Now come here."
Olivia didn't hesitate when Carla opened her arms to embrace her daughter; she crawled into her mother's arms and wished they could stay like that all day, that all thoughts of driving to the airport and boarding a plane could be forgotten, that she could put her suitcase back into the closet and shove her clothes back in the drawers. But she knew that her day dream was just that: a dream.
"You better get a move on with your packing," Carla completely destroyed any lingering hope Olivia had of staying, "we have to leave for the airport in two hours."
Kemi: Today?!
Olivia had not got 'a move on' with her packing like Carla had instructed; instead she had remained sat on the floor and messaged her only Manchester-based friend the news of her impending departure.
Kemi: Why didn't you tell me?
Liv: Dunno
Liv: Kept hoping mum would change her mind and let me stay
Kemi: I can't believe this
Kemi: It's not fair
Liv: Right!
Liv: We can still be friends?
Liv: Can't we?
Kemi: Yes!
Kemi: I won't forget about you
Kemi: I promise
"How long?" Olivia asked, her tone bordering on a whine.
"I don't know, sweetheart," Carla replied with a weary sigh as she looked around at the long queue of travellers that were snaked around the departures hall waiting for a free spot at one of the check-in desks.
"I need to go," Olivia whispered anxiously, "to the toilet."
"Can you wait until we're through security?" Carla asked.
"No!" Olivia cried, shuffling uncomfortably on the spot. "I'm about to burst!"
"Okay, then," Carla conceded, "but make it quick."
Peter watched Carla intently as she watched Olivia navigate the crowds en route to the bathroom.
"You know she'd stay if you asked her."
"I can't," Carla shook her head sadly.
"Why not?" Peter asked, "you're her mother."
"Suzy is her mother," Carla corrected him; "Suzy is the one who raised her, Suzy is the one who put in all those years, doing the hard work, caring for her, while I was, what? living the easy life."
"The easy life?" Peter laughed at the suggestion. "You've had anything but an easy life, love."
"The point is, Suzy has made the sacrifices over the years, it wouldn't be fair on her to take her only child away from her now."
"You almost sound like you don't think you deserve to be Olivia's mum."
"Of course I don't deserve it, Peter," Carla snapped at him, "I gave her up."
"Oh, love," Peter knew not to argue with her any longer; instead he wrapped his arms around her and held her close, giving them both a moment of calm amidst the sea of people that were swarming around them.
"Liv's taking her sweet time," Carla observed, still enveloped in Peter's arms. "She better hurry up, it's almost our turn."
"We've got time."
"I'm gonna call her," Carla said, too impatient to wait.
But the move proved fruitless, for when Carla placed the call and Olivia's phone began to ring, they discovered her phone tucked into the front compartment of her carry-on bag. With their anxiety levels beginning to rise, all they could do now was wait.
"What if she's run away, Peter?"
Having reached the front of the queue without Olivia re-joining them, Carla and Peter were stood off to the side, ushering other passengers to the check-in desks in their place.
"Why would she run away?" Peter asked, "and without her phone?"
"She said she would, remember?" Carla said. "You were there, when she first found out she was going home, she said she'd run away if we made her leave."
"But then she calmed down after you explained to her why she had to go," Peter reasoned. "Besides, why would she wait until we got to the airport? It makes no sense."
"I don't know," Carla shrugged, "it's more dramatic this way. Don't look at me like that, Peter, you need to think about this from a teenager's point of view."
"A very smart, thoughtful teenager."
"One who's got form for travelling alone to the other side of the planet without telling anyone."
"Good point," Peter conceded.
"All I'm saying is, she's trying to make a statement. Ugh!" she suddenly exclaimed, "I can't just stand around here and wait, I'm going to look for her. You stay here, watch the bags."
Carla, on a mission now, hastened to the nearest bathroom as the hunt for Olivia began. When she didn't find her in that bathroom, she made her way to the next nearest bathroom, and then the next, all without luck. Carla's eyes scanned the crowd, searching for that familiar and beloved face, but was only met with the blank stares of strangers.
Almost running now, the urgency of the situation finally dawning on her, Carla made her way back to where Peter was waiting for her.
"I can't find her anywhere!" she gasped, out of breath from a combination of the physical search and the fear that was threatening to engulf her. "She's gone, Peter, she's just… gone; vanished into thin air!"
"There we are!" Peter cried out, pointing to one of the screens on which he could see himself, Carla and Olivia waiting in the check-in queue. He and Carla were now standing in the airport's security office, staring at a bank of screens displaying CCTV camera feeds from all over the facility.
They continued to watch the feed in silence until the moment Olivia detached herself from the adults.
"There she goes!" Carla observed, urging the security officer who was controlling the feed: "Follow her, don't lose her."
The security officer expertly switched cameras whenever Olivia moved out of range of one camera and into the range of another. In this way they were able to track her movements as she made her way through the crowded departures hall until she had escaped the throng of people and was able to freely stride towards the bathroom.
It was then that a man approached her and struck up a conversation; a conversation that Olivia did not shrink back from, but instead seemed to welcome.
"Who is that?" Carla muttered as she continued to watch on in horror as Olivia willingly followed the man out of the departures hall. "What is she doing?" she asked in disbelief, unable to do anything except observe as the unlikely pair waited in the taxi queue, entered a taxi together, before being driven away from the airport.
"Can you get a better picture of that man?" Peter asked the security officer, "a close-up of his face."
"Just one minute…" came the reply as the security officer froze the feed at the best angle to view the man's face and then zoomed in, making some adjustments to make the image as clear as possible.
"It can't be," Carla said, staring at the image of the man.
"Do you recognise him?" the security officer asked.
"Carla?" Peter prompted her when she remained silent, her mouth agape as her gaze fixated on the man on the screen, studying his features, examining them for memories of the past. "Love?"
"It's impossible," she reiterated her disbelief, shaking her head as if this small action would somehow change the terrible reality she was facing.
"What's impossible?" Peter asked, his frustration with her beginning to show, "tell me, who is it?"
"I'd know that face anywhere," she said, her voice beginning to tremble, "but I know it's impossible, it can't be him."
As she turned to Peter, he could clearly see the terror, multiplied by many magnitudes since mere moments ago, in her eyes.
"The man… he's Olivia's father," she said, a strange high-pitched noise escaping her mouth as she swallowed a sob, "it's Tony."