I watch her stop to try on some perfume. She smiles graciously and takes a photo with a fan. I see my friends wandering through the cosmetics counters.
I pull my phone out and call her.
She puts her phone up to her ear just as Annie and Katie approach her. I watch her hold up a finger to them as she answers.
"Whatever you do, Mom, do not say my name out loud. I go to school with the girls who are standing in front of you. They want your autograph."
"You're here?"
"Yes. I'm hiding behind some clothes on the second floor balcony. I want to see you. Go ahead and sign the autographs. Annie is a huge fan. Then go upstairs to the lingerie department on the fifth floor, grab a couple things to try on, and I'll be waiting in a dressing room."
"Sounds good," she says and hangs up.
I slowly back away from the balcony and almost knock over a rack.
"Can I help you?" a sales clerk asks me.
I jump. Look guilty. "Um, no." I look at the escalators and decide I'd be better off going the back way. "Where's the elevator?"
She points a finger toward the back of the store.
"Thank you."
I quickly walk to the elevator and take it to the fifth floor. I grab the first four items I see and ask for a fitting room.
I shut the door and drop to the little stool.
I look at my hands. They're shaking. I'm so excited and nervous to see Mom.
Pretty soon, I hear Ryan speaking. "Yes ma'am, that's fine."
"Keatyn?" Mom whispers.
I swing open the fitting room door. She rushes into the room, pulls me into a tight hug, and I immediately start crying.
She smells so good. Like lavender, honeysuckle, and the ocean.
We hug each other tightly and cry for a while before either one of us speaks.
Finally, Mom gently pushes me away and looks at me. "God, I've missed you. And look at you. You look grown up. Your outfit is adorable. You put it together yourself, didn't you?"
I smile and wipe tears from my eyes.
"You were always better at fashion than me. I can't put anything together without Kym. So you're just here shopping with your friends?"
"Yeah. I got chosen for Homecoming Court, so I needed a dress."
"Oh, honey, that's great! I'm so proud of you! So, you're doing well?"
"Yeah, I'm doing well. I actually really like school."
"Does that have something to do with a certain boy?"
I grin, just thinking about him. "Yeah, it probably does. But all of it's good. I've made some great friends. So why are you here in New York?"
"I'm doing a couple morning shows tomorrow and a couple interviews today. Pre-release buzz for To Maddie with Love."
"How are the girls? I miss them so much."
She holds up her phone and scrolls through pictures of the girls. I start crying harder. I've only been gone a month, but I can already tell they've grown.
But then she stops on one that causes me to start laughing through my tears.
It's Gracie. She's apparently moved on to cold weather gear from her usual swimsuits, princess gowns, and angel wings. She's got on fuzzy multi-colored striped tights, ladybug rain boots, the pink tie-dyed tutu I was wearing the first time I met Tommy, and a long-sleeved T-shirt with pink hearts. Her hair is in pigtails and she's holding a chalkboard with an arrow on it. The arrow is pointing to an adorable fluffy Golden Retriever puppy. The chalkboard has the words, Bad dog written next to the arrow. It's so funny because the dog looks like an angel and you wonder if the dog should be holding a sign pointing to Gracie that says, Bad girl.
We hear Ryan cough. Then he says, "Abby, we need to get going. You have that interview with Vogue."
"I can cancel it," Mom says.
"No, it's okay, Mom. My friends are going to wonder where I am."
I hug her one more time.
"I love you, Mom."
She smooths down the back of my hair and says, "I love you too. You should probably stay in here for a few minutes. Give me a head start so no one sees us together. I know people don't recognize you, but if we were together, they might figure it out. There are a swarm of photographers out front."
I sit down and waste ten minutes on Facebook. See Annie's newsfeed photo of the girls with my mom.
I walk out of the fitting room, go through the lingerie department, and down the escalators. I'm just stepping on the escalator to the first floor when my phone buzzes.
Annie: Meet us on the second floor back by the dresses. Abby came off the elevator and was surrounded fans. We're trying to get another picture.
Shit. Mom's not gone yet.
I'm halfway down the escalator when all of a sudden I see Vincent step onto the up escalator.
My heart starts pounding.
I look around, trying to quickly assess the situation.
Trying to remember everything Garrett taught me.
Mom and her security are upstairs. I could go up there. But then my friends would know. Vincent would follow me. It'd be a mess.
Vincent is messing with his phone. His head is down and I pray that he doesn't look up.
But just as I'm getting ready to pass him, he does.
Vincent is looking at his phone, riding up the escalator. He knows Abby is here based on the paparazzi outside. He just needs to find her. He glances up and sees her.
Abby.
By herself.
No security in tow. He reaches out to grab her hand. This is his chance.
Our eyes meet and his widen in shock. His look of shock is quickly replaced with a scary smirk.
He reaches out and tries to grab my hand, but I quickly pull it away.
He leaps up, hops across the escalator, and is now jogging down the stairs after me, yelling, "Abby, wait!"
Why is he calling me Abby?
As I get to the first level, I can see out the front door. Mom was right. There are a mess of photographers waiting for her.
A plan starts to form in my mind.
Can I use them to get away?
It's the only thing I can think of.
I slip my big black sunglasses off the top of my head and down over my eyes.
I run fast out the front door as Vincent yells out again, practically on cue, "Abby, please wait!"
The cameras start flashing. I rush through them toward the street. They let me through then turn their backs to the store, huddling together.
Which blocks Vincent's way.
The paparazzi.
I haven't been photographed by them for a long time. They only seem to want pictures of cute little kids, not the gangly pre-teen that I used to be.
What used to sort of scare me when I was little seems very comforting right now.
They are protecting me from Vincent.
I put my hand in front of my face as I hear Vincent yell out again. "Abby!"
I turn around and see that he's working his way through the crowd.
The driver that I hired for the day is parked in the parking garage. There's no time to call him.
I spy a black town car idling at the curb. I dart toward it and open the door.
As I'm getting in, I hear one of the camera men say, "That's not Abby, dude. It's just some chick in a wig pretending to be. They do that sometimes. Send out a fake. A decoy."
I run my hand through my soft hair wondering how he could have mistaken it for a nasty wig.
I must need a deep conditioning.
The driver yells at me. "I think you've got the wrong car."
Vincent breaks through the crowd and lunges toward the car as I slam the door shut and yell, "Go!"
Vincent grabs for the door handle just as I slam down the lock.
He stops and stares at me through the dark glass.
The driver is telling me to get out of his car. Telling me he's not going anywhere.
Vincent smirks again and lunges for the front passenger door.
I scream at the driver, "Go! Go! Go! Please just go!" I lean over the top of the passenger seat and slam down the lock.
The driver quickly pulls into traffic and says to me, "I got it. And in case you didn't notice, we're going."
I didn't realize I was still screaming.
"So where are we going?" he asks. Then he starts rambling. "You know, I could get fired for this. Who was the suit? Did you steal something from the store? I'm not going to get in trouble for transporting a thief, am I?"
I take a deep breath and slip off my sunglasses.
"Whoa," he says under his breath.
"What?"
He shakes his head and talks to me in the mirror. "Nothing, but, um, I think now we are being chased by a cab."
I turn around and see a cab riding our ass. See Vincent in the front passenger seat, pointing toward me.
"Can you lose him?"
He rolls his eyes at me and starts talking to himself. "Can I lose him, she asks? Can I lose him?"
There's a little space in traffic up ahead of us, so he stomps on the pedal, which causes me to be thrown back in my seat.
"Buckle up, buttercup," he says, as he cranks up the radio and yells over the noise. "This is just like in the movies. I'm like that dude from Trinity, what's his name?"
"Tommy Stevens," I say with a grin. I turn around and see the cab weaving in and out of traffic. "I think they're still after us."
We had pulled away from them, but now we're stuck at a light.
There are lots of people walking in front of us in the crosswalk. We can't go anywhere.
The cab stops just two cars behind us.