Elena unlocks the door, and I get into the passenger seat. For most of the trip home, we drive in silence, which is more than a little weird, considering we usually use the time to compare notes on our shitty customer-service experiences. I tell myself the lack of chatter is just a sign that we’re both exhausted. But when we get to the door of our apartment, Elena has trouble getting the key into the lock, and I notice her hands are shaking. For a second, I wonder if she’s drunk, but if she was, would she actually drive with me in the car? I take a deep breath, trying to see if I detect the scent of alcohol, but all I smell are grilled onions wafting out from our apartment. Finally, she gets the door open, and I follow her inside.

“Gabriela…” It’s Julia’s voice, nervously calling to me from the kitchen.

“Hey, Mom.” I walk in and find her standing next to an older woman. It takes a moment for me to realize that this stranger is my Abuela Reina. I glance back at Elena with a look that says, “Why the hell didn’t you tell me she was here?”

“I was afraid she wouldn’t be here by the time we got home,” she replies with an edge in her voice that could only grow from decades of resentment.

“Ah, Gabriela,” my grandmother says, tears in her eyes. “It’s like seeing your mother again when she was young…”

I don’t know if she told my moms that Parisa sought her out. I hope not. I never told them about the video message Parisa recorded because I didn’t plan to respond to it anyway. Now that she’s here, I want to yell at my grandmother for having the nerve to show up this late in my life. I want to ask what kind of a mother abandons her teenage daughter, and to tell her she doesn’t just get to apologize and expect to be a daily presence in our family. But I don’t do any of those things. Instead, I let her envelope me in her arms. I know all around the world, grandparents haven’t been able to hug their grandkids for fear of getting them sick, but I’ve waited eighteen years for this moment. It’s enough to make me cry. It’s strange how you can instantly love a person you don’t even know.

“It’s okay, mija,” she says.