Chris smiled up brightly, happily, at her at her joke and then slowly rose from his crouch. His joy at running into the person that he wanted to see the most gripped at him vigorously. The familiarity of her face was welcoming; it was comforting in the way that a newly found mother was to a child who had wondered off in the mall and lost sight of the one person he needed the most.
“Your hair’s red.” It was a flustered, awkward choice for his first comment and the moment it left his mouth he was aware of that. If he was going to choke all over his words he could at least try to it in a dignified way.
“I mean, it’s not red where… When I last saw you.” He wasn’t quite managing the dignified thing. It wasn’t as easy as it sounded when he was staring at his mother, younger, but still very much his mother.