The sound of a drenched mop smacking against the floor and grumbling could be noted as quite the distraction, not only did the store smell like it's usual dirt and plants but now the smell of plant food made it wholly irritating in a dose such as it was. Couldn't say the evening hadn't started with some sort of excitement to say the least. Overall she had ignored the tone of the man's voice, everything was so chaotic already, Yejide just wanted outside and she was so damn close. Perhaps if her body wasn't charged to the brim with wanting to go outside she would have realized that she knew this man's voice, in fact she knew it very well. In her life there were voices she could identify with such ease, those of her family, of her murderer, and of this man.

As her eyes met his after her apology it was as if a little light bulb went off above her head, pupils dilating with realization, then darting across his face and knowing those features so well. She knew the lines of his face, although seeing them without the glow she herself radiated was perhaps why it took a full second. Was this the first time they were seeing each other in artificial light? Yes, it had to be. Candle-light, she thought she remembered seeing him in that, in the old glow of a pub maybe? Something near a fireplace, she was sure, and of course the light her own body created. So much of him was clear, and with his look of- was that shock? No matter, not to her, he didn't look disappointed and that's all that mattered to her.

His voice was as she remembered it, even when he had sounded gruff, a tone he had surely taken with her the first time they had met, when she had still been only a child. A slight alarm filled her when he stepped back from her as he spoke her name, Yejide did not plan on letting him runaway from her, and when he didn't turn she let her own surprised look soften. The plastic basket thudded to the floor once more, not going as far since it had only been in her hands, she stepped forward and placed her hands gently on either side of his face before slipping them down to his shoulders and she nearly jumped into an embrace. It felt so good to touch someone again, and it felt good to know it was someone she trusted. "Mortimer," her voice was slightly hushed beside his ear, her hands dropping from around his neck and shoulders to slide down and touch his hand that held his cane.

Clearly she would be a beacon if it weren't for that charm her mother had created, her smile beaming, "look at me, Mortimer." Yejide's voice was gentle, being angry wasn't something she could do too well, and especially not at Mortimer. "It's been a really long time, hasn't it?" Her smile tightened slightly for a brief moment before her lips closed with a regular pleasant grin, her pale eyes looked away and she reached down and clasped the plastic handle of her basket, pulling it off of the floor. Her free hand brushed back a hair that had come free behind her ear and dropped down to straighten the folded hem of her linen shorts. Yejide had been so confined when it was just her, and she was afraid she was making a fool of herself, but- but this was Mortimer. True it had been a long time but he knew her. For who and what she was.

"I forgot," sheepishly she gave a shrug, and with an exhale she felt that tightening in her chest slow down. He wasn't as much of a toucher as she was, and now she could have gotten pieces of glass on him. Transfer from her button down blouse or shorts, but she certainly hoped not. "If you have some free time coming up and I haven't scared you off would you want to catch up?" Yejide didn't care if it was a week or a year away, just having someone who meant something to her so close, knowing he was here just set her at ease. It was as if the horrors over the last year were disappearing and she was back in that funny little kingdom behind the barn, sitting in the grass under the starlight. He felt like home.