Lu wasn’t quite awake enough for this.  She turned her head to look at Serge as he suggested that they start to pose as a couple.  She looked him up and down, and even newly awakened, he looked amazing.  Her worry was that no one would buy that the two of them were together.  Yes, opposites attract, but only to a point.  How in the world would they carry that off.  “Do you REALLY think that people would buy that?”  She asked with disbelief. She turned on Stranger Things on Netflix with the volume down low, so as not to disturb either of them.  

She started trying to stitch on her project with hands that shook a little.  “First of all, how did we meet? How long have we been dating? How…” She stopped herself knowing that her incessant talking drove him insane, especially when he didn’t have answers for her.  “Complete honesty, pretending to be a couple with you certainly wouldn’t be a hardship, but I am unsure anyone who knows either of us would believe it.”  She said softly.  
She took a couple of stitches finishing her row before looking back at him.  “Should we maybe discuss this with Eri…”  She sighed and rephrased herself “My dad? As you pointed out if this comes out without him releasing it, it could be bad, and if we carry off the dating thing, will he ever really be able to come clean?” 

She put down her stitching and turned to rest her back on the arm rest of the old beat up couch.  “Serge, I know I said mom never really talked much about my dad.  And while that is true, I did leave out the little she did say.  When I got older, I was angry. I blamed him for not being around, for not manning up and doing what he was supposed to do.  I think it was over something ridiculous, like not having the extra money for a school function, probably homecoming or prom.  Something that seems pointless now.”  Her eyes drifted away from Serge, focusing on a small framed photo of her and her mother together hanging on the wall.  

“She loved him.  She never stopped.  I don’t know if he was her one true love, or if it was teenage infatuation that was never allowed to die, but she loved him until the day she died.  She told me they were kids when she got pregnant, but that I couldn’t be mad at my dad.  He didn’t leave us.  She left him when she knew she was pregnant with me.  She said he came from a good family, that he was going places, and that he would finally do some damn good in this world.  She knew he would have married her, that’s just the kind of guy he was.  She didn’t want a wife and kid getting in the way of him being the man she knew he could be, so she left.  She never told him about me, at least not when I was a kid.  I don’t know how he found out I existed, but she never meant for him to.”  She told him honestly as she reached for her cup of coffee.  

“I do know that if she were alive today, and she thought it would help him in anyway, she would call a press conference herself.”  She finally looked back at Serge, the strong determined, tough woman of yesterday was completely gone.  She wasn’t angry, she wasn’t sad, she was lost.  

“I wish she was still here.  I am not qualified to do this level of adulting on my own.”  She said with a small laugh.  It was in that moment, that it hit her, her mom was gone, and while she was alone and terrified, there was someone else who knew what she was going through, who could help her find the answers.  She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them tightly as she rested her chin against them still looking over at Serge.  “I guess this is why Nature gives us two parents huh?” 

“Question of the day is, Do I talk to him about this, or just try to figure it out on my own and hope for the best?  I know he really has a lot on his plate, and is now the best time to be throwing more at him? I mean I am a grown woman, I should be able to figure this all out right?” She sighed softly and lifted one hand to pinch the bridge of her nose.   She looked at Serge again and managed a small smile.  “I really am sorry.  I would call a friend, but right now there is literally no one else I can talk to about this except Dad, and that’s a huge part of the problem.  I don’t want to burden him with more than he is already dealing with, so unfortunately that leaves you.”  

She sipped her coffee and slowly let her body relax. There was nothing she could do in this exact moment, she just needed to calm herself and focus on what her options were.  She wasn’t sure where to go from here, but she would get to an answer, it just might not be right this second.