What She's Doing Now (Sequel to The Great Pretenders)

Little Lies

By Fleetwood Mac
Tell me lies
Tell me sweet little lies

Lucy self consciously tried to straighten her hair while making her way back to her hotel room. She was disheveled after the evening's crazy events and gave up all hope of making herself look presentable. She pulled her hair up in a haphazard bun and rehearsed her alibi. She practiced just about every situation in her mind...questions Charlie would ask...things she might say....explanations....the more she thought about it, the guiltier she felt. While her daughter was sleeping peacefully, she was getting her kicks with Matt. Damn, she was stupid but boy, did it feel good.

Finally reaching the door, she opened it with her keycard to find the girls watching cartoons in the living area each sprawled out on the couches. A reminder that they were still just little kids, an idea that doubled her guilt.

Charlie looked from the TV screen to her mother and Lucy braced herself. "Hey mom." was all she said.

Lucy swallowed hard as she tried to play normal. "Hey Charlie."

"Did you have a good breakfast?" her daughter asked, her eyes moving back to the TV.

Lucy was going to tell her yes when she heard her stomach growl. She was sure the girls had heard it too. How could she pull of just eating when her stomach was rumbling. She paused for reaction but neither girl appeared to notice. "Yeah, it was great," she said moving to sit down in the chair at the table, a safe distance from the girls.

Charlie looked at her again and this time she wrinkled her nose. Lucy tried not to panic.

"Did you go out and eat with Matt like that?" Charlie asked "Didn't you wear that to bed?"

Kate looked over and her eyes ran up and down Lucy's outfit. She lifted an eyebrow but said nothing.

"I did," Lucy said trying to sound confident "And we just went to the lobby restaurant. No big deal."

Charlie's nostrils flared "Seriously mom, you could have at least combed your hair."

"It was breakfast," Lucy said "Not a date."

"Thank GOD," Charlie said loudly "Cause that would be weird."

Lucy was offended "Hey now! Why would that be weird?"

"Because he's married," Kate offered her first comment to the conversation.

Damn, Lucy thought, willing the red not to reach her cheeks.

"Yeah, because he's married," Charlie agreed "You don't want to be labeled a homewrecker in the fandom."

"Because that's big on my list of worries in life," Lucy said but still feeling icky.

"You should," Charlie replied her attention back on the TV "It's bad enough if people find out you kept me from him for years. " Kate nodded for emphasis.

Lucy sighed "It's going to look bad either way." she agreed.

"Good then," Charlie said "No alone date type things with my dad."

After last night, Lucy wasn't sure she was going to do that but she trudged ahead "Actually we were having a very parental conversation regarding your upcoming apology." Lies, Lucy thought...you're lying to your daughter.

Charlie's face dropped "Aww really....can't we just pretend that I didn't blow up at him and things go back to normal, like you and I do sometimes?"

Lucy pretended to think about it. "Um no. You gotta give him something. He's new to all this stuff."

Charlie inhaled deeply and released what sounded like a small growl "Oh okay."

"Great," Lucy said standing quickly "Well I'm going to shower and then I'll take you two downstairs for breakfast."

"Okay," both girls replied, their focus back on the animated characters on the TV.

Lucy entered her bedroom in the suite and closed the door behind her. Her perfectly untouched bed sat in front of her. The girls seemed to suspect nothing which meant they hadn't come into her room. Or they totally knew she was lying. Now all she had to do was figure out which without giving anything away. She tugged at the top blankets to give it a slept in appearance just in case.
After that, she turned on the water, undressed and stepped in. As the hot water relaxed the tense muscles in her neck, she couldn't help but think of Mart and the night they'd spent together. It was a huge (no pun intended, she joked internally) mistake. Still the memory of his body against hers and his words in her ears made it seem worth it.
It was just one night.
It wouldn't happen again.
======================
After her mom left the room, Charlie turned to Kate "Did my mom seem weird to you?"
Kate seemed to consider. "A little."
"Do you think they really talked about me?" Charlie asked "like maybe I'm in trouble?"
"No way," Kate shook her head "I'm sure it's just weird eating breakfast with an ex...that you have a kid with.."
Charlie nodded thinking that made sense.
"Especially when that ex is separated..."
"True," Charlie agreed.
"And if you still have feelings for that ex.."
Charlie turned her head quickly to look at her friend. "Wait...what?"
Kate nodded this time "Duh Chuck, your mom likes your dad."
"She does?" Charlie cried incredulously.
"Yeah," Kate continued "don't worry though, he likes her too."
Charlie couldn't even fathom that. Was Chris right? Was she really that blind that she missed things that others seemed to see so easily? And if so what else was she missing? Or was this part of Kate's imagination? How she wished Chris was here...he'd tell her the truth.
Maybe she could ask Matt to let Chris come visit next week. Of course she'd have to do some serious apologizing but it would be worth it to have him there.
==========================
Matt hated to wash the scent of Lucy off his skin but they had to get moving to make it to the next tour stop. Zacky had left the room after shaking his head in disapproval and declaring Matt totally screwed. He was meeting the rest of the guys for a quick bite downstairs. If Matt hurried he could join them.
Wrapping a towel on his waist after drying off, he was about to reach for his toothbrush when his cell phone rang.
Damn, what if it was Val? He was anxious for news about River but other than that he had no desire to argue with his wife.
He was happy to see Amy's name flash across the screen "Hey little sis, long time no talk."
Amy chuckled warmly "Hey big brother, how is the tour going so far?"
Immediately thinking of Lucy, he said "Good, great, awesome."
"And Riv?" She asked
Matt felt guilt for not talking to his son in a few days, something he needed to remedy quickly. "He's good. Getting big."
"Good, good," she replied in a strange tone of voice "how about Val?"
"Val's good," he said, hoping that was true.
"You two doing okay?" She asked a bit suspicious.
He frowned "Every relationship has it's problems."
Silence.
"So should I be worried that I saw her at Nobu last night holding hands with another guy?"