Take My Mask, I'm Home

unpacking a load of what makes me, me

The ride over to Homer was made in relative silence, since Lisa was concentrating on operating Leo, and Jennie seemed to be lost in her own thoughts.

As they bumped over a wave and Jennie clutched the console in front of her, Lisa wondered whether Jennie was nervous about what they were about to do.

Did Jennie even get nervous?

She hadn't actually allowed herself to think too much about how Jennie may be feeling about any of this entire fake marriage situation.

Sure, she'd imposed a great deal on Lisa, who faced dire consequences if what they were doing was discovered by the government. But Jennie also faced some horrible consequences of her own. The biggest consequence was of course being deported, which was extremely drastic and would require Jennie giving up her entire life in the United States. She wouldn't be able to work for K-Corp anymore, or Knetz, while everything got sorted out. She wouldn't lose her shares in the company or anything, Lisa assumed, but control of the companies would have to fall to someone else. Given how much Jennie had put into the companies over the years, Lisa imagined that would be quite a massive blow for her.

Did Jennie even have anything waiting for her back in Korea?

And now she was about to commit the same federal crime as Lisa was, all the while being out of her comfort zone. Jennie was going to have to be able to sell their established, stable, happy relationship to Lisa's family, who she had never met, and all of whom had fairly negative opinions of her, no thanks to Lisa herself. Jennie wasn't the most easy-going person, and although she could be very charming, Lisa had never seen her in a relaxed social setting.

Lisa had no idea what to expect from the brunette sitting next to her, who was giving nothing away at all.

They rounded the last corner, and Lisa sighed happily as her family home came into view. There was the large old house that had been in Parks family for the last five generations. The large, grey and white house stood at the top of a small hill that led gently down towards the Sound. The swing was still there under the huge old tree that sat in the middle of the lawn in front of the house, and Lisa itched to go and sit on it. Smoke rose from the old chimney; Clare was having a wood fire, and Lisa couldn't wait to curl up near it in her favorite old armchair with a book and a mug of hot chocolate.

She glanced across at Jennie, whose curious brown eyes were taking in everything she saw. It was as if she were committing everything to memory, which Lisa supposed she must be doing. It would be extremely strange in the Immigration interview if Jennie had no idea what Lisa's home looked like.

The wooden pier jutted out into the Sound from the old boathouse, which Lisa noticed needed more than a few coats of paint. She was aware that Clare had power washed it quite recently, but she didn't have time to paint it. Lisa looked guiltily at the peeling paint, which she could see even from the end of the pier, and decided that while they were here, they could do some work on it. At the very least she would brush off what was flaking so that Rosie could go around after her painting it once she and Jennie had gone back to New York.

Lisa expertly moored Leo alongside the pier, throwing the ropes out and stepping up onto the wood before tying the ropes to the bollards. She stretched luxuriously, before turning back to Leo and to Jennie.

Jennie was looking up at the house, but when Lisa held out a hand, she held her own out and let herself be pulled up onto the pier. Lisa helped her take the life jacket off and tossed it back into the boat.

"This is a lovely home, Lisa," she said. "You've been holding out on me. It's also far larger than I expected it to be. That being said, I'm not sure exactly what I expected."