sinking ships - succession

chapter thirteen

      Months went by.

She had spent so much time with Lukas. She had released a new spring collection. She no longer had music playing on low all the time in her apartment to drown out her loneliness because, well, she didn't feel so alone anymore.

And she wasn't. She had Lukas. Although, he wasn't with her all the time and they often were just talking on the telephone between continents, he filled the void in her life. And the ache in her chest for Jack that she thought would never go away wasn't there anymore.

It put her on edge to feel so free. To not feel pain. She started to wonder if it was okay to be okay. It was why she asked for advice.

She went to her father.

They usually had lunch at some restaurant every month. It was their ritual. It was always on the third Wednesday of every month.

And he was a no show today.

       So she went to his office and Roman greeted her in the hallway with wide eyes. He hadn't seen her in months (and it was usually par the course in their lives with only seeing each other on the holidays). But for almost a year she was this constant sad presence.

         "Woah. You're smiling. And you're usually doom and gloom. What the fuck happened?" Roman asked.

           "Nothing happened," she answered with a small blush.

           "Oh, yeah. Okay," Roman said sarcastically. "You are a terrible fucking liar."

          "Whatever," Rose replied. "I'm going to see Dad."

               And she quickly moved past him. She headed into her father's office where he was studying papers and he looked at her in surprise, "Rosebud, what are you doing here?"

She smiled, "Dad, we were supposed to have lunch."

"It's already Wednesday. Why wasn't it on the schedule? Gerri!" Logan shouted for the woman.

She popped her head into the office, "Yes?"

"Why wasn't my lunch with Rosebud on the schedule? I don't see it," Logan said.

"Um, it may have been removed," Gerri answered.

"Who the fuck removed my lunch with Rosie from the schedule?" Logan shouted. "I'll fucking fire all of you."

           "I'll look into it," Gerri answered fearfully.

           "Do that while I go to lunch with my daughter," he commanded and she nodded her head before she quickly left his office.

       "It's okay, Dad," Rose reassured with a small smile. "If you're busy, we can go another day."

            "No, no," he waved his hand to dismiss the notion as he walked around his desk to greet her. "Nonsense."

         He embraced her with a hug that she returned before he pulled away and commented, "How are you? You look happy."

         "I am, Dad," she smiled.

         "Good, good," he analyzed his daughter for any lies before he started to head for the door. "Now let's go. I'm fucking starving."

              She chuckled as she followed after him.

_____

At lunch, they ate and talked. She didn't tell him about Lukas; she never did. Lukas was her own little secret; she wanted to keep him that way for awhile because of the incident. Sure, there were a couple photos of them on gossip subreddits but other than that, no one even knew they hung out. Not unless she wanted them to.