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"Well, there are 8 planets. You probably know all of them."
James sat in a chair, with Tessa and her drones in front of the chair. James had decided to teach the young girl and her robots about the solar system.
"In order, there's Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune."
James pointed to each planet as he went. Tessa followed along, looking in amazement at each planet model. James had made each one by hand, like he had made the first worker drone prototype.
"Every planet orbits the sun, which is our star. It's a main sequence yellow dwarf, and it's a rare kind of star too!"
Louisa was walking in the hallway when she heard this. Looking into her daughter's room, she saw James and his planet models, teaching their daughter and her dumpster pets about space.
Walking away from the door, Louisa started to reconsider what she's done. Her and Tessa never had a good relationship, She was mainly attached to James. Perhaps Katie would know what to do? She wouldn't ask Henry, he'd just say something about 'Abounding Humptherfruffles!' And walk off.
Louisa frowned and sighed, wiping her eyes from the tears that were threatening to fall and walked off to her and James' room. A couple of minutes later, James walked in with his planet models.
"Figured I'd teach our daughter about the universe before putting her to bed."
James said, putting the models away. Louisa looked down at her hands, her beige painted nails, and looked back at her Husband, who was taking off his blue tie.
"James... Am I a Bad mother?"
This made James pause. He shook his head and put his hat on the table.
"I'm gonna be completely honest with you here, Louisa?"
Louisa's eyes widened, she knew when James said that, he was going to speak the truth only.
"You haven't been the best mother. But, I believe you can improve. For starters.."
James lifted up the chain he took from Tessa's room. He walked over to the window, opened it, and threw it into the dump outside, shocking Louisa.
"No more of this."
Louisa simply nodded, and wiped her eyes. James noticed this and sat down on the bed.
"Look at me, Lulu."
Louisa looked at her Husband, looking into his kind eyes. She took this moment to look James over. His eyes were framed by severe eyebags, and his beard was starting to grow back.
"You have to fix your relationship with Tessa. Please, promise me you will."
James' hand gently held Louisa's own. Louisa felt the calloused and rough texture of his palms against her soft, delicate hand.
"But what if she doesn't want to?"
"Trust me, Louisa. Tessa misses her mother, the one who kissed her goodnight and took care of her everyday. Bring her back."
Louisa nodded, with a determined look in her eyes.
"Now come on, let's get to bed. We'll start trying to fix everything together, tomorrow."
James climbed into bed and turned out the light.
"Love you, Lulu."
"Love you, James."
Louisa fell asleep, ready to start to fix her relationship with Tessa. It'll take a while, and it might not work, but God knows Louisa is going to try.