“I…um…” she laughed nervously, pushing a hand through her hair. “Wow. I’m not normally like this. I’m actually very eloquent and articulate. I just don’t know how to say…”

She froze, her eyes darkened, and she stood abruptly. “He’s here,” she whispered.

“Maybe this isn’t the best place to have this conversation,” she said in a normal voice. “Is there somewhere we could go to talk? Preferably somewhere with caffeine.”

Kurt stood and smiled. “Of course. There’s a coffee shop not too far from here…we could go there?”

“Sounds great. Lead the way?”

“Mhm. Can you drive?” he asked, because for as much as she looked 19 with her wild hair, dramatic clothes and makeup, and piercings, she seemed a little young.

“I have my license but…well, I’m…new…here and haven’t got a car yet.”

“That’s fine. I’ll drive, come on.”

The two of them walked out to the parking lot together in a comfortable silence unusual for two people who’d just met. When they reached Kurt’s car, Ember sighed lovingly.

“Wow. I mean, I’ve seen pictures, but to see it…”

Kurt ignored this and opened her door for her. He helped her into the car, closed the door behind her, and went around to his side. They relapsed into their comfortable silence again, Ember staring bewitched out the window the whole way to the Lima Bean. Not a word was spoken until they were seated at a secluded table in a quiet corner of the relatively empty shop.

“All right. What is it you need to say?”

Ember sipped her French Vanilla Latte and sighed, once again tugging on her vivid hair. “Brace yourself.”

“I’m braced.”

Ember looked directly into Kurt’s eyes, and he was momentarily distracted by how similar they were to someone else’s…he knew someone else with eyes exactly like hers, he just couldn’t think of who. Before a full two seconds had passed, he refocused—and just in time for Ember to deliver her bombshell:

“I’m your daughter.”