"Hey, there." Lindsey couldn't help but grin, holding the phone between his shoulder, and his ear as he wiped his hands off on a kitchen wash cloth.
"Hi, baby." She replied on the other end of the line, a soft smiling tugging at the corners of her mouth. "What are you up to?" Stevie had called a couple of hours earlier, but that didn't mean much, considering she had started spending a lot of her time on the phone with him.
Leaning back into the kitchen counter, he used one hand to hold the phone up, while the other rested on the edge of the marble. "I'm actually making dinner." He knew there were jokes to come, of course there were.
She tossed her head back, letting a soft laugh fill the phone. "My husband? Making dinner?" She teased, shaking her head lightly. "Did you tell your girlfriend that you burn toast?" She still had a small smirk plastered to her face as she sank back into the accent chair.
"Yeah, okay." He emphasized, "One woman is enough for me." He flinched when he heard the sound of the oven beeping, cursing out loud a couple of times before he realized it wasn't the smoke detectors. "Hold on," Lindsey set the phone down, grabbing the oven mittens out of the drawer to pull out the pizza.
"How is it?" She asked, once she heard him sigh heavily.
"It's burnt." He mumbled, tossing it onto the stove.
She let out a deep sigh, closing her eyes for a moment. "I'm sorry, sweetheart." Stevie knew he was no master chef, but she kind of hoped, that after she had left, he would pick up on a few kitchen tricks.... She dreamt too big.
"I'll just order dinner." He had ordered dinner in for almost a week straight... It was starting to get sickening. "What are you doing? How was your day?" He asked, heading through the kitchen to relax.
"Did you turn the oven off?" She could hear him moving, yet she didn't hear the beep, and the last thing she wanted was a burnt down home.
With half a smirk, he turned back around on his heel to do exactly that. "God, I miss you." He tried to sound a little sarcastic, but they both knew he was being very serious.
"I miss you." She assured, biting down on her lower lip. "Anyway," she didn't want to cry, not again. "I haven't done much today, just hung out here." She glanced around the bedroom, scrunching up her nose at how boring it was becoming.
Creasing a brow, Lindsey fell into the sofa. "Have you left that house, at all?" He wasn't necessarily sure he had recalled her saying that she went out... not even over the weekend, and he wasn't sure he liked that.
No, actually, he knew he didn't like that.
"Oh, don't worry about me." Before she could catch herself, her voice cracked... She started crying.
"Honey, what is going on?" He let out another sigh, a little frustrated that he was so far away, he couldn't do anything to help her.
Sniffling on the other end, Stevie pushed herself off the chair and trailed towards the bed. "I just miss my boys." She shrugged, crawling into the safety of the blankets and pillows.
She was ready to go home... She wanted to see her younger sons, and she needed her husband.
She had never been away from him pregnant, never. Once she had found out she was expecting each baby, they were home, together. And even though this child wasn't their baby, she was still going through the same thing.
She just wasn't happy there, but she tried not to make it too obvious to the kids.
"You can come home, whenever you want." He knew she wouldn't, not after she had made such a big promise to Crosby and Lucy.
Shaking her head, she covered herself up with the comforter as she laid back on her pillow. "I can't do that." She figured that if she left, the chances of ever seeing her grandchild would be slim to none, and that would have been heartbreaking for her.
He scoffed, rolling his eyes, only because he knew she couldn't see him... he wouldn't have dared do that in front of her. "Don't let them treat you like shit, Stevie." That was his biggest fear- leaving her out there, just for them to make her feel unwelcome.
"I don't want to talk about it anymore." She mumbled, a soft yawn following her words. "Can we talk about something fun?" She half giggled, hoping to change the subject before she felt obligated to tell him just how out of place Lucy had made her feel a few days earlier.
"We can talk about anything you want, baby." He wasn't over their conversation, but he also wanted to make her feel better.
They ended up talking for hours, until Stevie literally couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. It wasn't anything insane, they just talked about the kids, the restaurant, she told him about the weird neighbors that were always banging on the walls, and how loud Lucy snored- she was a freight train, which had them both cracking up.
~
Early the next morning, after Lucy and Crosby woke Stevie up from their loud bickering, she found herself sitting out in the living room, sipping coffee and watching the morning, all while her oldest son got ready to head to work. She didn't get up until Lucy was already gone, she could tell when the front door slammed shut.
"Did you sleep well?" He was standing in the kitchen, pouring himself a cup of coffee.
He worked quite a bit, which didn't leave much time for him to spend with his mother... and no matter how difficult it might have been at times, she was still his hero.
"Yeah, I talked to your father for awhile, so I think that helped." She had complained that she was having a heard time falling asleep for awhile, but the night before, she slept like a rock.
He smiled softly, nodding his head a little. "I'm glad." Crosby knew that they had one another wrapped pretty tight, which was why he was a little shocked Lindsey didn't stay back with her. "Mom, if there's anything you wanna do during the day, I can ride the bus and you can take my car." He mentioned, simply because he knew that she hadn't really been out much.
Shrugging her shoulders, she let out a subtle sigh. "I can take a bus." She didn't want to be an inconvenience in his life, not in the slightest.
He let out a chuckle, shaking his head a tad. "Lindsey would fly out here just to yell out me, in person." Crosby would have never let her get on one of those busses alone anyway- it was way too dangerous.
She laughed softly, bringing the coffee cup back up to her lips to take another sip. "Well, today I'm going to lunch with...." she lingered for a moment, trying to remember their names. "With Lucy's parents." She shrugged, not sure she even knew what their names were.
"By yourself?" He creased a brow, leaning into the couch as he gave her all of his attention.
"Yeah," she hated that, but she also hated how upset Lucy got with her... She had to make sacrifices.
"Hmm," he thought about it for a second, and then he came to the conclusion that it sounded kind of awkward for her. "I'll take half a day, then come pick you up, and we can go together."
