Crossing one leg over the other, Stevie gently placed the napkin on her lap. "How are my boys?" She had asked a little bit about Levy and Kash the night before, but not too much, and even though she got to spend some time with her oldest, she really missed her babies.
Looking up from his menu, he nodded his head softly. "They've been over almost every other night." Lindsey let out a chuckle, even though he was happy to have someone hanging around the house. "Oh, and guess who hit the mailbox the other day? Levy." He told her before she got the chance to guess- she would have said Lindsey, anyway.
"Really?" Raising a brow, she couldn't help but smirk. "I bet that made you feel better." She leaned forward in her chair to pick her glass of water up off the table.
"It did." He assured, a soft wink following his words.
"So?" Stevie reached across the table to let the tops of her fingers trail along his. "When are we going to talk about this tour thing?" She had been waiting for him to bring it up, but even when they were alone the night before- he never mentioned it. "You know Kash can't keep a secret from me." She added, lips turning up slowly.
He let out a deep sigh, running the pad of his thumb back and forth across her knuckles. "I was going to tell you, Steph, but I wasn't sure if I was going to go and then-" he started to really trail, trying to make her feel better about being the last one to know, but she didn't want to hear it.
"Lindsey," holding up her other hand- the hand he didn't have, she silenced him. "Baby, relax." Stevie let out a little giggle, deep brown eyes melting into those sky blue orbs. "I think it would be great if you spent some time on the road." She assured, feeling him tangle his fingers in between hers.
She knew how boring it could be sitting around their home, trying to find things to do to stay busy... she had done it for many years. And besides that, Lindsey loved music- of course she wanted him to go, and enjoy himself.
"You know, no matter what, I'll be where ever you are when that baby comes." That was a promise- he wouldn't have missed that for the world. "It's just really lonely at home without you." Lindsey wasn't afraid to admit that he missed his wife, a lot.
"Lonely?" She teased, a deep sigh escaping her a moment later. "I think you're just trying to..." she lingered, raising a brow seductively. "You know." She smirked, which just caused him to laugh in return.
"I want you to come home with me." He had already told her that on the phone, and the night before, but she didn't have much to say about that.
Lindsey felt uncomfortable at that apartment just walking in, he couldn't imagine having to spend all of his time sitting around with them, doing nothing... He would have gone nuts.
"And I can't wait to come home, Linds." She wanted that to, badly but she felt compelled to stay for the sake of that baby. "But I have to be here, with them... for them." She shrugged.
"Don't stay here, because you feel like you have to, Stevie. You owe them nothing." He repeated the same thing he had said time and time again.
She could come back to California anytime she wanted to, and if they had anything to say after that, they could talk to him about it.
"I promise that as soon as I really don't feel welcome, I'll be on the road with you." She was teasing him, just trying to lighten the mood a little.
"I like the sound of that."
~
Elise was so upset, she told Lucy that it would have been better if they just split up for the day, and then they could do their own thing. It was better that way, and even though she didn't know the city well, Elise ventured through the crowds of people all alone. And eventually, she found herself sitting at a small bar, having a couple of drinks. It was kind of odd, but she didn't know how to be around her sister- in- law without thinking about how unappreciative she had sounded.
Elise had never had a good relationship with her own mother, and for the better part of her childhood, she lived with her grandparents, who were too old to do much of anything. So when she met Kash's mom and dad- two people who were the most devoting, loving parents to their three sons, she finally understood what it was like to feel wanted in a real family. And they treated her like she was their own right off the bat, before she was even married into the family.
Stevie spent hours helping her pick out her wedding dress, braided Elise's hair before her bridal shower, did all the flower arrangements by herself the night before the wedding, made all the food for the rehearsal party and then reception, and still paid for their honeymoon in Hawaii... And that just the beginning of their marriage.
To say Elise adored her mother- in- law would have been understatement- she didn't think there were many other mothers that could even come close to that. So for her to listen to someone that hardly knew Stevie complain about stupid stuff, really upset her.
"Elise? Honey?" Stevie's voice came from the other side of the hotel room door, just a couple of minutes after Elise had gotten back from her afternoon out.
Twisting her hair into a clip, she hurried through the room. "Hey, there." She pulled open the heavy wooden door, immediately welcoming her in- laws inside.
Following behind Stevie, Lindsey held out a take out bag for Elise. "We weren't sure if you had eaten, so we picked you up some dinner." He set it down on the stand before he took a seat in the desk chair.
"Thank you," She gave Stevie a quick hug and then she began to pull out the foam boxes.
"Did you have a good afternoon?" Stevie motioned towards Lindsey's legs, silently telling him she was going to sit down there too.
Nodding her head, she tried her best not to act as upset as she did on the phone to Kash. "It was pretty good." She had decided that she wasn't going to bring it up in front of Stevie- she was going to tell Lindsey, and then he could figure out how to handle it.
"That's good." Lindsey smiled lightly, running his thumb across his wife's lower stomach, which caused the baby to kick him in return. "Woah," he creased a brow as he let out a light chuckle.
Elise dropped what she was doing as a hint of excitement took over. "Was that the baby?" She pushed some of her curls behind her ear to see better.
"Hold on," readjusting herself on his lap, Stevie pulled up her blouse just enough to show them her tummy. "Here," she took Elise's hand in hers, moving it around to find the flutters.
Stevie would have hated to admit it, but she hadn't even told Lucy how active their baby was, and she never offered to let her feel it either. And it wasn't that she didn't want to, because she thought it was so important for Lucy to experience that, she really did, but she also felt very uncomfortable around her. It might have sounded wrong, but Stevie was so much more open Elise, even when it came to a baby that wasn't hers.
"What you're doing is so incredible, mom." If Lucy wasn't going to tell her, Elise figured she would. "You're such a great person." She added, which wasn't totally unusual, but definitely caused her mother- in- law to pause.
"I agree," Lindsey rubbed her hips softly, before one of his hands casually snuck up her back.
Pulling her shirt down, she sank into her husband a little more. "Lucy said something about me, didn't she?"
