It was early the next morning, only a little after five on the West coast when the house phone started to ring. "Fuck," Lindsey rushed through the kitchen, stubbing his toe on a chair as he tried pulling his t-shirt over his head at the same time. "Good morning, Steph." He leaned into the counter as he brought the phone up to his ear.
He knew who it was- he didn't even have to look at the caller ID to figure it out.
"Good morning, sweetheart." Stevie was still in bed, wrapped up in the sheets comfortably as her eyes began adjusting to the light. "Are you getting around?" She asked, a gentle smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
Letting a soft sigh, he leaned into the counter a little further. "Yeah," he mumbled, eyes scanning over the checklist she'd made him before she left almost two months earlier.
He wasn't ready at all. He still had bags to pack and a cab to call...It wasn't as simple as it was with her in town.
"Oh, good. Did you have-" she was getting ready to ask him how his night had gone, but his
unenthusiastic attitude cut her of.
"Listen, baby, I have to finish getting my stuff around, so I'll call you when the plane lands in Portland." His words came out a little colder than they were supposed to, which instantly caused her heart to sink.
It had been a long time since her shut her down like that.
"Oh," chewing on her lower lip, Stevie shook her head, almost like he could see her. "That's fine, honey." She mumbled. "I'll talk to you later then?" It was supposed to be a statement- she would talk to him at some point in the day, but the way she said it made it sound like she was questioning it.
"Yup, talk to you later." He dropped the phone to the counter just as she was getting ready to tell him how much she loved him....
Swallowing hard, Stevie set the phone down on the nightstand and then she slithered back into the sheets. "Okay," she mumbled to herself.
That didn't sound like him... that couldn't have possibly been the same he man who called her every morning and every night to make sure she was doing alright. No, that sounded like a man who could have cared less about his wife and that really didn't set easy with her.
"Hey?" Crosby popped his head through the crack of the door, startling her almost immediately.
He had been up for awhile, pacing around the house, bored, so when he heard her chatting on the phone, he figured it was his cue.
Letting out a deep sigh, her hand met her forehead to push her bangs back a little. "It's so early, honey." She whispered, still a little flustered from her brief call with Lindsey. "What are you doing up?" She knew he could sleep almost as much as she could.. eight in the morning wasn't very common for either of them.
"I was wondering if you wanted to go grab coffee?" He was trying, he was trying so hard to make things right with her... all he wanted was a relationship that worked for the both of them.
He understood, better than anyone else that she was doing something quite amazing for them and even though there were moments in life where they didn't blend well with one another, there was no one else in the entire world he would trust to do that for them.
"Umm," she thought about it for a moment, not totally sure if she was in the mood for that after her short phone call with her husband. "Of course, I would love to." She gave him a simple smile as she threw both of her legs out from under the covers.
"Perfect, mama."
~
Back at their home, almost as soon as Lindsey hung up, he headed back through the kitchen and into the living room, where his wife's best friend was fast asleep on the couch. She was half dressed, wrapped up in a throw blanket as her overbearing snores filled the entire house.
"Donna?" His jaw settled as he tucked one of his hands into his pants pocket. "Donna?" Lindsey wasn't yelling, but his voice did get a little louder to assure that she had heard him in her sleep. "You gotta get up and go home." He mumbled as his eyes drifted away once she started to stir.
Donna was a mess- she looked like she'd been hit by a tornado... it was probably the worst thing Lindsey had ever seen that early in the morning.
"Lindsey..." she let out a heavy sigh as soon as she sat up to get start getting herself together.
Holding up his hand, he silenced her. "You need to go, Donna." He repeated, motioning towards the door.
Sliding her shirt back over head, she made that walk of shame across the living room floor. "Are you gonna tell Stevie?" She bit down on her lower lip as she paused in the foyer to glance back at him.
He thought for a second and then he shifted all of his weight from one foot to the other before he replied. "I don't know yet."
