"Excuse me?" Donna almost choked on her wine as her eyes flew open, and this look of pure confusion crossed her face.
"You heard what I said." She mumbled, jaw settling as she sank back into her chair.
"Wait, what?" Becky creased a brow, looking from Donna, back towards Stevie.
Shifting in her chair, another sly, shitty grin trailed across Stevie's face... She had heard enough of Donna's perfect little fairytale about her thirty year marriage- it was all bullshit and she wanted to call her out more than anything. "Did you not go over to my home, while I wasn't there and try to screw my husband?" She wasn't holding anything back, not even in front of Becky and Carol. They could hear the truth too- maybe then they'd know to hide their spouses.
"Is that what he told you?" She looked around at the other two women, a gentle laugh escaping her once her eyes settled back on Stevie. "He told you that I tried to get with him?" Her words caused the blondes heart to sink as her stomach started to twist into tight knots. "I had been drinking that night, and he invited me over." She shrugged, brows still raised softly.
Shaking her head, Stevie rolled her eyes. "I don't believe you, Donna." She didn't, not for one second.
"What happened?" Carol and Becky were both stunned, yet incredibly confused.
Donna and Lindsey could hardly stand each other- it was rare that they even sat at the same table during a dinner party, so the thought of them hanging out was just insane. It would have been more believable if they had started screaming at one another from across the street over who had better Christmas lights, or a nicer backyard.... That would have been normal for them but an affair? No, that was just crazy.
"I don't care if you downed an entire bottle of Gray Goose, you should have stayed at home." One hand hit the table with a thud, while the other found itself plastered to her lower stomach, feeling little flutters instantly. That made her feel safe.
"Stevie..." Donna shook her head in disbelief, another one of those crappy laughs following her words. "Lindsey has been a cheater for the last twenty- five years and you know that." She spat, though her eyes held a sadness that Stevie had never seen before. "You just want to find someone else to blame, always." She added, just to hit the nerve a little harder.
Pushing herself up abruptly, Stevie almost knocked the heavy wooden chair to the floor. "Stay away from my husband, Donna." She warned, eyes as cold as stone. "Or I will walk across the street and I will tell Scotty all about the guy you spent three years going to visit in Santa Barbara each weekend." That was a low blow, but if Donna wanted to play hard, Stevie wanted to prove that she could throw it right back at her.
Donna piped down immediately, embarrassment washing over her as she looked away from Stevie. "At least my kids like me."
~
It was almost eight that evening when Lindsey slipped through the front door of their home, where the sound of the late night news echoed through the house. "Honey?" Sliding out of his shoes and setting his keys on the stand in the foyer, he trailed further into the house.
"I'm in here." Stevie's voice was soft, but loud enough for him to find her in the living room.
She was laying on the couch, curled up with a blanket as she watched him head her way.
It had been a long evening for her, and after she lost her temper at Becky's, she raced back home and locked herself in the safety of her sanctuary.
She couldn't believe she had done that, but she also couldn't sit there and listen to Donna brag about something so obnoxious.
Stevie did what she thought was right, even if she went over the handle bars just a tad...
"Did you have a good day?" She shifted once he sat down on the edge of the couch, right next to her. "How were the boys?" She asked, running her fingers up and down his arm as she looked up at him.
"It was good, baby girl." Smirking softly, he leaned down to press his lips to hers. "I have to talk to you." He whispered as his hand slid across her stomach to the other side of the couch to hoist himself up.
While he was still down low, Stevie kissed him one more time before she replied. "Hmm?" She slid over a little more, hoping her would lay down next to her, but he didn't...
"Kash said something a little weird today." He recalled with a raised brow.
Rolling her eyes playfully, Stevie couldn't help but chuckle. "Those boys are always saying something weird." She wasn't wrong, but that... that was just concerning to Lindsey.
"I think he might be seeing another woman." His words caused her to jolt up so fast, she almost bonked him in the head with hers.
"What did he say?" She asked, one hand meeting his thigh as she felt him rub her waist in small circles.
"He asked me to cover for him this weekend." He shrugged, shaking his head in disbelief.
Lindsey knew that he raised a group of rowdy sons- that was no secret to anyone, but cheaters? He was almost certain, for a long time that those dudes respected women, for the most part. After all, Lindsey had never disrespected, mistreated, or cheated on his wife... ever, and he thought they knew not to do that to their wives either.
"He said that in front of his brothers?" She whispered, biting down on her lower lip as her eyes grew dim.
Lindsey chuckled- not because it was funny, but because he couldn't believe it. "Yeah, isn't that wild?" He was stunned Kash even trusted him with that... he knew his father told Stevie everything- well, almost everything.
"No," shaking her head, she fell back into the throw pillows. "He was lying, Lindsey." One of her hands danced across her lower stomach as the other stayed glued on his leg. "You have to talk to them, because they're setting you up." She wasn't dumb... No, she was the brains behind the entire operation.
And she knew, without a doubt, that if Kash was having an affair, she would be the first to find out.
"Why?" He mumbled, blue eyes melting into her dark, brown orbs.
"They think that you were fooling around while I was in Chicago."
