"I said, I don't want that for dinner." The blonde mumbled, leaning back further into the passenger seat as her eyes stayed glued on the road in front of them.
Letting out a deep sigh, her husband pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand as the other stayed on the wheel. "Then what do you want?" He asked for like the tenth time in just minutes.
Rolling her eyes from the backseat, their teenage daughter let out a deep huff full of annoyance. "We want pizza." She stated, referring to herself and her two siblings.
"We aren't eating pizza." The older woman shifted uncomfortably, shaking her head lightly as her gaze drifted back to look at her three kids. "No one wants plain cheese pizza." Stevie added with a hint of frustration lingering in her voice as she turned her attention back towards the road once more.
"Well, we do." Her son grumbled, arms crossed over his chest dramatically. "Why can't you eat something else?" Crew wondered out loud, which he knew probably wasn't his best bet.
"Do you have any other suggestions, Steph?" Her husbands jaw settled harshly, getting pretty fed up with all of them at that point.
"Pizza is fine. You can all eat pizza." She held up her hands, breaking the long moment of silence that had filled the air around them. "I'll just have leftovers when we get home." She added with a simple, yet obnoxious shrug of her shoulders.
He glanced in the review mirror, giving all the children a pointed look, silently telling them not to argue with her any further. "If that works for you, dear.. that's what we'll do." Lindsey said as he slowly reached out to turn the volume up on the radio, trying to drown out the awkwardness.
"That's too loud." Stevie turned it off completely as she rubbed her forehead with a the tips of her fingers. "You're giving me a headache." She complained.
Raising an eyebrow, her sixteen year old daughter scoffed lightly. "You give everyone a headache."
"Hey, come on." Lindsey shook his head as his eyes locked with the identical blue storms from the backseat. "That's enough, seriously."
Biting down on her lower lip, Stevie nodded in agreement. "That's too bad you feel that way about your mother, Lola."
~~~
Trudging through front door of their home, Stevie followed her children into the foyer, while Lindsey lingered close behind. He was in no rush to get into the house, instead he took his time, waving at the neighbors, looking at the lawn and he even considered water the plants on the front porch... Anything to speed up the evening with his family.
"Hi, Lindsey." The family nanny greeted him as soon as he stepped into the kitchen, where his wife was scanning over the mail at the counter.
"Hey, Carrie." He half smiled, even though his eyes were still locked on Stevie. "Anything exciting come in the mail?" He wondered as he pulled open the refrigerator door.
"Nothing exciting, no." She was leaning into the island, reading glasses perched on the end of her nose as her eyes wandered over each envelope. "You know what would be really exciting to me?" Stevie's voice was low and just a tad on the irritated side. "If you would go pick up the shit you left sitting on the living room floor." She was referring to the sheet music he had forgotten about that morning- the same crumbled up pieces of paper that had been driving her insane all day.
Stevie didn't like messes- not from him, and not from their children. That was one thing she just didn't tolerate, and they had all found that out the hard way.
"I thought we pay a housekeeper for that sort of stuff." He leaned back into the counter as well, staring at her from behind as he cracked the seal on a bottle of water. "I thought that's why-"
Holding up her hand lazily, she silenced him. "If you make the mess, you pick it up, Lindsey. Simple as that." She knew that he was trying to get under her skin- he did it quite often.
"I-"
"I'm going to bed." She cut him off once again, tossing the mail to the marble counter before she trailed through the room. "You're free to go home, Carrie." She added, wiggling her fingers in the younger blondes direction as she passed by.
"Thank you, Mrs. B." She grabbed her bag off the chair, following not too far behind the older woman. "I'll see you in the morning." She added.
Nodding lightly, Stevie let out a soft sigh. "Yeah, we'll see you in the morning." She waited until the front door had closed before she finished the journey up the steps, leaving her husband down stairs, like aways.
"Goodnight, Steph." Lindsey mumbled in a low murmur as he listened to the sound of her footsteps get further and further away.
Rolling her eyes, she decide to pretend like she hadn't heard that. Instead of replying, she slipped down the hallway and into the master bedroom, where the peaceful feeling of loneliness washed over her.
It wasn't until much later, after the entire house had grown dark and quiet when she found herself standing by the window, watching as her husband pulled down the driveway.
"Goodnight, Lindsey."
