Reconsider Me

Part 4

It warmed her heart as Stevie heard Aimee's wholehearted laughter from somewhere in the house, while she was busy in the kitchen. Kyle was a fantastic father and sometimes, when she allowed herself to think about it, Stevie wished he could be with them all of the time. For Aimee mostly, but she'd be lying if she said, she didn't fantasize about them as a couple more often than not lately.

"Alright, you two!" Stevie called from the kitchen. "It's dinner time."

A minute later, Kyle appeared in the doorway, holding Aimee up above his head, making airplane noises, a wide toothy grin on their daughter's face. "Whew! The plane has run out of fuel." Kyle said, breathing out heavily as he sat Aimee down. 

"Careful, you're not as young anymore." Stevie teased and he feign hurt, clutching his chest. 

"I'm at my prime, thank you very much." Kyle gave her a look and took a seat next to Aimee, when she tugged at his hand. 

"Are you hungry?" Stevie asked, putting a plate down for the girl.

"No, thanks. I ate a sandwich before I left work." Kyle declined, but the look on Stevie's face told him, he was going to eat as well. "So, I was thinking." She waited for him to elaborate. "After I'm done with work on Friday, I'm going to pick Aims right away. I don't want to arrive at my parents' at her bedtime."

"Sure." Stevie shrugged and handed him a generous portion. "That's fine."

"What are you going to do? You haven't had a free weekend for a long time." Kyle asked, while chewing on a piece of chicken, half a potato and broccoli.

"That's not the example you want to set, Kyle." He subtly rolled his eyes and cut off another piece. "I don't know, haven't thought much about it." She gave a shrug of her shoulders and took a seat at the table as well. "I might call Lindsey."

Kyle nearly chocked as he was swallowing his food down. "Lindsey? You mean, it's going to be a thing now?"

"A thing?" Stevie raised an eyebrow. "He's my friend."

"I didn't mean it like that, I don't have anything against you two hanging out." Kyle corrected himself, leaning against the back of the chair. "What I meant to say was, he's okay with everything? The fact you have a daughter and... well, me?"

"I'm sure that it was a lot for him to take in, but he'll get used to it." She hoped, he would. "We didn't really talk much about anything, when he came over a couple of days ago. I guess, we were just testing the waters."

"Did he ask about me?" Kyle purposely looked away and picked up a glass of water. 

"Yes." Stevie nodded, not giving anything away.

"And?" He asked, sounding a little impatient.

"I told him that you're an amazing father to Aimee." Stevie shrugged, unsure of what he wanted to hear. "That you're spending a lot of time with us."

"Huh." 

"Well, what was I supposed to say?" Stevie sighed. "I've known Lindsey my whole life. I knew, he wouldn't have reacted well if I had told him that, you know..."

"That I know what?" Kyle pushed, he didn't know, what their current status was.

"That we're maybe possibly trying to get back together." She managed to say and saw his face soften instantly. 

"I understand." Kyle nodded. "From everything you've told me, maybe he doesn't need to know. Not yet anyway."