Reconsider Me

Part 6

"I have to say it." Lindsey broke the silence and put down his menu.

"Say what?" Stevie looked across the table at him. 

"You look amazing." He didn't know, why he needed to muster up the courage to compliment her, though. Maybe it was because of knowing that Kyle wasn't completely out of the picture and it just didn't feel appropriate. "You're just... the last time I saw you, I- I was kinda worried."

"It's okay for you to say that." Stevie shrugged. "Despite the fact I was pregnant then, I know, I didn't look my best. All the years of abusing your body will do that. When I quit all of the substances I used to love so dearly, it wasn't actually that hard. I mostly watch what I eat now."

"I hope, you're not on any crazy diets." Lindsey gave her a pointed look, knowing, how she used to starve herself if she saw anything negative about her appearance in some review or an article. 

"No, not at all." Stevie assured, shaking her head. "When Kyle and I lived together, we had a routine, you know, a daily schedule; breakfast, lunch and dinner at the same time. With a newborn, I stopped staying up so late, so I also didn't have late night cravings anymore either. It's the small things, really. And..." She leaned in a little closer. "You don't look so bad yourself."

Lindsey chuckled lightly, shifting his gaze away from her. "Eh, you know... I still swim often and I barely drink, so..."

"Your eyes are back to the shade of blue I've always loved the most." She smiled, placing her hand over his. "We're not doing too bad, huh."

"I guess, you're right." He agreed, brushing the back of her hand with his thumb.

They were separated by a waiter, who had approached the table, a moment later. Lindsey knew exactly, what he wanted, but it took Stevie a minute to decide and he caught the waiter subtly rolling his eyes. Lindsey made a mental note not to leave a bigger tip than the  man deserved.

"So, you've got the whole weekend to yourself?" Lindsey asked, taking a sip of the wine that had just been brought over.

"Yes." Stevie sighed in relief. "Don't get me wrong, I love my child, but I haven't read a book that's not a fairytale for far too long."

"Does Aimee mostly stay with you?" 

"Yeah. Kyle is pretty busy. He starts his days early and he usually works until late, but he does spend as much time as he can with us." Stevie explained.

Us, not Aimee, us. "What does he do?"

"He's an architect." She picked up her wine and took a sip without any regret. If she was going to be hungover tomorrow, so be it. "That's how we met actually, through his work. Well, he didn't build my house, but when I bought it, I wanted a lot of things changed. We just flirted at first and I honestly thought it was innocent, but then he asked me out and here we are."

"What went wrong?" As soon as the words left his mouth, Lindsey wished, he could take them back. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No, it's okay." Stevie waved it off. "It's not not that something happened. We just... neither of us had any kids before Aimee and some people might say that we were too old to start having them. It was a lot, you know. We were trying to learn, how to be parents, at the same time doing our best to keep the romance and all that alive. It became too much. Kyle kind of proposed, because he believed that would save our relationship, I didn't think so and that's that."

"What does it mean, kind of proposed?" Lindsey frowned, although, he remembered how he had blurted the question out more than once himself. 

"He said, I think, we should get married." Stevie answered with a laugh, shaking her head. "I didn't say, no, because he hadn't planned something big and romantic, I just honestly thought that marriage wasn't the answer for us."

"And you've now changed your mind?" Lindsey was afraid that he was pushing his luck, but she didn't seem to mind.

Stevie hesitated. She prolonged the pause, seeing their water coming back. "Our food's coming." She said. "I'm starving."